Man Faces New Trial in Travel Agent’s Slaying

A man who was acquitted of murdering a Glendale travel agent after his sister fled the country to evade prosecution faces a new trial today on federal charges stemming from the killing.

Garen Zakarian, 31, is charged with interfering with interstate commerce in a robbery, using a firearm in a violent crime, and possessing a gun and silencer with the serial numbers removed, all felonies. The U.S. District Court trial is expected to last two weeks, and if convicted on all counts, he could be sentenced to life in federal prison without parole.

The charges stem from the October 5, 1994, killing of travel agent Benita Mikailian, of which a Los Angeles Superior Court jury found Zakarian not guilty in December. Prosecutors said they were hampered in the case by the absence of Zakarian’s sister, Anait Zakarian, who was also charged with murder but was mistakenly released from jail while awaiting trial. Authorities now believe Anait Zakarian has fled the United States.

Warrington Parker, an assistant U.S. attorney who is prosecuting the case, said the evidence will be similar to that in the state case.

“I am convinced that he is guilty,” Parker said. “Whether or not the jury will agree that the evidence demonstrates his guilt, I can’t speculate.”

Zakarian and his sister owned and operated the Econo Trans travel service in Glendale, which specialized in providing air travel from Yerevan, Armenia, to the United States.

In a 30-page summary of the case, prosecutors alleged that one or both of the Zakarian siblings shot Mikailian in the chest five times in order to steal 80 airline tickets from Paris to Los Angeles, which they needed to avoid stranding a planeload of Armenian passengers in Europe.

The Zakarians had earlier tried to buy the tickets from Mikailian, but she refused to accept two $21,000 checks after she called their bank and learned there were insufficient funds in their account. The murder weapon was later found near the crime scene, and Zakarian’s fingerprint was discovered on the silencer, according to court records.

Malcolm Guleserian, Zakarian’s lawyer, said his defense strategy in the federal trial will be similar to the state case, in which he contended that Zakarian was framed by an operative of the Armenian mafia.