Second homicide in four days in Santa Monica

Santa Monica police today are investigating the fatal shooting of a man whose body was found Wednesday night in his Montana Avenue apartment, the second homicide in four days in the seaside city.

Relatives of Alexander “Sasha” Merman, 35, called police Wednesday night to check on his well being, authorities said. Investigators went to The Montana 520 apartments, a three-story blue-and-white 1960s-style condominium at 520 Montana Ave. shortly after 8 p.m., said Sgt. Mario Toti.

Merman’s death was initially considered “suspicious,” and this morning detectives began treating it as a homicide, Lt. Ray Cooper said.

Santa Monica Police Lt. Alex Padilla said there were no signs of forced entry at Merman’s condominium. He said police are investigating how long Merman was dead and when he was last seen.

“We’re hoping a neighbor or somebody can shed some light on what they’ve heard or seen,” Padilla said.

No suspects have been identified, police said.

According to his website, “Sasha’s Illusions,” Merman was born in Moscow on Oct. 24, 1972, and emigrated with his mother to L.A. in 1985. He attended local schools, joined the U.S. Navy in 1992, and in 1998 graduated from Otis College of Art & Design with a bachelor of fine arts degree in illustration, according to the site. Otis College staff confirmed that Merman graduated in 1998.

The website features galleries of Merman’s surreal, multicolored digitally-enhanced drawings.

“Sasha Merman’s unorthodox artistic style combines Dali’s bizarre surrealism, M.C. Escher’s three-dimensional illusions and Giger’s eerie erotic imagery with the modern influences of urban Los Angeles culture,” the website says. “The divulgement of his artistic ideas is aided by the use of unconventional surfaces to create an inimitable expression of the artist’s stream of consciousness.”

Property records show Merman owned his condo.

Neighbor Rikki Kapes described Merman as fit and polite, a teacher who was nice to her grandson the few times they passed in the hall.

“It’s awful and it’s not believable,” Kapes said as she stood outside the apartments this morning. “It happens, it’s just that it’s so rare around here.”

On Sunday, the body of aspiring Santa Monica actress Juliana Maureen Redding, 21, was found in her apartment in the 1500 block of Centinela Avenue.

Redding’s death is also being investigated as a homicide, Toti said. No one has been arrested in connection with that case, he said. Although Redding’s autopsy has been conducted, the Los Angeles County coroner has not released results due to a security hold on the case.

Police do not believe there is any connection between the two killings. Merman’s apartment is about three miles from Redding’s residence.

Some of Merman’s neighbors fear the recent homicides signal a rise in violent crimes linked to the downturn in the national economy, including Jack Rothstein, 57, a bearded fiction writer who was passing by the crime scene this morning, Frisbee in hand, wearing a denim cap and a shirt emblazoned, “Revolution.”

“When crimes like this happen in Santa Monica, it doesn’t bode well for the whole nation,” Rothstein said.

The homicides this week mark the first and second of the year for the city of about 91,000, which rarely sees high levels of violent crime.

Anyone with information about the Merman or Redding homicides is asked to contact investigators at (310) 458-8451

molly.hennessy-fiske@latimes.com

andrew.blankstein@latimes.com