Stephenie Glas, 35, died Saturday night of a gunshot wound to the head. Coroner’s officials say the case is an open “suicide/homicide investigation.”
By Darlene Ricker / Special to The Malibu Times
Homicide detectives for the Los Angeles County Sheriffs’ Department are investigating the shooting death of a woman Saturday night at her boyfriend’s Corral Canyon home.
Stephenie Glas, 35, a City of Los Angeles firefighter and Malibu community activist, died of a gunshot wound to the head late Saturday evening. Initial reports referred to the death as an apparent suicide. However, on Tuesday the Los Angeles Department of Coroner confirmed that the case is an open “suicide/homicide investigation.” A coroner’s spokesperson said a determination of the cause of death has been deferred until test results are obtained, which generally takes eight to 10 weeks.
Steve Woods, at whose home the shooting occurred, confirmed Tuesday in a televised interview that investigators have seized computers belonging to him and Glas, as well as his cell phone. Woods said that just before the shooting, he and Glas had argued about watching game five of the Stanley Cup Final. In an effort to let tensions ease, he said, he walked out of the house. Moments later, he said, he heard the gunshot and ran back into the house to find Glas covered in blood. She was airlifted to Northridge Hospital Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead shortly before midnight.
“To say I’m devastated is an understatement,” Woods said Tuesday in an email to The Malibu Times.
Woods and several of Glas’ friends, who consider the incident a suicide, have suggested a link between her death and alleged mistreatment they claim she received from activists who opposed her support of the Malibu Lagoon Restoration Project. The Monday before her death, Woods said he went with Glas to the lagoon to wave signs of support for the project. Opponents began heckling her and she broke into tears, he said, adding that her nerves had remained raw the rest of the week. He said the incident may have “pushed her over the edge.”
But opponents of the project on Monday rejected the notion that opponents of the project heckled Glas and contributed to her death.
“No way,” said Kace Wanland, a member of the Surfers Coalition, which opposes the lagoon project. “It didn’t happen. I have been at the lagoon every day for the past 14 days, and I never saw anyone abuse Stephenie.
“Besides, she was a firefighter; she was gnarly. She wasn’t someone who would cry if someone gave her a hard time. She would get in your face and hold a fist to whatever made her mad. If people have dealt with suicide and abuse, they well know that you don’t kill yourself over a lagoon. There were deeper issues there.”
Glas fought fires in Los Angeles for the past seven years, most recently out of Firehouse 93 in the San Fernando Valley. Friends said the UCLA graduate enjoyed outdoor sports, including snowboarding and surfing. During the past several years she was said to have grown passionate about the environment, dedicating large amounts of her spare time to promote its preservation. She started a Facebook page, “The Real Malibu 411,” where she wrote about the lagoon and other community issues.
Glas’ death has deeply moved people on both sides of the lagoon issue. Maggie Karpuk of Malibu, who met Glas only once but found her to be “a lovely, articulate, intelligent person,” said the news of her death so upset her that she immediately went to the lagoon site and began taking down opponents’ signs on Monday morning.
“It was my way of making [Stephenie’s] voice heard,” said Karpuk.
At the intersection of PCH and Cross Creek where Glas had stood a week before in support of the lagoon project, a sign went up on Monday: “RIP S.GLAS.” It was posted by Monique Kehoe, a member of the Surfers Coalition, which is on the opposite side of Glas’ political stance.
Nece Mills, a lagoon opponent, called Glas’ death “horribly sad,” adding that she respected Glas for her commitment to her beliefs. “We may have been on opposite sides of the issue, but there is a common bond between all of us here [at the lagoon]. We’re all doing what we feel is best for the community, and Stephenie did it with all her heart,” she said.