ARREST MADE IN MURDERS OF 3 MEMBERS OF ARMENIAN FAMILY
KTLA
April 22 2010
CA
A family friend told KTLA that the he believes family is being targeted
because of a love triangle.
HOLLYWOOD — A man has been arrested in connection with the slaying
of three members of a Hollywood family.
The suspect, Alberd Tersargyan man 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 murder’s of her husband and
daughter 2 years earlier.
Tersargyan was arrested at his home Wednesday night and a weapon was
found, Police Capt. Kevin McClure
In December 2008, a gunman burst into a Hollywood apartment and shot
Khachik Safaryan, 38, and his 8-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 12-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.