Boyfriend Arrested in Woman’s Fatal Stabbing

Police arrested on a murder charge Wednesday a man who had reported to authorities that his girlfriend was missing.

Investigators arrested Robert Vann Carson, 34, of Van Nuys, said Det. Jim Rahm of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Van Nuys Division.

Police found Lea Diann Thomas, 21, of Van Nuys, on a bed shortly before midnight after Carson asked officers to search her apartment, Rahm said.

“He saw a [police] unit at the corner and went up to them and said he would like to report his girlfriend missing because he hadn’t seen her in three days,” Rahm said.

About 11:40 p.m. Tuesday, officers went to an apartment building in the 7100 block of Woodman Avenue and asked the manager to open the door to Thomas’ apartment, said police. Thomas was found with knife wounds in her upper torso, Rahm said.

Thomas, who had moved into the building about three weeks ago, lived with her 2-year-old daughter, Rahm said. The girl, Carson’s daughter, was staying with Thomas’ grandmother in Los Angeles at the time of the slaying. Thomas was registering for college classes.

Police did not know where Thomas went to school. She had worked as a temporary clerical worker at a Pasadena firm a week before her death, Rahm said.

Rahm said the slaying was an act of domestic violence, and that there was a history of problems between Thomas and Carson. Rahm said Thomas had not asked for a restraining order against Carson.

Carson’s arraignment is scheduled for Friday at Van Nuys Municipal Court.

At the apartment complex, neighbors were shocked to learn of a killing in a building they consider relatively safe.

“This building was quiet,” said a man who lives in the building. “I’m really a bit scared when something like this happens.”