Part 2
[Editor’s Note: See Part 1, “Did Suspect in Armory Murder Plan to Take Away Girlfriend’s Baby?”Jan. 16.]
In his most recent telephone conversation with his mother from County Jail late yesterday afternoon, murder suspect Scott Ansman unloaded a bombshell.
In a sharply abbreviated manner, he disputed a central claim in the case.
Despite a growing mound of contentions to the contrary, the 35-year-old National Guard sergeant insisted that the pregnant dead woman Culver City police found at the National Guard Armory on Aug. 24, JoAnn Crystal Harris, was not his girlfriend.
Exactly what status Ms. Harris held in the life of the married military man with three small children, for now, must remain unknown.
Marilyn Ansman told the newspaper this morning that their telephone call abruptly ended at that point. “The guards were staring at him,” she said.
Sgt. Ansman has become a floor trustee during his nearly 5 months of incarceration.
“One of Scott’s jobs is to make chow. He had to go do that right away. If there is anything he has learned in jail, it is to say ‘How high?’ when they tell him to jump.”
Mrs. Ansman said she will attempt to gain an enlarged explanation tomorrow afternoon when she pays her weekly visit to her son in downtown Los Angeles.
The Charges
Sgt. Ansman was the supply chief at the Culver City Armory last summer when he was arrested and charged with killing the reportedly 6 months’ pregnant Ms. Harris following a violent scuffle between the two.
More recently, charges were elevated to first-degree murder, to include “special circumstances,” the killing of a fetus as well as its mother. If convicted, he could be given the death penalty or life in prison without possibility of parole.
Earlier, Sgt. Ansman told his mother that the couple were quarreling because Ms. Harris had failed to secure any pre-natal care during her pregnancy. He claimed Ms. Harris was actively doing drugs and drinking, leading him to inform her that he was going to take away the baby from her at birth.
Another Birth
“I was surprised when Scott told me she was not his girlfriend,” Mrs. Ansman said.
“I guess he meant she was a ‘friend’ or an ‘acquaintance.’ I don’t know. But I will find out.”
Since her middle of three sons was a married man, and since his wife, Flora, just given birth to their third child several months before, Mrs. Ansman had no idea her son was involved with another woman.
A More Casual Outing
The lifelong military man took issue with another assertion in the original police report. It was understood the couple were going out the afternoon of the murder to purchase a car for Ms. Harris.
“Scott always has had a good eye for cars,” Mrs. Ansman said. “He was going to look at one, just to check it out, not to buy it. Then he was going to drop her off at the train, I guess.”
Conversationally, Mrs. Ansman said she treads lightly when visiting with her son, by telephone or at the jail.
“Certain things I don’t ask,” she said, “because I don’t want to upset him. Certain things p.o. him.”
(To be continued)
