Millionaire Found Dead for Days Inside Hermosa Beach Home, Officials’ Bizarre Discovery Stuns Community

Hermosa Beach Police made a shocking discovery inside a home on the Strand when they found the decomposing body of a man. The victim was identified as 92-year-old real estate developer and millionaire Demetrius Doukoullos.

However, the body was not the only bizarre discovery officers made at the property. They also encountered a suspect who had locked themselves inside the house and refused to come out for hours.

The case came to light when Hermosa Beach Police were called to a property near the 5th Street on the Strand to conduct a welfare check on an elderly man who lived alone. Neighbors noticed a foul smell coming from his bedroom and had not seen him in days, prompting concern.

The building's property manager then requested the welfare check. Talking about the situation, a local woman, Patty Snyder, told NBC4, “She [the property manager] had been worried about him. She was doing a check on him, and the house smelled terrible, so she called the police.”

“He was always out on his front porch. He always had his blinds open. And all of a sudden, they were closed all the time, and they didn't see him,” Snyder added, recalling how Doukoullos’s absence sparked worry among the community.

Authorities arrived at the beachfront property at around 12:30 p.m. and opened the door, only to find a transgender woman running inside the bedroom and barricading herself. “The individual was uncooperative, made statements indicating possibly being armed, and barricaded themselves inside the residence,” the police said in a statement.

Special forces, including SWAT teams and crisis negotiators, were then called to the scene. After seven hours of negotiation, the suspect finally decided to surrender. When she came out, the police received another surprise as she was dressed in a dark suit, hat, and sunglasses, seemingly recreating a look from the 1980 film The Blues Brothers.

The suspect was identified as Elanor Beaulieu, whose legal name is Robert Phillip Simmons. The authorities then finally found Doukoullos’s body. According to investigators, the corpse had partially decomposed and showed signs of trauma.

Police suspect that Doukoullos had been dead for days, and Beaulieu stayed inside the home all this time. It has not yet been determined what transpired between the two. The possible connection between the victim and the accused also remains unclear.

Beaulieu has now been charged with murder and is being held in the Los Angeles County Jail. Her bond has been set at $2 million. The case is still under investigation, and the police are searching the house for more clues.

Investigators are also seeking the public’s help in solving the case and have asked anyone with information to contact the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at 323-890-5500.

This is not Beaulieu’s first stint with law enforcement. She was previously taken into custody in February 2025 but released the following day. More recently, she was detained by Redondo Beach on February 23, 2026, on an accusation of petty theft, but was again released.