Two models were found dead within a week in luxury apartments in Los Angeles

Two women who worked as models were found dead in luxury apartment buildings in downtown Los Angeles, just days apart, authorities said.

It’s unclear if the deaths are related, but grief-stricken family members are searching for answers after the two women were found in two locations within six blocks of each other last week.

The body of Malissa Mooney, 31, was discovered around 4 p.m. on September 12 by police officers conducting a welfare check in the 200 block of South Figueroa Street. Details of Mooney’s death have not yet been shared by the coroner, but the homicide investigation is ongoing, police said. Mooney reportedly worked as a model and real estate agent in Beverly Hills.

“I can’t believe my big sister is gone,” Mooney’s sister, Guyanese pop star Jordyn Pauline, wrote on Instagram. “This feels so surreal, I wake up crying thinking I’m in a bad dream, we’re going to get you justice sis.”

“The Los Angeles Police Department is requesting the public’s assistance in identifying any and all persons responsible for the death of Malissa Mooney,” police said in a statement.

A second woman, Nicole “Nikki” Coates, 32, was found dead two days earlier, about a mile across downtown from where Mooney was discovered, KTLA reports. The coats also served as a pattern.

Coates reportedly told friends she had a date on September 8. After not answering calls or texts over that weekend, her family found her dead in her home on 8th and Grand on September 10, the outlet reported.

“I want some answers because my daughter is gone,” Coates’ mother, Sharon, told reporters through tears on Saturday. “It’s not fair. I want everyone to know who did this to her.”

Coates’ aunt, Mae Stevens, told KTLA she believes Nikki Coates was murdered. “One of her legs was in a kicking position,” Stevens told reporters. “This is not the person who lay in bed and died.”

Coates’ case is not currently being treated as a homicide, although the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office told the Los Angeles Times on Saturday that her death is under “active investigation.”

Los Angeles County Medical Examiner’s records do not list a cause of death in either case, as of Monday afternoon. The LAPD did not return a request for comment at the time of publication.

Anyone with additional information is asked to contact LAPD investigators at 213-996-4150. Anonymous tips can be submitted at www.lacrimestoppers.org.