Man Hired Detective to Kill Wife and Her Boyfriend, Police Say

FULLERTON — A Brea bar owner was arrested Wednesday at a hotel after he gave a private detective $1,000 as a down payment to kill his estranged wife and her boyfriend, police said.

Kenneth L. Harmon, 50, owner of the Purple Heart Saloon, hired Ed Gage, owner of Topline Investigation in Fullerton, last week to find Harmon’s wife, authorities said.

Gage found Laura Harmon, 30, living with Richard Crowe, 51, in La Habra, police said. Harmon then asked the private detective to shoot Crowe in the head on Laura Harmon’s birthday, Aug. 9, said Sgt. Danny Becerra.

Harmon also talked with Gage about shooting his wife, but he wavered about that, Becerra said.

Gage, 33, scheduled a meeting with Harmon at the Willow Tree Lodge in Fullerton, where Harmon was staying, police said. Gage carried police equipment that recorded their conversation.

Becerra said Harmon was arrested about 4 p.m., minutes after Gage left the hotel room. Harmon was held in Fullerton Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.

A small-caliber, semiautomatic handgun was found in the room at the time of his arrest.

Laura Harmon said she learned of the arrest about two hours later.

“I’m dumbfounded and a little bit shaky,” she said.

The couple are in the process of a divorce, she said. Becerra said Laura Harmon had called La Habra police Tuesday to report that her husband had violated a restraining order by calling her twice recently.