Alberd Tersargyan |
HOLLYWOOD -- A 73-year-old man arrested in the slaying of a Hollywood family may have been obsessed with one of his victims, according to law enforcement sources.
The suspect, Alberd Tersargyan, was initially detained on an unrelated charge, but police now say they have evidence linking him to the murder of Karine Hakobyan in 2010.
He is also being investigated in the murders of her husband and daughter 2 years earlier.
Tersargyan was arrested at his home Wednesday night and a weapon was found, according to Police Capt. Kevin McClure.
He has been charged with capital murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait, according to Deputy District Attorney Eric Harmon. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty if Tersargyan is convicted, the district attorney's office said.
His arraignment, which had been scheduled for Thursday afternoon at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse, was continued.
In December 2008, a gunman burst into a Hollywood apartment and shot Khachik Safaryan, 38, and his 9-year-old daughter, Lucine.
They were found shot to death by Safaryan's 15-year-old daughter when she returned home from school on December 11, 2008 to their apartment in 1200 block of Tamarind Avenue.
Safaryan's 13-year-old daughter discovered the bodies later that day.
Eighteen months later, Safaryan's wife, Karine Hakobyan, 38, was found slumped in her car with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, blocks away from the first crime scene.
The vehicle was parked in a fenced, gated area in the 5800 block of Lexington Avenue, according to police.
Once again, the couple's daughter discovered the body.
Homicide detectives have always believed that Hakobyan's murder was related to the killing of her husband and their daughter.
Shortly after those killings, Hakobyan and her surviving daughter moved in with her in-laws in the Lexington Avenue apartment complex.
A family friend, who did not want to be identified for fear of his life, spoke exclusively to KTLA, and said the family is being gunned down because of a love triangle.
He spoke of an alleged affair between Safaryan, who was a supermarket clerk in Hollywood, and his former girlfriend in Armenia, who was a married woman.
That alleged mistress is now a multi-millionaire who lives in Los Angeles, according to the family friend.
That friend also provided exclusively to KTLA a year-old letter written but never sent to President Obama by the surviving daughter.
One excerpt reads: "December 11, 2008 was an ordinary day for a lot of people. Unfortunately, this day was tragic. My father and Lucine were brutally murdered in our apartment. Our family is falling apart now."
She ends her letter to the president by saying, "I am hoping that you, Mr. president, will find time to put pressure on the above institutions to solve the hideous murders of my beloved sister and father."
Police say they are investigating a possible link between the murders.
"We're working on a theory that was developed in the previous homicides," said police Detective Dan Myers.
Hakobyan and Safaryan married in Armenia and moved to the U.S. in 2003.
Safaryan worked as a butcher in Hollywood, and his wife worked as a patient-care service aide at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
Police have said they have no evidence the victims were involved in criminal activities in Armenia or the U.S.
The suspect, Alberd Tersargyan, was initially detained on an unrelated charge, but police now say they have evidence linking him to the murder of Karine Hakobyan in 2010.
He is also being investigated in the murders of her husband and daughter 2 years earlier.
Tersargyan was arrested at his home Wednesday night and a weapon was found, according to Police Capt. Kevin McClure.
He has been charged with capital murder with the special circumstance of lying in wait, according to Deputy District Attorney Eric Harmon. Prosecutors will decide later whether to seek the death penalty if Tersargyan is convicted, the district attorney's office said.
His arraignment, which had been scheduled for Thursday afternoon at the downtown Los Angeles courthouse, was continued.
In December 2008, a gunman burst into a Hollywood apartment and shot Khachik Safaryan, 38, and his 9-year-old daughter, Lucine.
They were found shot to death by Safaryan's 15-year-old daughter when she returned home from school on December 11, 2008 to their apartment in 1200 block of Tamarind Avenue.
Safaryan's 13-year-old daughter discovered the bodies later that day.
Eighteen months later, Safaryan's wife, Karine Hakobyan, 38, was found slumped in her car with a gunshot wound to the back of the head, blocks away from the first crime scene.
The vehicle was parked in a fenced, gated area in the 5800 block of Lexington Avenue, according to police.
Once again, the couple's daughter discovered the body.
Homicide detectives have always believed that Hakobyan's murder was related to the killing of her husband and their daughter.
Shortly after those killings, Hakobyan and her surviving daughter moved in with her in-laws in the Lexington Avenue apartment complex.
A family friend, who did not want to be identified for fear of his life, spoke exclusively to KTLA, and said the family is being gunned down because of a love triangle.
He spoke of an alleged affair between Safaryan, who was a supermarket clerk in Hollywood, and his former girlfriend in Armenia, who was a married woman.
That alleged mistress is now a multi-millionaire who lives in Los Angeles, according to the family friend.
That friend also provided exclusively to KTLA a year-old letter written but never sent to President Obama by the surviving daughter.
One excerpt reads: "December 11, 2008 was an ordinary day for a lot of people. Unfortunately, this day was tragic. My father and Lucine were brutally murdered in our apartment. Our family is falling apart now."
She ends her letter to the president by saying, "I am hoping that you, Mr. president, will find time to put pressure on the above institutions to solve the hideous murders of my beloved sister and father."
Police say they are investigating a possible link between the murders.
"We're working on a theory that was developed in the previous homicides," said police Detective Dan Myers.
Hakobyan and Safaryan married in Armenia and moved to the U.S. in 2003.
Safaryan worked as a butcher in Hollywood, and his wife worked as a patient-care service aide at Children's Hospital Los Angeles.
Police have said they have no evidence the victims were involved in criminal activities in Armenia or the U.S.
