LOS ANGELES -- Police today investigated the apparent beating death of a man whose body was found inside his
Santa Monica apartment, the second homicide in the normally tranquil city since the weekend.
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Images The body of Alexander Merman, 35, was found at 520 Montana Ave. at about 8:05 p.m. Wednesday, Santa Monica police
Sgt. Mario Toti said.
"It appears the victim died as a result of blunt force trauma,"
Lt. Alex Padilla said in a statement. The coroner's office will determine the cause of death, Padilla said.
Officers received a phone call from the apartment complex manager, who found the body after having been asked by Merman's mother to check on the well- being of her son, who lived alone, Padilla said.
"The mother had not been able to get in contact with her son for several days," Padilla said. It was unknown how long Merman had been dead, Padilla said.
Police, meanwhile, continued to investigate the death of Juliana Maureen Redding, 21, an aspiring model and actress from
Arizona whose body was discovered in her Santa Monica apartment in the 1500 block of Centinela Avenue around 6 p.m. Sunday.
Police said the two deaths were apparently unrelated.
"Based on the initial investigation, there is nothing that leads the investigators to believe that this case is related to the homicide investigation of
Juliana Redding," Padilla said.
Police said earlier that Redding's death was being treated as a homicide because it appeared she died as a result of an assault.
Assistant Chief Ed Winter of the coroner's office said Redding's autopsy was completed, but Santa Monica police had put a "security hold" on the results. Winter said it would probably be 30-60 days before the results would be made public.
Anyone with more information on either case was asked to call detectives at 310-458-8451.
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