Man Charged in Cabdriver’s Slaying, Suspected in 2 More Deaths

When investigators found a Hollywood cabdriver slumped across his car seat with a fistful of bloodstained money, they had no idea he was only one victim in an apparent series of killings.

On Wednesday, Andrei Belei, 24, was charged with one count of first-degree murder in the cabdriver’s death, and Los Angeles police said they suspect that he killed a man and a pregnant woman in Downtown Los Angeles. Police would not reveal the victims’ identities until relatives could be notified.

The 57-year-old cabdriver was shot in the head about 12:30 p.m. Monday on Willow Glen Road in Hollywood. Investigators said he had the $33 in bloodstained bills in a “death grip” when his body was discovered.

Police arrested Belei, a truck driver for a shipping company, half a mile from the scene after he knocked on the door of a house, said he had been carjacked and asked that police be called. When officers saw Belei, he matched the description that witnesses had given of the suspect in the cabdriver’s death.

“The guy was wearing a black leather jacket in 90-degree weather,” Detective Andrew Purdy said, and was 6 feet, 4 inches tall. “It wasn’t hard to spot him.”

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Police said they found a loaded .38-caliber revolver, extra cartridges and a nearly seven-ounce rock of crack cocaine in Belei’s pockets. Spent casings were found in bushes where police said Belei had been hiding.

At first, Belei was suspected only of killing the cabdriver, but his statements to police implicated him in the slayings of the two others.

Police had discovered the two bodies, both with multiple bullet wounds, after neighbors reported hearing several gunshots in the small loft apartment before 8 a.m. Monday.

Belei told police he had known the two and had visited them Monday morning. Police took Belei to the loft, where witnesses placed him at the scene about the time of the killings.

Police said they also are investigating the killing Monday of a homeless man in the Downtown area that they believe may be linked to the loft murders.