Ex-Boyfriend to Stand Trial in Woman’s Death

A 35-year-old man was ordered to stand trial Wednesday on charges of shooting to death his ex-girlfriend, who reportedly told two witnesses the name of her assailant just hours before she died.

Thomas John Heilman of Clairemont will be arraigned in Superior Court Nov. 5 on charges of murdering Janis Lea Davis of Encinitas. He also faces a single misdemeanor charge of violating a restraining order that Davis had obtained a month before she was killed.

Davis, 35, was shot Sept. 9 outside an elevator in the underground parking structure of a Sorrento Mesa office complex where she worked as an assistant underwriter for an insurance company.

Testifying Wednesday during a preliminary hearing, Daniel A. Austin identified Heilman as the man he saw running away from the elevator lobby as he heard a woman’s screams.

Austin ran to Davis. “When I first arrived . . . she had said, ‘Please help me, I’ve been shot,’ ” he testified.

“At one point, she said she’d been shot by her ex-boyfriend, who she identified by name as Tom Heilman,” Austin said.

Davis said she was afraid to die, and Austin prayed with her as he cradled her head in his lap, he testified.

Austin testified that Davis said Heilman walked up to her, put the gun to her stomach and pulled the trigger.

Stephen Sparks, another worker in the building who stopped to help Davis, testified that he asked her how to spell Heilman’s last name.

“I did ask her if she was sure, and she said “positive,” Sparks said.

Davis died several hours after being taken to a hospital.

Heilman is being held in County Jail in lieu of $1 million bail.