Calif. crypto investor allegedly strangled girlfriend to death in the Philippines

The Pasig River in Manila, Philippines, where Troy Woody Jr., a 21-year-old bitcoin trader and social media celebrity from Beverly Hills, and his roommate, 22-year-old Mir Islam, allegedly dumped the body of Tomi Michelle Masters. less The Pasig River in Manila, Philippines, where Troy Woody Jr., a 21-year-old bitcoin trader and social media celebrity from Beverly Hills, and his roommate, 22-year-old Mir Islam, allegedly dumped the body of ... more Photo: Cristian Bortes / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Photo: Cristian Bortes / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Image 1 of / 22 Caption Close Calif. crypto investor allegedly strangled girlfriend to death in the Philippines 1 / 22 Back to Gallery

A well-known cryptocurrency investor from California allegedly killed his 23-year-old girlfriend and dumped her body in the Philippines, the day before Christmas Eve, according to international media reports.

Troy Woody Jr., a 21-year-old bitcoin trader and social media celebrity from Beverly Hills, and his roommate Mir Islam, 22, have been arrested for allegedly suffocating Tomi Michelle Masters, the Sun reports. It is not yet known if Masters was dead before she was then thrown into the Pasig River in Manila.

Woody and Islam reportedly called a taxi to take them to the waterway, where they dumped the body, naked and duct-taped in a box, and then returned to the taxi. Surveillance footage obtained by Filipino media shows the two men removing a large cardboard box from a vehicle around 2:40 a.m. on Dec. 23.

The driver reported the suspicious passengers to police, who found Masters' body and later arrested the men, who both accused the other of committing the crime, according to The Daily Mail.

Police suspect Woody and Masters, who had been staying together in Manila, had a falling-out after Masters pleaded to return to her home in Indiana, the Sun reports. Both Woody and Masters' Instagram profiles reference each other as boyfriend and girlfriend.

Woody has more than 195,000 followers on his Instagram account, where he routinely showed off expensive purchases, like Dom Perignon champagne and Christian Louboutin shoes, and lavish vacations. In his bio, he calls himself an "early crypto investor." The most recent post on the page, from more than two months ago, is a photo of Woody and Masters smiling on a beach in Malibu.

Read Michelle Robertson's latest stories and send her news tips at mrobertson@sfchronicle.com.

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