SUSPECT RETURNS TO FACE CHARGE GLENDALE MAN ACCUSED IN SLAYING OF NEPHEW.

Byline: Alex Dobuzinskis Staff Writer

GLENDALE - A 33-year-old fugitive returned voluntarily to the United States from his native Armenia and will be charged today in the shooting death of his 18-year-old nephew, police said Monday.

Gaik Shakhmuradyan, who had lived in Glendale for seven years, fled to Armenia after Edvin Isagulyan was fatally shot last October, officials said. He was returned Thursday to Los Angeles International Airport accompanied by two Glendale police detectives, who had gone to Armenia to find him.

``We were prepared to walk away from him and then bring all the information back to the United States'' and give it to prosecutors, Glendale police Lt. Jon Perkins said. ``He chose to come back with us.''

Armenian authorities helped Glendale police find Shakhmuradyan, who is the brother of Isagulyan's mother. Shakhmuradyan could have faced extradition proceedings if he had stayed in Armenia.

``He had a little taste of the U.S., and it was quite different in Armenia,'' Perkins said.

Isagulyan was shot in the head Oct. 20 in the parking lot of an auto repair shop in the 500 block of South Glendale Avenue. He died the next day.

The motive for the shooting is unclear, Perkins said. The shop was not owned or operated by either the victim's family or his uncle.

Shakhmuradyan was being held in Glendale jail in lieu of $2.1 million, with his arraignment scheduled today on one count of murder.

The victim's family did not cooperate with police in the investigation, Perkins said.

Alex Dobuzinskis, [phone]

alex.dobuzinskis(at)dailynews.com