A blockbuster development this afternoon in the National Guard Armory murder case of last summer:
Even though National Guard Staff Sgt. Erik Hein informed the Culver City police — more than two weeks before the messy killing — that a co-worker was scouting for help to harm his girlfriend, authorities did not take any action.
Why, remains unanswered for now.
Crucially, this means that the pregnant victim, JoAnn Crystal Harris, 29 years old, never knew, was not warned, that her life was imperiled.
Probing Reasons
“I don’t know why she was not warned,” a 10-year veteran of the Police Dept. said, “but if she had been given any information, she could have worn a wire or she even could have avoided (the murder suspect). She might be alive today.”
Raising a volatile possibility, a police veteran said that one explanation “might be” that the victim was black and the defendant is white.
To this point, more than six months after the homicide, there is no hint race ever was a factor in the relationship or in the crime.
The police are not confirming or denying authorizing an investigation.
Every sign suggests police did not respond more than already was acknowledged last week at the suspect’s preliminary hearing.
If this is accurate, the police made no move beyond trying to convince Sgt. Hein to wear a wire.
What the Police Knew
“I don’t even know if we knew the name of the intended victim,” a police spokesman said.
“They did know the name,” Sgt. Hein told the newspaper this morning.
“I told them.”
He is convinced that nothing resembling a probe was mounted.
As a longtime member of the military, Sgt. Hein, sources say, would have entered the Police Station as a person of greater than usual stature — especially since he was confiding explosive information regarding mysterious doings at the Guard Armory several blocks away.
The Timeline
Sgt. Hein went to the police on Aug. 9.
Fifteen days later, on the afternoon of Friday, Aug. 24, authorities say that Ms. Harris was beaten to death with a baseball bat by Guard Sgt. Scott Ansman.
Is there a procedure the Police Dept. is obligated to follow when an informant reports an anticipated felony.
“Depends on variables such as the source and the quality of the information,” said the police veteran.
“There is no obligation to provide protection to the intended victim.
Seeking Out the Potential Victim
“But, at a minimum, you would have wanted to inform her of what you knew. That way, she could avoid the person, she could co-operate with police.”
By the testimony of Sgt. Hein and others, the air around Sgt. Ansman, the married father of three, was rife with repeated solicitations for help in performing “a dirty job” in the weeks leading up to Ms. Harris’s bludgeoning-style death.
