The man arrested in the fatal stabbing a woman on a Metro train in Studio City as she was on her way home from work early Monday was previously convicted of assaulting passengers on Los Angeles public transit system, according to court records and law enforcement sources.
The victim, whose name has not been made public, was stabbed and slashed repeatedly by a man who stole her purse before being arrested by LAPD officers a few blocks from the Universal/Studio City Station, the sources said.
She had taken a Metro bus from her workplace to the station in North Hollywood and was riding the subway for the next leg of her commute home when she was accosted, they told the I-Team late Monday.
The man arrested, Elliot T. Nowden, was being held in lieu of $2 million bail, according to booking records. The murder was captured on video by Metro's security cameras, authorities said.
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Court records show Nowden, 45, was convicted in July 2019 of an assault with a deadly weapon, while he was on probation for attacking a train passenger on the Metro system earlier that year.
He was sentenced in December 2019 to four years in state prison for the assault.
Jail records and law enforcement officials confirmed Nowden was arrested several times in recent months on misdemeanor charges, including a January 30, 2024 LAPD arrest for an assault at the same Red Line station.
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No charges have been filed in that case to date.
The woman killed Monday had boarded a southbound train at the Red Line station in North Hollywood and was attacked around 5 a.m., just before the train arrived at the Universal/Studio City Station on Lankershim Boulevard, police said.
Private security officers working for Metro provided aid to the victim at the subway station while waiting for paramedics, who transported her to a hospital where she died, the LAPD said in a statement.
Detectives said they believe Nowden may be responsible for other recent, unreported attacks on other Metro riders, and urged anyone with information to contact Valley Bureau Homicide.
