Two people were charged Monday with the murder of a 31- year-old man in Glendale last week.
Jared Braden Kasiewicz, 28, appeared in a Pasadena courtroom and pleaded not guilty to killing 31-year-old John Michael King-Smith.
Sparkle Soojian, 32, who is also facing a felony murder count, is expected to be arraigned on Tuesday.
Just before 2 a.m. Thursday, Glendale police received a call about a disturbance at a home in the 200 block of West Windsor Road.
Officers found King-Smith in a “state of medical distress” inside. He was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after that, according to police.
Soojian, who knew King-Smith and lives at the home in question, was there when police arrived. She and Kasiewicz were arrested later that day, along with 25-year-old Courtney Argue, who was not yet listed as a co-defendant in the criminal complaint.
Detectives said they believe King-Smith, who didn’t live at the Windsor Road home, was targeted and that this was not a random act of violence.
Glendale police did not release any information about the cause of death, saying only that detectives believe foul play was involved.
The Glendale News-Press reported that Soojian has domestic violence and assault charges pending in connection with an incident in which she allegedly attacked Kasiewicz with a shard of glass. The newspaper identified Kasiewicz as Soojian’s spouse.
The Glendale Police Department said Kasiewicz lives in San Clemente.
— City News Service