Possible Link in Suicide, Killing Seen

Los Angeles police are investigating possible links between an El Toro Marine who apparently committed suicide in Sutter County last week and the slaying of a former Marine and her fetus found burned in a Los Angeles International Airport parking garage.

The body of Stacey Janell Horst, 29, of Huntington Beach was found badly charred and still attached to her near full-term fetus by the umbilical cord April 15.

Detectives plan to release information today on the possible links of former Lance Cpl. Jonathan Antoine Davis, 21, to her killing, officials said.

Davis, of Sacramento, a military police dispatcher at the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, last reported for duty May 15, base spokesman Sgt. Matthew Fitzgerald said. The Sacramento native had been living on the base since July 1994 with his wife and 4-year-old son.

His “unauthorized absence” was reported the following morning, the same day he was found dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Sutter County, authorities said.

A spokeswoman for the Sutter County Sheriff’s Department said the local coroner’s office is investigating Davis’ death.

Horst’s body was discovered in a still-blazing Suzuki Samurai in an LAX parking structure, according to the LAPD and Los Angeles County coroner’s investigators.

Police said it was unclear if Horst’s child was born before or during the fire, which was so intense that the car’s vehicle identification number was melted off and Horst’s body was charred beyond recognition.

Horst, also a former lance corporal, was assigned to El Toro in March 1995, her fifth year in the service, government records show. At the base, she reported to Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 11 as a supply clerk.

The North Dakota native was granted a general discharge in November 1995 and, according to police, was unemployed and living in Huntington Beach at the time of her death.

Davis joined the Marine Corps in February 1993 and would have been released from active duty in February 1997, Fitzgerald said. No disciplinary actions have ever been taken against him, he said.

Davis was the recipient of a National Defense Service Medal, a Meritorious Mast, which is one step below a letter of commendation, and a letter of appreciation.