Detectives and neighbors disclosed new details in what’s revealing itself to be a brutal Woodland Hills home invasion homicide.
The murder happened in the early morning hours of Saturday, April 26, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
LAPD initially investigated it as a suspicious death after the victim was declared dead in his home across the street from Woodland Hills Elementary School. However, the investigation that followed unveiled the case to be much more disturbing.
It was just before 1 a.m. Saturday when police arrived at the home on the 22200 block of De La Osa Street and found the victim, later identified as 47-year-old Aleksandre Modebadze. On Monday, officials told KTLA’s Gene Kang that responding officers found Modebadze badly beaten and suffering from a traumatic head wound.
LAPD said that paramedics arrived and pronounced Modebadze dead at the scene.
Detectives soon determined that three suspects broke in, held Modebadze captive and beat him severely before stealing his property and taking off.
In addition, it appears that Modebadze’s surveillance cameras had been removed.
With help from the FBI, LAPD detectives tracked down the three suspects within the day that followed.
The first suspect, identified as 38-year-old Paata Kochyashvili, was taken into custody in the area of Sepulveda Boulevard and Burbank Boulevard.
The next two suspects, according to police, were taken into custody together in the 400 block of Burchett Street in Glendale. They were identified as 46-year-old Zaza Otarashvili and 52-year-old Besiki Khutsishvili,
All three suspects were booked for murder, and they are each being held on $2 million bail.
Neighbors in this Woodland Hills area are now speaking out, extremely concerned for their safety.
“It’s absolutely insane to see this in a neighborhood like this,” said one neighbor. “There’s a strange uptick in crime.”
Some residents told KTLA that just last week, their home was ransacked and their dog was terrorized in a separate incident.
“He peed in his cage, they stole a bunch of my purses and jewelry,” said a neighbor. “It was very very unfortunate.”
As of Monday afternoon, LAPD has not released a motive or indicated whether the murder victim was targeted.
“It’s a problem here, and the residents are very scared,” said another neighbor. “I’m considering putting my house up for sale.”
In the meantime, neighbors said they want more police patrols in the area.
