A man accused for fatally stabbing a woman at a Metro station yesterday is behind bars – but tonight her family is speaking out.
“He’s an animal. He didn’t just took a person life but he took a family,” Mirna Soza’s eldest daughter, who is also named Mirna Soza, said.
It was an emotional moment for the family who is thousands of miles away. They say detectives reached out to them in Nicaragua about Mirna Soza’s homicide case and her accused killer.
“She was a person full of life. Didn’t want to feel anything because of her age. She was 66 but she felt young,” Mirna said.
Soza was working as a security guard at a Tommy’s in North Hills. According to LAPD, Soza took a Metro bus from her workplace on Monday morning and jumped on the subway on her commute home.
That’s when Metro’s security camera captured her being stabbed multiple times at the Universal Station by a man who police say also stole her purse. LAPD arresting 45-year-old Elliot Nowden a few blocks away.
“I think he didn’t need to kill her. She was old and a woman. Maybe scare her at least just harm her and send her to the hospital,” Mirna said.
Court records show Nowden was convicted of two assaults in 2019, including one where the victim was a public transit passenger. Jail records show he was arrested several times recently, including once in February for assault at the same Red Line station.
Now Soza’s family is trying to reunite with their loved on to say their final goodbye.
“Get her body to Nicaragua. She wanted to be buried here in her country. We want to see her because it’s been six years without seeing her, touching her so we don’t know how her body is going to come. In our dreams and our wish is to touch her. That’s what we want,” Mirna said.
Soza was a mother of three and grandmother of four. The family tells NBC4 they are speaking out today because they want justice.