Third man is held in double slaying

A third young man arrested this week in connection with the gruesome May slayings of an Anaheim Hills father and daughter had performed community service work at the Irvine park where their charred bodies were discovered, according to court documents.

Charles Anthony Murphy Jr., 22, of Mission Hills was taken into custody Wednesday at the Irvine Spectrum’s Adidas store, where he had worked almost a year as a part-time sales associate, company officials said.

Murphy was being held without bail at the Anaheim city jail on suspicion of murder and was expected to be arraigned today, authorities said. Prosecutor Howard Gundy said investigators believed Murphy was a “principal in the commission of the crime.”

Police also announced Thursday that they had found in Los Angeles County the minivan, a light gold 2004 Honda Odyssey, they think was used in the crime rampage. Evidence in the van “made us confident” of its potential link to the slayings, said Anaheim Lt. Chuck O’Connor.

No weapons were found in the van, he said, and its discovery was not directly tied to Murphy’s arrest. O’Connor did not divulge further details, citing the continuing investigation.

Murphy was sentenced to community service in 2005 after pleading guilty to misdemeanor grand theft.

He and another young man had stolen more than $400 in money and property from a Target, according to documents filed in O.C. Superior Court.

Murphy completed some community service at William R. Mason Regional Park, near Concordia University in Irvine, court documents said. In court papers, his address was listed as on the street abutting the Concordia campus.

On May 22, authorities discovered the severely burned bodies of Jayprakash Dhanak, 56, and his 20-year-old daughter, Karishma, at the park, just steps from an entrance to Concordia.

Hours earlier, wife and mother Leela Dhanak, 53, had been found severely beaten and unconscious outside the family’s home, which had been set ablaze. The victims had been strangled, bludgeoned, burned and stabbed, according to court records.

Authorities described Murphy as a friend of Iftekhar Murtaza, 22 , of Van Nuys, the former boyfriend of the younger Dhanak sister, Shayona. She was away from home during the attacks.

Last week, Murtaza and another friend -- Vitaliy Krasnoperov, 21, of West Hollywood -- each pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder in the case. Special-circumstances allegations could make both men subject to the death penalty or life in prison without parole. Krasnoperov had worked at Murtaza’s loan company in Van Nuys.

Just before the slayings, Shayona Dhanak had broken off her three-year relationship with Murtaza, partly because her Hindu family disapproved of her dating a Muslim, according to court papers. Murtaza had told friends he wanted to work out the conflict with Dhanak’s parents and eventually marry her.

Murtaza’s cellphone was used near the crime scene an hour or so before the house fire, according to court records, though Murtaza told authorities he wasn’t in Anaheim Hills that night.

He was arrested a few days later at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport carrying a ticket to Bangladesh.

After the murders, investigators interviewed Krasnoperov and other people who worked with Murtaza, their friends said. Investigators also searched Krasnoperov’s apartment, taking his computer and identification cards.

Krasnoperov told friends that during the Anaheim Hills crimes, he was in West Hollywood recovering from a motorcycle accident in which he broke his right wrist in three places. In June, authorities took him into custody while he was visiting friends near Phoenix.

--

ashley.powers@latimes.com

--

Times editorial assistant Nardine Saad contributed to this report.