NZ man Stephen Royds kept the body of his girlfriend - Monique Trepp - on ice, but was not charged over her death. Photos / Supplied, Orange County Register
The body of an American woman which had been kept on ice in a Californian hotel room by her New Zealand boyfriend showed no signs of physical trauma, the Orange County coroner's office says.
Toxicology reports released in May showed Monique Felicia Trepp, 33, died from an overdose
of cocaine and alcohol but it was not known whether her death was accidental or suicide.
The Los Angeles Times quoted the autopsy report which described Ms Trepp's body as "moderately decomposed", having been dead for as long as a year before being discovered in March.
New Zealander Stephen David Royds, 47, had lived in the upmarket Newport Beach hotel room with Ms Trepp, a former stripper with aspirations of becoming a model, and managed to keep her body hidden from hotel staff.
Police searched the room after receiving a tip-off that Royds had been dealing cocaine and found her body in a 60cm by 90cm plastic box filled with dry ice.
Royds was not a suspect in her death and prosecutors have said he will not be charged for failing to report a dead body.
He told detectives he had returned to his room at the Fairmont on Hotel on March 24 last year and discovered Ms Trepp dead on the floor.
He has offered varying explanations for freezing her including, "everything that happened was for religious reasons," and that he did not want to report the death as there were already warrants for his arrest from an earlier drug conviction.
Royds was charged with possessing and selling cocaine and remains in custody at Orange County Jail awaiting a court appearance on August 28.
Royds' father John is a former Queenstown deputy mayor and a respected figure in the real estate industry.
He said at the time of Royds' arrest that he had not seen him for 20 years, and they hadn't spoken in nearly eight years.
- NZPA
