Ex-Spouse of Slain Lottery Winner Arrested After Search for Weapons

The ex-husband of the woman found slain in her San Marcos home last week after having won $727,000 in the state lottery has been arrested on suspicion possession of a destructive device, the Sheriff’s Department said Thursday.

David Scott Harrison, 31, was being held without bail at the County Jail in Vista, a spokesman there said. Neither he nor a department spokesman could explain Thursday why Harrison was being held without bail in connection with an offense that usually carries a bail of $5,000.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Chuck Curtis said Harrison’s arrest is not connected with the Feb. 18 slaying of Ann Marie Jenkins, 30, the victim of strangulation and a slashed throat.

Harrison and Jenkins were married in 1976 and divorced in 1982, according to records in Vista Superior Court. The divorce was uncontested but turned bitter with a disagreement over custody of the couple’s two children, visitation rights and child support payments, court records indicate. Amendments to the disputed divorce settlement were being made as recently as last year, documents show.

Discovered by Husband

The investigation into Jenkins’ death was continuing Thursday with no publicly named suspects and no known motive. There were no signs of forced entry or a struggle in the home. Her body was discovered by her husband, Gary Jenkins, after he returned home from his job as a construction worker.

The couple was one of three local winners in the Jan. 13 drawing of the Lotto 6/49 game. Members of the family--which included the couple’s own 10-month-old child as well as her two children from her marriage to Harrison and Gary Jenkins’ three children from a previous marriage--took turns picking what turned out to be the winning numbers, lottery officials said.

Harrison was arrested Tuesday morning after members of the Sheriff’s Department bomb and arson squad got a warrant to search his home in the 13700 block of Mango Drive in Del Mar Heights, according to a prepared statement by Detective Paul Bledsoe.

The search uncovered four “destructive devices” that were not more specifically described by the Sheriff’s Department. Neither Bledsoe nor anyone else with the bomb squad familiar with the case could be reached for additional comment Thursday.

Arrest Followed Tip

Harrison’s arrest followed a citizen’s tip that he might be in possession of a destructive device or bomb-making material, according to Bledsoe’s information.

Harrison was described by the Sheriff’s Department as a property management broker.

Among the disputes in the divorce settlement was a claim by Jenkins that, at one point in the rocky marriage, Harrison agreed to reconcile only after she said she would sign over two pieces of community property to his name exclusively, court records show.

Three years after the final divorce decree, Jenkins sought to have Harrison’s visitation rights with the couple’s two children curtailed after he was shot in the face by rifle fire in what was characterized as a drug-related shooting incident, according to court documents.

In that Sept. 28, 1984, incident, Harrison was reportedly shot by one of six unknown assailants who drove to the 29500 block of Los Arboles Ranch Road in Escondido.

Brother Reportedly Target

According to newspaper accounts at the time, Harrison’s brother, Jack Harrison, was being sought out by the assailants who opened fire. David Harrison, who lived in another house on the property, went outside and was hit by the gunfire.

Jack Harrison was later arrested by authorities who confiscated more than 40 marijuana plants on the property. David Harrison wrote in a court declaration: “I do not use marijuana or any drugs and do not associate with anyone that I know uses marijuana or drugs.”

In another court paper, Harrison wrote of his marriage with Jenkins: “I was suspicious of her for wanting to reconcile as she had been having an affair during our marriage and walked out on me at least five times.”

Harrison made a court declaration in January, 1986, that “Four times I welcomed her back and tried with every fiber in my heart to be her friend during these confused times of hers. I even tried to understand while she carried on her affair. . . . She told me she loved him and they had a future together. When that affair fell apart, I again welcomed her home.”

Later in 1986, Harrison was found in contempt of court for failing to make child-support payments. Several times after the divorce they accused each other of trying to deny the other contact with the children.

At one point, Jenkins accused Harrison of harassing her by ordering subscriptions in her name to a number of magazines.

The squabbling between Harrison and Jenkins over visitation rights and other issues led Vista Superior Court Judge Larry Kapiloff to threaten each with incarceration for contempt of court if either continued to file additional motions. In March, 1986, the couple was ordered not to communicate with each other except “to effect visitation” of the children.