Man Accused of Murdering ‘American Idol’ Exec and Husband Still Unfit for Trial, Judge Rules

Raymond Boodarian was ordered to remain in a state hospital under an involuntary medication order after being accused of fatally shooting Robin Kaye and Thomas Deluca in July 2025

The man charged with murdering longtime American Idol music supervisor Robin Kaye and her husband, the musician Thomas Deluca, inside their Los Angeles home last year remains unfit to stand trial more than eight months after he was committed to a state hospital under an involuntary medication order, a judge ruled Monday.

Raymond Boodarian, 23, did not appear at the progress hearing in Los Angeles County mental health court. Judge Maria Cavalluzzi based her ruling on a report submitted over the weekend by officials at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino County, where Boodarian has been committed since January.

“The defendant is ordered retained and treated. The maximum commitment date remains Dec. 19, 2027. The previous (involuntary) medication order issued remains in full force and effect,” Cavalluzzi’s minute order from the Sept. 21 hearing, obtained by Rolling Stone, reads. His next progress hearing is set for March 22, 2027.

Boodarian is charged with murdering Kaye and Deluca during an alleged daytime burglary of their Los Angeles house on July 10, 2025. During a court appearance last year, Boodarian appeared behind a plexiglass window in a Van Nuys courtroom and did not respond when Judge Martin L. Herscovitz attempted to address him.

“He does have severe mental health issues,” his public defender told the court at the time, noting that Boodarian was wearing a suicide-prevention gown. After several unsuccessful attempts to get a response, Judge Herscovitz said for the record that the defendant was “staring out into space and not responding to the court’s questions.”

Prosecutors allege Boodarian was burglarizing Kaye’s Encino home when she and Deluca returned from a shopping trip and encountered him. The couple, both 70, were allegedly shot multiple times with a firearm Boodarian found inside the house, officials said. Boodarian then fled, and the bodies were discovered four days later during a welfare check, prosecutors allege.

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According to a search warrant affidavit obtained by Rolling Stone, police received a call at 4:10 p.m. from a neighbor reporting that someone had climbed over Kaye’s fence and may have been attempting to break into the home. A second radio call at 4:44 p.m. said another 911 caller “identified himself as Raymond Boodarian and advised that someone broke into his office,” the affidavit states. “The 911 caller then stated, ‘Please don’t shoot me.'”

Home surveillance footage allegedly captured a man wearing a black baseball cap, gray shirt, dark pants, and black sandals climbing over the front fence at 4:06 p.m. Kaye and Deluca were seen arriving home at 4:43 p.m. About 10 minutes later, the suspect was captured on video leaving the property while concealing a handgun in his waistband, officials said.

Police responded to the home on the day of the shootings but did not see signs of a break-in and did not enter the residence, officials said.

If he’s eventually tried and convicted as charged, Boodarian could face the death penalty or a maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Any trial would require that a judge first find him competent to participate in his defense.

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Kaye began working on American Idol in 2009 and “was truly loved and respected by all who came in contact with her,” a representative for the show said. She also worked in the music departments for the NAACP Image Awards and programs, including Lip Sync Battle.

Deluca was a songwriter and performer who composed music for artists including Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, according to the website Melodic Rock Classics.