Twenty days before JoAnn Harris — six months pregnant — was gruesomely murdered on the afternoon of Aug. 24 at the National Guard Armory, the Culver City police reportedly were warned that the signs of a pending homicide were in place.
The informant allegedly also told the police that the suspect had attempted to recruit three different persons to assist him in the execution.
This would indicate Ms. Harris was not killed in an outburst of passion, as has been speculated, but that the crime was mapped out well in advance.
Did Culver City police respond in a covert manner or ignore the claim?
What Was the Strategy?
Could or should the department have undertaken a specific action — to spy on the suspect or protect the victim — that might have prevented Ms. Harris from being stabbed and battered to death?
Police directed questions away from the department.
Meanwhile, a Culver City officer, with no knowledge of the asserted Aug. 4 incident, said police reaction to such a warning would hinge heavily on the degree of specificity.
It All Depends
“If the information was specific, then it would be something the department would want to look into,” he said. “Finding a record of the conversation might be a separate matter. It has happened before that this kind of report was made to the department, but it wasn’t documented.”
Sources told the newspaper that a representative of the Armory on Culver Boulevard has acknowledged making the short trek to police headquarters on Duquesne Avenue, telling officers that the alleged killer, National Guard Sgt. Scott Ansman, a married man, was planning to dispose of his girlfriend Ms. Harris.
Next Court Date
The suspect, arrested at the scene of the crime, has been in jail since the day of the murder. Armed with a new attorney from Riverside, he is scheduled to return to court on Nov. 6, his 35th birthday.