True Crime Documentary to Cover Monrovia Murder

LaJoya McCoy worked as an accountant with the city of Los Angeles and owned a clothing boutique. – Courtesy photo

The Monrovia Police Department is set to be featured in a true crime documentary being filmed for TV One called, “Fatal Attraction.” Produced by Jupiter Entertainment, the show will focus on the 2015 murder case of Monrovia resident LaJoya McCoy.

On June 15, 2015 the Monrovia Police Department (MPD) responded to the 800 block of West Olive Avenue on a “welfare check.” Relatives had called the police when they were unable to reach her. Circumstances at the residence prompted to police to obtain a search warrant for the property and to ask the assistance of the Sheriff Homicide Bureau in what they thought was a missing person case. During a grid search by MPD on June 16, 2015, McCoy’s body was discovered in her car.

On Aug. 28, 2015 Los Angeles County Sheriff Homicide detectives arrested 45-year-old Jose Roberto Turner, McCoy’s ex-boyfriend and father of her two children.

In 2018 a state appeals court panel upheld Turner’s conviction for strangling the mother of his two children and leaving her body in her car. According to the appellate court panel’s 22-page ruling, Turner “wrote about his anger at McCoy and his intent to kill her shortly before the murder. He had displayed stalking behavior and jealousy when McCoy was in the presence of other men. He slashed her tires and took documents from her apartment. Significantly, forensic evidence connected him to the murder, since his DNA was present at the crime scene and he was a possible contributor to the DNA mixture in her fingernails. Furthermore, he displayed consciousness of guilt when he failed to help McCoy’s family and police.”

The team behind Fatal Attraction will be interviewing a number of people associated with the case, including Monrovia police officers who worked on the case, prosecutor Fernanda Barreto, family members of Ms. McCoy, and her closest friends. The documentary will highlight key moments in the investigation and prosecution of the overall case to illustrate how the crime was eventually solved.

The series will be filming for the next few weeks.