Monique Felicia Trepp dead and packed in dry ice in a hotel room

How Monique Felicia Trepp wound up dead and packed in dry ice in a hotel room is proving to be a mystery full of bizarre leads but no answers.Police said they found the woman’s body March 6 in a large plastic container packed with dry ice. They said she was fully clothed and appeared not to have been murdered.The room was in disarray, cluttered with drug paraphernalia and wrapped Christmas presents. The coroner has said he thought Trepp died of a drug overdose. Stephen David Royds, who had been living in the hotel for years, is being held on drug charges but is not a suspect in Trepp’s death.Authorities were led to Royds’ hotel room by an informant who told them he was dealing cocaine at the beach, said Newport Beach Police Sgt. Evan Sailor. Police found a small amount of narcotics but not a lot of money —certainly nothing that could explain how Royds could afford to live at the hotel for several years.Authorities say Royds and Trepp were drug abusers who used the Fairmont as their crash pad. To the staff at nearby restaurants and bars they frequented, they seemed to be a loving couple.Trepp, 33, went from being a high school cheerleader to dancing at a strip club. Royds, 46, a New Zealand native, reportedly was a champion skier who moved to the United States about 20 years ago and eventually turned to dealing cocaine, authorities said.Interviewed in jail by The Orange County Register, Royds explained why he had kept his girlfriend on ice: “Everything that happened was for religious reasons.” He did not elaborate.Other than selling drugs, Royds had no visible means of support, said Susan Kang Schroeder, a spokeswoman for the Orange County district attorney’s office.
Arturo Flores, who managed a restaurant that Royds frequented, said that about a year ago, an employee of a nearby sports bar told him that Royds had said Trepp died.