Week in review

Officials then approached the company about a possible new store in Montrose, despite their stores on Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta and Glendale Avenue near City Hall, in an effort to meet the demands of the community, Deputy Development Services Director Emil Tatevosian said.

Trader Joe’s has agreed to provide ample parking at any store it might build on the lot and would likely hire local residents to work at the site, although no details on the outlet’s potential economic and environmental impacts will be available until a move becomes more certain, Tatevosian said.

PUBLIC SAFETY

A 45-year-old Glendale man arrested Saturday at the Canadian border is facing murder and animal cruelty charges after police discovered the badly decomposed bodies of his wife and their dog less than a day earlier in their apartment near North Central Avenue.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers arrested John Levin in Washington as he tried to cross into Canada. Customs Chief Thomas Schreiber said the license plate on Levin’s convertible Volkswagen turned up a missing-persons alert.

About 3 p.m. Sept. 11, Glendale police discovered 35-year-old Michelle Levin and a small dog inside their apartment on the 200 block of West Fairview Avenue in Glendale.

The Los Angeles County district attorney on Monday charged John Levin with one count of murder, identifying the weapon as a knife. He was also charged with one felony count of animal cruelty, according to the complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court.

In an announcement from U.S. Customs, officials noted that John Levin’s wrists “were injured and oozing blood” at the time he was taken into custody.

Glendale police Sgt. Tom Lorenz said it appeared as if Michelle Levin had been dead for several days when discovered. Police officers responded to the scene after receiving a call from someone concerned about the pair’s whereabouts, he added.

Less than a day later, a mobile U.S. Customs patrol unit stopped John Levin at the Canadian border, where his license plate came back as belonging to a possible missing person.

A phone call to Glendale police revealed he was wanted as a murder suspect, Schreiber said.

He remained in custody Friday, awaiting extradition from Washington, Lorenz said.

NOTABLE QUOTABLES

“It will be a dream come true. It’s been a long time in the making. A lot of effort has gone in on the parts of lots of different groups.”