Original subtitles

I can already see a bunch of blood on the floor.

The men had guns. They're screaming, where's the money?

What money?

Where's the $50 ,000?

I would never let anyone touch a hair on my brother's back.

And I failed.

This was a very cold -blooded killing.

I was asking, where is my son?

Where is my son?

It's a saying that Armenians have.

God forbid you see today your son or daughter die.

I couldn't do nothing for my son.

I couldn't help him.

I carry the blame.

It happened because of me.

It was my fault.

It's a tight -knit community, typical Los Angeles, Southern California

community, but with a heavier concentration of Armenians.

My name is Lara Yaretzian, and I've been a criminal defense attorney for over 20

years. And I practice in Glendale.

Glendale is one of the safest cities in California, and it could be even

nationwide.

It's not every day that we have murders in Glendale.

In 2005, when we got Edmund's case, the entire community knew about it, and

everybody was talking about it.

I've had thousands of cases over the years, but there are some cases that I

never forget.

And one of those is Edmund's case.

and the Shahnazari family.

A lot of lives were destroyed.

Give me the tea, please.

I'm picking Armenian coffee.

My name is Carmen Shahnazari. I came from Iran almost 35 years

ago.

Okay, let's go.

Lovely husband.

We decided to move to America

because we were thinking for our future, our family.

This is long time nobody see these albums.

I was cleaning, I just find it.

Seven, he was three years old when we came to the United States.

Two months later, I get pregnant with Chris.

My mom told me I had a little brother coming, and I was ecstatic.

You know, I wanted someone to wrestle with.

This is his first birthday. I'm here, seven.

Christopher, me, and Carmen.

Yeah, these are good memories.

Seven liked Christopher very well at that time, you know.

He was taking care of Chris.

I was the older brother, so I always felt obligated to protect my brother in

way.

Chris was a good kid.

He had a very big heart.

He was the one that would hug my parents.

He was the one that would show affection.

I wasn't.

Chris, all the time, he would hug me, kiss me, I love you, Mom.

All friends, they were laughing. Chris, you are Mom's boy. He said, yeah, I love

my mom.

He was very friendly.

Everybody, they loved Chris.

My parents saw it definitely as an American dream.

But me and Chris, we were just, you know, your average California kids.

This is Sevan and Chris.

Chris, he was 19.

Sevan, he was 23.

I think this...

The last picture, they have it together.

We're driving to the Shahnazari residence.

My name is Scott Ross. I'm a private investigator.

I've been doing this now for just under 40 years.

I've worked with a lot of Eretzian on the Shahnazari case.

So here's the house.

This is where it all started and ended, unfortunately.

The image that's always in my mind is Carmen on the driveway screaming

for help right after the...

Last two shots were fired.

That morning, I was driving to work. I was in a black -on -black BMW M3.

I just bought it. It was brand new.

I was working full -time with my dad's company, and I had gotten into flipping

houses.

So that new car, it was a milestone for me. I was very happy.

I pulled over on the side of the road and I made a prayer.

Prayed, thanking him for the car, thanking him for my brother.

And I prayed my brother would see some fruits of his work soon. Because he was

still in that adolescent period.

You know, he was 20.

And then...

I went to work and went on with my day.

That day, Chris had taken his mom's car for servicing.

Carmen is getting ready. She owns a salon.

She's waiting for him to return.

It was 11 .30 something. I was late because I have to go to the work.

I called Chris.

Chris, hurry up. I have to go.

And I said, mom, okay, okay, I'm coming. I'll be there in 20 minutes.

There is a knock on the door.

I go, look out, said yes, and I saw one guy over there.

He said, I came to see Sevan.

I said, for what? For the construction.

Please, ma 'am, open the door.

And, you know, it was Glendale. Everybody, they were Armenian.

Everybody know everybody.

I opened the door a little bit.

And that one opening of the door changed her life forever.

The second guy, he pushed the door.

came in with a silenced gun.

The men rushed into the home, screaming.

They clearly were not friends.

They were assailants.

I was really shocked. I couldn't move.

I didn't understand what's happening.

I was very scared.

He put the pillow on my face.

I squeezed the pillow on my face.

He said, you quiet?

They cover my eyes with a tape.

They don't want her looking at their faces.

Every time she tries to look up, they hit her.

They push me to the bedroom.

Dip starts screaming, asking, where is he? Where is he? Where did he put the

money?

What money?

Where's the money?

Where's the $50 ,000?

I don't have that much money in home.

Don't waste our time. Where's the $50 ,000?

I swear we don't have that much money. I have $300 cash.

These guys start ransacking the house.

They're opening up doors. They're looking for the money. They're looking

cash.

Suddenly she hears someone walking into the home through the back door.

And her heart just sinks because now it's no longer just her.

I heard a noise. It was my son.

Chris, he was very scared, came and hugged me.

Mom, I love you. Don't worry. I'm not going to let them hurt you. I love you.

And he kissed me.

I said, please let my son to sit close to me.

And they didn't.

They took my son out.

He's taken him to the other room.

She could hear a struggle.

They were animals.

Fighting, they're screaming.

They're still asking for the money.

He's offering them to take the TV, take anything you want.

And then suddenly she hears what would be the worst thing that any mother can

experience.

I couldn't do nothing for my son.

I couldn't help him.

After Carmen Shanozari was attacked, her son Chris came home, went in the house,

saw what was going on, and tried to come to her rescue.

At that point, the assailants pull Chris out of the bedroom away from her and

take him into the other room.

Pushing him, they're screaming at him for the $50 ,000.

And Carmen hears her son saying, I don't know where the money is. I don't know

what you're talking about.

Carmen hears the struggle. She knows her son is struggling with these men.

And then Carmen hears a gunshot.

He will start crying.

I was hurt there. He was crying.

After the gunshot, the man who was with her leaves the room and rushes into the

other room.

And she takes that opportunity to run out.

I just go out from the back door. I'm yelling to help, help.

Glendale PD showed up right away.

Shots fired.

Quite a few officers convened.

And the police took me and said, I want to stay with my son.

My son, I want to go to my son. I was just yelling that same thing.

And the ambulance came.

Dave took my son.

I tried to go, and they didn't let me know.

The next -door neighbor on Bruce said he'd come home for lunch that day.

And he noticed there was a black Honda parked the wrong way.

Noticed that it was running.

Noticed that there was a person in the driver's seat.

This gentleman is sitting right there in that front window at the kitchen table.

And so he heard the shots being fired.

He saw the suspect running out of the house.

He saw jumping in the black Honda.

And then the black Honda took off that way.

They're worried about more home invasion.

Weren't going to wait for these people to hide out, get away.

They wanted somebody arrested.

I get a phone call from my dad saying that, Something's happened to the house.

Go over there. I'll meet you.

The street was blocked off. It was taped up.

I couldn't get in.

All I could see is my mom crying.

I came over there to see a lot of police around my house.

They never let me go from the cross -section of my street to my house.

I asked the detectives where my brother is. They told me, your brother got shot.

They took him to the hospital.

And my dad just started crying hysterically.

And it was a different cry.

It was almost as if he already knew.

He already felt it, you know.

I asked them what hospital. They didn't know until someone told me, if your

brother got shot, try L .A. County Hospital.

I just left. I got in the car and I left.

I hit the 5 South as fast as I could.

I was hitting 100 miles an hour down the freeway.

They took me to the police station.

That time my husband came with me.

They interview Carmen because their goal was to find out who these people were

and how much she remembered about the faces. They needed descriptions of these

people.

I was asking, where is my son? Where is my son?

And they didn't say nothing to me.

They just keep question, question of me.

I drove up to the emergency room.

I can already see a bunch of blood on the floor.

There was a trail of blood going into the hospital.

A stretcher with blood on it.

I already knew.

I knew it was my brother's blood.

I drove up to the emergency room.

There was a trail of blood going into the hospital.

I told them who I was, and they took me to a room.

I was shaking the whole time.

And the doctor came out.

And then he told me, your brother got shot in the heart.

And I tried. I tried everything I could.

He didn't make it. I'm sorry.

They

asked

me if I wanted to see him.

I didn't want to see him.

I didn't want to see him like that.

I never thought that I would ever hear words like that.

I would never let anyone touch a hair on my brother's back.

I went so far in my whole life to look after my little brother.

It was my biggest fear and it came true.

You know, losing my little brother.

And I thought about my parents.

I wanted to be able to comfort them as well.

After four hours, they came and said, sorry, we lost Chris.

I couldn't do nothing for my son.

I couldn't help him.

Still, we didn't believe what's happened. I mean, just thinking,

I'm not going to see any more cliff.

When I got into the police department and saw my parents, it was painful. It

very painful.

Because we were barely standing from what we had already gone through.

Now the police department absolutely needed to find the assailant.

This was a murder. It was no longer just an armed robbery.

Police were going through the house.

looking for evidence.

The police department tried to ask me questions about do I have any enemies?

Do I know anyone that would do this?

When I heard that exact Number 50 ,000.

I knew it had something to do with me.

I had a falling out with someone I was doing business with.

It was clear that they assumed that there was money in the house.

Whoever told them that I had money in the house told them a certain amount,

,000.

They're the only people letting you add $50 ,000 in cash.

So whoever this individual was, was clearly angry enough that they would go

and get these gang members and have them go and invade this house and ultimately

kill somebody in the process.

They went there looking for the money, and one thing led to another.

Of course, Carmen was the key to all of it. She was the only one who was alive

who had seen these men.

She did mention that one of the assailants had a familiar face.

And he was someone that her older son, Sivan, knew.

He looked like someone who had done the tile work at her salon.

But she didn't remember the name. She just knew he looked like him. He was a

familiar face.

Sivan identified that person as being Edmund Ovasapian, who actually did do

tile work.

Once they get the information from Sivan, Glendale Police Department show a

number of photos to Carmen.

And Carmen looks at Edmund's photo and says, the individual who walked in,

like him.

The police looked up his record.

They were warrants out for his arrest.

Admit that I didn't do it.

But Edmund had admitted to, during his interview, some issue that he had with

Siobhan about money.

Siobhan owed Edmund a couple thousand dollars.

So the theory was that Edmund was there trying to get the money, so it sort of

worked together.

As it turns out, Edmund of Esopian owned a black Honda Accord.

And the key witness across the street who called 911 identified a black Honda

the Kanazari house.

The detectives were absolutely certain and confident that they had the right

guy.

And at that point, he was booked for the murder.

They told me that we can go back to the house.

That was the hardest part of it.

I walked inside the house and, you know, I thought, how could someone

do that?

I looked back at where everything happened.

I saw my little brother's handprint on the wall.

Smeared all the way down.

It was a blood print of my little brother.

When I saw my brother's handprint on that wall, like something out of a

could care less to live after that.

I didn't want to live.

That's where all the anger came out.

Because I felt like a failure.

Everything my dad had told me would replay back into my head.

You need to take care of your brother.

I failed.

On November 1st, Edmund Ovasapian was arrested for the murder of Chris

Shanazari.

They had the suspect.

So as soon as the charges were filed, the Shanazaris were allowed back into

their home.

When the family was back cleaning up the house, they came across this black

baseball hat.

I thought maybe it was Chris' hat or Sevan's hat because they have a lot of

the same style.

And I said, Sevan, this is yours. He said, no, Mom, this is not us.

At that point, they called Glendale PD, and the detectives came over, and they

picked up the hat.

My name's Pat Harris.

I am an attorney here in Los Angeles.

Our firm handled Edmund's criminal case.

The cap was taken in, and they tried to run fingerprints off of it.

And they didn't have any luck with fingerprints.

So they decided to send the cap to the DNA database to see what they could come

up with.

The problem for Edmund was L .A. is so far behind in its DNA testing.

It can take anywhere from six months to a year for something to get tested and

for the results to come back.

During that time, Edmund stayed in solitary confinement, not seeing any

daylight. He had no communication with the outside world.

Well, I'm coming up on the street that we grew up, the house we used to live

The street where my brother was murdered.

I'm doing water fountain with the angel.

I remember coming to this house maybe 20 years ago when we bought this house.

It was all dirt everywhere. It was just a lot of renovating we had to do and

we were happy.

We had a lot of good memories.

This is my house under construction.

We're putting up a wall over here.

It's the garage.

We're going to grow some flowers and stuff over here.

Just walking around the house with my dog, Teddy.

Teddy!

There goes the tour.

Have a good one.

I miss him every day.

Sometimes I miss him more than other days.

Well, I got this tattoo as a memorial to my brother's death.

It's a crown.

It symbolizes who we were supposed to be together.

It says my brother's name, Chris Chanazari, Savon Chanazari.

July 16th, 1985 is his birthday.

August 4th, 1981 is my birthday.

And then I put November 1st, 2005 for the both of us because that

Savon died that day as well.

And definitely...

A lot of hope died with him.

When the results came back, the Glendale Police Department was very excited

about it because this is a match that is going to...

They believe actually implicate Edmund.

But it was not Edmund Ovasapian.

Comes back to a guy who is in prison already.

Res denied everything from the beginning. But at some point admits that

there.

Glendale PD arranged for what's called a live lineup, and they bring in him and

five other people that are the same size and stature and resemblance, and then

they brought in Mrs. Shahnazari.

She had a violent reaction.

She threw up.

She knew she was looking at the man who killed her son.

Glendale PD, when they got the DNA back, realized that the potential shooter was

in custody, so they arranged for a live lineup.

And when they brought in the person that matched the DNA from the black hat,

Mrs. Shanozari, as soon as she saw him, fell on the ground and started throwing

up.

It was evident to her that that was the person that had shot and killed Chris.

It was so violent to her because she started having these flashbacks like

him, that's him, that's him, that's him.

It was very horrible. I couldn't breathe.

It was very bad.

Very, very bad.

An animal for me.

I don't want to even say the name.

So what they think is they're going to prove Edmund to be a liar.

He's going to tell us that Edmund Olisapian was with him that day.

And so they're excited, they think this is it, this is a big break, this is

what's going to convict him.

He ended up telling them that Edmund had nothing to do with it, that he wasn't

involved.

Eventually, Glendale PD had to say, Edmund was not lying, he was telling the

truth when he said, I didn't do it.

The big breakthrough was the DNA.

and the results from the hat.

That's what eventually exonerated Edmund.

Varese was the only one being tried for the murder of my brother.

The trial was very tough. I wanted to jump over the seat and kill this guy.

Everyone knew that I had that truck, and that's the truck I drove.

It was a milestone for me. I was very happy.

And I gave my brother my truck as a gift.

And he was really, really happy.

He had the truck, so he had his first freedom for a long time.

It was a really good night for him.

He was out all night.

I didn't see him until the next morning.

I ran into his room and I asked him for some cash.

I was like, Chris, do you have any cash on you? I want to go grab some coffee.

He was like, yeah, I have five bucks. Right here, take it.

And then I left. I left the house with the BMW that I just bought.

When they came to my house, my mother's car wasn't there.

Because my brother took it to the dealership to get it serviced that

So the only car that was parked at my house was my truck.

So they came in thinking that I was the one that was going to be home.

Basically, they came in thinking Chris was me.

I was praying when all this was happening.

I was literally pulled over to the side of the road and praying to God. I'm

praying, and at that same time, my brother's being murdered.

My brother's murdered.

It was my fault.

It happened because of me.

After...

Everything changed for us. I mean, our life has been completely changed to that

tragedy.

I was like frozen.

I couldn't feel nothing.

Oh, my God, my baby.

It's a thing that Armenians have.

God forbid you see today.

that your son or daughter dies.

Just wish that God takes you first and then your children.

Every day I remember Chris.

Every day he's with me. I feel it.

Sometimes you have.

I have his hand sometimes.

I have his voice every time.

He saved my life, my son.

She carries proof.

A mom's guilt is a different type of guilt.

It's a mother's guilt.

My guilt is a different guilt.

If I could change anything on that day, I wish I was there to protect my

brother.

And I would have rather it been me than him.

Without a doubt.

On the drop of a dime.

I'll always blame myself.