Tipsters in ATM Murder Case Awarded $25,000

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved the payment of $25,000 in reward money to four people whose tips helped law enforcement officials convict the murderer of a pregnant Toluca Lake woman two years ago.

The stabbing death of Sherri Foreman and her unborn baby as Foreman stood at a Sherman Oaks automated teller machine on March 30, 1993, stunned the San Fernando Valley. The four witnesses rewarded Tuesday helped police identify and capture Robert Glen Jones, who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the deadly robbery.

“These citizen witnesses had the information we were looking for and felt a duty to come forward and tell police what they knew,” said Los Angeles Police Detective Dan DeJarnette, one of two investigators in charge of the case.

The four witnesses gave police Jones’ name, his description and information that placed him at the scene in the moments before the killing. The three tipsters who provided the most crucial tips will receive $7,500 each, while the fourth will receive the remaining $2,500.

One of the witnesses, a Reseda woman in her early 40s, established that Jones had been at the scene of the crime, the Great Western Bank in Sherman Oaks, five minutes before the murder. The woman told police that Jones stopped her about 8:55 p.m. and asked for money. Frightened, the woman fled from the bank at the same time that Foreman drove up.

Another witness, a Sherman Oaks woman in her mid-40s, stood by as her husband withdrew money from the ATM between 7:30 and 8 p.m., DeJarnette said. The woman noticed Jones loitering near the machine and provided a detailed description of Jones that enabled police to draw a sketch later used in a community flyer.

The third key witness, a teen-age neighbor of Jones, gave police Jones’ name after seeing the flyer.

The fourth witness, a Sherman Oaks woman in her late 30s who will receive $2,500, placed Jones at the scene at 7:30 p.m.

DeJarnette declined to release the names of the tipsters, citing the possibility of retaliation by Jones’ associates.

Jones pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and robbery in December, 1993.

Foreman, 29, was a beautician and aspiring singer who was carrying a 13-week-old fetus at the time of her death.