Gruesome new details have emerged, as fans continue to mourn popular Instagram model Mercedes Morr across social media.
Cardi B defended the Fashion Nova model, real name Jenae Gagnier, who was found dead in a murder-suicide at her Texas home on Sunday.
In an emotional Instagram Story post, Cardi B chastised people who tried to justify Jenae’s death due to her occupation as a sex worker.
“So sad and f– you b*tches and Nikkas trying to justify it cause of her lifestyle. Ya will hate on a bad b*tch dead of alive. She was a sweetheart.”
Richmond police found Gagnier’s body in her home at the Cortland Apartments in the 5200 block of Pointe West Circle at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 29.
A man’s body was also found inside the apartment. He was identified as 34-year-old Kevin Accorto, a client who became obsessed with the 33-year-old influencer.
According to the Richmond County medical examiner, Gagnier was strangled to death while Accorto died from multiple self-inflicted “sharp force trauma” injuries.
Jenae’s distraught parents, Jeaneta Grover and Mark Gagnier, spoke with ABC7’s sister station KTRK-TV about their daughter’s lifestyle.
To her parents, she was so much more than an Instagram model.
“She’s a person. That was our baby,” said Grover. “She was so famous in her world, and so loved in ours.”
But her father said Jenae’s lifestyle scared him because of all the surgeries she underwent to attract strange men who objectified her.
“It scared the hell out of me. My daughter was beautiful. That scared the hell out of me. And she kept trying to get more and more beautiful, she worked on it hard. That scared the hell out of me.”
Jenae had a large following on OnlyFans, where she sold memberships for $10/month.
She also had 2.6 million followers on her @missmercedesmorr Instagram page, where she modeled Fashion Nova outfits.
Mark Gagnier described the horror inside the apartment when he arrived to check on his daughter’s welfare on Sunday.
He said he “didn’t hesitate to kick the door down,” when she didn’t respond to his calls. “What I saw, I wouldn’t want any parent to go through.”
Gagnier discovered his daughter’s body at the foot of the stairs.
He initially thought she fell down the stairs – until he entered the kitchen and found Accorto still alive with a knife stuck in his neck.
“He was twitching, he was gurgling. I could look in the room and there’s writings all over the wall.”
In the rambling messages – written in lipstick and a pen – Accorto apologized and professed his unrequited love for Jenae.
Police don’t believe Jenae knew Accorto personally.
Gagnier said he often talked to his daughter about her risky lifestyle.
“My monthly conversation is, ‘Jenae you have all these followers. Some probably because they love you, some because they like your look, some more crazy, and some obsessed.'”
He firmly believed that Accorto was a “crazed stalker” who somehow found Jenae’s address and killed her.
“I don’t know how he found her and I don’t know how all this happened,” Gagnier said.
FYI: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated Mercedes Morr was found dead in her Chicago home. It should have stated Richmond, Texas.
