A California man accused of kidnapping a UCLA student and raping another woman months earlier was found dead in an apparent suicide, police said.
A relative discovered Alexander Schecter unconscious and not breathing at a family home in Santa Monica the evening of Monday, October 5, a day before he was to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on charges including kidnapping and rape, the Los Angeles Times reported.
When police and Santa Monica fire personnel responded to the home, they declared Schecter, 26, dead at the scene, Santa Monica Police Lt. Lewis Gilmour confirmed in a statement to Us.
“The death is being investigated as a suspected suicide,” Gilmour said. “There is no indication of foul play at this time.”
Schecter’s death comes after he was charged in April with abducting a female UCLA student in March and raping another woman in October 2025 in Culver City, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
On March 8, he was accused of kidnapping a student he was supposed to have dropped off by preventing her from leaving his car, according to the district attorney’s office. He also allegedly threatened her with violence before she found a way to leave his vehicle.
Schecter had been initially accused of kidnapping two UCLA students during the incident, according to university police.
The UCLA Police Department said in a March 24 news release that there may be other victims of Schecter, who was “not believed to be affiliated” with the university.
Following his arrest in relation to the alleged kidnapping, detectives linked him to a sexual assault that occurred on October 12, 2025, according to police.
He allegedly raped a woman around 3:15 a.m. that day in Culver City, the district attorney’s office said.
“The callous and deeply disturbing actions of the defendant have left two women with unimaginable trauma,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said in an April 6 statement.
In a statement Schecter’s attorney provided to the Los Angeles Times, Schecter’s family was critical of how Hochman handled the case, as well as his statements on Schecter.
His family told the newspaper Schecter had autism and anxiety and that the case was “more complicated than the headlines suggested.”
Schecter’s attorney Debra S. White said in a statement to the newspaper: “An accusation can do enormous damage before the full story is known, particularly when prosecutors overcharge and speak publicly as though guilt has already been decided. Taking allegations seriously does not relieve prosecutors of the responsibility to exercise restraint, fairness, and respect for due process.”
Schecter had been charged with kidnapping to commit another crime; one felony count of first-degree residential robbery; two felony counts of forcible oral copulation; and one felony count of forcible rape.
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