Victims’ Family Honors Police Operator Credited With Key Role in Arrest

In the cramped underground room downtown where police operators calmly talk to sometimes panicked people on 911 emergency calls, an emotional meeting took place Monday as the family of a mother who was slain and a daughter who was wounded during a home invasion robbery met with the woman who is credited with helping police arrest the killer.

The family of Vanessa Arlene Smith, 46, who was fatally shot in the back of the head a year ago as she lay tied up in her Baldwin Hills home, embraced Charlene Hartley, who kept the suspect on the phone long enough for police to arrest him.

Officers arrested Carlos Hawthorne at a La Cienega Boulevard pay phone. Hawthorne was convicted of murder and sentenced to death last week. A second suspect remains at large.

“I had to meet this lady,” said Marshall Sells, 74, the slaying victim’s father, who embraced Hartley and repeatedly thanked her. “If it wasn’t for her and the detectives, this guy might be still walking the streets.”

Sells’ granddaughter, Kristian Forte, 17, was shot along with her mother but survived by pretending to be dead. She also thanked Hartley on Monday.

Hartley received a 911 call Aug. 26, 1996, from a man at a pay phone who said he knew the whereabouts of a stolen automobile police were looking for in connection with a murder the previous day. Sensing that she had a suspect on the line, Hartley signaled her co-workers, who dispatched police to the pay phone.

“It feels so good,” Hartley said. “Usually we never know what goes on after we take a 911 call.”