A manhunt is underway for a suspect accused of stabbing 24-year-old Brianna Kupfer to death at the furniture store where she worked in Los Angeles.
Ms Kupfer, a graduate student at the University of California - Los Angeles, was alone on a shift at the Croft House showroom on 13 January when a masked man walked in and attacked her, police said. She was found bleeding out on the floor by a customer 20 minutes later and was pronounced dead at the scene.
Nearly a week later, the assailant, believed to be a homeless man, is still at large after surveillance video captured him leaving the shop through a back door and walking calmly down an alley.
In addition to a $50,000 reward from the city council, private donations for information relating to the capture of the suspect have now taken the total to in excess of $250,00.
Investigators said Ms Kupfer, who hailed from Pacific Palisades and worked as a design consultant for the high-end retailer, appeared to have been targeted at random.
Her heartbroken father, Todd Kupfer, spoke out about the tragedy on Monday and blamed politicians’ failure to curb surging crime in the city. On the same day, a soon-to-retire nurse was fatally attacked while waiting for a bus downtown.
