The murder of a 38-year-old woman who was found in her car outside an apartment in Hollywood last Friday may be linked to the slayings of her husband and eight-year-old daughter in December 2008. According to reports, police are investigating whether the murders may be connected to a personal relationship involving the victim’s deceased husband, 43-year-old Khachik Safaryan.

The bodies of Safaryan and his daughter Lusine were found on December 11, 2008 by his 15-year-old daughter, who had returned to the family’s apartment in 1200 block of Tamarind Avenue around 2:00pm. The 15-year-old daughter also discovered her mother’s body outside their apartment in the 5800 block of Lexington Avenue just after 8:00pm on March 26. Det. Michael Whelan, with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Robbery-Homicide Division, identified the victim as Karine Hakobyan, a patient care worker at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Whelan said Hakobyan had been shot in the back of the head, and added that investigators are trying to determine whether anyone witnessed the shooting. He described the daughter as being very distraught, and added that she is currently staying with family members. Police are keeping a close watch on the daughter to ensure her safety, Whelan said.

“We are doing everything we can to help her get through this,” Whelan said. “It is obviously a very difficult time for her.”

Detectives had been investigating the murders of Khachik and Lucine Safaryan for nearly 16 months without any major breaks in the case, and Whelan said investigators are now looking into several possibilities for a motive. He ruled out robbery, and declined to elaborate on any other theories.

“There is nothing evidentiary connecting these three murders, other than that they were all shot within sixteen months of each other. That’s the only connection right now, and I can’t comment on anything else because we are right in the middle of the investigation,” Whelan said. “It’s not a dangerous area. It’s not a gang neighborhood. It’s a working class neighborhood with mostly Armenian families. Right now, we don’t know why these killings occurred, and we are not ruling anything out.”

Safaryan and his family immigrated to the United States from Armenia in 2003, and settled in the Hollywood area. Safaryan worked as a butcher at an undisclosed location near the family’s apartment. Whelan described the family’s lifestyle as “mundane”, and said there was no evidence that Safaryan or Hakobyan had been involved in criminal activity in the United States or Armenia.

Safaryan and his daughter Lucine are believed to have been shot to death on December 11, 2008, sometime between 7:30am and 8:00am, after Hakobyan and the 15-year-old daughter had left the apartment on Tamarind Avenue.  The family’s vehicle was found a couple of blocks away from the apartment, which was not the usual place it was parked, but officials have not been able to determine who moved the car, according to Whelan. No forced entry was detected in the vehicle or the apartment.

Whelan said Hakobyan was found slumped in the driver’s seat of her Honda CR-X, which was parked in the carport of her apartment on Lexington Avenue.

Whelan added that she had been depressed over the loss of her husband and daughter but was moving forward with her life. She and her daughter had moved to the new apartment and continued to live what Whelan described as normal lives.

Whelan added that it is highly unusual for three members of the same family to be murdered, and said detectives from the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division are handling the case because of its complexity.

“It is a difficult case because we are dealing with the cultural issues and there are a lot of questions that we don’t have answers to,” Whelan added. “It’s a horrible way to die and now the fifteen year old is left with no parents and no sister. We are doing the best we can.”

Anyone with information about the murders is asked to contact detective Michael Whelan with the LAPD’s Robbery-Homicide Division at (213)486-6850. During weekends and off-hours, contact the LAPD’s 24-hour toll-free hotline at (877)LAPD-24-7.