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Mother and daughter accused of covering up fatal hit-and-run crash in Glendale

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A mother and daughter pleaded not guilty this week to charges connected to a fatal hit-and-run crash — and subsequent cover-up attempt — that claimed the life of an 81-year-old Glendale man, officials said.

Investigators believe Goar Davtyan, 67, was behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry that fatally struck Martiros Arutyunyan one evening in April as he legally crossed Broadway from Belmont Street in Glendale. He sustained head injuries and was rushed to the hospital, where he died.

Within days, after traffic investigators canvassed the crime scene for evidence, surveillance footage and witnesses, Davtyan was identified as a person of interest. Her car, which had damage consistent with the collision, was seized for forensic testing.

But she told police she wasn’t involved in a crash involving a pedestrian.

And detectives learned that two days after the crash, her daughter, 42-year-old Alina Davtyan, filed an insurance claim, alleging that the damage to the car came from a different collision on a freeway, according to police and court records.

Their story, however, didn’t match up with surveillance footage captured at and around the scene. Police arrested the duo about a month after the crash.

Goar Davtyan was charged on Friday with one count of hit-and-run driving resulting in death, while her daughter faces one count each of insurance fraud and being an accessory after the fact, according to the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office.

The pair is due back in court in November.

If convicted, Goar Davtyan faces a maximum sentence of four years in state prison, while her daughter faces five years in county jail.

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Alene Tchekmedyian, alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com

Twitter: @atchek

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