Slain Deputy’s Kin Hike Reward to $100,000

The family of a slain Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputy announced Sunday, the first anniversary of the killing, that they have raised the reward for information leading to a conviction in the case to $100,000.

“We hope this money will maybe bring the one person out who has the piece of information that detectives will use to solve it,” said Trish Hardy, whose brother, Deputy Charles Robert Anderson, was killed on Jan. 24, 1987.

“There has to be someone out there who can bring this to an end,” Hardy said.

Anderson, 35, and an 11-year veteran at the time of his death, was off-duty when he walked into his Burbank home on a Saturday morning and was shot to death by an intruder. He was carrying his 5-year-old son, who was not injured. His wife, Beth, and 1-year-old daughter were outside the home in the 1700 block of West Oak Street in the family’s car.

The assailant fled while Beth Anderson sought help at a neighbor’s home.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Frank Salerno, assigned to a joint investigation with Burbank police, said Sunday that progress on the case has been slow and that the increase of the reward to $100,000 was welcome, from the $23,000 posted by various police organizations shortly after the slaying.

Information Scanty

“It has been an extremely tough case because of the little information we have received,” Salerno said. “We hope that in putting up this kind of reward, we will generate new information.”

He said the investigation of the killing is “very much” active.

Salerno added that he could not comment on exact details of the case other than to say investigators believe Anderson was killed by a person he probably did not know, apparently a burglar who was surprised by Anderson’s return to the home.

Hardy said that she along with her parents and two brothers have added $77,000 to the reward fund for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case.