Woman's frozen body hints at why she died " religious reasons

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. " Police continue to investigate a suspected drug dealer and why he was in a hotel room with a woman's body packed in dry ice.

The man, meanwhile, told a newspaper that her death may have been in some way connected to religion.

"Everything that happened was for religious reasons," Stephen David Royds told The Orange County Register on Sunday.

Royds spoke to the newspaper in a brief interview from jail. He repeated the statement four times but did not elaborate.

Detectives found the body of Monique Felicia Trepp, 33, fully clothed and "well preserved" inside a large Rubbermaid container late Thursday after arresting a guest at the Fairmont Newport Beach for investigation of selling and possessing cocaine, police Sgt. Evan Sailor said.

An autopsy was inconclusive but the death did not appear to be a homicide, and authorities were awaiting a toxicology report.

Along with Trepp's body, police found porch swings, toy night-vision goggles and large sake bottles with lamp sockets stuffed into their spouts in Royds' room.

Royds, 46, was booked Saturday at Orange County Jail in Santa Ana, where he was denied bail because of a possible probation violation, authorities said.

He was scheduled to be arraigned on the drug charges Monday. He has not been charged in connection with Trepp's death.

In 2005, Trepp was charged with several felonies in Colorado, including possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell, court records showed.

Her attorney in Colorado Mark S. Rubinstein said a much older man posted bail for Trepp, and she then disappeared. Records show there were still outstanding warrants for her arrest.