Answers elusive in body-on-ice case

The woman’s boyfriend said he kept the body on ice ‘for religious reasons.’

Los Angeles Times

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — How Monique Felicia Trepp wound up dead and packed in dry ice in a Newport Beach hotel room is proving to be a mystery full of bizarre leads but as yet no answers.

Police said they found the woman’s body March 6 in a Rubbermaid container packed with dry ice. She was fully clothed, they said, and appeared not to have been murdered.

The hotel room was in disarray, authorities said, cluttered with drug paraphernalia and wrapped Christmas presents. The Orange County coroner believes Trepp died of a drug overdose. Stephen David Royds, who had been living in the hotel for years, is being held on drug charges but is not a suspect in Trepp’s death.

Authorities were led to Royds’ hotel room by an informant who told them he was dealing cocaine at the beach, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Evan Sailor. Police found a small amount of narcotics but not a lot of money — certainly nothing that could explain how Royds had been able to afford to live at the hotel for a number of years.

Beyond that, things get fuzzy.

Royds and Trepp have been described by authorities as drug abusers who used the Fairmont as their $150-to-$200-a-night crash pad. To the staff at nearby restaurants and bars they frequented, they seemed like a loving couple.

Trepp, 33, went from being a high school cheerleader to dancing at a seedy Orange County strip club. Her grandmother, Ramona Trepp, 76, said she had not seen her granddaughter in 20 years and that the family was not close.

Royds, a 46-year-old New Zealand native, was reportedly a champion skier who moved to the United States about 20 years ago to pursue the sport and eventually turned to dealing cocaine, authorities said. His father told the New Zealand Herald that he had not heard from his son in two decades.

Police say Royds used several aliases, including “Mel Profitt,” the name of a high-living, drug-dealing character from the 1980s television drama “Wiseguy.”

Interviewed in jail by The Orange County Register, Royds explained why he had kept his girlfriend on ice: “Everything that happened was for religious reasons.” He didn’t elaborate.

Other than selling drugs, Royds had no visible means of support, said Susan Kang Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office.

How he and Trepp hooked up is unknown. But at some point in the last couple of years, Trepp apparently moved from a cramped, run-down apartment in Huntington Beach to the ninth floor of the high-end Fairmont, with its marble tile floors, tennis courts and spa.

When she moved into the Huntington Beach apartment in 1999, she was working as a dancer at Mr. J’s, a Santa Ana strip club that has since closed, said Mike Smith, who manages the apartment complex.

Smith described her as a quiet, “good girl,” who never threw parties or had too many friends over.

About a year ago, Flores said, an employee at a nearby sports bar told him that Royds had said Trepp died. Flores had also heard that Royds held a memorial service for her.