A person found dead along Mulholland Highway near Malibu last week was identified by family as a transgender woman who had been reported missing.
Day Rodas’ body was discovered around 7:40 a.m. Dec. 1, between the intersection of Mulholland Highway and Decker Road, and Mulholland and Westlake Boulevard, near El Matador Beach in Malibu, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
The remote area is in the unincorporated Santa Monica Mountains.
Preliminary information indicated that Rodas had overdosed and her body was brought to the location.
The incident is being investigated as a homicide, but the exact cause of death has not been determined.
Rodas’ family had reported her missing after she had stopped responding to calls and messages, and her boss said she hadn’t shown up for work, her sister, Susie Rodas, detailed in a GoFundMe page.
Rodas had recently moved back in with her family, who hadn’t heard from her in two days.
“We knew there was a problem,” Susie Rodas wrote.
The family got a call from authorities saying they had found a body that matched Rodas’ description.
“They don’t know exactly how she died which has been unsettling for my mother, father, my little brother and I,” Susie Rodas wrote.
She described her sister as respectful and forgiving.
“She recently started living her life authentically as she came out to friends and family about being a trans woman. She was the most forgiving person who strongly advocated for lgtbq rights,” Susie Rodas added. “After being afraid for 27 years, she only got to live freely without fear for only six months which breaks our hearts.”
Money raised through the GoFundMe will go toward funeral and memorial expenses.