Police Reassure Community About Valley Village Murders

Los Angeles police tried to reassure residents rattled by a series of violent crimes this summer in Valley Village, near the border of Studio City, at a gathering in late August at Moorpark Park.

Nearly 200 residents turned out for the 27th Annual National Night Out—an event designed to build ties between police and communities—including family and friends of Cheree Osmanhodzic, a 34-year-old woman who was murdered on July 24 in her home on Riverside Drive. They wore T-shirts bearing the police sketch of the suspect.

Other residents gathered over concern about the April 3 killings of four men at the Hot Spot Café on Riverside Drive. Tony Braswell, president of the Neighborhood Council of Valley Village, said that the turnout for the Night Out event was twice the number that attended the event last year, adding, "A lot of it is because of the latest criminal activity."

Los Angeles Police Department Senior Lead Officer Manny Arreygue extended his condolences to the family and loved ones of Osmanhodzic and said that the violence that has occurred this year is unprecendented. Valley Village is known more for property crime, he said.

"These past events that have happened are just going to make us stronger," Arreygue said. He said Neighborhood Watch block captains who keep tabs on crime on their streets serve as his angels and are instrumental in helping solve crimes.

Capt. Justin Eisenberg of the LAPD North Hollywood Division used the opportunity to assure Osmanhodzic 's family and members of the community that his team was extremely focused on solving the murder.

"My best detectives are working on this case," Eisenberg said. "Every police officer that works for me has worked on this case every day. We're going to get to the bottom of this. We're going to solve this crime."

Though the LAPD has some promising leads on the case, no suspects have been apprehended.

Osmanhodzic was murdered in her home and her body set on fire. The victim's husband said that he returned home from the grocery store and found the intruder still inside the home and pursued him down the street before losing him. He returned home to the find his house on fire and his fiancée dead.

Braswell of the neighborhood also addressed the Night Out crowd. "There have been a couple of very random, very severe and very disheartening crimes that have happened in our community," he said. "These frustrate us, they make us very angry, but they are not reflective of the quality of this community and the people that live in Valley Village."