A trial began Thursday in the 2022 killing of a UCLA student who was fatally stabbed while working inside a furniture store in Hancock Park.
Brianna Kupfer, who was a 24-year-old at the time of her death, was stabbed nearly a dozen times on Jan. 13, 2022 during her shift inside the Croft House furniture store on La Brea Avenue near Beverly Boulevard.
The suspected killer, Shawn Laval Smith, is charged with murdering the UCLA graduate student in what appeared to be an unprovoked attack with nothing taken from the store.
In an opening statement, prosecution argued Smith was on “a hunt to kill a vulnerable woman who was alone and secluded,” saying the suspect had recorded his thoughts on a recorder, expressing his desire to “kill women.”
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“Just 18 days before he found and slaughtered Brianna, the defendant recorded himself talking about the most vile, disgusting and grotesque thoughts about women,” Los Angeles County prosecutor Habib Balian said.
Smith listened to the prosecution’s opening statement while wearing a face mask and a striped shirt as his attorney, Robert Haberer, reserved his opening statement until the beginning of the defense's portion of the case.
Smith, who has been behind bars since the alleged murder, had wanted to represent himself in the trial, but Superior Court Judge Mildred Escobedo revoked Smith's right to act as his own attorney following a contentious hearing in June 2023 in which he directed profanities at the judge during his first appearance before her and abruptly rose from his seat in the downtown Los Angeles.
Smith was allegedly seen on surveillance video walking away from the store through a rear alley. He was also spotted shopping at other stores before and after the killing, police said.
The 34-year-old was arrested in Pasadena at a bus stop at Fair Oaks Avenue and Colorado Boulevard a few days after Kupfer's death. A tipster had alerted police after recognizing him from the surveillance video the LAPD had put out in hopes of catching the suspect.
Detectives believe Smith had been homeless at the time of the killing, going from one city to another, including Pasadena, Covina and West Hollywood.
Todd Kupfer, the slain woman’'s father, had said his daughter had “strength and character and care and love.”
“We're still in just shock and disbelief and we try to think she's going to walk around the corner any moment.”
City News Service contributed to this report.
