Prosecutors say a Los Angeles man convicted this week in the 2022 stabbing death of a UCLA grad student was a predator on the lookout for a woman working alone in a store.
The allegations played out in the trial against Shawn Laval Smith, who was convicted Tuesday for stabbing 24-year-old student Brianna Kupfer with a knife 46 times inside a Los Angeles furniture store where the victim worked and leaving her to die alone.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Smith’s conviction Tuesday.
“Brianna Kupfer was a promising young woman whose life was tragically taken far too soon,” Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón said in a press release.
“A bright and talented 24-year-old UCLA student, Brianna was dedicated to her studies in architectural design, with her whole future ahead of her,” Gascón added. “Our hearts are with Brianna’s family, who have shown incredible strength and resilience throughout this harrowing ordeal.”
Smith, 34, was found guilty of one count of murder and a special-circumstance allegation of lying in wait, as well as the use of a deadly and dangerous weapon, the district attorney’s office announced.
The mid-afternoon murder happened Jan. 13, 2022, at the Croft House boutique furniture store where Kupfer was working alone. Smith reportedly left an audio recorder at the scene of the crime, according to local KTLA 5.
The audio recorder Smith left behind included another recording from weeks earlier in which Smith could be heard angrily ranting about women, local ABC 7 reported.
Deputy District Attorney Habib Balian had said in his closing arguments this week that the recordings showed Smith “hated women” and was on a mission to kill a woman, according to Westside Current, Fox 11 Los Angeles, and local ABC 7.
Mourners gather outside the Croft House Wednesday during a memorial for Brianna Kupfer who was stabbed to death inside the furniture store.
Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty
A knife also recovered at the scene, which was determined to have been used in the murder, had a bent blade. The Westside Current reported that Smith’s DNA was found on the knife, the knife’s sheath and the audio recorder – all left behind at the scene of the crime. The outlet reports that Kupfer was pronounced dead inside the store after a customer and her boyfriend walked in and discovered her body.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Kupfer had worriedly texted a friend moments before the attack, explaining that a man inside the store was making her uncomfortable. The friend didn’t see the text in time and didn’t immediately respond.
The jury reached Smith’s guilty verdict in less than an hour, according to reports, and Kupfer’s parents offered an emotional statement outside the courtroom afterwards.
“Justice will never be served because our daughter’s not alive,” the victim’s mother Lori Kupfer tearfully told reporters, according to Fox 11 Los Angeles.
You You can The outlet reports Smith will now face a sentencing hearing in October, where he faces life in prison without the possibility of parole.
