Rubik Babayan

Rubik Babayan was 32 years old when he died on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2000, after a fight in Sherman Oaks. According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, he died of stab wounds at 13325 Moorpark, near Moorpark Street and Fulton Avenue. His death was ruled a homicide, and it is listed as a case of the Los Angeles Police Department's Van Nuys Division.

The Los Angeles Times reported on the stabbing the next day. According to that story, patrol officers "responded at 12:53 a.m. to a fight in the 4100 block of Fulton Avenue," said Det. Richard Yep of the Van Nuys Division. "They found blood spattered near the scene, but there was no one in sight." Moments later, one of the victims called for an ambulance from a nearby location, which led police to "three Armenian men who had been stabbed."

Babayan, who lived in Glendale, was the most seriously hurt. He "had been stabbed multiple times in the upper torso," Yep said. He was taken to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where he died at 5:10 a.m. The two other men, ages 27 and 23, were driven by friends to Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys and were treated for minor injuries to their hands and buttocks.

The Times reported that "several people apparently witnessed the brawl," and that police were trying to track them down. "Detectives are not sure how many suspects were involved or what the motive was," the story said. The fact that the victims had left the scene before police arrived, and that one of them called for help from somewhere else, suggests the fight may have broken up quickly and that those involved scattered. A public family-history listing gives his birth date as July 30, 1968. No obituary or later story about him could be found.

Sherman Oaks is a largely middle-class neighborhood in the southern San Fernando Valley, known for the shops and restaurants along Ventura Boulevard and for the residential streets and apartment blocks that spread north of it. Moorpark Street and Fulton Avenue are ordinary neighborhood streets lined mostly with apartments and homes. Many Armenian families live in Glendale and across the eastern and southern Valley, and the area has one of the largest Armenian communities outside Armenia.

Homicides in Los Angeles rose sharply in the early 2000s, climbing past 600 in 2002, and detectives carried heavy caseloads. Many killings from those years were never solved.

No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Rubik Babayan could be found in news archives or public records. More than 25 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. The witnesses the Times mentioned, and anyone who was near Moorpark Street and Fulton Avenue in the early hours of Oct. 7, 2000, may still hold information that could help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a vehicle seen nearby or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Los Angeles Police Department at 877-527-3247 (877-LAPD-24-7), or leave an anonymous tip with Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS (8477).