Katrina Sarkissian

Case record: Katrina Sarkissian

Background

Katrina Sarkissian was 17 at the time of the killing of Deanna Maran. Deanna Maran was a 15-year-old athlete who attended Santa Monica High School and played volleyball, water polo, and track.

Katrina Sarkissian arrived at a crowded Westside party at 10:30 p.m. on November 17, 2001. The party took place at a Thayer Avenue house in an upscale Westside neighborhood. The event was unchaperoned and grew into a 40-person house party.

Katrina Sarkissian was described as having emotional instability and being dangerous, with a history including missing classes and having “confrontational episodes” with other students. Court papers stated that she had physical altercations with her mother. In January 1999, her parents admitted her to a therapeutic residential school in Utah; she tried to run away, and although school officials recommended she stay at least nine months, her parents took her home on a pass that June and never returned. Katrina Sarkissian later withdrew from Harvard-Westlake in early 1999 to seek a smaller, more structured school, and at some point landed at Concord High School in Santa Monica. She left that private school and was reportedly home-schooled for the last eight months of her life.

Katrina Sarkissian had a tattoo reading “Princess” on her lower back.

The offence

Deanna Maran attempted to stop Katrina Sarkissian’s younger half-sister from damaging items in the backyard. The chastised girl called Sarkissian to complain. When Sarkissian arrived at about 10:30 p.m., another girl pinned Maran to the ground at the front of the Thayer Avenue house.

Authorities said Sarkissian pummeled Maran and then stabbed her, possibly with a T-shaped “punch” knife in which the blade pops out between the user’s fingers. No weapon was ever recovered. Deanna was stabbed in the heart and was later pronounced dead.

Other party-goers described Deanna pleading for Sarkissian to stop hitting her, to no avail. Witnesses remembered “razzing and egging-on by onlookers.” Some teenagers loaded the bleeding Maran into a car and drove her to Santa Monica Hospital rather than calling 911 and calling paramedics to the scene.

Deanna Maran was declared dead at Santa Monica Hospital.

Witness accounts and reported dialogue

Party-goer J.C. Flores recalled: “There was drinking, and a girl was running in the backyard, and Deanna told her to stop running.”

Friend Julian Mehra recalled: “Deanna always stood up for what was right,”

At the party, Deanna confronted a 15-year-old Brentwood girl who apparently had broken two backyard flower pots and damaged a stairway railing.

Zoe Blake recalled Deanna pleading for Sarkissian to stop hitting her while she was pinned to the ground: “She said, 'Please just listen to my side of the story!' several times.”

Witnesses remembered razzing and egging-on by onlookers, and grieving friends asked why someone did not intervene.

Natale’s account was described as corroborated by other witnesses. Natale said that Sarkissian’s half-sister was horsing around, chasing one of Natale’s friends around the backyard, and they repeatedly upset a flower pot. Maran grabbed the girl by the shoulders and told her to stop, and Natale said: “I don't recall the exact words,”

Natale said Maran told the girl something “like, 'Show respect for someone else's house.'”

The other girl told Maran not to touch her; they pushed each other and began fighting. Natale said the other girl was thrown off a short ledge and landed in a flower bed, still holding Maran’s hair. Natale said some boys broke up the tussle.

Natale said Maran began shouting “Samo! Samo!”—a nickname for Santa Monica High.

Natale recalled hearing the girl on her cell phone: “Katrina, you've got to get here right now. Some bitch just pushed me down.”

Natale said that about an hour later Sarkissian pulled up in a white sport utility vehicle and asked: “Who pushed my sister?”

Natale said Maran raised her hand and that the girls argued for about five minutes. Natale said Sarkissian rushed Maran, and the two pushed each other, with one or two punches thrown.

Natale said Sarkissian quickly ran away and Maran stumbled backward. Natale said another girl came in and grabbed Maran, pushing her to the ground and holding her down. Natale said that after a few seconds the other girl backed off. Natale said Sarkissian’s half-sister came up and kicked Maran’s midsection.

Natale said that by that time some kids were yelling “Fight! Fight! Hit her already.”

Natale said: “No one even knew what happened,”

Natale said: “Not a single witness saw a blade at any time.”

Natale said Maran, wearing a dark blue sweatshirt and jeans, got up, stumbled, leaned against a tree, and stared off into space. Natale said he tried to pick her up, but: “she was completely lifeless.”

Natale said his cast was stained with blood: “was completely stained with blood.”

Natale said: “At that moment, he said, everybody panicked.”

Natale said that when another student pulled up in his car to join the party, several kids piled Maran into the back seat and they sped off to Santa Monica Hospital, apparently unaware that UCLA Medical Center was blocks away. Natale said that he later heard that one boy in the car had his hand on Maran’s chest and felt her heart stop beating. Natale said that she was declared dead just after midnight.

Investigation

A coroner’s office autopsy concluded that Katrina Sarkissian killed herself the next day by taking a large dose of antidepressant tablets.

The coroner’s office released:

• its ruling released Friday,
• its autopsy report on Deanna Maran confirming that she died of a stab wound,
• and findings based on a blood sample taken at UCLA Medical Center.

The autopsy and toxicology findings stated that Katrina Sarkissian died of “acute nortriptyline intoxication.” Nortriptyline concentration in a blood sample was described as extraordinarily high. The coroner’s office concluded that she might have taken as many as 43 75-mg pills. The coroner’s office stated that nortriptyline was often prescribed to treat depression under brand names Pamelor and Aventyl.

Authorities said the report of her death “leaves no doubt that Sarkissian was intent on suicide.”

The coroner’s office also released that Deanna Maran had consumed some alcohol that night.

The investigation addressed whether charges might be brought against Katrina Sarkissian’s 15-year-old half-sister or anyone else. Alex Karkanen, a deputy district attorney in the Inglewood Juvenile Office, said: “We're trying to figure out what can we prove and what should we do,”

He also said: “No matter what we do, someone's going to go ballistic.”

Police Det. Ron Phillips, supervisor of the homicide unit in West Los Angeles, said investigators were looking into the possibility that another teenage girl played a part.

Arrest / police questioning

The day after the party, Katrina Sarkissian was called in for questioning by Los Angeles police. She collapsed, stopped breathing, and died 3 1/2 hours later at UCLA Medical Center.

During police questioning the next day, Katrina lost consciousness.

Death of Katrina Sarkissian

Katrina Sarkissian died the day after stabbing Deanna Maran. The coroner’s office concluded the manner of death was suicide by overdose of antidepressant tablets, and toxicology found acute nortriptyline intoxication.

Civil proceedings and related court actions

The mother of a 17-year-old girl who police said killed a Santa Monica High School sophomore at a party two years earlier settled a lawsuit brought by the victim’s parents rather than face a jury trial.

Harriet and Ilja Maran were Deanna Maran’s parents. Their lawsuit settled with Allstate paying $300,000 to the Marans.

The Marans sued Bernstein and her ex-husband, Sarkis Sarkissian, in Santa Monica Superior Court in May 2002. The Marans alleged that the parents should have known that their daughter Katrina Sarkissian was emotionally unstable and dangerous.

Anthony Michael Glassman, an attorney for the Marans, said: “they plan to continue their effort to bring Sarkis Sarkissian to trial.”

Superior Court Judge Linda Lefkowitz threw out the suit against the father, saying he had no opportunity to control his daughter's behavior on the evening of Nov. 17, 2001, when Deanna Maran was attacked in front of dozens of guests.

Paul V. Ash, attorney for Bernstein, said Judge Lefkowitz’s ruling portrayed Katrina as a troubled adolescent who abused drugs and alcohol.

The judge ruled that Bernstein should stand trial before a jury beginning Dec. 15. Bernstein then settled rather than face: “a trial in front of a jury or an outrageous demand,”

According to the court ruling described, Bernstein’s homeowners policy was the basis on which Allstate paid the settlement.

Outcome

Katrina Sarkissian died from acute nortriptyline intoxication after an overdose of antidepressant tablets following the stabbing of Deanna Maran.

Deanna Maran was fatally stabbed in the heart and died after being taken to Santa Monica Hospital.

The father’s civil case against Sarkis Sarkissian was dismissed by Judge Linda Lefkowitz, while the claims against Bernstein settled with Allstate paying $300,000 to Harriet and Ilja Maran.

Aftermath and additional reported details

The killing generated controversy and national media attention. The incident involved a girl-versus-girl aspect and occurred on a tree-lined street in an upscale neighborhood.

Deanna Maran was known by those closest to her as “LaLa.” The Maran family and friends held celebrations of her life, including gatherings at her Ocean Park home with a feast and memorial activities. Her 16th birthday would have been on the date referenced in the account. Dozens of admirers young and old crowded into the Maran family’s Ocean Park home to revel in memories.

A shrine maintained by Deanna’s mother, Harriet, stood in front of the house with a crown of large plastic sunflowers. Julie Freitas visited weekly with muffins and conversation after also losing a child to murder three years earlier.

James Yoo, 15, said: “I'm just more cautious about fights,”

and: “I just let things go.”

Lee Livingston said parenting teenagers required setting and enforcing rules and involved “leaps of faith.” He said: “You pray to God they're telling you the truth,” and: “We have reiterated the rules. We keep bringing it up and telling him, 'You've got to let us know where you are.'”

Christopher Rhodes, choral director, said Deanna “struggled with some of the passages,” but was “always very much the cheerleader, saying 'Don't give up.'”

Harland W. Braun, an attorney representing a girl said to have had a role in the incident but who had not been charged, said: “If it had happened in South-Central Los Angeles, nobody would be looking for a greater meaning.”

Deb Hof, a dean at Harvard-Westlake who recalled Katrina, said: “She was bright; she was a wonderful kid who had a lot going on in her life,”

He also said: “I know she was struggling and unhappy, [but] there was a lot to like about her.”

Hof recalled that Sarkissian “looked like a woman at 13” and “got constant attention from every male on the planet.”

Hof said: “Katrina was trying to figure out where she fit in,” and: “I think her academic light was extinguished by worries about boys, friends and her universe,” and: “Katrina just wasn't a kid to back down, and then she would be in tears because nobody liked her,”

Regarding Sarkissian’s schooling, an editorial note stated that a story in the California section implied she had been a full-time student at Concord High School in Santa Monica, but it stated she took two summer courses at Concord in 1999 and was never a regular student. It also stated that such students must pass an interview and their academic records are scrutinized, citing Susan Packer Davis, Concord’s administrator.

Regarding the party fallout, it was reported that Sarkissian’s younger half-sister was charged with one count of battery and one count of making a criminal threat. The battery charge related to an allegation that she kicked Maran, and the other charge involved a threat made on the Internet months after the party. The girl was described as 15 and to be arraigned Friday.

Matthew Bernstein, father of Katrina’s half-sister, said: “All I care about now is my daughter's sanity,”

He also said: “She might have been a great kid, but that night she acted very unwisely and aggressively. As a result, Katrina's dead and [my daughter] is still not out of the woods.”

It was reported that Bernstein had received 20 death threats, including some sent to his office, and that one of his employees quit after being rattled by calls.