West
Prosecutors say suspect in UCLA student Brianna Kupfer's murder recorded brutal stabbing
Brianna Kupfer’s alleged killer is on trial for her murder two years after the brutal stabbing of the 24-year-old UCLA student.
Kupfer, an architectural graduate student, was working alone at Croft House, a boutique furniture store in Los Angeles’ Hancock Park, Jan. 13, 2022, when Shawn Laval Smith allegedly entered the store and stabbed her dozens of times.
“The evidence will demonstrate that the defendant attacked Brianna with such force, such determination, with such frequent and numerous swings of this knife that he bent the steel blade,” Habib Balian, a deputy district attorney, said in the prosecution’s opening statement. “Brianna Kupfer was stabbed to death 26 times.”
Smith, who has a long criminal history, was arrested six days after Kupfer’s murder.
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Shawn Laval Smith is on trial for allegedly stabbing Brianna Kupfer to death in 2022. (KTTV)
“This is a brutal murder,” Nathan Hochman, who is running against LA County District Attorney George Gascon, told Fox News Monday.
“Shawn Laval Smith, according to the prosecution’s opening statement, was a transient who had over a decade-long criminal history,” Hochman added. “Investigators found Smith’s knife with his DNA on it, there’s video of him at the store and he actually made an audio recording where you could hear on the audio tape that she is pleading with him, that she can actually help him.”
“With her last breathing words, she’s telling him: ‘I can help you, I can help you, I can help you.’ And he’s telling her, ‘It’s over, b—-, it’s over,’” Balian said in the courtroom.
He added “the defendant recorded himself talking about his most vile and disgusting and grotesque thoughts about women.”
WHO IS BRIANNA KUPFER, THE LOS ANGELES STABBING VICTIM?
Brianna Kupfer, 24, was stabbed to death in 2022. (Linkedin)
Hochman added that Smith “should have never have been on the streets that day. He had a rap sheet going back a decade, and if the prosecutors at the time had been doing their job, and he had been arrested on his outstanding warrants, he would not have been in the furniture store that day to kill Brianna Kupfer.”
Smith went to six other stores before finding Kupfer, trying to find a woman working alone, prosecutors said, according to FOX 11.
“He wanted to kill women,” Balian said in court.
Kupfer’s parents called her an “angel.” (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
If convicted, Smith could face life without the possibility of parole.
“It’s interesting because you sit here and you think, ‘What am I going to say about her?’ and you want to be authentic, and you want to be real. And all those things never sound real when you say that she was an angel and she was perfect, right?” Kupfer’s father, Todd Kupfer, told FOX 11 last week ahead of the trial.
“It sort of doesn’t sound true, but, in fact, it pretty much was.”
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Denver, CO
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Seattle, WA
Seattle Torrent put Olympic captain Hilary Knight on long-term IR – Seattle Sports
Olympians Hilary Knight, Kendall Coyne Schofield and Erin Ambrose have all been placed on long-term injured reserve by their PWHL clubs after sustaining injuries during the Milan Cortina Games.
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Knight, a five-time Olympian and captain of the United States team that won gold, will be out of the lineup for the Seattle Torrent indefinitely after sustaining a lower-body injury in Italy, the team announced Friday.
Knight had three goals and three assists for the U.S. at Milan Cortina including a goal in the 2-1 overtime win over Canada in the final. She has three goals and seven assists during the current PWHL season.
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“While we’re eager to be at full strength and recognize the anticipation of Hilary’s return, we’re focused on putting her and our team in the best position for a playoff push,” Torrent general manager Meghan Turner said in a statement.
Minnesota Frost captain Coyne Schofield was placed on long-term injured reserve on Friday retroactive to Feb. 19 with an upper-body injury. Coyne Schofield scored three goals for the United States during the Olympics.
“I am incredibly proud of all our Frost Olympians who demonstrated true excellence on the world stage,” general manager Melissa Caruso said in a statement. “We are fully committed to supporting Kendall throughout her recovery, and our medical team will be working diligently to help her prepare for her return to the ice.”
The moves by the Torrent and Frost came a day after the Montreal Victoire announced that Ambrose has been placed on long-term injured reserve retroactive to Feb. 19 for a lower‑body injury suffered while representing Canada in the gold medal game. Ambrose had a pair of assists at the Olympics.
The Victoire’s Marie-Philip Poulin, Canada’s captain in Italy, was listed as day-to-day with an Olympics-related injury.
Victoire general manager Daniele Sauvageau said of the team’s Olympians “we are confident that they will be back in the lineup in the near future.”
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San Diego, CA
Joan Endres – San Diego Union-Tribune
Joan Endres
OBITUARY
Born January 1939 in Cincinnati Ohio. Died February 14, 2026, in San Diego, California, with her sons at her side. Her beloved husband Dean passed away in 2010.
Joan was the only child of Thomas and Edna Palmer. In 1943, the family moved to San Diego, where Joan graduated from Helix High School in 1956.
In 1957 Joan married Dean Endres of San Diego, where they raised two sons. Joan followed her two great passions outside the home, the Arts, and Gardening. Both activities being a way to bring beauty to others and to the community.
Joan received a degree in Environmental Design from San Diego State University, and afterwords worked at UCSD, for the Campus Architect.
As an artist, Joan worked in various media, especially ceramics. She was active in many cultural and arts organizations, eventually becoming President of the Combined Organization for the Visual Arts (COVA). Later she turned to gardening, with the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca Community College and the Master Gardener Association of San Diego County.
Joan is survived by her son Jeff and wife Katrin, grandson Jackson, and son Todd Endres, all of La Mesa, and sisters Alice Buck of Phoenix, Elaine Kennedy of San Diego, Nancy and husband Don Jones of Vista, Eva Budzinski of Cloudcroft, New Mexico, and their children and grandchildren.
There will be a Celebration of Life for Joan in the near future. Those who wish to attend should contact celebratejoanuvart@gmail.com to receive details when they are confirmed. In lieu of flowers, the family respectfully suggests a donation to the Water Conservation Garden or the Diego Visual Arts Network (SDVAN).
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