Family calls for further investigation into Hollywood college student's death – NBC Los Angeles

The family of a 20-year-old woman who was pronounced dead after her ex-boyfriend reported a suicide attempt is trying to persuade investigators to take a closer look at the incident.

Daelena Mackay was a month away from her 21st birthday, about to graduate from LA City College and had made travel plans for the summer when she hanged herself with a scarf in the bathroom of her Hollywood Boulevard apartment, according to authorities.

There was no note.

“Did she take her own life or was her life taken?” asked her brother Kaevaan, speaking for the family this week, raising questions about the events of the night of her death that the family says have not been fully investigated.

“I want the coroner to do their job and look at the details,” he said.

According to an LAPD death investigation report, on the evening of May 23, Mackay was arguing with her ex-boyfriend, with whom she shared a third-floor apartment, about her renewed relationship with a man from out of state.

The police report states that the ex-boyfriend left the building around 8 p.m. to “de-escalate the situation,” then returned several hours later and found Mackay in the bathroom, where she was hanging from the shower curtain rod wearing a red scarf.

According to the report, the ex-boyfriend untied Mackay, laid her on the ground and began CPR.

Paramedics arrived and attempted resuscitation, but pronounced the patient dead shortly after midnight.

“I am heartbroken and mourn the loss of my beautiful, smart and talented daughter,” said her father, actor Dwayne Adway. “I call for a full investigation by the LAPD in hopes of finding truth and justice.”

The LAPD said in a statement Tuesday that detectives had thoroughly investigated the circumstances of the death. It added that it was pleased with detectives' efforts and had met repeatedly with the Mackay family to address all of their concerns.

The Los Angeles County Coroner on May 25 determined the cause and manner of death to be suicide by hanging, but Mackay's family was shocked to learn that no autopsy was performed.

The medical examiner said in a statement that based on the physical examination and circumstances of death, “an autopsy is not necessary” and referred questions to the LAPD.

“I'm trying to fight for justice,” Mackay's mother, Elaine, said of her efforts in recent weeks to raise money for a private autopsy after discovering severe bruising and other injuries when her daughter's body was laid out at a funeral home.

“They were just so nonchalant, 'Oh, this is just another case we're dealing with. It clearly looks like a suicide. Let's just write it off as such,'” Kaevaan Mackay told the I-Team. “Where is the passion for the answer?”

The ex-boyfriend did not immediately respond to a request for comment.