Lakewood Man Pleads Guilty In 2016 Stabbing Death: Prosecutor

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Lakewood man has pleaded guilty to stabbing another Lakewood man to death during an altercation last summer, Ocean County Prosecutor Joseph D. Coronato announced Tuesday.

Dimitri Darzhinov, 54, of Lakewood pleaded guilty on Monday to aggravated manslaughter in the death of Gela Suqiashvilli, 54, on June 14, 2016, in Lakewood, said Al Della Fave, spokesman for the prosecutor's office. Darzhinov entered the plea before Superior Court Judge Wendel E. Daniels in Toms River; Daniels tentatively scheduled sentencing for Sept. 1, Della Fave said.

Della Fave said Lakewood police received a 911 call at 1:04 a.m. on June 14, 2016, routed through the Howell Township Police Department, reporting a stabbing at 149 East Kennedy Boulevard, Building 4, Apartment 7, in Lakewood. The caller was speaking Russian, he said, and communicated the information through a language line that translated his speech.

Lakewood police went to the apartment and knocked but received no response, Della Fave said. They began checking the area nearby and found Darzhinov, who speaks Russian, several doors down, he said. Using a language line to communicate with him, the officers learned Darzhinov had been involved in an altercation in the apartment with its occupant, later identified as Suqiashvilli, Della Fave said.

The officers went back to the apartment and forced their way in and found Suqiashvilli sitting in a chair unresponsive and suffering from multiple puncture and slash wounds to his upper torso and face, Della Fave said.

MONOC paramedics were immediately summoned to provide medical aid, but Suqiashvilli was pronounced dead 1:48 a.m., he said.

While investigators processed the crime scene, Darzhinov was taken to the Lakewood Police Headquarters where Detective John Murphy from the prosecutor's office and Lakewood Detective Oscar Valmon continued the investigation, Della Fave said. Lakewood Police Officer Tymur Zavalnyuk, who speaks Russian, was able to communicate with Darzhinov and provided translation assistance, he said. The detectives learned Darzhinov and Suqiashvilli began to wrestle and it escalated, ending in the stabbing, Della Fave said.

Darzhinov then made the 911 call reporting the stabbing after leaving the residence, he said.

Assistant Prosecutor Kelly Biringer is the case prosecutor. Murphy and Valmon were additionally assisted in the investigation by the Ocean County Sheriff Department CSI unit. Victim Witness Advocate Allison Betts with the prosecutor's office served as liaison to the victim’s family, he said.

Photo provided by the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office