A man who police said was fired from his job at a retirement home in Burbank pleaded not guilty Thursday to fatally stabbing an employee at the facility.
Paul Lawrence Dunbar Haney IV, 27, of San Fernando, is charged with murder and a knife-use allegation stemming from the July 30 attack on Moncerrat Vargas-Navarrete at Burbank Retirement Villa West, 1911 Grismer Ave., near North Glenoaks Boulevard.
The 27-year-old woman died of a stab wound to the neck after being taken to a hospital, according to records from the coroner’s office.
“There is no indication that this is a random act of violence,” Burbank police said in a July 30 statement announcing Haney’s arrest. “The suspect and victim knew each other. The suspect had been recently terminated from the business.”
Responding police officers saw a man matching the suspect’s description running from the area while armed with a knife, and detained him, according to police, who said witnesses identified him as the person involved in the stabbing.
Haney has remained behind bars since his July 30 arrest, jail records show.
He is due back in a Pasadena courthouse Oct. 18, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial.
