Woman’s death in jewelry heist may lead to second murder charge

Erica D. Johnson

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 | 9:22 a.m.

The man charged in a jewelry store beating that left an 86-year-old woman dead will face an additional murder charge, following the death this week of the woman's daughter, prosecutors announced Monday.

Elisa Del Prado, 65, died Sunday at University Medical Center from injuries she sustained in a September beating at the World Merchants-Importers in downtown Las Vegas.

Del Prado had been in a coma for nearly six months. Her mother, Juana Maria Quiroga, died in the attack.

Avetis Archanian, 45, a jewelry repairman who worked at the store, was scheduled to stand trial on murder, attempted murder and other charges in September.

But prosecutors now plan to take the case to a grand jury requesting a second murder charge be filed against Archanian, District Attorney David Roger said.

"We'll go to the grand jury before (the trial) so that we can indict him on the second murder charge," he said.

Prosecutors already were seeking the death penalty for Archanian. The case will remain a death penalty case, Roger said.

Del Prado's son, John, said an execution would not be punishment enough for a man who so brutally took two lives.

"This guy showed up a day late and a dollar short," John Del Prado said. "How can one life pay for two?"

Hospital staff removed Del Prado's feeding tube about two weeks ago after she began having more complications and was showing little sign of improvement, John Del Prado said.

She had been on life support for the first four months following the attack. She survived about 14 days after doctors removed the feeding tube, John Del Prado said.

"Her body started to deteriorate and shut down over the last month," he said. "We didn't want her to suffer any longer. We're saddened, but we're also a bit relieved that she's not in pain anymore."

Authorities say Archanian brutally beat the women with a hammer or another heavy object in a storage room before the store opened on Sept. 2.

John Del Prado said his mother's injuries showed the beating was brutal. He and other family members had visited his mother every day for the past six months and she never was able to move or communicate, he said.

"Her frontal lobe was destroyed in the attack," he said. "She suffered severe brain damage. He just hit her too hard and too many times."

Despite Elisa Del Prado's condition, family members had been hopeful that she would pull through, John Del Prado said.

"We were always very optimistic," he said. "We hoped and prayed for her recovery."