The man whose body was found inside of a 55-gallon drum in Malibu Lagoon last week was deemed by a coroner to have been shot in the head, according to the Associated Press. Though an investigation is still ongoing and no further details have been officially released, it appears that one working theory is that the man’s death may have been related to the 2020 killing of rapper Pop Smoke.
Maintenance workers first saw the 55-gallon plastic barrel floating in the Malibu Lagoon the night of Friday, July 30. The following morning, lifeguards attempted to remove the drum from the water and found a man’s body inside. The man was identified on Wednesday as 32-year-old Javonnta Marshann Murphy, a South L.A. resident and aspiring rapper.
The circumstances leading to Murphy’s death are still under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office, but one possible theory has been that it may have been related to the 2020 murder of rapper Pop Smoke. As TMZ writes, Javonnta Murphy’s brother, Jaquan Murphy, was one of the five people arrested in relation to Pop Smoke’s murder in 2020. Though he was ultimately was cleared of all charges and released, an unnamed law enforcement source told TMZ that sheriff’s department investigators “are currently looking into the possibility Javonnta’s murder was a retaliation killing for Pop’s murder.” However, this is only one of several theories they are looking into.
