Slain Couple Were Talented Jewelers, Friends Say

The couple shot to death during an apparent robbery Saturday at their Toluca Lake jewelry store were stylish, talented jewelers whose creations and kindness drew loyal shoppers, said friends and customers who stopped by the inconspicuous shop Sunday to peer through the shattered door.

Garbis Tarakjian, 52, and his 45-year-old wife, Mayda, were found dead Saturday afternoon, shot multiple times and lying nearly feet to feet beside the front door of Elegant Creations in Fine Jewelry at 4219 Lankershim Blvd.

No arrests had been made in the robbery-homicide as of Sunday evening, and investigators said they had no suspects and no witnesses.

Elegant Creations was closed Sunday, but women wearing necklaces and rings bought from the Tarakjians dropped flowers at the door and looked through the blinds. The glass display cases were intact, topped with vases of orange gladioluses and a bowl of candy.

A jewelry designer who met with the Tarakjians on Saturday afternoon speculated that they were killed sometime after she left the store at 2:45 p.m. and before the crime was reported by passersby at 5:15 p.m. The couple told J.M. Stewart they planned to close an hour early, at 4 p.m., because they were tired after a Friday night dinner party and airport send-off for Mayda’s niece, who was graduating from high school. Stewart speculated that the Tarakjians were transferring their inventory from the store’s display cases to its safe when they were robbed.

Garbis, a jeweler, used to own another shop in the San Fernando Valley, and Mayda, a gemologist, had worked in two other jewelry stores in Studio City, customers said. They had been married about seven years and were “like soul mates,” Stewart said.

Mayda’s brother said the Tarakjians were Armenian and had lived in Beirut. They had no children together, customers said, but he had a daughter and twin sons from a previous marriage.

The Tarakjians had owned Elegant Creations for about five years and lived in a Sherman Oaks apartment. Doing business next to a car rental company, they were planning to move the store to somewhere with more pedestrian traffic, customers said. The store was burglarized in February.

Like their store’s name, the Tarakjians were elegant, customers said. Both dressed smartly. Mayda, who had done some modeling, wore jewelry that her husband designed, and greeted customers when they rang the store’s doorbell. Garbis worked mostly in the back room, creating and repairing jewelry. He had been frustrated since a stroke within the last year affected his motor skills, but he was regaining them, Stewart said.

Next to Garbis’ workbench in the back was the store’s safe. Police said that its door was open when the couple’s bodies were discovered and that boxes of jewelry had been dumped on the floor.

The couple did not employ a security guard but kept the front door locked during business hours, customers said. There was a surveillance camera in the store, they said, but they were not sure whether it was functional.

Stewart said that she was the only customer in the store Saturday afternoon and that the Tarakjians’ white Mercedes was the only car parked in the small lot outside. As she left, she said, Garbis Tarakjian shared a saying to encourage her to be optimistic.

“Yesterday’s history,” he told her. “Tomorrow’s a mystery.”