Jewelry Store Owners Recall Their Night of Terror

Ohan Abramyan sat helplessly in the back seat of his Mercedez-Benz SUV, a kidnapper on either side of him, another at the wheel. It was about 10:40 p.m. on April 23, and the three men, armed with handguns, were driving him to his North Hollywood jewelry store to carry out a robbery scheme that had begun at his Tujunga home.

The men told him to keep his head down—if he looked up at their faces, they’d kill him. And he feared for his wife, Sami, who was being held by at least one other accomplice back at the house. She had been tied up when the men forced their way into the couple’s home, ransacking it and robbing them of cash and jewelry.

But then, as the SUV continued toward the Abramyans’ store—Nancy’s Jewelry in the 12600 block of Sherman Way in North Hollywood—the scheme began to unravel as the Los Angeles Police Department quickly responded to reports of a robbery and kidnapping at Ohan's home and store. An accomplice back at the house called one of the kidnappers to report that a police cruiser had shown up in the neighborhood. About 15 minutes later, by Ohan's estimation, as the Mercedes pulled into the store’s parking lot, they found LAPD officers were there waiting as well.

Yet, despite the police response, the Abramyans’ kidnappers are still on the loose today, two months after the crime. The Abramyans are angry and police are admitting mistakes might have been made.

According to both Ohan Abramyan and an LAPD detective, an officer at the scene ushered the car away from the parking lot without realizing the occupants were the kidnappers and hostage the police were looking for. While the Abramyans acknowledge they were fortunate the LAPD thwarted the robbery of their store, they are still angry that the perpetrators were able to get away.

"How could they let this slip through their hands? [The kidnappers] could have killed my husband," Sami said.

Ohan said the officer who approached the car looked through both the driver's side and back windows, shining his flashlight on everyone inside—the three suspects, who Ohan described as Latinos about 20 to 25 years old; and himself, an Armenian in his 50s. The officer spoke Spanish to the men, and then allowed them to drive out of the parking lot, Ohan said.

Detective David Escoto of the LAPD’s Foothill Division said that while his office's investigation hasn't determined why the officer sent the suspects away, or what he said to them, he believed the mistake was the result of "human error." He said the officer may not have known the descriptions of the vehicle or the suspects at that moment.

"We're still trying to figure out what he knew at the time he stopped them," Escoto said.

It is unknown exactly what time the officer encountered the suspects' car. The parking lot where Nancy's Jewelry is located is part of a busy strip mall, and there is both a donut shop and liquor store that were open at the time, and a Subway restaurant that closed at 11 p.m., so it wouldn't be unusual for a car full of people to be in the lot that late at night.

According to information by Patch on the police scanner, one minute after North Hollywood police units received a dispatch call around 11:02 p.m. of "unknown trouble" at the store, the dispatcher revised the call to be a "kidnapping in progress," and the suspects were described as "three male Hispanics holding the caller's father at gunpoint." At 11:07 p.m., the vehicle involved was described by a dispatcher to North Hollywood units as a black late model Mercedes-Benz SUV.

According to the Abramyans’ account of the robbery and kidnapping, the description may have been broadcast too late. By the time the couple's daughter arrived at their home at about 11 p.m., found her mother, also in her 50s, tied up and called police, the suspects guarding her had already fled, spooked by the squad car that had arrived on the block.

Escoto said LAPD investigators are aware that the Abramyans are still angry about the police handling of the incident.

"The last thing we want to do is let a kidnapping suspect get away," Escoto said.

According to the couple, another detective told them that the officer who sent the suspects away was a rookie who knew little Spanish. The Abramyans also said they can't understand why, despite realizing the mistake soon after it was made, other officers at the scene did not chase after the suspects.

Multiple units remained near the jewelry store, as did a police helicopter, which only left when it ran low on fuel and was replaced by another. The police on the scene went into stakeout mode from 11:14 p.m. until after 12:30 p.m. At some point the officer who encountered the SUV informed a superior he believed he sent the suspects away, but it is unknown if it occurred before or after the stakeout ended.

Night of Terror Begins With a Knock at the Door

The Abramyans, who did not want their picture taken for this story, moved into their quiet Tujunga neighborhood in 1980 when they immigrated to the United States from Armenia, said the the attack has left them fearful and wondering if they need to move again. Their English is not perfect and their daughter interpreted much of the conversation for Patch.

"We don't even go out into our yard anymore," said the couple's daughter, who declined to give her first name.

The family's night of terror began soon after they arrived home from shopping at about 9:30 p.m.  They said they heard a knock at the front door and when Ohan answered it, he was met with a gun in his face and demands for him to get on his knees. The couple said four men and a woman barged into the home and placed bags over their heads.

Three of the men had handguns, and all of the intruders’ faces were covered with bandanas, Ohan said.

The intruders tied up the couple, binding their ankles and wrists with belts and neckties, then took both of them to their bedroom in the back of the house. The intruders were thorough in ransacking the home, as they overturned beds and searched through drawers and closets. In all, according to the Abramyans, the suspects stole about $150,000 worth of cash and jewelry.

Sami said that while the robbers were going through her possessions, she started to pass out. One of the robbers went to get her a glass of water and pills from somewhere in the house. He tried to give them to her, but when he pulled the bag off her head, she screamed. The man then hit her on the head several times with his gun. The strikes were relatively light but still painful, she said.

According to the police communications , a neighbor heard Sami’s scream and called police around 10:37 p.m., without being sure where it had come from.

When they finished ransacking the home, the robbers untied Ohan and led him to his SUV parked outside. While driving him to the jewelry store, Ohan said, the men asked him if he had insurance on all of the items they had taken from his home and were planning to steal from the store. They told him that if he did have insurance, the ordeal would be "good for us, good for you."

Meanwhile, after the three kidnappers left with Ohan, a police cruiser from the Foothill Division arrived in the neighborhood responding to a report of "unknown trouble." The sight of the patrol car prompted the robbers remaining at the house to flee, Sami said.

Ohan said he was "sure that after the job they would have killed us," if the kidnappers' had been able to rob the store.

After the exchange with the police officer in the store’s parking lot, Ohan received a call on his cell phone from one of his daughters, he said. One of the kidnappers answered and told her that her father was out celebrating with friends at a restaurant in Santa Monica, and he then forced Ohan to get on the phone and tell his daughter that he was all right.

After the call, the kidnappers drove to Van Nuys and dropped Ohan off on a street, taking his cell phone. They later ditched the car, and Ohan said he got it back from the police several days later.

Police officers remained at the jewelry store until 12:30 a.m., following vehicles that matched the description of the Abramyans' car. By that time, Ohan was on his way home, and the robbers were getting away.