Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced a murder charge against Elliot Tramel Nowden, a homeless man with a history of violence against Metro train passengers, in connection with the fatal stabbing of 66-year-old security guard Mirna Soza on Monday.
Soza was returning home from her night shift at an Original Tommy’s hamburger restaurant in North Hills when she was allegedly stabbed by Nowden on the Universal Studios train platform. Nowden was arrested shortly after the incident and faces life in prison without parole if convicted of all charges.
Gascón said prosecutors also filed a special allegation that the murder was committed during a robbery. Nowden has a history of violence against Metro train passengers. In June 2019, he was arrested and charged with attacking a passenger on a Metro train in Los Angeles. He pleaded no contest, spent five days in jail, and received a 36-month probation term.
A few weeks later, Nowden appeared before a judge on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and battery. He was sentenced to four years in state prison after pleading no contest to the assault charge and was given 179 days of credit for time served.
Nowden was paroled to the Department of State Hospitals on March 18, 2022, during his prison sentence. He was released on parole supervision in August 2022 and discharged from parole in March 2023.
But in January, Nowden was again arrested by the LAPD for trespassing.
Soza’s colleagues say she was aware of the dangers of riding public transit in the early hours and would often stay at Tommy’s until sunrise. However, on Monday, she was too tired and began her journey home on the B Line.
Other passengers discovered the bloody scene on the Universal platform Monday morning and immediately alerted authorities. Despite lifesaving measures from paramedics, Soza died from her injuries at the hospital.
Interim Police Chief Dominic Choi said that about 30 minutes after the LAPD arrived at the train station, officers spotted a person matching the attacker’s description near Ventura Boulevard and Vineland Avenue. The man, later identified as Nowden, was detained and interviewed by detectives with the Valley Bureau homicide division.
Nowden, 45, was arrested on suspicion of murder after detectives reviewed the evidence, according to the LAPD. Public records show that Nowden’s last known address was in Little Rock, Ark. He was a wanted fugitive in Texas in November 2008, according to court records.
In Bexar County, Texas, he was charged with theft and narcotics possession.
During Tuesday’s Police Commission meeting, Commissioner Maria Lou Calanche sought Choi’s assurance that there is adequate security on Metro during the early morning. Choi responded that the department’s “deployment is strategic based on crime trends and needs.” He did not provide details.
“It’s not just a flat deployment, just to say that we’re deployed, so we take a look at crime trends as we look at ridership. We look at the activity and deploy accordingly,” Choi added.
He said that officers on trains, in train stations, and on buses, along with the Metro system’s ambassadors, “are a directed effort to increase our presence as well as the safety on these lines.”
“Again, we can’t be everywhere all the time,” Choi said. The department tries to spread out officers and engage with riders “to create a sense of safety and address crime trends or problems as they occur immediately and swiftly.”
