210 Freeway Murder Preliminary Hearing Postponed

Aram Sarukhanyan’s preliminary hearing date was pushed back again while a second mental health report is completed.

The defendant was in Pasadena Superior Court Wednesday and will appear in Pasadena Superior Court on April 25 at 8:30 a.m., Superior Court Judge Elaine Lu said. At that court date a preliminary hearing date will begin 30 court days following, she said. 

The 28-year-old Tujunga man is charged with murdering his cousin Adrine Arzumanyan and allegedly pushing her body out of a moving car onto the Foothill (210) Freeway in La Crescenta in April 2011. 

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, according to the district attorney.

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, 2011.