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updated 6 Jan 2011, 13:15
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Thu, Jan 06, 2011
The Sunday Times
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S’pore-born porn actress killed in California

A Singapore-born porn actress has been found dead in her apartment in the small city of Monrovia in Southern California.

Police were called to the apartment of Miss Felicia Lee, 31, better known by her stage name Felicia Tang, on Sept 11 at noon. She had been beaten and suffocated.

Her boyfriend, Brian Lee Randone, 45, whom she was living with, was charged with torture and murder last Tuesday.

Randone called the police to report that his girlfriend was unconscious, said the San Gabriel Valley Tribune, the area’s newspaper.

It reported that Randone is a former preacher and once starred in a Fox reality television show called The Sexiest Bachelor In America.

His next hearing will be on Sept 29 in the Pasadena Superior Court and he is being held in lieu of a US$2 million (S$2.8 million) bail. He has no previous police records in the area.

Neighbours did not report anything unusual on the day Miss Lee’s body was found.

Investigators interviewed said there was no known history of domestic violence between the couple. It is not clear how long they were together.

According to her biographies on the Internet, Miss Lee was born on Oct 22, 1977, and was raised in Singapore. She later moved to Perth, Australia, where she attended a private Catholic girls’ school for two years.

In one of her MySpace accounts, she wrote in her profile: “Growing up, I lived in many different places. But I was born and raised in Singapore. My family and I moved around a lot!”

Her family moved to Los Angeles, California, when she was 13.

At 19, the 1.68m-tall teenager started to model for fashion catalogues and bikini calendars while pursuing a course in marketing and business administration in college.

She was the cover model for the Pacific USA 2002 Bikini Calendar, and one site listed her vital statistics as 34B-24-34.

An Internet image search of her under Felicia Tang resulted in several pages of photographs featuring her slim, tanned frame and long hair.

She was reportedly an online adult top draw from 2001 to last year. She starred in several Playboy TV shows such as Naked Sports, 7 Lives Xposed and Buckwild, and appeared in several erotic DVD movies, including Asian
Fever and Hotel Decadence.

She also starred in a pay-per-view strip poker series and in import car videos that featured sexy models.

She also had a website, Felicia Tang.com, which offered photo galleries and videos. It has been defunct for about a year.

In an interview with a car website, she said she had two younger sisters and that she had great memories of high school.

“I still remember my geeky years. In college, I was able to graduate with a degree in business administration,” she said.

She described herself as “pretty down-to-earth, but I am also goofy. I try to have as much balance as possible in my life. I really enjoy new experiences and I try to live life to its fullest. One person can make a change in the world. They just need to be at the right place at the right time”.

She listed gourmet cooking as a hobby and said she liked to “make everything from scratch. My speciality is creating Californian- Fusion dishes”.

She also wrote that while she was modelling and acting, she was also branching out into mortgage banking.

She also tried her hand at acting a few years ago and scored minor roles in Jackie Chan’s Rush Hour 2 (2001), Jet Li’s Cradle 2 The Grave (2003) and The Fast And The Furious (2001).

Miss Lee clearly enjoyed her movie stints. On her MySpace profile, she wrote: “I love acting and hope to get more chances to do so! :P”

An industry acquaintance who directed her appearance in a softcore feature told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that the actress was talented and upbeat.
 
“We’ve worked with her off and on for quite a few years...She was always pretty happy on set and laughing, and she always helped the crew get through the day.”

She had two sides to her personality.

On her website, she said she enjoyed “being the ultimate party animal”, but at the same time she liked “being a suzy homemaker”.

Reports, however, said she stopped modelling last year, which was when she took down her website.

Randone reportedly grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. He has a bachelor’s degree from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and a master’s of divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, reported the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

He was said to have worked as a mime on the campus of Baylor University in Texas in 1996 and spoke regularly at retreats, youth rallies and other church and school functions.

He later moved to California and in 2000, appeared on The Sexiest Bachelor In America as a contestant  representing Nebraska.

In the one-episode beauty pageant, 51 bachelors, one from each American state and the District of Columbia, competed for cash and prizes worth US$100,000 and the title.

They had to compete in swimwear and formal attire, and go through a talent competition and a question-and-answer session.

Randone did not win. The title went to Mr Virginia Tom Gill.

Meanwhile, some of Miss Lee’s friends have left postings on the San Gabriel Valley Tribune crime blog in support of her.

To a comment that she had appeared in “several XXX-rated movies”, they said she had never starred in hardcore porn films.

“She did only bikini and strip,” said a friend named Mike.

Another named Jenn wrote: “She was also a friend to many, a daughter to a family, and a beautiful person inside and out.”

A person named Dan wrote: “The real tragedy is to those of us who knew her, what a beautiful person she was, and to see you reduce her to something like this is sick. We grieve for her and to see this only makes it worse.”

This article was first published in The Sunday Times.

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