A 20-year-old woman’s death in Hollywood was ruled suicide, but her family wants investigators to look further into the case. The I-Team’s Eric Leonard reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 2, 2024.
The family of a 20-year-old woman pronounced dead after her ex-boyfriend reported a suicide attempt, says it's trying to convince investigators to look further into what happened.
Daelena Mackay was a month shy of her 21st birthday, about to graduate from LA City College and had made summer travel plans when authorities say she hanged herself with a scarf inside the bathroom of her Hollywood Boulevard apartment.
There was no note.
"Did she take her life, or was her life taken from her," asked her brother Kaevaan, speaking for the family this week in raising questions about the events of the night of her death that the family says it believes weren't fully examined.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. >Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
"I want the Coroner's Office to do their job and look into the details," he said.
According to an LAPD death investigation report, Mackay argued with the ex-boyfriend on the evening of May 23, with whom she shared a 3rd floor apartment, about her reconnecting with a man out of state.
The police report said the ex-boyfriend left the building around 8 p.m. to "de-escalate the situation" then returned several hours later and said he found Mackay in the bathroom, hanging from a red scarf from the shower curtain rod.
The report said the ex-boyfriend untied Mackay, placed her on the floor and began CPR.
Paramedics arrived and took over CPR but pronounced her dead just after midnight.
"I am heartbroken and grieving the loss of my beautiful smart and talented daughter," said her father, actor Dwayne Adway. "I am seeking a full investigation from LAPD in hopes of finding the truth and justice."
The LAPD said in a statement Tuesday that detectives thoroughly investigated the circumstances of the death, adding that it was satisfied with the efforts of detectives, and it met with the Mackay family repeatedly to try to address each of their concerns.
The LA County Medical Examiner-Coroner determined on May 25 the cause and manner of death was suicide by hanging, but Mackay's family said it was shocked to learn there was no autopsy performed.
The Medical Examiner said in a statement "an autopsy was not required" based on an external examination and the circumstances surrounding the death and referred questions to the LAPD.
"I'm trying to fight for justice," said Mackay's mother Elaine of her efforts to raise money in recent weeks for a private autopsy after she saw extensive bruising and other injuries when viewing her daughter's body at a funeral home.
“They were just so nonchalant about it, 'Oh, this is just another case that we're dealing with. It clearly looks like a suicide. Let's just write it off as that,'" Kaevaan Mackay told the I-Team. "Where's the passion for the answer?"
The ex-boyfriend did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
