1990-1999: Crime

Irma Lemus

The “angel of death” case, an arson investigator gone bad and the

largest mass homicide in the city’s history topped crime news in Glendale

in the 1990s.

Respiratory therapist Efren Saldivar made headlines across the nation

when he confessed to killing as many as 50 patients over several years at

Glendale Adventist Medical Center.

Saldivar later recanted his confession during an interview on the ABC

news program “20/20.” He said he invented the tale of the “mercy

killings” in a scheme to get the death penalty because he wanted to die

but was afraid of committing suicide.

In 1990, the city suffered one of the worst fires in its history when

a blaze swept through the College Hills area and destroyed 64 homes and

caused $18 million in damage. Imagine the shock residents and city

officials felt when John Orr, a Glendale arson investigator, was accused

of setting the disastrous blaze.

Orr was convicted of the crime two years later and sentenced to life

in prison.

In a crime that stunned the city, Jorjik Avanesian is accused of

setting fire to his Harvard Terrace apartment in February of 1996,

killing his six children and his wife. Gasoline-soaked towels and pots

filled with a flammable liquid were found in the apartment. The

unemployed electrical engineer, who had moved his family from Iran, has

said the fire was an accident caused by drug dealers who knew his wife.

Avanesian spent 14 months at Patton State Hospital undergoing

psychiatric evaluation before being declared fit to stand trial. He was

tried and convicted on seven counts of murder, but the jury deadlocked on

the sanity phase of the trial. He is scheduled to be retried on that

phase this month.

The Police Department mourned the loss of one its own when Officer

Charles Lazzaretto was slain in the line of duty in 1997. Lazzaretto and

his partner had gone to a Chatsworth pornography warehouse searching for

attempted murder suspect Israel Gonzalez. Police say Ronald Davey, who

also worked at the warehouse, lied to the officers, telling them Gonzalez

was not present. As Lazzaretto walked through the warehouse, Gonzalez

shot him and then took his own life. Davey pleaded no contest earlier

this month to involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to three years

probation for his role in Lazzaretto’s death.

Timeline:

1992 -- The Glendale Police Department purchases a turbo-powered

helicopter. The new helicopter is quieter and faster than the old model.

1995 -- Former Police Chief Dwayne Baker dies.

1996 -- Jorjik Avanesian allegedly sets fire to his Harvard Terrace

apartment, killing his wife and six children.

1997 -- Glendale Police Officer Charles Lazzaretto is shot to death by

Israel Gonzalez at a Chatsworth warehouse. Gonzalez then kills himself.

1999: Ronald Davey, who police say lied to police about whether

shooter Israel Gonzalez was present, pleads no contest to involuntary

manslaughter for his role in the death of Lazzaretto. Neonatologist Kevin

Paul Anderson is charged with murdering Glendale pediatrician Deepti

Gupta and pushing a car with her body down a steep embankment in the

Angeles National Forest.