GLENDALE : Man Faces Murder Hearing in El Centro
A preliminary hearing was set Tuesday for a Glendale man accused of fatally stabbing an acquaintance during a fishing trip in an Imperial County wildlife refuge area, officials said.
Samvel Ketelekyan, 40, was arraigned before El Centro Municipal Judge Joseph Zimmerman.
Ketelekyan is scheduled to appear for a June 9 preliminary hearing on a murder charge with a special allegation of using a knife. If convicted, the businessman could be sentenced to up to 25 years to life in state prison, prosecutors said. He remains in Imperial County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
The Glendale resident, who immigrated from Armenia in August, 1991, was arrested last week in the May 16 stabbing death of Albert Mardirossian, a transient in his mid- to late 50s. Mardirossian’s body was found on a dirt road in the Wister Wildlife area in Niland. An autopsy found that the victim was stabbed in the chest and left eye and suffered a broken left knee.
During questioning, Ketelekyan admitted going on a fishing trip with Mardirossian on May 15 and arguing the next morning about whether to return home, Imperial County Sheriff’s Investigator Mike Leon said. Both men had worked together in the produce industry, Leon said.
“The suspect and the victim had been drinking,” the investigator said. But “we don’t know what the motive is.”
Since Ketelekyan’s arrest, family members have maintained that the father of three is innocent.
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