Following the arrest of 28-year-old Vahan Keshishyan on Feb. 14, the Glendale Police Department Robbery and Homicide Bureau filed a murder charge with a weapon enhancement with the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office on Monday.
Keshishyan — who barricaded himself for hours in his mother’s house in the 3300 block of Reta Street in La Crescenta after police were dispatched regarding an assault — is being held at Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles with bail set at $2.02 million, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
GPD confirmed that the weapon used in the killing was a machete and that the victim, 63-year-old Ordean Neva, was providing pool cleaning services at the time of the attack. Neva was a resident of L.A. County. Police found his body after Keshishyan surrendered to GPD’s Crisis Negotiation Team and SWAT Team.
One neighbor, who asked to remain unnamed, told the News-Press that there had been “multiple” previous incidents in which neighbors were concerned about Keshishyan’s behavior, adding that Keshishyan had an alleged history of mental illness.
In the weeks prior to the Feb.14 incident, GPD said officers had been dispatched to the Reta Street home in response to a report of an assault.
Keshishyan’s first court date is set for March 4 at the Pasadena Superior Court.
No further suspects are being pursued at this time, police said last week.
The homicide investigation remains ongoing.
Anyone with information on the case is urged to contact the Glendale Police Department at (818) 548-4911.
First published in the February 24 print issue of the Glendale News-Press.
