In a verdict that closes the chapter on a harrowing incident, Elliot Tramel Nowden, a 47-year-old man, has been condemned to spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder and robbery of a 67-year-old woman on a Los Angeles Metro train in 2024. According to CBS News Los Angeles, a jury previously found Nowden guilty of the stabbing that took Mirna Soza Arauz’s life while she was on her way home from work.
Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman expressed that “Commuters should feel safe when they ride our public transit, but sadly a life was needlessly taken when a man brutally stabbed and robbed a woman who was simply trying to get home after working an overnight shift,” in a sentiment echoed by the DA’s official news release. Arauz, who had been working overnight, was attacked and robbed of her bag as the train stopped at the Universal City platform. It was during this tragic occurrence that Nowden committed the murder, disregarding his previous ban from Metro trains, which came as part of a plea deal for an earlier assault in 2019.
The 2019 incident involved the stabbing of a University of Southern California student, after which Nowden struck a plea deal, pleading no contest to a felony count of assault with a deadly weapon, leading to a four-year state prison sentence and the Metro train ban, the ban which he violated, resulting in the fatal 2024 encounter. “We hope her family has some measure of comfort knowing the killer will be in prison for the rest of his life and cannot hurt anyone else,” Hochman told CBS News Los Angeles, reflecting on the precarious sense of safety for those who rely on public transit…