Mississippi woman visiting California found dead and wrapped in plastic inside Los Angeles home
Los Angeles mother found a woman’s body wrapped in plastic while investigating a “gas smell” in her son’s room on Sunday, police say.
Hannah Rachel Collins of Mississippi, who had arrived in L.A. to visit friends in June and was expected back home this month, had just celebrated her 30th birthday on Aug. 1, her mother told Fox News Digital. She had last spoken with family members on Aug. 7.
The identity of the 26-year-old man whose room the woman was found in has not yet been released.
Police did not release any information on how Collins wound up in the home or how she knew the 26-year-old.
LAPD Homicide Detective Ryan Rabbett told Fox News Digital that Collins’ death is “being handled as an Undetermined Death Investigation pending an autopsy and full toxicology.”
Although Los Angeles Department of the Medical Examiner completed Collins’ autopsy around 1:50 am, according to public information specialist Kelly Vail, determining her cause of death could take “four to six months” pending additional investigation and toxicology testing requested by detectives. Vail said the office could not disclose the nature of the tests ordered.
Collins’ mother, who did not wish to be named, told Fox News Digital that she was informed of her daughter’s death by the medical examiner’s office around 8:15 am on Aug. 14. She has not yet heard from detectives at the Los Angeles Police Department, she said.
“Someone murdered my daughter – that’s homicide,” the bereaved mother said on Thursday. “Someone wrapped her in [plastic] wrap, someone did that to her… I don’t understand why his name is kept a secret.”
“I don’t even know how long she was dead,” she continued. “Did his mother give him time to run then call [police]? Something is not right here.”
Collins was “raised in church and was very kind, thoughtful and would do anything to help anyone,” her mother said. “Very smart, artistic and outgoing.”
The Mississippi woman lived in Richland and had also lived in Jackson, according to her Facebook profile. She had studied radiology at Holmes Community College and worked at a Smoothie King location.