Businesswoman remains in coma after attack

Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2003 | 11:17 a.m.

As Las Vegas businesswoman Elisa Del Prado today begins her eighth week in a coma after a savage beating at her downtown jewelry store, her alleged attacker's preliminary hearing in Justice Court this morning was postponed.

"She is a fighter, but the fight is starting to take its toll on her," Del Prado's son John Prado said Monday. He has long worked for the family business, the World Merchants-Importers, 310 Carson Ave., where the Sept. 2 attack occurred.

John Del Prado said his 65-year-old mother is on life support and she has gone back and forth between a coma and a semi-coma at University Medical Center. She was listed in serious condition Monday.

"She is hanging on every day and has a strong will to live," John Del Prado said. "The doctors have done all they can. We are just hoping for the best."

Avetis Archanian, 45, an ex-employee of Del Prado, appeared today before Justice of the Peace William Jansen for a hearing that would have determined whether he would stand trial in both the beating of Del Prado and the bludgeoning death of her 86-year-old mother, Juana Maria Quiroga.

The preliminary hearing was postponed until 8:30 a.m. Nov. 20. Defense attorney Mace Yampolsky asked Jansen for the continuance because his co-counsel William Graysen of Los Angeles had a scheduling conflict.

Asked if prosecutors have placed a deal on the table for his client to consider, Yampolsky said, "it is a little early for that." District Attorney David Roger said his office has not yet decided whether the death penalty will be sought.

On the day of the attack, Quiroga accompanied her daughter to the store as was long her custom. They fought off the attacker whose motive Metro Police say was robbery. Police say a hammer from the store's jewelry repair area was used in the beatings.

Archanian, who worked for three months as a jewelry repairman for Del Prado's store, faces six felony charges: murder, attempted murder, robbery and burglary, all with the use of a deadly weapon, and grand larceny.

Five security cameras caught the incident on film, police said.

According to police reports, the video shows a man they say is Archanian entering the store shortly before 9:30 a.m. and greeting Elisa Del Prado and Quiroga before heading to the repair room.

A few minutes later the video shows what appears to be Elisa Del Prado being beckoned to the repair room. Soon after that, the video shows Quiroga moving toward that room, the report says.

The video shows the assailant with a burgundy leather satchel grabbing jewelry from the display counters, police said.

John Del Prado told the Sun that 200 pieces of jewelry, including diamonds, emeralds and rubies, worth about $200,000 were taken.

The assailant is seen on the videotape leaving the store at 9:40 a.m., then returning 10 minutes later.

Archanian told police he showed up at the store for work that morning and found the door locked. He told police he looked in the window, saw bodies inside and called 911.

Homicide detectives arrested Archanian at a gas station at Rainbow Boulevard and Russell Road, near his apartment, about 7 p.m. on the day of the attacks. Detectives searched Archanian's apartment and found a satchel and a pair of black gloves with blood on them, the police report says.

Archanian remains in custody at the Clark County Detention Center.

Elisa Del Prado, a native Cuban who immigrated to the U.S. with her late husband when Fidel Castro came to power, had been struggling with financial problems at the store. She attributed the financial problems to the city of Las Vegas forcing her to move the store from Fremont Street to Fourth and Carson to make way for the Fremont Street Experience in the mid-1990s.

Elisa Del Prado is a well-known member of the valley's Hispanic business community. She was one of the first business owners to join the Las Vegas Latin Chamber of Commerce when it was formed in the mid-1970s. She had served on its board of directors and was an officer for Hispanics in Politics.