Former boyfriend charged in fatal attack on Anaheim Hills family

Iftekhar Murtaza’s girlfriend, a UC Irvine freshman he had wooed with roses and charm and talked about marrying, recently ended their three-year romance. Her devoutly Hindu parents apparently frowned on her dating a Muslim, and her older sister had backed their decision.

If prosecutors are right, the young couple’s relationship then took a Shakespearean turn.

Murtaza, 22, of Van Nuys was charged Wednesday in connection with the slayings of his former girlfriend’s father and sister and the severe beating of her mother at the family’s Anaheim Hills home. He faces two counts of murder and one of attempted murder, and special-circumstance allegations of murder during a kidnapping and committing multiple murders.

If convicted, Murtaza -- whose only known brushes with the law had been speeding tickets -- could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole. He is being held at Orange County Jail without bail, and police said they were looking for at least one other suspect.

Murtaza’s arraignment was continued to July 6 during a minutes-long hearing Wednesday afternoon at North Justice Center in Fullerton. In a light blue jumpsuit with his hair mussed, Murtaza stared ahead, uncuffed hands at his side, and steadily answered the judge’s questions. He whispered to his public defender and occasionally scratched his face.

Defense attorney Bryan Harris declined to comment.

Murtaza’s attorney in Arizona, where U.S. marshals arrested him last month on a fugitive warrant, had told reporters that Murtaza was “innocent of any crime” and that the warrant used to arrest him was “full of inaccuracies.”

Murtaza, the warrant said, was livid at the parents and sister of Shayona Dhanak, 18, because they had pushed her to end their relationship “due to different religious backgrounds, Hindu and Muslim.”

Phone records showed that Murtaza’s cellphone had been used near a crime scene an hour or so before the slayings, the warrant said, although Murtaza had told authorities he wasn’t in Anaheim on that date -- May 21.

Late that night, authorities found Dhanak’s mother, Leela, 53, in a neighbor’s yard, bludgeoned and unconscious. The family home in Anaheim Hills was set on fire. Neighbors reported seeing a young, slender man dragging her outside just before smoke started pouring from the house.

Several hours later, authorities responding to a brush fire near Concordia University and UC Irvine discovered the bodies of her husband, Jayprakash, 56, and her 20-year-old daughter, Karishma. The victims had been strangled, bludgeoned, burned and stabbed, according to court records.

Shayona Dhanak was at UC Irvine and was unharmed. She and her mother -- whom investigators as of Wednesday afternoon had been unable to interview because she was so severely beaten -- are under police protection.

Muscled and dark-eyed, his upper arms swathed in tattoos, Murtaza was enamored of motorcycles, flashy cars and going to the gym. He wrote on his Facebook.com page that friends could call him “Ian,” though many called him “Iffy.” His introduction is rambling:

“I do not like the fact that i always say bless you everytime i hear someone sneeze but no one ever says it to me even if i am in a crowded room.... I like a corny sense of humor and a good laugh.... I know that the only truly fair and equitable solution to any dispute is: Rock, Paper, Scissors....”

Among his favorite quotes: “Dont Judge a Book By its Cover.”

Murtaza moved between his parents’ North Hills condominium and various apartments in the San Fernando Valley and dabbled in business economics courses at a community college. He eventually landed a job at a neighborhood loan company, said Melissa Hossain, a 21-year-old fashion design student who said she had known Murtaza about three years.

After a falling out with the owners, Murtaza opened his own mortgage company in Van Nuys, Pacific Wholesale Lending Inc. He told friends it was doing well. He had moved from a small office to a larger one, bought a car and for a time lived in a “really nice, really expensive” apartment, Hossain said. He also began talking about marriage. Murtaza had fallen for Shayona Dhanak at a party about three years ago, friends said. A pretty, outgoing teen, she attended Troy High School in Fullerton, according to her Facebook page, which lists an array of fancies: “deep discussions”; singing in the shower; the colors turquoise and magenta; Disneyland; Harry Potter; and “cheesy music that I can secretly dance to in my room when no one is watching.”

Murtaza wooed her with gusto, friends said. Two or three times a week, he drove to Orange County -- an almost 90-mile round trip. Murtaza had gone out with other girls but, Hossain said, “Shayona was the one he actually said ‘I love you’ to.”

In the last year, their relationship appeared to deepen, friends said, though their religious differences made both sets of parents flinch. His family decided not to intervene, Hossain said. Hers said it must end.

A few weeks before the slayings, “She just told him, ‘I just can’t be with you because you’re Muslim and my parents won’t accept it,’ ” Hossain said. “He was upset about it, but it didn’t seem like the end of the world.” The pair had repeatedly split and reunited, and “you just knew they’d get back together,” she said.

In the crime spree’s aftermath, investigators interviewed Murtaza. He told them he and his mother would be leaving to visit his ailing grandmother in Bangladesh, according to his Arizona attorney, Jeremy Phillips. Soon after, Murtaza was arrested at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. Investigators said his ticket was one-way; his attorney said it was round-trip. He was returned to California on Monday.

His friends have posted a flurry of supportive messages online:

“for what it’s worth i dont think u did it. hope u get out soon and the cops start looking for the real killers....”

“i know you didnt do it, you couldn’t even hurt a fly let alone a crime like this.”

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ashley.powers@latimes.com

tony.barboza@latimes.com

Contributing to this report were Times staff writers Christine Hanley, Dave McKibben, H.G. Reza and editorial assistant Nardine Saad.