New murder charge for suspect in Malibu barrel killing

LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. - A man who was already charged in the murder of a man whose body was stuffed inside a barrel in Malibu is now facing a new charge over a different murder.

Joshua Simmons, 37, was previously arrested on October 2023 after the body of 32-year-old Javonnta Murphy was found dead in the barrel back in July of that same year. This week, Simmons is facing charges in the shooting death of a man in Inglewood from January of 2023, six months before Murphy's death was publicly announced.

Simmons will be arraigned in downtown LA on the new charge next week. The amended complaint includes the special-circumstance allegation of multiple murders, along with allegations that Simmons personally used an assault weapon and a semi-automatic pistol.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Arrest made months after Javonnta Murphy's body found in barrel in Malibu

Sheriff's homicide investigators determined that Murphy was shot, killed and stuffed inside the barrel. He died of a gunshot wound to the head, according to records from the county medical examiner's office.

Simmons is also charged with three counts of criminal threats involving separate victims on July 27 and Sept. 2, along with one count of attempted robbery Sept. 2 in El Monte. The criminal complaint alleges that he personally used bear repellent spray during the crimes in September, and that he had prior convictions from 2006 for grand theft and 2008 for burglary.

Simmons was arrested Oct. 3 by the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and has remained behind bars since then, according to county jail records.

A second defendant, Dennis Eugene Vance, 41, is charged with a felony count of being an accessory after the fact. He is free on bond.

CNS contributed to this report.