Candles Light the Night One Month After Fatal Stabbings

Candles glowing in the shape of a heart set the tone at a Monday night vigil for two Mission Viejo men slain in Lake Forest last month.

Anger and outrage over the stabbings of and  were set aside at the peaceful ceremony, which drew more than 100 people.

Standing near , memorial-goers initially avoided the parking lot where the deadly June 11 altercation occurred, gathering instead on the corner of Centre Drive and Rockfield Boulevard.

The calm, serene vigil marked the passing of one month since the stabbings.

"I will make sure that people will never forget about these two guys," said Fred Abri, Saidian's stepfather.

He vowed to return on the 11th of each month to honor the memory of his stepson and Kechechian.

As dozens of hand-held candles flickered softly in the cool evening breeze, Annalisa Villar, Saidian's girlfriend, shared a page of lyrics she discovered after his death.

The optimistic lines written by Saidian, describing his belief that life is determined by how you react to difficult situations, gave Villar hope, she said.

After hearing from Abri and Villar, the group took a slow walk through the parking lot, passing Albatros, where a handful of patrons were eating.

A security guard hired by the restaurant in response to the stabbings kept watch outside.

Saidian's mother, Fahimeh Abri, broke down and wailed as she passed the eatery.

Before the vigil, close friends and family of Saidian met at his childhood home and shared their fondest memories of the man each described as analytical, hard-working and selfless.

His mother recalled Saidian as a teenager, chiding her for judging his friends by their appearances.

"He took people for what they were," Fred Abri said, recalling Saidian's accepting reaction when Abri told the then-teenager he and Fahimeh planned to marry. "That was the beautiful thing about him."

Childhood friend Alex Rasi said he had stopped by the household a few days ago to search for a time capsule he and Saidian buried behind the home when they were boys.

Rasi, who also worked at a pizza store with Saidian in high school, said Saidian's unyielding work ethic set an example for his friends.

His relatives joked about Saidian's monumental movie collection, which Villar said was a testament to his penchant for staying home with family and friends.

A, where he was the ice hockey team's strength and conditioning coach.

At Monday night's vigil, friends of Kechechian wore T-shirts bearing his face. Plastic bracelets with his name were also passed out to friends and family.

Two days after the stabbings, Justin Alvin Maseo Tombleson, a 28-year-old from Lake Forest, , saying through his attorney that he .

Tombleson has been  in connection with the stabbings and is being held on $2 million bail at the Central Men's Jail in Santa Ana.

He pleaded not guilty and awaits a pretrial hearing scheduled for Friday.

According to Sheriff Sandra Hutchens, homicide investigators have interviewed more than 60 witnesses to the June 11 altercation.