BATON ROUGE - A deputy has been disciplined for not checking the National Crime Information Center Database before initiating the release of an inmate who later killed his girlfriend, the East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff's Office said. 

Steven Heinrich was on active probation, bonded out of jail and killed his girlfriend, Stasy Charles, according to prosecutors.

Through court records and other reports, the WBRZ Investigative Unit established a timeline of the events leading up to the stabbing death of Charles and the day Heinrich bonded out.

NOV. 6, 2025 
12 p.m. - An Assistant District Attorney from New York calls BRPD and asks that Heinrich not be able to bond out. They requested a hold due to the new arrest, which violated the rules of his probation. 

4:30 p.m. - Heinrich posts bond. The process to be released from Parish Prison begins. 

4:39 p.m. - An arrest warrant from New York authorities for Henrich’s violation of probation is entered into the National Crime Information Center. 

5 p.m. - New York authorities contact the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison to place a hold and not release Heinrich, so he can be extradited. 

6:29 p.m. - The out-of-state warrant was processed into the National Crime Information Center. 

11:03 p.m. - Heinrich is released from East Baton Rouge Parish Prison. 

NOV. 7, 2025 
9 a.m. - New York authorities ask BRPD to do a welfare check on Charles. Charles tells officers she has not seen or heard from Heinrich. 

NOV. 13, 2025
2:13 a.m. - Charles is stabbed to death. 

After Charles' death, Heinrich set himself on fire. He later died from injuries he sustained after the self-immolation.

On Thursday, the sheriff's office told WBRZ that a deputy was written up for not following protocol and for not checking the NCIC database before beginning the process of letting Heinrich bond out.

The sheriff's office said the deputy relied solely on local databases while doing his review, and that even if he had checked the NCIC, Heinrich's information was not available and "it would not have altered" the release decision.

"However, the deputy is being written up and will go before the disciplinary board for failing to follow the full verification protocol and is being retrained," the sheriff's office said in a statement.