Three illegal immigrants from Georgia have been charged in the murder of Israeli businessman Alexander Modebadze in Los Angeles last month, the New York Post reported.
The three, who were identified as Pata Kochiashvili, Zaza Otarashvili and Besiki Khutsishvili, are accused of breaking into Modebadze's home, holding him captive for hours, and then beating him to death. They are being held on $2 million bail.
Otarashvili and Khutsishvili were arrested in 2022 when they illegally entered the US, but were released into the country. Kochiashvili illegally entered the US in 2017 and failed to comply with an order to leave the country in 2018.
Kochiashvili has two prior arrests for alleged crimes, including a 2022 burglary arrest and a 2022 arrest for marijuana cultivation. In both cases, he was released despite the filing of a retainer for his arrest by federal authorities.
The same day Modebadze's body was found, police found another murdered Israeli businessman in the San Fernando Valley: Meni Hidhra, the brother of the warden of Israel’s Nitzan Prison, the Jewish Journal reported.
Police have revealed few details about that crime, including how he was killed, but they did release photos of a possible suspect: a 30 to 40-year-old Hispanic male. Authorities do not believe that the two murders are connected.