The Beverly Hills teen accused of murdering a homeless man in a vicious alleyway stabbing was a former boarding school altar boy at a posh academy that cost $80,000 a year.
Conoray Lawantara, 19, dressed in a blue jump suit, smiled faintly as he stood before a judge in a Los Angeles courtroom Thursday. The teen’s girlfriend, who was also at the scene the night of the stabbing, watched from the gallery as he was arraigned on a murder charge.
Lawantara’s attorney, Debra White, claimed during a verbal altercation that turned physical, the homeless man reached for the teen’s neck and elbowed him.
The homeless man also bit off a portion of Lawantara’s finger, and Lawantara suffered a stab wound to the abdomen during their exchange, according to White. Lawantara only produced his knife when the homeless man refused to get off of him, the attorney said.
Judge Keith Schwartz was quick to interject, saying there was “no reason for the defendant to have contact” with the homeless man. “He didn’t approach, he wasn’t violent,” he added. “He was minding his own business.”
The defendant “stabbed him repeatedly, like in a horror movie,” Judge Schwartz said.
Lawantara, an Indonesian national, pled not guilty Thurday. His bail was set at $2 million, and he was ordered to turn in his passport.
It was revealed in court that Lawantara recently attended the posh Portsmouth Abbey boarding school in Rhode Island.
Lawantara was an altar boy during his time as a student at the exclusive school, according to photos posted on the school’s website.
He was listed as a 2025 graduate of the $80,000-a-year private Catholic school. Portsmouth Abbey did not respond to a request for comment from The California Post.
Lawantara was charged with one count of murder Wednesday for allegedly stabbing a homeless man in an alley in a posh enclave of Beverly Hills.
Lawantara was arrested on suspicion of murder after an altercation Sunday night in an alley on the 400 block of North Palm Drive in Beverly Hills. The stabbing happened behind an apartment where Lawantara allegedly lived with his girlfriend, according to neighbors who spoke to The Post.
The Beverly Hills Police Department initially received a report of a fight involving two men in the alleyway at about 11:39 p.m. Officers rushed to the scene, where they found Lawantara and the homeless man, identified as 40-year-old Vanik Voskanyan, suffering from a serious stab wound to his neck, police said.
The alleged victim was treated at the scene and taken to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. Lawantara was also taken to a hospital.
The homeless man was looking through some trash cans in the alley when Lawantara confronted him and then stabbed him multiple times, according to neighbors.
Videos from the scene, obtained by The Post, showed the alleged killer and victim in the moments following the fatal encounter. A frantic Lawantara described his side of the story to police as he sat handcuffed.
“He reached for me and at that time I produced a CCW [concealed carry weapon] — it’s a 3.9 inch knife,” Lawantara said to cops. “I went for him because he was pulling at me.”
Lawantara stated he told the man to let go, but he refused.
Another video, obtained by The Post, showed the homeless man stumbling down the alley just after he was stabbed, moaning in agony.
The violence rocked the upscale neighborhood where homes go for $2 million or more, with neighbors describing a gory scene out of a crime show in the aftermath of the killing, with “pools of blood all around.”
“The police were trying to revive this poor man that was lying there with blood, like it was in ‘CSI,’” one neighbor said.
