Man whose body was found in a barrel in Malibu was shot in the head

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MALIBU, California – A man whose naked body was found in a barrel in Malibu, California last week was shot in the head, according to a coroner.

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The man was identified as 32-year-old Javonnta Marshann Murphy by the Los Angeles County Coroner’s Office on Wednesday, but a cause of death was not given at the time. The coroner’s case information now lists a gunshot wound to the head as the cause of death, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

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The circumstances leading to Murphy’s being shot and trapped in a barrel remain under investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office.

The 55-gallon (208-liter) black plastic keg was first seen floating in a Malibu lagoon on July 30 and was brought there by a maintenance worker in a kayak, but it was not immediately opened.

The sheriff’s department said the barrel was opened on July 31 by a lifeguard at Malibu Lagoon State Beach, who recovered it after it washed back into the lagoon.

It was not known how long the body had been in the drum.

Patrick Nelson, a family friend, told the Los Angeles Times that Murphy grew up with four brothers in south Los Angeles and was an aspiring rapper.