LA Slaying May Solve Mystery of 2 Others

Tori Richards Contributor
AOL News

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (April 26, 2010) — Somebody really wanted to make sure
Khachik Safaryan was dead.

An assassin shot the 43-year-old man through the right side of his temple,
on each side of his forehead, and finished him off with a bullet to the
chest. Safaryan’s daughter Lusine, 8, was also killed with gunshots to each
side of her head.

The case remained unsolved for two years until Safaryan’s wife, Karine
Hakobyan, 38, was shot in the back of her head last month as she parked her
car. Now authorities have arrested and charged a man with her murder. The
suspect, Alberd Tersargyan, told police he was 73 years old but authorities
believe he is 59, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Sources say Tersargyan was romantically interested in Hakobyan, who spurned
his advances, according to KTLA-TV in Los Angeles, quoting an unidentified
family friend. Law enforcement sources also told the Times that Tersargyan
may have been obsessed with Hakobyan and had been stalking her.

Police are investigating whether the killer of Karine Hakobyan, here in an
undated family photo, also killed her husband and one of their daughters two
years ago.
Tersargyan was charged Thursday with one count of capital murder with the
enhancement of lying in wait in connection with Hakobyan’s death.

He remains jailed without bail and could face the death penalty if
convicted, according to court records. Los Angeles police detectives are
still working on the case, hoping to find enough evidence to charge him with
the other two slayings as well.

Tersargyan knew Hakobyan when they both lived in their native Armenia,
according to KTLA-TV. He also befriended Hakobyan’s husband and daughter
while still holding a romantic interest in the woman.

The Safaryan family immigrated to the United States several years ago after
winning a contest that paid for their move here. Apparently Tersargyan
moved, too.

Safaryan got a job as a supermarket clerk, and Hakobyan worked as a hospital
administrator. They had two young daughters and lived quietly in an area of
Hollywood that was an enclave for Armenian immigrants.

Then, on Dec. 11, 2008, the family’s 12-year-old daughter returned home from
school to a horrific death scene. Her younger sister was slumped on a couch
in the living room, where a decorated Christmas tree stood next to a
television set. In a bedroom, her father was lying on the ground, his head
propped up against a nightstand and partially covered by a jogging suit.
Blood spatters were on the wall, and a switchblade knife was next to his
body, according to a coroner’s report.

Detectives also found several cigarette butts on the foyer floor of the tidy
home, but no shell casings. Neighbors reported hearing a popping sound at
2:27 p.m., half an hour before the bodies were discovered, the coroner’s
report said.

"This was a professional hit," LAPD Detective Michael Whelan told AOL News.
"We think we have a motive behind all of this, but I can’t discuss that
now."

Whelan would not provide information on Tersargyan or his role in the first
two killings — whether he hired someone else or participated himself.
However, prosecutors have charged him with being the actual gunman in the
third death.

After the two murders, Hakobyan moved her daughter to another nearby
apartment complex where other relatives lived. A reward was offered by the
city of Los Angeles, but her family’s case went cold until she was slain in
a parking lot adjacent to her home.

A break in the case that led them to Tersargyan came Monday, police told The
Associated Press. Detectives arrested Tersargyan at his home and found a
handgun that matched the ballistics in Hakobyan’s shooting. Other weapons
were found at his home as well.

"Tersargyan personally discharged the firearm," Sandi Gibbons, a spokeswoman
with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office, told AOL News.

The lone survivor of the family’s slaughter is now 14 years old and living
with her grandparents near the apartment she used to share with her mother,
who was buried last week following an emotional funeral, Whelan told AOL
News.

"We just want them to find the people who did this, so they can finally get
their punishment," the girl told the Los Angeles Times.

Whelan said she was doing well, considering what happened to her, and has
the love of an extended family.

"She’s very intelligent and very well-grounded despite this horrific thing
that has happened to her," Whelan told the Times. "She’s held up in some
regards better than some of the family members around her."