Nursing Student Charged With Killing Ex-Reality TV Contestant
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — A Lennox man was charged Thursday with murdering a registered nurse and former reality show contestant whose body was found buried in a shallow grave in his back yard.
Jackie Jerome Rogers, 34, was ordered to be held in lieu of $2 million bail while awaiting arraignment Jan. 30 in connection with the hammer beating death of Lisa Marie Naegle, who was a contestant on the E! Entertainment Television series "Bridalplasty" in 2010.
Rogers could face up to 26 years to life in state prison if convicted of Naegle's killing, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.
The 36-year-old San Pedro woman went missing after leaving a party early Sunday morning at Alpine Village, a German restaurant in Torrance, and a missing persons report was filed by her family on Monday.
Naegle's body was found Tuesday, and Rogers, a nursing student who accompanied Naegle to the party but initially claimed he left without her, was later arrested on suspicion of murder, said Los Angeles police Detective Meghan
Aguilar.
Police and coroner's officials searched Rogers' home in the 5000 block of West 106th Street and recovered Naegle's body some time after 4 p.m.
Tuesday, according to the LAPD. Rogers told investigators where to find the body, police said.
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.
Prosecutors allege Robers struck Naegle repeatedly with a hammer after she and Rogers went to a Jack in the Box restaurant.
TMZ 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.
In a video taken by Naegle's family prior to Rogers' arrest, Rogers said he had developed some feelings for Naegle but said he didn't expect they "were going to run off and get married."
"I really liked that little connection that was there," Rogers said in that video.
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