Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Wednesday, November 21, 2018
(BLOOMINGTON) - A former Indiana University student accused of stabbing his mother to death at her California home last month is in the Monroe County Jail awaiting extradition.
On Nov. 6, the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney's Office charged 26-year-old Levente Laszlo Lazar with murder.
Investigators say Lazar stabbed and killed his mother, Athena Valentiny, at her Grover Beach home in October.
California and Bloomington police arrested Lazar that evening. He is being held in the Monroe County Jail and is expected to return to California to face the murder charge.
Grover Beach police officers found the 64-year-old woman's body with multiple stab wounds during a welfare check at her home in the 200 block of South 9th Street just before noon on Oct. 25. Investigators believe she was killed the day before.
Police say the "murder was committed willfully, deliberately and with premeditation."
The beachfront community, with a population of about 13,000, is 250 miles south of San Francisco. Grover Beach is 2,200 miles from Bloomington, where Lazar had been a graduate student studying U.S. history.
Commander Simm Miller stated in a news release that investigators identified Lazar as the primary suspect in his mother's murder.
Bloomington Police Department provided assistance to the California investigators that traveled here to interview Lazar.
Bloomington police secured a search warrant for Lazar's Braeside Drive apartment on the city's east side. He was taken into custody Nov. 6 for questioning, then arrested on the murder charge.
Grover Beach and San Luis Obispo County investigators have not released many details about the case because it remains under investigation.
Valentiny worked as a nurse at various California prisons, according to media reports.
Police say Valentiny's dog -- also named Athena -- has been missing since her death.
Lazar's Facebook page says he attended the University of California, taught English in Indonesia and worked as an archivist for the U.S. Department of the Interior before attending IU.
1340 AM WBIW welcomes comments and suggestions by calling 812.277.1340 during normal business hours or by email at comments@wbiw.com
© Ad-Venture Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.