Guilty Plea in Lakewood Stabbing Death

Dimitri Darzhinov

A Lakewood man has pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the stabbing death of another man in 2016.

Dimitri Darzhinov, 54, of Lakewood will be sentenced in September by Superior Court Judge Judge Wendel E. Daniels for the death of Gela Suqiashvilli, 54, on June 14, 2016 in Lakewood.

The guilty plea stems from a fatal stabbing that took place on a Tuesday last summer when,at approximately 1:04 a.m., the Lakewood Police Department received a 911 call through the Howell Police Department in which the Russian speaking caller through language line reported that a stabbing had occurred at 149 East Kennedy Boulevard, Building 4, Apartment 7, in Lakewood. Lakewood Police then dispatched Officers to the apartment who knocked on the door and received no response from inside.

---

Get Brick News Updates Daily Your email address:* Please enter all required fields Correct invalid entries

Lakewood officers proceeded to check the apartment complex area and located Darzhinov several doors down from apartment 149.  Dorzhinov spoke Russian to the Officers who located him.  The Officers utilized language line to communicate with him and learned that Darzhinov was involved in an altercation within apartment 149 with the occupant.

Lakewood Police Officers immediately responded back to the apartment and forced entry finding a victim, later identified as Gela Suqiashvilli, sitting on a chair unresponsive and suffering from multiple puncture and slash wounds to his upper torso and face, prosecutors say. Suqiashvilli was pronounced dead 1:48 a.m.

As the crime scene was being processed, Darzhinov was taken to the Lakewood police headquarters where OCPO Major Crimes Detective John Murphy and Lakewood Police Detective Oscar Valmon continued the investigation. Lakewood Police Officer Tymur Zavalnyuk, who speaks Russian, was able to communicate with Darzhinov and provided translation assistance. The investigation found that Darzhinov and the victim began to wrestle, which escalated and resulted in the stabbing.  Darzhinov then made the 911 call reporting the stabbing after leaving the residence.