Beverly Hills teen Conoray Lawantara, charged with fatally stabbing man digging through alley trash, posts $2M bail

A 19-year-old Beverly Hills resident was arrested on suspicion of murder after allegedly stabbing a man to death in an alleyway, police said.

Conoray Lawantara, 19, lives in Beverly Hills.

The victim was identified as 40-year-old Vanik Voskanyan of Glendale, records show.

The fatal confrontation occurred on Aug. 30 behind an apartment building in Beverly Hills, police said.

Voskanyan was digging through trash in the alley when the encounter began, according to court proceedings.

Lawantara allegedly stabbed the 40-year-old man as he dug through the trash, police said.

Police officers arrived at the alley following reports of a struggle and arrested the teenager at the scene, authorities said.

Voskanyan was transported to a local hospital, where medical personnel pronounced him dead, police said.

Lawantara also sustained injuries and spent time in a hospital before being booked into jail, records show.

The defendant claimed to investigators that he stabbed the man in self-defense, court records show. Prosecutors nonetheless charged the teenager with murder.

Lawantara, an Indonesian national, pleaded not guilty to the murder charge at his arraignment, court records show.

During the arraignment, defense attorney Debra White claimed Voskanyan reached for the teenager’s neck and elbowed him, according to court statements.

White also said Voskanyan bit off a portion of Lawantara’s finger during the struggle, records show.

The defense attorney stated that Lawantara suffered a stab wound to the abdomen during the exchange, according to court records.

Judge Keith Schwartz interjected during the proceeding, stating there was “no reason for the defendant to have contact” with the homeless man. He added that the victim was minding his own business.

“He didn’t approach, he wasn’t violent,” Judge Schwartz said. “He was minding his own business.”

The defendant “stabbed him repeatedly, like in a horror movie,” Judge Schwartz said.

Court proceedings revealed that Lawantara recently attended Portsmouth Abbey boarding school in Rhode Island, records show.

The teenager was listed as a 2025 graduate of the $80,000-a-year private Catholic school, according to court details.

Bail for the defendant was set at $2 million, court records show. Lawantara has since posted bond and was released from custody.

Family members gathered Monday in Glendale to lay Voskanyan to rest, relatives said.

More than 100 family members dressed in black attended a memorial service at St. Leon Armenian Cathedral in Burbank, relatives said.

The Catholic service was conducted in Armenian and featured an open casket, according to family members.

Voskanyan’s body laid in a powder blue casket with a large bouquet of white roses on top, family members said.

A clergyman and relatives then laid him to rest at Grand View Memorial Park in Glendale, family said.

Family members attending the memorial service stated that they want justice served in the case.

“I hope justice is served,” Armen Akopyan, Voskanyan’s uncle, told the Los Angeles Times. “Because [the suspect] took an innocent man’s life.”

Voskanyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia, and moved to Glendale in 2009, according to his family.

The 40-year-old studied in his home country to become a dentist before immigrating to the United States, relatives said.

After moving to America, Voskanyan worked in construction, jewelry, and as a dental technician, his family said.

A longtime friend publicly disputed the characterization of Voskanyan as a homeless man, according to reports.

“It is painful for his family and friends to see him reduced to a single description that does not tell the truth about the person he was,” Levon Grigoryan told the outlet.

“Vanik was much more than the circumstances of his death,” Grigoryan said. “He was a son, a brother, a relative, a friend, and someone who was loved and remembered by many people.”

“It doesn’t matter how the guy was living at that moment,” Grigoryan said. “You don’t have to take a knife and kill somebody.”

Lawantara has maintained that he stabbed the man in self-defense, court records show.

Lawantara is due back in court on Nov. 5 to set a date for a preliminary hearing, court records show.