Cut in Line Sparked Fatal Stabbing, Witness Says

“Please call 911. I’ve been stabbed.”

Shortly after those final words, Elvis Kechechian died alone in a parking lot full of people. He had staggered briefly, cupping his intestines with his hands, trying to hold himself intact. Because he was so strong, so physically fit, he had remained upright despite a stab wound slicing from his kidney to his navel.

For some reason, had been separated from the three other men in his party. Pouya was tending to Hossain, who was critically injured with another knife wound. And Kechechian’s older brother, Aris, had been beaten badly and apparently lay unconscious. When sheriff's deputies arrived, they separated the two brothers.

A family friend said Monday that was a big mistake, separating the inseparable siblings. Elvis probably died moments before being loaded into an ambulance early Saturday morning, the friend said, a tragic end to a night of celebration.

Kenny Woodard, 30, of Mission Viejo, was supposed to be out with the group late Friday as they celebrated Hossain’s birthday. Instead, he had a modeling assignment in Los Angeles and couldn’t join the night of revelry that was to include bowling and a trip to a club called Heat Ultra Lounge.

According to Woodard, Elvis Kechechian was eternally upbeat and positive, with an easy manner around people. In the days since his death, Woodard has listened to many versions of what transpired that night. On Monday, Woodard reconstructed the evening for Patch, based on Pouya's account.

(For safety reasons, Woodard and several family members asked that Pouya and Hossain's last names not be published.)

The story relayed by Woodard is just one snapshot of what happened. Sheriff's department investigators have interviewed about 30 witnesses and are looking for before authorities arrived. Some of the accounts differ markedly.

As Woodard tells it, around 2 a.m., the four men—Elvis, Aris, Hossain and Pouya—went out for a late dinner at Albatros, a 24-hour Mexican restaurant in a Lake Forest strip mall that also includes an Enterprise Rent-A-Car, a print shop and a Mr. Pickle's sandwich shop. The all-night hours have made Albatros a popular late-night hangout in the bedroom community.

After arriving, Aris and Hossain used the restroom while the other men got in line to order. As Elvis stood waiting, a woman slyly tried to cut in front of him. He wasn’t bothered by that, Woodard said, but he wasn’t happy she ignored him and used her telephone when he tried to make conversation with her.

She got off the phone and responded with something derogatory. Indignant at her attitude, Elvis nevertheless laughed when she told him, “If you don’t turn around, I’m going to slap you.” Tensions escalated.

Aris and Hossain returned from the restroom and, in the growing chaos, the woman punched Aris. Unwilling to hit back, Aris spit on the woman. Other customers then joined the fracas. There might have been a few punches thrown, “but nothing serious,” Woodard said. “Realizing enough was enough," the men decided to leave, he said.

But the woman apparently called for reinforcements because she told them, “My boyfriend is going to come and f--- you up.”

The four men were in the parking lot when the boyfriend—the still-at-large murder suspect, Woodard believes—announced his arrival: “Which one of you guys spit on my girl?”

“I spit on your girl,” Aris answered back.

Five other men joined the boyfriend, according to Woodard, and a 9-on-4 fight broke out: the six men and three women against Elvis, Aris, Hossain and Pouya.

Pouya fought off the girls, who were pulling on his shirt while a large assailant jumped on Aris and pinned him to the pavement. Pouya didn't see what happened to Elvis and Hossain, but he did manage to pull the big man off Aris.

Then, from behind, Pouya heard a gurgling sound.

It was Elvis. “Please call 911,” he said. “I’ve been stabbed.”

Elvis was bleeding profusely from a single knife cut that wrapped around his torso. Pouya didn't realize Elvis was more badly injured than Hossain, who was sprawled on the ground.

Elvis went to his brother, who was badly beaten. Woozy, he fell over while trying to hold and comfort Aris.

Deputies arrived.

“What I was told is they allowed Pouya to stay with Hossain, but they separated Elvis and Aris,” Woodard said. “Aris was banged up, but Elvis was alone.”

Pouya would call back to Elvis, “Breathe, breathe!”

Elvis tried, but couldn't hang on.

“I think Hossain [who is now in a medically induced coma at Mission Hospital, according to another friend] lived because he had someone with him,” Woodard said. “They said Elvis probably died right before he got in the ambulance. He died in the street.”