SAN MARCOS — A murder trial has been set for Jan. 23 in the case of a man who allegedly stabbed his former classmate to death last year near his home in San Marcos.
Kellon Razdan, 21, was charged with first degree murder for the brutal attack of Aris Keshishian, his former elementary school classmate, in August 2021. Keshishian was walking his dog near his home in the 1100 block of Via Vera Cruz when he was attacked and fatally stabbed 44 times.
Keshishian was discovered by family members bleeding in his neighbor’s driveway and died shortly afterwards at the hospital. He was 20 years old.
Razdan was arrested by authorities and charged with the attack shortly afterwards. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail at the Vista Detention Facility.
Authorities still have not named a potential motive in his attack, but evidence presented at a preliminary hearing in March indicated that Razdan waited to gain access to the gated community where Keshishian resided and had a knife on his person.
A pre-trial readiness conference scheduled for Dec. 6 has been continued to Dec. 20 at 9:30 a.m.
Keshishian was a graduate of San Marcos High School and is described on his family’s GoFundMe page as someone who was “the peacemaker and brought encouragement and laughter to everyone’s life,” and who valued his family above all else.
In late 2021, the San Marcos City Council approved a resolution naming a popular hiking trail in Ashishian’s memory. The nearly one-mile trail around the perimeter of Discovery Lake is now called the“Gratitude Trail, In Memory of Aris Keshishian.”
CORRECTION: The trial is set to begin Jan. 23. A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the trial was scheduled to being Jan. 9. We sincerely regret the error.
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