Brianna Kupfer's parents speak out before the start of the trial against the alleged murderer

LOS ANGELES – Opening arguments begin Thursday in the murder trial of Shawn Laval Smith, the man accused of killing Brianna Kupfer in a Hancock Park boutique in 2022. Ahead of the trial, Kupfer's parents are talking about their daughter and her legacy, hoping for closure and justice.

The family had just spent the holidays together. Todd Kupfer said they were “lucky.” Weeks later, their world was turned upside down.

“It's interesting because you sit there and think, 'What am I going to say about her?' and you want to be authentic and real,” Todd Kupfer said. “And all of those things never sound real when you say she was an angel and perfect, right? That kind of doesn't sound true, but actually, that's pretty much exactly what she was.”

Todd and Lori Kupfer described their daughter as compassionate and a peacemaker in the family. Now, they say, they are constantly reminded that she is no longer there.

“Your brain honestly wakes up from a nap, from sleep, and you feel like someone just electrocuted you because your brain suddenly realizes, 'My daughter is gone,'” Lori Kupfer said.

“When you wake up, you think about it. You can't help it,” said Todd Kupfer. “When you go for a walk, you think about it. No matter what you do, it comes to mind.”

The 24-year-old UCLA graduate was stabbed 26 times and suffered a total of nearly 50 stab wounds in the attack on the Croft House furniture store on N. La Brea Avenue on January 13, 2022.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

Smith was charged in November 2022 with the murder of Brianna Kupfer and two special circumstances in what authorities said was a random attack. He faces up to life in prison.

To her family, Brianna Kupfer was “so nice and she never criticized,” her father said. “She led by example. She was really a good, well-behaved girl. A good, living example of how more of us should be.”

Her mother, Lori, said she wished she “could go back and just spend a day with little Brianna, even when she was a kid. And just play whatever she wants and just really listen to her. That's what you miss. You just miss all those unspoken things.”

When asked what legacy he hopes Brianna will leave behind, Todd Kupfer said he hopes people remember “that she loved life and loved people. We met so many people and wrote to each other … and every one of them was like, 'Oh my God, she changed my life so much.' So it's a shame she didn't get to spend more time with people. But she did.”