Charges baffle suspect's friends - Man held in Anaheim Hills slayings is said to be kind, and lacking any motive to hurt family.
When defending Vitaliy Krasnoperov, a West Hollywood man charged in connection with two slayings and a beating so brutal that they have drawn nationwide attention, friends often mention his motorcycle and his mother.
The 21-year-old, who was working at a loan company and planning to enroll in community college, lived with his mother, Tatyana, and their black cat, Benny, in a small San Vicente Boulevard apartment. It was where Krasnoperov told friends he was couch-bound on May 21 while recovering from a motorcycle accident.
That night, about 45 miles south in Anaheim Hills, a woman was beaten unconscious, her home set on fire and her husband and older daughter viciously killed and dumped in a park in Irvine, their bodies set ablaze. The woman's younger daughter, who was not home when the attacks occurred, had recently ended her relationship with a 22-year-old Van Nuys man named Iftekhar Murtaza -- Krasnoperov's co-worker and friend.
Murtaza and Krasnoperov have been charged with two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and special-circumstances allegations that could make both men subject to the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole. On Friday, their arraignments were continued until Aug. 10.
During Krasnoperov's hearing in Orange County Superior Court, his mother and about a half-dozen relatives and friends scooted to the edge of their chairs to catch a glimpse of him as he talked with his attorney from behind a transparent partition.
"He's OK. He's OK," the attorney, Dmitry Gurovich of Sherman Oaks, said after Friday's hearing. "He's absolutely shocked about the arrest."
Krasnoperov has thus far proven to be an enigmatic figure. He appears to have no direct link to the victims, and authorities, citing the ongoing investigation, have yet to publicly explain his alleged involvement.
His friends are baffled. "What would be his motive for wanting to murder a family?" asked Inna Zazulevskaya, 22, a recent UC San Diego graduate who said she has known him since sixth grade.
Krasnoperov and his mother emigrated from Ukraine when he was a boy, she said. He was a class clown with "thousands of jokes" who speaks Russian and English and is handy with computers. Even though he had a fever, he had helped Zazulevskaya move to San Diego. "He's like a brother," she said. He "makes you laugh and gets overprotective."
