A 34-year-old man was in custody Wednesday on suspicion of murder and a nurse and former reality TV show contestant has been found dead in a grave in his Los Angeles-area backyard, authorities said.
Lisa Marie Naegle -- a 36-year-old registered nurse from San Pedro and former contestant on the E! network show "Bridalplasty" -- was last seen early Sunday morning leaving a party at Alpine Village, and a missing-persons report was filed on Monday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Jackie Jerome Rogers, a 34-year-old nursing student who accompanied Naegle to the party but claimed he left without her, was booked on suspicion of murder Wednesday morning and is being held on $2,000,000 bail, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department jail records.
Police and coroner's officials searched Rogers' home in the 5000 block of West 106th Street in Lennox and recovered a body in a shallow grave some time after 4 p.m., according to the LAPD. Late Tuesday, coroner's officials confirmed to NBC4 that the body of Naegle was positively identified at the Lennox home.
Rogers had told police where to find the body, Aguilar said. Aguilar said "investigators haven't shared the details" of their talks with Rogers, but they began talking to him Monday night.
She also noted that "the family saw him on surveillance with Lisa." Relatives and friends had been pleading for the public's help in finding the missing San Pedro woman.
According to Naegle's husband, Derek Harryman, his wife called him around 2:45 a.m. Sunday and said she was leaving the party but stopping to get something to eat on the way. She never came home. She also failed to show up for nursing classes she teaches at West Los Angeles College. Naegle's relatives said she went to the party with one of her nursing students, but he repeatedly told the family he did not leave the party with her.
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"We begged and pleaded that he'd come to our home to kind of give us details on what time, where were things, and when he left her, but while he was talking to us and telling us his story, multiple different times he said he absolutely did not go home with her, or did not take her home," her sister, Danielle Naegle-Kaimona, said.
She added that a friend of hers at the party sent her multiple photos of her sister with the student and that surveillance footage showed Naegle getting into an SUV belonging to Rogers. There is also footage of the pair going to a gas station.
After being confronted by the family with information that Naegle was seen getting into his car, Rogers altered his story to say that Naegle had gotten into his car but then got out moments later, the family said.
"Once he knew we were talking about security cameras...it seemed like he got much more nervous and squeamish," Naegle-Kaimona told NBC4.
The family said they boxed in Rogers' car and contacted police.
Rogers' home on a cul de sac near the 405 Freeway was surrounded by crime scene tape as police conducted a search at the residence.
Naegle was a contestant on "Bridalplasty" in 2010. Aguilar declined to release information on the relationship between Naegle and Rogers, saying only that they knew one another.
Naegle-Kaimona told NBC4 Rogers was "infatuated" and "in love" with her sister and said he got upset when she didn't notice his advances.
The website TMZ.com reported that Naegle was struck repeatedly with a hammer after she and Rogers went to a Jack in the Box fast-food restaurant. TMZ also reported that Naegle and Rogers were romantically involved, but Naegle informed Rogers she was breaking up with him to be with her husband -- leading to the killing.
The Associated Press and NBC4's Adrian Arambulo contributed to this report.
