A 27-year-old man accused in the gruesome slaying of a La Verne-area couple has been convicted of murder and burglary, prosecutors said.
Luke Fabela, a transient, was found guilty of two counts each of first-degree murder and first-degree residential burglary, according to a news release from the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
On Dec. 26, 2014, Shirley Isom, 74, and Armie “Troy” Isom, 89, were found bludgeoned near the front door of their home in the 300 block of Roughrider Drive, which is in an affluent hillside community located in an unincorporated area between La Verne and Claremont.
The couple had been violently beaten and stabbed in what was described by authorities at the time as a “blitz attack.” Fabela used a knife and a “hard object,” according to the criminal complaint.
Blunt force trauma was ruled as the cause of death for the husband and wife, the DA’s news release stated.
Fabela killed the couple for the woman’s cellphone, which was the only item missing from the estate, according to prosecutors.
DNA evidence was used to link the defendant to the bloody crime scene, investigators said. He was in state prison in Kern County when he was identified as the prime suspect in the case.
Fabela faces the possibility of life in prison without parole. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 30.