Jonathan Bahm left Pittsburgh after graduating from Mt. Lebanon High School in 2017, bound for California to study computer science and to work as a game designer.
A year after earning an engineering degree from Chapman University, Mr. Bahm won’t have that chance.
Early on the morning of April 19, Mr. Bahm, 23. and his roommate, Griffin Cuomo, also 23, were stabbed to death in their apartment in Anaheim. Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said it was a “callous” attack.
According to a statement from Mr. Spitzer, Ramy Hany Mounir Fahim, 26, of Irvine, has been charged with two counts of murder, and two enhancements each of lying in wait and multiple murders; if found guilty, Mr. Fahim could be eligible for the death penalty because of the enhanced charges.
Police said Mr. Fahim was in the apartment waiting for Mr. Cuomo, although it was unclear how he gained entry to the secure building. He was still in the apartment, with a minor injury, when officers arrived.
Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Fahim were colleagues at a wealth management firm, Pence Wealth Management of Newport Beach, according to news accounts of the attack. Authorities have not publicly discussed a motive; an arraignment hearing for Mr. Fahim is scheduled for early May.
Mr. Bahm and Mr. Cuomo were both recent graduates of Chapman, a private school in nearby Orange, Mr. Cuomo a communications major and Mr. Bahm with a degree from the university’s Fowler School of Engineering. Although Mr. Bahm was still looking for a full-time job — “I’m eager to start my career in game design!” he wrote in his Linkedin profile — he had already logged some time in the business, working two different internships as a student and helping with a student group at Chapman that fights hacking, phishing and other online attacks.
It’s also clear that Mr. Bahm made an impression on friends and faculty at Chapman.
“In the middle of the pandemic, with all of us tired of Zoom and struggling to stay motivated, I learned that I could count on Jonathan to show up to every class with his camera on, give me a smile and a wave when I greeted the class, and humor me by at least pretending to laugh at my bad jokes,” Erik Linstead, associate dean of the engineering school, wrote in a tribute on Chapman’s website. “He had a reputation in the School of Engineering for being a capable computer scientist, but I’ll remember him as someone who made the effort to show me kindness when I needed it most.”
“He’d be serious and determined to get his code to work, and when it all came together he’d just light up, bouncing around the room with excitement,” fellow student Nicholas Mirchandani wrote. “To see him overcome a technical challenge was a reward in itself.”
Mr. Bahm’s funeral is set for 1 p.m. Sunday at Temple Emanuel of South Hills, 1250 Bower Hill Road in Mt. Lebanon.
First Published: April 23, 2022, 9:33 p.m.
