The young men were an affable, tightknit pair, partying side by side in Hollywood and working together in Van Nuys.
Iftekhar Murtaza now sits in Orange County Jail, charged with the murders of two members of his former girlfriend's family and the severe beating of a third. Vitaliy Krasnoperov, awaiting extradition in Phoenix, is considered a person of interest in the crimes.
Their arrests have stunned neighbors and friends. Maria Tourtchaninova, an Arizona State University student Krasnoperov had visited before he was taken into custody last week, told The Times in an e-mail that "there is no way he is capable, not mentaly or physically," of being involved in the murders.
"Im sure this arrest is a mistake that will be corrected soon," she wrote.
Citing an ongoing investigation, authorities have released little information to explain the link between the young men and the May 21 slayings of Jayprakash and Karishma Dhanak, the father and older sister of Shayona Dhanak, an 18-year-old UC Irvine student who was not at the family home during the attack. Her mother, Leela, was badly bludgeoned and remains hospitalized.
The victims were strangled, beaten, burned and stabbed, according to court records. The family's Anaheim Hills home was set ablaze.
This spring, Shayona Dhanak had ended her three-year relationship with Murtaza, 22, of Van Nuys, because, according to friends and court records, her Hindu family frowned on her dating a Muslim. The young man had told friends he wanted to marry her.
Murtaza, whose cellphone was used near the crime scene within an hour or so of the house fire, according to court records, was arrested late last month at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport carrying a ticket to Bangladesh. Last week, he was charged with two counts of murder, one of attempted murder and special-circumstances allegations of murder during a kidnapping and multiple murders.
If convicted, he could face the death penalty or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
On June 14, Krasnoperov, 21, of West Hollywood, was arrested, also in Arizona, where he was visiting friends, authorities said. He has signed an extradition waiver and is expected to be returned to Orange County by week's end.
Krasnoperov lived in a ground-level apartment on San Vicente Boulevard with his mother, Tatyana, who works at a Beverly Hills spa and at one point ran a limousine company. A man who answered the phone at the residence and identified himself as a friend of the family declined to comment Wednesday.
