Marine Killed Ex-Lover, Set Car Afire at LAX, Then Killed Self, Police Say

Angry over his former lover’s refusal to terminate her pregnancy, a married El Toro Marine killed the woman and set her car ablaze at Los Angeles International Airport last month before committing suicide, police said Wednesday.

The body of Stacey Janelle Horst, 29--a former Marine--was found April 15, severely charred and still attached to her near-full-term fetus by the umbilical cord. The female fetus, which was approximately in the eighth month of gestation, appeared to have been expelled from Horst’s body because of the extreme heat, authorities said.

Police linked Lance Cpl. Jonathan A. Davis, 21, to the killing after investigators searched Horst’s home in Huntington Beach and found legal papers indicating that she had filed a paternity suit against him in March, said LAPD Det. Bill Cox.

Last Thursday, Davis fatally shot himself in the chest in Sutter County with a military firearm, authorities said. Hours before Davis’ suicide, his friends and relatives had reported him missing to the Sacramento Police Department, indicating that he was armed and possibly suicidal, authorities said.

Davis had been worried that the paternity suit would ruin his military career because adultery is grounds for a military discharge, said Pete Waack of the Los Angeles Police Department.

Waack said Horst was very open about the affair, while Davis pushed her to have an abortion. Waack said Davis’ wife knew about her husband’s romantic ties to Horst, but she believed that the affair had ended and that Horst had terminated the pregnancy.

Police said videotapes of cars entering and departing from LAX on the day Horst’s car was found showed that Davis’ car appeared at 7:40 p.m. and departed about 25 minutes later. Smoke from the fire was first reported about 7:45 p.m., authorities said. Preliminary investigations indicate that Horst was dead before her car was set on fire, police said.

On May 16, El Toro officials reported that Davis had disappeared without authorization and had not turned in his weapon.

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Times staff writer Tracy Weber contributed to this story.