00:00:15
I've thought about a thousand times the whatifs [music] and that's kind of nauseating that we
00:00:22
were that close. >> In my [music] time as district attorney, we have had some odd cases. This one was
00:00:30
a complete roller coaster ride towards the end. As far as an emotional situation, this
00:00:38
was by far um the toughest one. Tracy Harris was a hardworking young mother that disappeared March 7th, 1990.
00:00:52
She was a very sweet friend, a very shy person, and people really liked her and respected her. Her her daughter was a
00:01:00
toddler, a four-year-old named Carolyn who she had with Carl Harris. She [music] had been married for several
00:01:09
years. They had recently divorced, but had never really split. [music] >> They still lived in the same home. They
00:01:15
slept in the same bed. I did hear that Tracy was missing and was very concerned something had happened to her.
00:01:24
>> Carl came by our house. She'd been missing for a couple days. He was genuinely concerned and he said, "You
00:01:32
know, I can see her leaving me, but she would never leave this baby." >> Her body was discovered about 150 yards
00:01:42
further downstream about 7 days after she went missing. Based on the autopsy, the manner of
00:01:49
death was homicide. >> Tracy was a kind and loving person who did not deserve what happened to her.
00:02:01
Most people did think that Carl Harris had murdered Tracy. >> Prior to her going missing, there had
00:02:08
been a confrontation or two concerning a girlfriend that Carl had. Carl Harris did have a reputation for being very
00:02:16
violent, in particular towards Tracy Harris. There was several instances where the witnesses would say it didn't
00:02:23
take [music] anything for him to just go off on her. He was incredibly abusive to
00:02:28
her. >> I never put my hands on Tracy. Never. >> So, all those people were lying.
00:02:34
>> Yes, ma'am. I love Tracy. She was the love of my life. I think from the very get-go, there was
00:02:40
only one suspect in this case, Carl Harris. >> Everybody thought I killed him. Everywhere I turned, they they, you
00:02:47
know, you can hear him whispering in [music] the background, there's the man that killed Tracy.
00:02:52
>> A lot of people were were waiting for him to be arrested [music] and then surprised when he never was.
00:03:01
Ozark Police Department had created a cold case unit and in 2016 they [music] picked up the Tracy Harris, Carl Harris
00:03:11
case. >> They told me they was looking at me as as a suspect again after 27 years.
00:03:17
>> The evidence was circumstantially strong. The domestic violence, the circumstance with the girlfriend, and
00:03:24
comments he made that she wouldn't be back. Who else would want this sweet, innocent young lady murdered?
00:03:35
>> Jordan and her team had spent a lot of time building a case that I was about to
00:03:44
torpedo. I kept [music] the secret for 30 years. >> [music] >> Heat. Hey, Heat. [music]
00:04:23
>> [music] >> Tracy was alive when she came to this location and [music] traveled down this
00:04:46
access road to the beachy area. >> 22-year-old [music] Tracy Harris disappeared on March 7th, 1990.
00:04:55
A week later, her body was found in the Chattahatchee River, a few miles from her home in Ozark, Alabama.
00:05:03
The area around the river was a place Tracy and her friends would get together. >> It was certainly one of the first places
00:05:09
that investigators were looking for Tracy. >> Dale County District Attorney Kirk
00:05:14
Adams. Her body had come to rest upon a log after the water started to recede a bit.
00:05:20
>> The autopsy revealed that Tracy had drowned, but also noted [music] marks around her neck, likely indicating
00:05:27
strangulation. The missing person case became a homicide, and Ozark police started
00:05:34
interviewing those close to Tracy and her ex-husband Carl, [music] with whom she still lived.
00:05:39
>> Carl had let the police in his house a couple of times for them to look around.
00:05:44
Carl was believed to have been the last person [music] to see Tracy, picking her
00:05:49
up the night she disappeared from the restaurant where she worked as a waitress. He then dropped Tracy off at
00:05:55
their house and headed out to his job at a supermarket. >> There were not any clues at home. It
00:06:02
didn't appear that anybody had taken her by force. >> Police thought that location by the
00:06:08
river might provide more clues. They learned that while Tracy might have enjoyed spending time by the river, she
00:06:16
would never have gone in the river. >> Every witness we spoke [music] with, she could not swim. She was terrified of
00:06:24
water. >> She was so scared of the water. When she was baptized and she went under, she was
00:06:32
hysterical. >> Selena Dodson and Tracy were about 11 years old when baptized. They were
00:06:38
childhood friends spending a lot of time together at church. It was there she first saw Tracy with Carl.
00:06:45
>> Tracy and Carl started dating when we were probably 16, 17 years old. And I was happy for her that she, you know,
00:06:53
had a boyfriend and somebody that she really liked. >> In her senior year of high school, Tracy
00:07:00
became pregnant and she and Carl, who was 3 years older, married. When she had Carolyn, [music] she was adorable.
00:07:08
Everybody just loved her and she was like Tracy. She [music] looked like her and she had a personality like her.
00:07:14
Tracy's mother was taking care of Carolyn. You know, young parents, you could [music] tell that her and Carl,
00:07:23
you know, struggled some. >> Tell me about your your family. As a young family, you and Tracy and [music]
00:07:28
Carolyn, >> we was all happy and everything. We didn't have a problem with each other or
00:07:33
nothing like that. The picture Carl painted of a happy home, though, was not what police found when they started
00:07:40
questioning friends and family. Assistant Dale County District Attorney Jordan Davis.
00:07:46
>> There was about 14 different people that had come forward that [music] witnessed
00:07:52
some type of domestic violence between Tracy and Carl. >> One of those people was Dawn Beasley.
00:08:00
She and her soon-to-be husband Jeff, who worked construction with Carl, lived with the Harrises for about a month.
00:08:07
>> Tracy and I were a lot alike. >> Dawn, who was pregnant at the time, and Tracy, a young mother, quickly became
00:08:14
friends. [music] >> I think that she appreciated having someone, you know, Carl was uh real
00:08:20
controlling and, you know, he didn't want her to have a lot of friends. >> What did you see going on between Carl
00:08:27
and Tracy? So, one time we were uh sitting at the table and she told uh Carl, "Hey, listen. I'm going to need
00:08:36
some money for the water bill." And he flew into a rage. He's got her bent over backwards with his hands around her
00:08:43
throat. >> Did he verbally threaten her? >> He threatened to kill her in front of
00:08:46
me. I intervene. I I'm telling him, "Let her go." >> Did she talk to you about it at all?
00:08:52
>> Yes. She just wanted to be a family. She felt like if she could just get through
00:08:57
the rough stuff, you know, that it would be okay. >> Dawn told police about those
00:09:05
altercations [music] she said she saw and her feelings about Carl. >> Well, they asked me, "So, what do you
00:09:12
know about Carl Harris?" And I said, "Well, I know he's a rat bastard. [music] He was not good to
00:09:18
Tracy." He asked me about fights I'd seen. and I made a statement and I [music] signed it and every word of my
00:09:25
statement was true. >> There are quite a few people who said that they saw you being abusive to
00:09:32
Tracy. Were you abusive to Tracy? >> No, ma'am. I was not. >> We all saw it. Everyone in town was
00:09:39
[music] talking about it. I did my grocery shopping and I'm in the milk section and there's a couple standing
00:09:45
there talking about it. The husband says, "Well, looks like that boy done finally killed that girl."
00:09:52
>> Despite all the talk in town, Tracy never filed police reports about the alleged abuse.
00:09:59
>> Back then, the domestic violence law was much different. If the police arrived
00:10:02
and nobody wanted to make a report or there was just no reports done, >> it wasn't just stories about [music]
00:10:08
abuse that made law enforcement take a hard look at Carl. There was that young girlfriend. He did have a 17-year-old
00:10:15
girlfriend at the time who several people said he had had conversations [music] with about marrying her. Um, but that he
00:10:22
couldn't leave Tracy because [music] he'd have to pay child support. >> He also made comments prior to her going
00:10:29
missing and after, including, "Come back whenever. Tracy won't be home." >> Carl admits to having a girlfriend.
00:10:36
>> Honestly, it wasn't their business. and talking to her about Tracy, but says any
00:10:41
comments he made were misunderstood. You didn't tell anybody that she wasn't coming back.
00:10:48
>> No, ma'am. I'd never said that. >> It was just so many things, most of all which were circumstantial, but they all
00:10:55
pointed at Carl Harris. >> But no arrest was made and the case went cold. Carl claims that through the years
00:11:04
he occasionally called authorities to ask about the investigation, but they say otherwise. Has there ever been a
00:11:12
time [music] that Carl Harris said, "I want you to find out who killed Tracy." >> Never.
00:11:17
>> Does that strike you as odd? >> Strikes me as very odd. A lot of people, [music] you know, just
00:11:51
assumed Carl would be arrested, assumed that he did it, and were waiting for him
00:11:57
to be arrested. For years, Selena Dodson wondered if there would ever be justice for her
00:12:03
friend Tracy Harris, who in 1990 was found murdered in Alabama's Chhatche River.
00:12:13
Selena's thoughts would often wander to Tracy and Carl's daughter. >> So, I would wonder, you know, I wonder
00:12:19
what happened to Carolyn. I wonder what she looks like. I wonder what she's doing.
00:12:25
>> I was four years old when my mom was murdered. When I was four or five, I would cry
00:12:32
nonstop if I would get in trouble and say, "I want my mom. I want my mom." Carolyn was immediately adopted by
00:12:41
Tracy's mother. They soon left Ozark hoping to start over and moved to Texas. >> What did you grow up thinking happened
00:12:50
to your mom? I knew my mom was murdered and then as the years went on I found out that it it
00:12:58
had to do with my dad. >> What did people tell you about him? >> I've always heard that he was very
00:13:04
abusive towards my mom. That he was just a a bad individual. >> Carolyn had no interest in a
00:13:12
relationship with her father whom she did not see while growing up. [music] Her grandmother provided a loving home
00:13:19
and Carolyn says that was more than enough. >> She She was like the best. [music] Like
00:13:25
she did everything for me. >> When Carolyn was about 21, she says Carl did reach out and they met, but did not
00:13:37
talk about Tracy. >> Did you want to ask him about her? Yeah, I've always wanted to ask questions, but
00:13:44
the way that everybody portrays him to be, I didn't think that he would tell me the truth.
00:13:48
>> Still, Carolyn wondered about her mother, wanting to know what really happened.
00:13:54
>> I have tried to piece it together. That's what I do. I try to I try to piece everything together and make it
00:14:01
all make sense. >> This was definitely something Carolyn was passionate about. She wanted some
00:14:07
type of justice for her mom. >> When her grandmother died in 2015, Carolyn returned to Ozark to bury her
00:14:15
next to her mother. She started asking people in town what they knew about Tracy [music] and the investigation.
00:14:22
>> And there was one lady, she said that her son happened to be best friends with
00:14:27
the sheriff. >> Carolyn spoke with [music] the sheriff who put her in touch with the Ozark
00:14:32
Police Department. At the same time, the cold case unit was starting to reopen the investigation. As it turned out,
00:14:40
their number one suspect had not changed. >> There was nobody whose name had ever
00:14:47
come up that had any reason to kill Tracy Harris. And I think when they reopened the case, they were just trying
00:14:55
to prove Carl did it, not look for anybody else. And so they went back through all the witnesses that had
00:15:03
[music] given statements in 1990. All the ones that they could find, they got back in touch with.
00:15:08
>> Among those who police went back and interviewed, an acquaintance of Tracy and Carl's
00:15:13
>> said the police are so dumb. I could kill somebody and get away with it. >> Tracy's aunt
00:15:18
>> because it kind of shocked me because I mean he was saying that it was like he
00:15:22
was smart. Police, you know, >> I was a young naive teenager. Investigators also tracked down that
00:15:29
girlfriend of Carl's who was 17 when Tracy was murdered. >> Did Carl at any time tell you that you
00:15:37
didn't have to worry about Tracy showing up again into the house? >> He could have.
00:15:40
>> When do you think you said that? >> I don't know. >> Although she recalled little about her
00:15:47
time with Carl, she did remember learning Tracy was dead. >> I I just couldn't believe that she was
00:15:54
dead. and her realization that perhaps her boyfriend was a murderer. >> I just remember thinking that,
00:16:02
you know, people were talking and it it even took me being questioned to even think that maybe he could have done
00:16:10
it. But after it all happened, we just stopped seeing each other. And there was also several people that
00:16:20
they found [music] since then that he had made statements to that were incriminating.
00:16:26
>> While police were reinvestigating the case, Carl was trying to get on with his
00:16:31
life. Several years after Tracy's murder, he had left Ozark, feeling like the cloud of suspicion had destroyed his
00:16:39
life. >> I had to go out of town to get jobs where people don't know me. He worked as a bouncer in construction,
00:16:48
had a girlfriend and another daughter. By 2016, he had moved to South Carolina where investigators gave him a call.
00:16:58
>> I thought it was good news. I thought they found somebody they was looking at.
00:17:02
And when they told me they was looking at me as suspect again, they come up two weeks later arresting me.
00:17:10
More than 26 years after Tracy Harris's body was found, Carl Harris was arrested
00:17:16
on September 13th, 2016 for her murder. >> There's absolutely no evidence at all
00:17:24
that connects Carl Harris to this murder. None whatsoever. >> David Harrison is Carl's defense
00:17:30
attorney. He says Carl's arrest was motivated by politics and nothing more. In [music] 2016 in this area, they were
00:17:38
unsolved murders. They had a lot of political pressure to to charge somebody. The environment of Ozark,
00:17:44
Alabama was we need to do something. >> Were you worried that there was some new
00:17:49
piece of evidence that they had? >> No, I was never worried. Never. Cuz I was innocent.
00:17:56
>> Well, Carl may not have been worried. There was someone who for years was Dawn
00:18:02
Beasley. that friend of Tracy's who with her then fiance briefly lived with the Harrises.
00:18:10
>> Every time I would have a police [music] officer get behind me, I would wonder,
00:18:15
is this where we're all of a sudden they know what's happening? [music] This is the moment.
00:18:35
>> [music] >> I've always wondered what happened to my mom since I can remember.
00:18:42
>> For decades, Carolyn wanted to know more about the 1990 murder of her mother,
00:18:47
Tracy Harris. >> And in 2016, with the arrest of her aranged father, Carl, Carolyn thought
00:18:56
finally she would get some answers. How do you react when the thing you [music] want is justice for your mom, but it's
00:19:05
your dad who's been charged with her murder? >> It's a relief that we found somebody,
00:19:11
but then in the back of my mind, I'm like, was it really him? Could he have really done this? Why?
00:19:18
>> Motive was also a question prosecutors Kirk Adams and Jordan Davis thought about as they prepared their case
00:19:25
against Carl. I don't think there [music] was one particular motive. I think that the domestic violence was
00:19:32
definitely in the back of our heads, but also this 17-year-old [music] girlfriend
00:19:36
that he had based mostly on statements from the interviews originally done back in 1990. An investigator from the Ozark
00:19:46
police put together this scenario of what he thought happened the night Tracy went missing.
00:19:52
Quote, "It was determined that Carl Harris left his job at Superfood sometime around 900 p.m. and went to his
00:19:59
home. Carl Harris jumped on top of Tracy Harris and began choking her. Carl Harris then placed her seemingly dead
00:20:07
body into his vehicle and subsequently drove her to the Chuckahhatchee River and placed her body into the water."
00:20:15
Police say Carl then picked up her friend reportedly at 9:30. making all those stops, Carl would have traveled
00:20:23
about 20 miles. >> You can take all the statements of anybody you want to put together in this
00:20:29
investigation here. There is no evidence whatsoever that is true. When you put the timeline to this case, Marine,
00:20:35
unless he was on a le jet, that was impossible. >> Defense attorney David Harrison says the
00:20:41
entire investigation is not just flawed, but that the police narrative is fabricated.
00:20:48
This officer made this up to make this arrest. >> The defense also offered up an alternate
00:20:56
suspect, that friend police say Carl [music] picked up the night Tracy disappeared, named Bobby Herring.
00:21:03
>> Bobby Herring was convicted of raping a woman in a sister county. >> But prosecutors say Herring had an alibi
00:21:10
for the time Tracy was murdered, and they remained confident that Carl was their man. What's different in 2016 that
00:21:19
wasn't there or obvious in 1990? >> I think the major thing was getting these witnesses together, which is what
00:21:26
we did for the grand jury presentation. And once you heard those people, it was very clear that Carl was violent. He had
00:21:35
threatened Tracy. He had said, "One of these days, I'm gonna kill you." Those things just add up. As they prepared for
00:21:43
trial, Kirk and Jordan sifted through statements looking for more potential witnesses to testify. I was actually
00:21:50
three when this happened. So, from 1990 and we're trying to track down witnesses. We were dealing with people
00:21:56
that had moved all over the country. Several had passed away. There was a lot to go through. So, we just kind of
00:22:02
started with a long list and we just started trying to narrow it down. The prosecutors also visited the area
00:22:09
around the river where Tracy's body was found. >> Part of our job is to paint that picture
00:22:14
for a jury. And I just think it's always important to try to get a feel for the area.
00:22:18
>> They spent time on the bridge where police believed Carl threw Tracy into the river.
00:22:24
>> This location is approximately 7 miles from where Carl and Tracy Harris lived.
00:22:31
It's very quiet and very rural. They also went to the area under the bridge where people would sometimes
00:22:38
gather. >> There's a lot of graffiti under this bridge, a lot of names as well. >> Putting the case together was an arduous
00:22:46
process, one filled with continuences and delays. Carl was out on bail having spent two [music] and a half weeks in
00:22:54
jail after his arrest. As confident as the prosecution was, so was the defense. >> [music]
00:23:02
>> I've tried 140 criminal jury trials. I know a bad one from a good one. They never had a shot with this case.
00:23:08
>> But they maintain that the case was specifically built on the statements of all the people who said that they saw
00:23:16
Carl being abusive to his wife, his strange behavior afterwards. Was that a concern for you as you were preparing a
00:23:24
defense? >> Never. Never. because the credibility of the people that were going to testify,
00:23:30
they had no credibility. None whatsoever. >> But Carolyn, who traveled to Ozark for
00:23:35
[music] every single hearing, was convinced of her father's guilt. >> I was I was ready to put him behind
00:23:41
bars, ready to see it happen. >> Finally, more than 3 years after Carl's arrest, the [music] trial was scheduled
00:23:48
for January 13th, 2020. The week before trial, Jordan continued to scour over old witness reports, deciding who should
00:23:58
testify. That's when one statement from 1990, not followed up on, caught her attention. The one in particular that we
00:24:08
found that they hadn't talked to in 2016 was this Don Halbert, now Beasley, and she had witnessed domestic violence
00:24:16
while living in their home. What we thought was interesting was that she had witnessed it in the same manner as how
00:24:22
Tracy was actually killed. >> It took Jordan several calls to wrong phone numbers to find Dawn Beasley.
00:24:29
>> And she says, "My name is Jordan Davis. I'm with Dale County DA." This is about
00:24:35
Carl and Tracy Harris. >> Dawn, who had moved away from Ozark and was now divorced, [music] says she
00:24:41
didn't even know there was an arrest for the murder of her friend Tracy until that call. They asked me, "We need you
00:24:48
to testify." And I said, "No, I uh I can't possibly do that. My job is uh very stressful."
00:24:58
>> I texted her the next morning and said, "We really would like for you to come."
00:25:02
She texted me back and said that she was going to decline our invitation, that she couldn't help us.
00:25:08
>> So Jordan, for you, this wasn't an invitation. This is a murder trial. >> I was aggravated. I simply got a
00:25:16
subpoena ready and we gave it to our [music] investigators the next day. She made a scene. It was very dramatic.
00:25:23
>> I was very unhappy. I said, [music] "You're ruining my life and you don't understand why.
00:25:33
You guys don't want me to testify. It was unbelievable to me that [music] I should end up with this incredible
00:25:59
secret. >> Dawn Beasley's secret weighed on her when she was asked to testify in the
00:26:05
2020 murder trial of Carl Harris. [music] Dawn refused to come, saying she was too
00:26:12
busy. Then after being subpoenaed, she called prosecutor Jordan Davis again. I told Jordan, "I have given you
00:26:21
completely honest reasons why I don't [music] want to testify. But the most important reason I can't testify is
00:26:29
because you have an innocent man on trial." >> I thought, "Wow, she's coming up with
00:26:35
crazy story as to why she can't get here." And she said, "Well, how do you know he's innocent?" I know he's
00:26:41
innocent because the man that [music] did commit the crime confessed it to me the night he did it. That's my
00:26:48
ex-husband, Jeff Beasley. Dawn told Jordan about the night of March 7th, 1990, when Tracy went
00:26:57
missing. [music] Dawn, about to celebrate her 21st birthday the next day, was pregnant with
00:27:03
her first child. Her fianceé Jeff came home waking her in the middle of the night.
00:27:09
>> He said, "I I accidentally heard her and now she's dead." "Who?" Tracy, what happened? I went over to
00:27:19
Carl's to talk to Carl. [music] Carl wasn't there. I talked to Tracy. I tried to talk her into leaving him. She got
00:27:25
mad at me. We had a fight. We tussled and I accidentally hurt her and now she's dead.
00:27:32
He said he took her down to the river because he didn't want them to come home and find her body.
00:27:37
>> Dawn says she told Jeff they needed to go to the police, [music] but he insisted they keep quiet.
00:27:45
>> I had an impossible choice to [music] make and I really struggled. Tracy deserves
00:27:52
justice, but the cost was going to be so high. What was the cost going to be if you went to the police?
00:28:01
>> I [music] was going to have to throw my entire life away. I'm about to get married. I'm pregnant. This baby
00:28:08
deserves a chance [music] at a life with a loving family and a mom and a dad. >> And so Dawn made her decision. She would
00:28:17
stay quiet, she says, out of her desire to keep her life intact and also out of fear that police might not believe her.
00:28:26
They're going to ask him some questions. He's going to deny it. Then what happens
00:28:30
to me? >> Dawn says she was honest when police questioned her after Tracy's body was
00:28:37
found and described the abuse. Seeing Carl grabbed Tracy by the throat and threatened to kill her.
00:28:43
>> And every word of my statement was true. They just never asked me, "Who do you
00:28:49
think did it?" I walked out and I do remember the sense of relief because I hadn't actually had to lie.
00:28:58
>> Did it feel like you were lying though by not telling them? >> Sure. I've gone back, Moren, and
00:29:05
questioned that decision over and over and over and over and over again. >> Did you feel badly at all that he was
00:29:13
under such scrutiny and suspicion? I would like to say that I did, but I didn't. Carl made Tracy miserable.
00:29:24
While Ozark police questioned Dawn, they never got a statement from Jeff. Even though they both spent time [music]
00:29:31
together living with the Harrises, >> they had a statement from Dawn. And that was things that they had witnessed while
00:29:37
living in the home together. I'm sure they thought that Jeff's statement would be very similar to Dawn's. But Jeff
00:29:44
Beasley should have raised some red flags for police. [music] He had a criminal record. Dawn met Jeff shortly
00:29:51
after he was released from prison, having served four years for burglary and escape attempts. But Dawn was
00:29:58
willing to overlook his criminal past and the information about killing [music] Tracy. They married and started
00:30:06
their own family, keeping the secret to themselves. I never talked about it ever
00:30:12
to another living soul. Not even Jeff. >> You and Jeff never talked about it ever
00:30:18
again. >> Never. >> Never once. >> You just pulled the dark curtain over and that was it. It was done.
00:30:23
>> We just pretended it never happened. >> Were you ever concerned that you might
00:30:28
get into trouble having not gone to the police right from the beginning? >> Sure. Yeah, of course. Dawn says she
00:30:37
worried, yet life proceeded mostly as if nothing had happened. Dawn and Jeff would have another child. Her growing
00:30:45
family eventually made her think of Tracy's daughter, Carolyn. [music] I should have been sorry for Carolyn and
00:30:52
I was sorry for me. >> Even after Jeff was arrested again in 1991 for burglary and [music] spent 5
00:31:02
years in prison, Dawn kept the secret. wanting her family life to be normal when he got out. [music]
00:31:10
>> Jeff comes home from prison, but very quickly I realized that this is not going to be what I anticipated it was
00:31:18
going to be. >> Dawn claims Jeff became abusive. After 13 years of marriage and four children,
00:31:26
she and Jeff divorced. As time went on, she did think about ways to tell authorities what she knew.
00:31:34
Maybe I do it on my deathbed. [music] Maybe I make an anonymous phone call. Maybe I write a letter.
00:31:40
>> But she says the fear of upending her own children's lives always stopped her.
00:31:46
That however changed with Jordan's insistence [music] that she testify at Carl's murder trial. She dreaded what
00:31:54
she now had to do. tell her adult children that their father killed someone and that she kept it quiet for
00:32:02
30 years. >> The only thing I was ever afraid of was how they were going to respond.
00:32:08
And they responded with support and love and understanding. >> Meanwhile, the prosecutors on [music]
00:32:16
the Friday before the start of the trial were also processing what Dawn had just
00:32:21
[music] told them. I knew we couldn't have a trial Monday because we had to figure out what's going on here.
00:32:28
>> Jeff Beasley's name until [music] they spoke to Dawn was unfamiliar, but they
00:32:33
did remember something from that trip to the river where Tracy's body was found.
00:32:38
>> While we were here, we were looking under the bridge and in big huge spray painted letters was the last name
00:32:44
Beasley. But it doesn't mean anything at that time because on the statement Dawn's
00:32:51
name was Dawn Hbert. It didn't even say Beasley. >> Prosecutors do not know why or who spray
00:32:58
painted the name Beasley under the bridge. Carl Harris's trial was put on hold. Police tracked down his old friend
00:33:06
Jeff Beasley, who was living in Ozark, working as a trucker, and brought him in for questioning. I'm being accused of of
00:33:14
of murder, of of taking someone's life. I couldn't I wouldn't. Can we really do this? Can we really
00:33:39
solve this for Carolyn? Can we really give her the peace? >> Prosecutors Kirk Adams and Jordan Davis
00:33:48
spent more than three delayedfilled years putting together their case seeking justice for Tracy Harris. Now
00:33:56
with Dawn Beasley's revelation that her ex-husband Jeff told her that he killed Tracy.
00:34:02
>> I appreciate you coming in. >> They hope to learn the truth. Did you uh hurt Tracy in any way? No.
00:34:11
>> Did you? >> Jeff Beasley not only agreed to talk to investigators. >> Yeah. Just have a seat for me.
00:34:17
>> But also to take a lie detector test. >> Are you the person that caused the death
00:34:22
of Tracy Harris that night? >> He maintained his innocence even after being told
00:34:27
>> you did not pass. >> He failed the polygraph. >> I I didn't do this. I I did I didn't do
00:34:33
this. This was not me. For more than four hours, Beastley insisted he had nothing to do with Tracy's death.
00:34:41
>> Seems like you guys are wanting me to say I did something when I didn't. I'm not put I'm not going to put a word in
00:34:48
your mouth. Only you know, >> and that's what I need. I don't know. >> And then >> I want it done.
00:34:59
>> He confessed. We went down to the river >> claiming he and Tracy [music] were having an affair.
00:35:07
>> She said she was leaving call. [snorts] They wanted me to leave Dawn. You know
00:35:15
what I mean? Say she was telling Dawn. >> Jeff said he and Tracy had been waiting
00:35:22
in the river. >> And we got into an argument. We was in the river. >> Don't tell me what happened. She went
00:35:30
down >> and didn't come back up. >> But some things in Beasley's story were not adding up. Dawn said Jeff had told
00:35:42
her that Tracy and he fought at the Harris's home. And those who knew Tracy did not believe she was having an
00:35:49
affair. Not one witness we had ever mentioned that she was possibly seeing someone else because it was clear
00:35:58
from the witnesses that Carl wouldn't allow that. >> I cannot imagine that she was cheating
00:36:06
with with Jeff or anyone else. He told me it was an accident. You know, now sitting here, I think that maybe he hit
00:36:15
on her. Maybe she rebuffed his advances. Maybe she said, "I'm going to tell her."
00:36:23
And maybe he freaked out. And made sure she wasn't going to ruin his family. And there was the issue of why Tracy,
00:36:35
known to be terrified of water, would voluntarily go in the river. >> Everybody in [music] the case of knew
00:36:41
Tracy said she was scared of water. >> We went to the river a couple times. >> They also wanted Jeff to explain [music]
00:36:48
those bruises the autopsy noted on Tracy's neck. Mark's authorities felt were consistent with strangulation.
00:36:56
One of the uh pathologist reports uh said that she was possibly strangled. I didn't strangle her. I remember
00:37:08
taking her pushing her underwater. I mean, all tops she says it I guess. >> Was it an accident?
00:37:17
>> Yeah, I would hope. Yeah. >> But police and prosecutors did not believe it was an accident.
00:37:25
And Jeff Beasley was charged with the murder of Tracy Harris. >> He confessed in a way that matches the
00:37:31
evidence. I don't know how many times that happens when you get a confession from the real killer technically 17 18
00:37:38
hours before trial. >> The DA's broke the news to Carolyn. >> Jordan called me to come to the police
00:37:44
station that they had to tell me something and I broke. We finally did it. Like we finally found out who killed
00:37:53
my mom. You could just see so many emotions going through her. She'd been told all
00:37:59
her life, "Your dad did this." But to find out he didn't do it, you could tell not only was she relieved, but you could
00:38:09
tell she was so grateful that somebody had solved this case. On January 13th, 2020, the day prosecutors had planned to
00:38:19
be in court starting Carl Harris's trial. Instead, they held [music] a press conference.
00:38:24
>> I have dismissed the murder case against Carl Harris. An arrest has been made of
00:38:29
54year-old Jeff Beasley of Ozark with the murder of Tracy Harris. >> It hurt our pride that we had the wrong
00:38:36
person. You've got to, you know, check your ego at the door because what's important is the right person got
00:38:42
charged. Carl Harris heard the news that he was a free man from his attorney. [music]
00:38:48
>> It just blew my mind. I was happy that I was standing my ground and I was telling
00:38:54
the truth the whole time and they finally caught the boy did it. >> Beasley pleaded guilty and received a
00:39:01
30-year sentence. >> Did you ever consider filing charges against Don? >> No. >> There are a lot of people who are going
00:39:08
to say maybe she should be charged with something. I think it was extremely difficult for her to come forward, but
00:39:16
the fact is she could have kept that secret for forever. She could have come up here. She could have lied on the
00:39:21
stand. >> The goal was to find the truth and to seek justice for Tracy Harris. And
00:39:26
ultimately, Dawn did that. >> Was there any relief for you after all this time? >> It was extraordinary relief.
00:39:35
>> For Carl Harris, his relief is mixed with anger. along with his attorney, David Harrison. They held their own
00:39:43
press conference. >> I think it's negligent. I think it's incompetence. We're talking about an
00:39:48
innocent man. >> Alleging that police fabricated information like that investigator's
00:39:55
report describing how Carl killed Tracy. Carl filed notice that he plans to sue the city of Ozark for $6 million for
00:40:04
damages, [music] including false imprisonment and pain and suffering. We wanted to ask Ozark police about the
00:40:12
investigation, but they declined, citing the pending claim. >> We're mortified that we were that close
00:40:19
[music] to putting the wrong man on trial and we were very confident that we would be able to get a conviction in
00:40:25
this case. [music] I do think about that all the time and that's kind of nauseating to be honest um that we were
00:40:31
that close and I think we we definitely learned a lesson with this case. [music]
00:40:36
Tracy Harris's murder more than 30 years ago has left many wondering what might have been, especially [music] Carolyn.
00:40:44
She still has no relationship with Carl. Carl has not come forward and actually been truthful to me about the abuse.
00:40:54
And I can't forgive him if he can't be men enough to look at me and tell me what he did
00:41:03
and that he's sorry for it. Caroline's focus remains on the mother she never had a chance to get to know.
00:41:11
>> Everybody I've talked to said that she was so quiet. She was so modest. She was the sweetest person that they've
00:41:20
ever met. >> Do you wonder what your mom would be like today? [music] >> Every day. Every day.
00:41:41
48 hours. To miss it would be a crime. >> Were you at all prepared for what happened in this case?
00:42:10
>> [music] [music]