Woman found in dry ice died of an overdose, authorities say
A woman whose body was found packed in dry ice in an upscale Newport Beach hotel room appears to have died “some time ago” of a drug overdose, authorities said Monday.
Monique Felicia Trepp, 33, has been identified as the girlfriend of the man who had been renting the hotel room for several years, said Dennis Conway, an assistant Orange County district attorney.
The man, Stephen David Royds, 46, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of dealing cocaine.
Royds, gaunt with yellow, thinning hair, appeared in court Monday and pleaded not guilty. He was shaking during the proceedings.
Conway said that Royds, originally from New Zealand, had been living in his room at the Fairmont hotel in Newport Beach for “a number of years” and carried large sums of cash. Royds is being held without bail because he is a fugitive in a previous Orange County drug case.
Police said they found the woman’s body in a Rubbermaid container packed with dry ice. She was fully clothed, they said.
The hotel room was in dis- array, authorities said, cluttered with drug paraphernalia and wrapped Christmas presents.
“It was apparently pretty hard to walk around in there, there was so much stuff on the floor,” Conway said.
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