Search Intensifies For Missing Aspiring Model As Reports Suggest Possible Link With Fatal Police Pursuit
HOLLYWOOD (CBS) — The search is intensifying for a missing 25-year-old aspiring model and actress who just moved to Hollywood from Macedonia.
Flyers line the 1700 hundred block of Wilcox Ave. in Hollywood, where Adea Shabani was last seen near her home a month ago.
Neighbor Krysi Newman says it's been heartbreaking to walk past pictures of Shabani.
"It's just very haunting and sad because she just had great energy," Newman said.
Friends say Shabani got to town from Macedonia two months before her disappearance. She was an aspiring model and actress who took classes near her apartment.
"She was delightful. I would see her in the elevator, in the laundry room. She gave me good laundry tips and she was just a delightful spunky gal," she said.
But her name is grabbing headlines after a police pursuit Thursday night in the Inland Empire ended in Corona with a stand-off in which the suspect shot and killed himself. There have been reports that pursuit suspect was Shabani's boyfriend.
Jayden Brant is a private investigator for the Shabani family.
"Unfortunately I can't confirm any details regarding that at this time. This remains an active investigation," Brant said.
The Riverside County Coroner's office says the pursuit suspect was 33-year-old Christopher Spotz of North Hollywood. The LAPD, who is s handling the missing person's case, isn't confirming a connection to Shabani.
In written statement, the CHP says Spotz had been driving a stolen Toyota Tacoma that had "possibly been used in a homicide which had occurred in Los Angeles County."
Both the LAPD and Brant say Shabani's case is still bring treated as a missing person's case.