The Fight Against Crime: Notes From The Front : 7 Years Later, Teacher’s Death Still a Mystery

Hal Arthur was smart, inspiring and sociable. But police complain that the same traits that endeared him to the students and staff of Grant High School in Van Nuys make it much harder to find whoever killed the veteran social studies teacher in the Valley’s most mystifying murder seven years ago this week.

When Arthur, 60, was gunned down in front of his Sherman Oaks home, detectives expected to find evidence that his life was not what it seemed: that of a devoted educator and dedicated family man. But none could be found.

“When you don’t have those skeletons in the closet, it makes it that much more difficult,” observed Mel Arnold, an LAPD detective who initially investigated Arthur’s slaying.

The case is still open. Police pursued their last new lead about two years ago, but it went the way of all the others--nowhere.

The Van Nuys homicide unit three months ago developed a list of people to re-interview, but working on old, stone-cold cases is a “luxury” for busy detectives, said Stephen Fiske, who heads the unit.

And so the mystery surrounding Arthur’s death remains: Who would want to kill “Mr. Arthur,” as he was known to students--tireless organizer of staff happy hours, graduation ceremonies and student tours of Europe, a man who was three months shy of retirement after a 30-year teaching career?

“It’s like ‘Citizen Kane,’ ” said Dan Gruenberg, a Grant High administrator who knew Arthur. “What you are left with is this feeling of real mortality, that this could happen to anybody and if it did happen, you are on your own because they aren’t necessarily going to find the culprit.”

Most puzzling, the killing had all the makings of a coolly professional hit. Three shots from a .22-caliber semi-automatic weapon, fired from across the street, hit Arthur in the back as he got into his car to go to work.

A dark-colored sedan was seen at the scene and a composite sketch of the driver was circulated.

Suspects were questioned, including a former student, but no arrests were made.

Arnold said investigators looked at Arthur’s family, his students and people he knew from a side business running student tours of Europe, including an ex-partner. Yet no one seemed to have an obvious reason to want him dead. The Los Angeles Board of Education and several local politicians offered a $60,000 reward. It went unclaimed.

Arthur’s widow, Virginia, says she is satisfied police did all they could to unravel the mystery.

“You see all these shows on TV where people are picked up immediately. I sometimes think, why hasn’t anything been done, why haven’t things gone further?” she said. “And yet they have no leads. There is nothing.”

At Grant High, Arthur’s memory is enshrined in a plaque embedded in the senior class lawn, although the last class of students who would have known him graduated four years ago.

His murder also inspired the state Legislature to pass a law requiring teachers to be notified if students with violent backgrounds were assigned to their classes.

Over the years, Arnold has developed his own theory, that despite appearances, Arthur’s killing was not planned. Perhaps the teacher stumbled upon someone or something--a man abusing his girlfriend, someone selling drugs--and was killed because he spoke up.

“Being the type of person he was, a teacher who was used to confrontational situations, a concerned citizen, he would have at least said something,” Arnold said.