Charges Dropped Against Wife of Slain Man

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 Thursday when prosecutors announced they had too little evidence to win a conviction.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Craig Richman said prosecutors had insufficient 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.

The charges were dismissed by San Fernando Municipal Court Judge Stephen Marcus.

Richman said the charges could be refiled later if police uncover new evidence. Los Angeles Police Detective Woodrow Parks said police still consider Kellel-Sophiea the primary suspect in the slaying and that they will continue to search for evidence that she conspired with Moore.

But her defense lawyer, Leslie H. Abramson, accused police of trying “to cover up the horrible mistake that they made in arresting an innocent citizen.”

Abramson has contended that Kellel-Sophiea never met Moore, that the killing occurred during a burglary and that Moore was prompted by police to fabricate an acquaintance with Kellel-Sophiea.

“I think that they are making excuses for the fact that they screwed up from the beginning. They had two months to come up with evidence against this woman and they came up with zero,” Abramson said.

Kellel-Sophiea, who had separated from her husband, was arrested when she called police Jan. 31 to report that he had been stabbed to death in his bed by an intruder.

She told police that she had come from Long Beach, where she was living, to the couple’s home to sign papers allowing her husband to sell the house, and that she and her 6-year-old daughter decided to spend the night. Kellel-Sophiea said she and her daughter slept in another bedroom and did not hear the intruder.

Police found pry marks on the door to the house but said inconsistencies in Kellel-Sophiea’s statements led to her arrest. They said she tried to make it appear as though the house had been burglarized.

Moore, whom authorities described as a street kid with a drug problem, was arrested the next month, after his fingerprints were found in the house.

Under questioning by police, authorities said, Moore confessed to the killing but gave several different versions of events, including some that involve Kellel-Sophiea and some that do not.

Parks said police have circumstantial evidence indicating that Kellel-Sophiea was acquainted with Moore, but they refused to elaborate and said investigation will continue. A preliminary hearing for Moore was scheduled to proceed May 3.