Transient Charged With 2014 Killings Of La Verne Couple

LA VERNE (CBSLA.com) — A transient was charged Wednesday with capital murder for the bludgeoning murder of a La Verne couple shortly after Christmas in 2014 and stealing the wife's cell phone, Los Angeles County District Attorney's officials said.

Luke Mathew Fabela, 23, is scheduled to make his first court appearance Wednesday, when prosecutors say they will ask to be held without bail.

Fabela was charged with the Dec. 26, 2014, killings of Shirley Isom, 74, and Armie "Troy" Isom, 89. Both died of blunt-force trauma, with Shirley Isom also sustaining sharp-force trauma, and their bodies were found at their hillside estate on Roughrider Road in La Verne.

The only thing taken was Shirley Isom's cellphone, prosecutors said.

DNA evidence led authorities to Fabela, whose criminal record included an arrest in January 2015 in San Bernardino County on charges of joyriding, vandalism and petty theft and a January 2011 arrest for making a criminal threat. He was first identified as a suspect in the Isoms' murders in May.

Prosecutors say they will decide later whether to seek the death penalty.