Freeway Murder Suspect to Appear in Court Thursday

Aram Sarukhanyan, 28, is charged with murdering his 33-year-old cousin Adrine Arzumanyan, whose body was dumped out of a moving car near the La Crescenta Avenue offramp of the westbound Foothill (210) Freeway.

He is charged with one count each of murder and brandishing a firearm at a person in a motor vehicle, authorities said. Sarukhanyan could face more than 50 years to life in prison.

Sarukhanyan allegedly pointed a handgun at a driver who tried to stop him immediately after he pushed his cousin's body out of the vehicle, the district attorney said in a news release. 

Sarukhanyan was found alongside the southbound Glendale (2) Freeway near Mountain Street and had sustained self-inflicted gunshot wounds in an apparent suicide attempt, said sheriff's homicide detective Lt. Michael Rosson of the Crescenta Valley Station. He was hospitalized at Huntington Memorial Hospital and released on May 10.

The Los Angeles County Coroner confirmed that Arzumanyan died of multiple gunshot wounds.

Sarukhanyan's preliminary hearing was postponed in August to Nov. 17. The case was originally sent to the Los Angeles Superior Court, but Sarukhanyan will now be tried Thursday at 8:30 a.m. at the Pasadena Superior Court, 300 E. Walnut Street, Department J.