Siblings to Face Trial in Slaying of Travel Agent

A brother and sister who ran a Glendale travel agency were ordered to stand trial for murder Wednesday in the execution-style slaying of a business associate, a crime that authorities alleged was for profit.

Garen Zakarian, 30, and his sister, Anait, 22, both face the death penalty if convicted. They are charged with the murder of Benita Mikailian the night of Oct. 6.

The Zakarians allegedly bought 80 international airline tickets from Mikailian, who owned Benita’s Travel Town, with two bad checks. One or both of the Zakarians then allegedly shot Mikailian to death in her office, intending to rob her of the tickets, but instead they grabbed worthless travel vouchers, according to authorities.

At a preliminary hearing in Glendale Municipal Court, police revealed that they had recovered a gun and silencer bearing one of Garen Zakarian’s fingerprints near the scene of the crime. Police also revealed that the stolen vouchers were seized from an associate of the Zakarians in Paris.

“There exists enough reasonable evidence to show the killing was committed during a robbery,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Sterling Norris said.

The .380-caliber semiautomatic gun and silencer with Garen Zakarian’s fingerprint had been placed in a sports bag and dumped behind bushes a few blocks away from Benita’s Travel Town, police said.

The Zakarians operated the Econotrans travel agency at 1220 S. Central Ave., but were not licensed to sell tickets, as Mikailian was, Glendale Police Officer William Currie testified.

On Oct. 5, two days before Mikailian was found dead by an employee, the Zakarians arranged to have two $21,000 checks delivered to her office to pay for the 80 Northwest Airline tickets they had ordered, Currie said he was told by witnesses.

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The checks never cleared because of insufficient funds and Mikailian kept the tickets locked in a wooden cabinet under her desk, he said.

After she closed her office for the day Oct. 6, Mikailian was shot four times in a manner authorities likened to a “professional hit.”

Valuables such as the Rolex watch she wore and two wallets containing $1,700 in cash were left behind in her office.

In the bag containing the gun believed to be the murder weapon, police found another gun with a silencer, a pair of red gloves, and a single red and blue glove.

The matching red and blue glove was later found under a bed in the Zakarians’ apartment, Currie said.

Garen Zakarian’s lawyer, Malcolm Guleserian, proclaimed his client’s innocence and suggested that the siblings were being framed by a competitor in the travel industry. “He didn’t do this,” Guleserian said.

Arraignment for the Zakarians is scheduled Jan. 19 in Pasadena Superior Court.