Murder Charges Dropped Against Victim’s Wife

Charges that a Sun Valley housewife helped an 18-year-old “street kid” stab her husband to death, then passed off the killing as the work of a burglar, were dropped in San Fernando Municipal Court on Thursday after prosecutors announced that they had too little evidence to win a conviction.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Richman said prosecutors did not have enough evidence against Mary L. Kellel-Sophiea. She had been charged with murdering her estranged husband, Gregory Sophiea, with the aid of Anthony Thomas Moore, 18, who has been charged in the case.

Richman said the charges against Kellel-Sophiea could be refiled later if police uncover new evidence.

Kellel-Sophiea’s defense lawyer, Leslie H. Abramson, accused police of trying “to cover up the horrible mistake that they made in arresting an innocent citizen.”