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When the Demons Came Out /// Part 2 /// 460

November 16, 2023 / 57:49

This episode covers the abduction and murder of Tina Marie Harmon, the wrongful convictions of Ernest Holbrook and Herman Ray Rucker, and the subsequent case of Christa Harrison. Key discussions include witness testimonies, recantations, and the investigation's failures.

Tina Marie Harmon was abducted on October 29, 1981, and her body was discovered later. Ernest Holbrook and Herman Ray Rucker were convicted based on witness testimonies, including Susan Sigler, who later had her credibility questioned.

Two of the four witnesses recanted their testimonies, raising doubts about the convictions. Curtis Maynard, another witness, claimed he was pressured by police to implicate Holbrook and Rucker, leading to further complications in the case.

The episode also discusses the abduction of Christa Harrison in 1982, which occurred while Holbrook and Rucker were imprisoned. The similarities between the two cases suggest a possible serial killer in the area.

Listeners are encouraged to reflect on the impact of unreliable witness testimonies and the justice system's failures in these tragic cases.

TLDR

Tina Harmon was murdered, leading to wrongful convictions; Christa Harrison's abduction raises questions about a possible serial killer.

Episode

57:49
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everybody gather around grab a chair grab a beer let's talk some true [Music] cry Tina Marie Harmon was a 12-year-old
00:04:27
girl who was abducted raped and murdered she was last seen on October 29th 1981 after being dropped off in front of a
00:04:35
store to join some of her friends after the discovery of her body she was later buried at Maple Mound Cemetery in 1982
00:04:44
Ernest holber junor and Herman Ray Rucker were convicted of both the rape and murder of Tina Harmon all right but
00:04:53
just like the great Lee Corso would say captain not so fast mhm that's right because after the trials two of the four
00:05:05
Witnesses who helped to send both of these guys to get convictions life sentences in prison recanted their
00:05:14
testimony which ones all right so two of the four and that does not really even begin to tell us about the trouble with
00:05:24
one of the remaining Witnesses who still stands by their testimony against Rucker
00:05:30
so I I want to go through this one witness that's going to stand by her statements first and then we'll we'll
00:05:38
tell you which two dropped out remember Susan Sigler she is the one that said hey
00:05:45
Rucker confessed to me that the two of them killed this girl after she refused their sexual advances or or Rucker
00:05:53
sexual advances right he even showed me a picture of Tina Harmon and this took Place according to Susan Sigler on
00:06:02
October 30th the day after Tina Harmon went missing now at Rucker's trial 10 people 10 people testified that Sigler
00:06:15
is a liar and that her testimony is not credible right three Witnesses called Sigler a Storyteller eager for
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attention this was the testimony of two former husbands and her aunt so I get it
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maybe we got some angry old ex-husbands that are like yeah she's a liar don't believe her but we have her aunt as well
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a family member saying she's a Storyteller eager for attention we also have three West Salem police officers
00:06:48
who testified that Sigler had a reputation for not telling the truth police officers police officers 10
00:06:56
people in total said the woman is a liar right but like we said in yesterday's episode you throw out her look if I'm on
00:07:06
the jury okay she's a liar so now I don't buy her story maybe I don't buy the other eyewitness's Story the only
00:07:13
story I have to buy is when mayard says these guys drove me to Tina's dead body and showed me the dead body if I believe
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that with no physical evidence they're guilty you throw him in jail and throw away the key but a portion of his
00:07:32
witness statement is the same as Susan sigler's right so I get what you're saying yes Maynard's testimony is
00:07:41
certainly the most damning of the four but if you're going to believe mayard then you have to believe at least some
00:07:48
of what sigler's saying or all of it now I did want to read some of the testimony
00:07:55
given at the trial and again this is from the 10 different people's perspectives these are the 10 people
00:08:02
that say you cannot believe this witness this this Susan Sigler who seems to be at the center of of these allegations
00:08:11
against both of these men yeah they're saying she's a lying [ __ ] balloon well that sums it up nicely but I do want to
00:08:19
go through this so uh number one what is your opinion of Susan Sigler this comes
00:08:25
from Ivan grubs says quote she won't tell the truth this is all on the stand in front of the jury mind you number two
00:08:33
what is Mrs sigler's reputation for telling the truth this comes from the testimony of James Fitz Simmons quote
00:08:40
not too good number three what is Mrs sigler's reputation this comes from Earl Conway
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quote doesn't tell the truth I would not believe her under oath I would not believe her under anything she has lied
00:08:56
about me she has accused me of being involved in this case with Tina Harmon that if you hear that on the stand yeah
00:09:05
like this woman that's accusing these other two guys she's also accused me of being involved and look the state's not
00:09:11
putting together a case against me number four this comes from Andy Tam beron said quote I don't like her very
00:09:21
much never did she lies number five from Mary Canfield quote everybody knows her she never
00:09:29
tells the truth end quote this is also the same stuff that they're going to say at her
00:09:37
eulogy uh no but going back to yesterday again you know I I called these guys uh
00:09:43
goat turds or something like that when have you ever seen a lineup shot or their mug shot
00:09:52
when have you ever seen a lineup shot or a mug shot or two individuals that are at trial but they look
00:09:59
disheveled when when do they not look guilty right right that's never I mean it's just like if you look at like Damen
00:10:08
Eckles and West Memphis 3 and it's like I mean you can't polish that turd you know he looks disheveled and then you
00:10:16
put a tie on him he looks even more disheveled and so you go oh okay I can see how that individual would be guilty
00:10:24
well and a lot of that comes from the preliminary or the the arraignment process process where you see okay this
00:10:31
guy was arrested yesterday and now first thing in the morning the next day we bring him in front of the judge to
00:10:39
explain you have to you have to tell them what you're charging them with why why you are holding them right and what
00:10:46
they're going to be charged with they look disheveled because they spent the whole night in jail this was their first
00:10:52
night in jail and they're usually wearing an orange or red jumpsuit and that's why with
00:10:59
right when it comes time for their actual trial all right let's let these guys shave get a haircut let them put on
00:11:06
a suit if they want to wear a suit because if you marched every person out for their trial looking like that I
00:11:14
think you get a conviction 99% of the time well and what I'm saying is if you look at these Court hearings these guys
00:11:23
are not dressed up in Blazers they didn't cut their hair I mean you'll see that from time to time where the defense
00:11:29
is going hey we got to clean you up and it doesn't seem like they did that in this case but that's also why uh you
00:11:37
have individuals like Scott Peterson that you know are kind of they seem more put together and people see images of
00:11:47
that and go well that guy doesn't look like what we think a murder would look like right or a crazy person and and the
00:11:55
person would have to be crazy in order to do this horrible crime well and I think we should point out in contrast to
00:12:03
Scott Peterson someone who went to college played golf all the time I mean just those two things start to give you
00:12:10
a little perspective of the person or at least of what he may appear to look like
00:12:17
um these guys mind you this is more than 20 years earlier than than Scott Peterson these guys lived in small town
00:12:26
Ohio they were Farm hands they so they look like people that you would see working on the farm
00:12:34
somewhere and their their version of my Sunday's best is not the same as Scott Peterson who wants to be on every
00:12:42
expensive golf course in in California right now remember this is something that I know that our garage friends our
00:12:50
good garage listeners they are super intelligent and they are very much dialed in so I know they picked up on
00:12:57
this at the end of yesterday's episode well they did a national poll by the way and uh it's
00:13:04
true that true crime garage listeners are the smartest of all True Crime podcast listeners right so I know they
00:13:13
picked up on this but for the first time listeners I want to make sure that I point this out remember Susan Sigler the
00:13:21
woman that's not to be believed 10 people testify don't believe her she's a liar and liar liar pants on fire she
00:13:29
testified that Rucker told her at her residence okay at the place where she's living on October 30th that he had
00:13:39
killed a little girl showed her a picture of the girl and a showed her a necklace that he took off of the
00:13:46
victim remember Curtis Maynard backed up her testimony well first of all we have the
00:13:54
coroner's office who conducted the autopsy and according to their finding ings Tina was still alive at that time
00:14:03
right their report was that she was killed between 24 and 36 hours before her body was found at 9:00 a.m. on
00:14:10
November 2nd Story makes no sense correct so you it it just scientifically does not work now let's add to that
00:14:22
Susan sigler's landlord testified that Susan did not move into that location where she says Rucker confessed to her
00:14:32
until the first week or so of November wow so scientifically it doesn't match up and to the location cannot be correct
00:14:41
because she was not residing there at that time then we have Ruth Courtright who stated that Rucker and Holbrook were
00:14:50
at her house on the night of October 30th right so they couldn't be there to confess right because they were with
00:14:57
Ruth Courtright and she went on to say that Tina Harmon was not at my house on October 30th right and they also have
00:15:06
aliis let's remember they have aliis for around the time that the coroner thinks
00:15:12
Tina was murdered yeah so we're going to extend that out a little bit it doesn't
00:15:16
it doesn't in detail cover that exact 24 to 36-h hour window but it but it kind of does I I'll I'll
00:15:26
read to you what we have okay so we have Ruth Courtright who says that she that Rucker and Holbrook were at her home on
00:15:34
the 30th not at sigler's home she goes on to say that for the most part Rucker was either at work or at home with her
00:15:46
from October 1st until November 9th that he went to work during the day he came home and he was home at night right now
00:15:55
this does not certainly does not account for every minute of every day but what P
00:16:00
what picture this paints is that the window of time he would have to abduct murder and rape and dispose of a
00:16:09
body and also starting to get very small right and he also has to have her put somewhere in between that time period
00:16:18
between Thursday and and Monday correct and holbrook's sister the other guy who was convicted his sister testified that
00:16:26
he was at her wedding on the night of the 31st so again the window of time gets smaller for this suspect as well
00:16:35
right okay so both of these convictions are going to fall apart soon after Holbrook and Rucker were convicted
00:16:45
Susan Sigler was convicted herself she was convicted of filing a false rape claim looks like the state of Ohio has
00:16:54
now learned what was already said about Sigler at the trial that this was in fact correct that she is not to be
00:17:02
believed she's not credible she lies and she is not to be beli well and she was also the only eyewitness in um the trial
00:17:11
that I was up for the longdong murders she's the only eyewitness so they threw that out I know people were wondering
00:17:18
how I got off well then it was also discovered that she lied on her marriage license this is a this is a state
00:17:25
document right this is a legal state document uh she claimed that she had only had one
00:17:32
prior husband who was deceased when actually she had four ex-husbands all of them still
00:17:42
alive and what what's funny about lying on her marriage license I'm sorry about only so her her statement on her
00:17:50
marriage license is she had one prior husband and he's deceased right yet at the trial for Rucker two of
00:18:00
her ex-husbands testified that she was a liar right oh my God this lady is a mess she's such a mess okay so the other
00:18:15
witness Curtis Maynard oh my face hurts he is the one that we both agreed had the more detailed the more daming
00:18:23
testimony against both of these individuals yeah he is one of the two witnesses that recanted his testimony
00:18:31
yeah he said and he claims that he was pressured and threatened by Stark County detectives to point the finger at Rucker
00:18:40
and Holbrook for Tina's murder Maynard who according to records has an IQ of 71 went on to have his attorney file a 48
00:18:51
page report this was a sworn statement stating that deputies threatened to have him him jailed unless he implicated
00:19:00
Rucker and Holbrook Maynard alleged that he was paid $10 and promised that a petty theft and
00:19:08
a pending probation violation in Madina County would be dropped in return for specific testimony I can't speak
00:19:16
directly about the $10 bribe I've done worse things for 10 bucks the jail time threat or the alleged favors for favors
00:19:25
however according to the courts and sworn statements given to County detectives Maynard gave five different
00:19:34
stories regarding what he witnessed and what was said to him in fact much of these statements would directly
00:19:43
contradict the other statements so he was Jesse Miss Kelly before Jesse Miss Kelly was Jesse Miss Kelly yeah and then
00:19:51
listen to this one statement implicated Rucker and Holbrook the two guys that were tried and convicted but it also
00:20:00
implicated two other people one of which was Susan Sigler my God and he also went on to say
00:20:09
that the fourth person who I I will not name because we know it's not this is not a credible account he was named in
00:20:16
the paper which I felt bad for him but uh it was claimed in this statement which we know not to be true that he was
00:20:24
involved in in the rape of this little girl as well [Music] so what you're seeing here is I mean
00:20:34
it's really let's put that it's almost like law enforcement thought okay we have a maybe
00:20:42
they had a couple credible eyewitnesses that thought they saw two men that look like these two individuals and then we
00:20:51
have to build a case around it okay we get this known liar well she's probably not going to hold up but if we could get
00:20:59
her friend to say a little bit more cuz he's not the brightest candle we have a case then and like and that's what we we
00:21:09
said yesterday you throw out everybody's eyewitness testimony doesn't matter you
00:21:15
stay with Maynards you can still get a guilty charge so luckily Herman Rucker was granted a new
00:21:24
trial yeah he was acquitted by a jury on June 16th of 1983 and we always know how these things
00:21:34
seem to work and this is no this is this of course is a shot at the state of Ohio
00:21:39
however we've seen this go on in just about every other state it makes no damn sense but Ernest Holbrook saw he was
00:21:49
looking for a new trial as well but oddly enough his requests were repeatedly denied so he remained in
00:21:56
prison that's so D eventually Hall Brook's conviction was set aside and the charges against him were dismissed this
00:22:04
was in May of 1984 the following year so both Rucker and hallbrook were either in jail or
00:22:11
Prison from February 1982 until the time of their release dates one in June of 83
00:22:19
and the other in May of May of 84 so H Brook spent over two years in either jail or prison for a crime he was simply
00:22:28
accused of but did not commit Curtis Maynard later this is bizarre too Curtis Maynard later was convicted of perjury
00:22:37
for his false testimony and he spent 13 months in prison yeah I have a issue with that because
00:22:45
it's it's almost like law enforcement forced the perjury yeah it looks to me like uh so Susan Sigler put him up to it
00:22:55
and then the the county detectiv twisted his arm into saying what they wanted and accusations aside what we see
00:23:04
here is what we've seen in several other cases that are similar to this he gives
00:23:08
five different statements why because he gives a statement that is false because
00:23:14
he doesn't know anything about the crime he's not a witness to anything in real life right and when it doesn't match up
00:23:22
with some of the evidence and some of the known facts of the crime the detective need him to write a new
00:23:29
statement right but that's when the detectives need to not be goat turds and to do the right thing and step away and
00:23:40
say hey look this guy's story is not matching we we're we can't make it fit right and it's sad how how often they
00:23:48
don't step away they don't do the right thing they're they think they're doing the right thing cuz they're trying to
00:23:55
get Justice for this little girl well and then you have to factor in as well we have the two witnesses that say I'll
00:24:03
clean this up and give a little more detail here but the two female witnesses that say that they saw a a girl in a
00:24:11
vehicle with two men and she appeared to be struggling it was a mother and daughter and I don't know which one but
00:24:19
one of them recanted their testimony as well but if you want to take that a step
00:24:25
further you also have to figure out what's going on here when they told when they offered up this
00:24:31
tip to the police that led them to Rucker and hallbrook through Susan Sigler they simply gave a description of
00:24:39
the men of the girl in the vehicle they didn't say h Brook and Rucker did this it was not until after Holbrook and
00:24:47
Rucker were arrested that they're now able to pick them out of a photo lineup you see cuz police didn't have those
00:24:57
photos to put put in the lineup until the arrest was made there's a chance they could have seen these guys pictures
00:25:03
on in the paper by the time they're they're picking them out of a photo lineup yeah or what we've seen from you
00:25:10
know a famous documentary Making a murder where they shown those pictures before the lineup by law enforcement
00:25:18
that's not of a at a left field accusation because we already know that they heard eyewitness testimony that
00:25:25
didn't make any sense and then kept working with that individual to get their statements to line up with the
00:25:31
evidence that they did have we went through a lot of stuff here two trials three actually three trials nobody got
00:25:40
anything right everything was wrong people spent time in jail and prison that didn't need to and then we send
00:25:48
this guy off to prison for perjury I don't totally agree with that either so we are right back where we started here
00:25:55
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[Music] 2023 cheers mates wherever you're listening whether you're listening at home or
00:28:36
you're listening at work cheers to everyone and cheers to you Colonel cheers to you captain on July 17th
00:28:46
1982 Christa Harrison was snatched from a baseball field across the street from her home this is going on while all this
00:28:56
circus is going on trying to convict these two guys Rucker and Holbrook so Christa Harrison is taken from this
00:29:04
baseball field this is across the street from her home Captain she was there collecting cans with a 12-year-old
00:29:12
friend his name is Roy mhm Roy later told police that around 5:00 p.m. a dark colored van pulled into the park the van
00:29:25
had bubble-shaped windows black seats and a roof vent yeah those bubble shaped windows were real popular
00:29:33
in the 70s yeah this is early 80s so if you look up pictures of Rucker who we've
00:29:39
already talked about he's wearing like a leisure suit when he goes to court as the captain said this is not like a
00:29:46
minivan back then this would have been a regular siiz van a little bit bigger than a mini van but these bubble Windows
00:29:53
usually they were tinted yeah and they they would bubble out from the sides of the van and they were very popular in
00:30:00
the late' 70s and maybe even early 80s yeah tinted or normally filled with weed smoke but uh if you look at Harrison she
00:30:10
could be a cousin or a sister of Tina Harmon yes they both are about the same age now according to Roy the driver
00:30:19
climbed out and approached Christa the man was white and said to have looked to be about 25 to maybe 35 years of age he
00:30:31
was skinny with a mustache and had dark hair dark brown hair that curled near his shoulders Roy said that the man
00:30:39
looked Italian the man said something to Christa Roy could not hear what was said
00:30:47
Christa then went over and sat on some bleachers this would be you know facing the baseball diamond the man then sat
00:30:54
down next to Christa he's talking to her and apparently he reached underneath her
00:31:01
blouse then Christa started to cry the man again whispered something to the girl Roy again could not hear what was
00:31:12
said but at this point Christa walked to the man's van opened the driver's side door climbed in the vehicle sat down
00:31:22
between the front bucket seats I guess I guess she's sitting on the floor at this
00:31:28
point the man then climbed in as well and he leaned out the window and said something to the effect of by Roy and
00:31:37
then he pulled the van out onto the road and then sped away that's the long version of what
00:31:46
went down that day at the park there is a shorter version that comes from another witness this would be a little
00:31:53
girl female witness who says that she believes that she saw a brown or purple colored van matching the same
00:32:02
description that Roy gave with the the bubble Windows she thought that she saw the man grab Christa and drag her into
00:32:13
the van I cannot explain to you captain or anybody else why we would have two different accounts of what took place
00:32:23
that day my guess it might be simply vantage point we're talking about a park we could have one witness much further
00:32:31
away than Roy who seems to have a more detailed story he then runs home and explains what he saw but he's saying
00:32:43
that this perpetrator said bye Roy yeah he thought that the man said to him bye Roy or goodbye Roy which is
00:32:52
weird because it's not anybody that he recognizes we can tell that by the his given description of the man he's simply
00:32:59
describing the man if he knew the guy he'd say it was John that did this right he's frightened like visibly shaken when
00:33:08
police show up to take his report I also wonder if there's a certain level of shock factor involved here for both of
00:33:15
these Witnesses both of these Witnesses would be 11 12y old kids this is bizarre
00:33:23
because you have this situation that is much much different than the Tina Harmon
00:33:30
situation Tina Harmon she just kind of vanished she kind of disappeared no one said that
00:33:38
they saw her screaming or getting pulled into a truck or a van or that they saw her leave with any particular person in
00:33:47
this situation we have what is clearly an abduction and it's known to be an abduction right when it goes down mhm
00:33:56
there's no question about it so you have a different response that's going to come with this police are on of course
00:34:04
high alert they're going to be looking for Christa the van and this man so they offer up a description and a composite
00:34:15
sketch is put in the paper there's actually two of them two composite sketches of you know slightly slight
00:34:24
variations of the same man but they're going to be looking for this man for Christa and for the van also at the same
00:34:32
time because it's known it's a known abduction police are also thinking that they might receive some kind of Ransom
00:34:41
request right of course they're going to do their due diligence they're going to
00:34:46
monitor the phone lines for the family at their home and sadly no Ransom request comes
00:34:55
in and now we have an abduction that the hours are going by the days start to go
00:35:03
by like you said maybe it is a good thing to know from the onset that this is abduction so we can take it with a
00:35:12
certain level of seriousness but also uh a certain level of there's a time frame
00:35:18
and the this we need to be searching for and to find evidence uh right away yeah
00:35:26
it was not until 6 days later that they're going to find her remains sadly and by this point Captain The
00:35:38
Remains were in advanced stage of decomposition the body was discovered this was just off of a road that's not
00:35:49
well traveled M this was discovered by I believe a a turtle Trapper somebody who
00:35:55
was going out to either check their traps or set up traps that's one of my hobbies on on Facebook it says interest
00:36:03
Turtle Trapper what is bizarre here is that there's it it's listed in the papers as that her body was found either
00:36:14
next to or inside of an abandoned garage and I thought I always thought with this
00:36:22
case how weird to have it's either beside or in inside of this abandoned garage now the way that I was able to clean
00:36:33
this up was I was able to find one source that that stated that the body was actually located inside the
00:36:39
abandoned garage however it was it was a rather large structure and it had no door because I always found it to be
00:36:47
weird that this Turtle Trapper guy would just you know quote unquote stumble across a body if it were inside of this
00:36:56
structure mhm so I believe that what we have here is that he probably spotted something
00:37:02
funny spotted something weird and went into investigate there's no large garage door on one side of the structure finds
00:37:13
the body of Christa Lee Harrison as said it's an advanced stage of decomposition at this time well and
00:37:23
possibly you know the smell led him there yeah and I guess that there were there
00:37:29
was all kinds of like trash and discarded items in the area as well now I'm not super familiar with this area
00:37:40
this was a as said a scarcely traveled Road in Holmes County Ohio so maybe this is an area where people litter or things
00:37:51
like this would collect but there were a lot of items that were found around her
00:37:56
body like always whatever pictures we have of the case we will be posting on Instagram so follow us on Instagram at
00:38:04
True Crime garage but when you when you take a look at this garage it kind of looks similar to our logo uh obviously
00:38:12
it doesn't have a door on it but it's it's very beat up very rund down yeah and so a better description here is the
00:38:20
body was found at about 7:30 p.m. on a Friday in an abandoned Garage on Washington Township Road
00:38:30
464 this is described as a dirt residential road that runs its way through corn fields thick portions of
00:38:39
woods Turtle ponds and this is in Northwestern Holmes County so it makes sense that this Turtle Trapper would be
00:38:48
in the area what was weird too here Captain was that uh an eyewitness says that they saw a man in this general area
00:39:00
around this you know abandoned garage who left in a vehicle and this would have been the
00:39:07
morning of when her body was discovered her body was discovered at 7:30 pm that night was the vehicle van no it was a
00:39:17
car uh vague description it was listed as a Caucasian male in his 20s or 30s and he was in a car I
00:39:27
the a better description of of the car I could not find what is weird here okay so when
00:39:34
they do the autopsy and when they're when they're scanning the crime scene the dump site they start to put together
00:39:43
a lot of stuff real quickly they're able to figure a bunch of things out first of
00:39:48
all the autopsy it was discovered that they believe the victim was killed relatively
00:39:57
quickly after the time that she was abducted Christa Harrison one issue that they had with the autopsy itself was
00:40:05
actually identifying the body it was in such of a advanced stage of decomposition that it was difficult to
00:40:15
identify the body now horrifically what the parents in the family had to see in the paper for 3 days usually when you
00:40:25
have these types of situations a body's discovered and it's within about 24 hours they're saying we've made a
00:40:32
positive identification of the remains here it was for three days that they could not determine if 100% it was
00:40:43
Christa Harrison or not this is by both visual identification but also methods that are more scientific and we'll get
00:40:53
into that but what the parents had to hear for three days on the radio on TV and in the paper
00:41:01
was that at that time all they could say it was a female victim it was believed to be Christa Harrison and the remains
00:41:11
were clothed wearing the same clothing that Christa Harrison was wearing when she was abducted from the park right and
00:41:18
this is listed as a a pair of shorts and a white and blue football jersey like shirt so horrific for the parents for 3
00:41:31
days they have to hope and pray it's not our girl right but everything says it is
00:41:36
yeah everything's pointing to that it is her and where we have the delay is because it took some time to get dental
00:41:45
records and once they were there with the victim and then the comparison it just took a little bit of time more so
00:41:54
than than usual regarding the other information that they were easily able to figure
00:42:01
out was that the body was in a advanced state of decomposition because the victim had been wrapped inside of a
00:42:11
plastic bag this would be like a large I'm guessing probably larger than trash can normal trash can size trash bag but
00:42:22
after death the body was placed in this plastic bag and they believe that it must have been
00:42:30
stored somewhere hot for several days because they had information scientific information and I can't point to exactly
00:42:40
what but they believe the victim to have been killed shortly after the abduction
00:42:47
mind you 6 days go by before the victim is found the body is found they had evidence too that
00:42:54
suggested she was placed there where she was found that same day within 24-hour time
00:43:02
period we also have the eyewitness saying I saw a man leaving that area that morning right so you have further
00:43:10
evidence that possibly was placed there that morning and then found that night at 7:30 so they say that the victim must
00:43:18
have been the body must have been in a hot place stored in a hot location for a period of days
00:43:26
inside of that plastic bag they actually believe that it was probably most likely
00:43:31
a the trunk of a vehicle because keep in mind this is this is July it's going to be hot and
00:43:40
they were able to determine that the remains were inside that plastic bag for that entire the entirety of that time
00:43:48
until whomever disposed of the body drugg the body from the trunk of the a vehicle you know through the grass and
00:43:58
the weeds and in a little brief period of field and then placed it inside of that abandoned garage they were able to
00:44:06
determine this because there were drag marks on the remains itself there were drag marks on the ground and the plastic
00:44:15
bag started to come off of the remains they also located several other items of interest in the area so of
00:44:25
course the the bag is going to be of interest to investigators but they also found a
00:44:32
Budweiser towel a bloody car seat box okay a wad of the victim's hair they found gloves a plaid shirt and a pair of
00:44:44
jeans were found in the vicinity of the dump site well and like you said there are so many items that were around this
00:44:53
area I'm guessing there was some kind of forensic work to to be done to to determine that these were actual pieces
00:45:00
of evidence yes yeah to make sure you know you separate just debris and litter from
00:45:08
actual items of value to your investigation what was really bizarre here Captain was a statement that they
00:45:16
they law enforcement put in the papers at the time they said that the the clothing the shirt and the jeans or the
00:45:24
pants that they could not say for certain that they belonged to the girl's killer but they could say that they
00:45:34
belong to the person that that placed the body in that location right because we we think the descriptions of this
00:45:42
individual are the same but obviously he was in a different vehicle so he could have paid somebody to dispose of the
00:45:50
body or or was in cahoots with somebody yeah so some very interesting stuff here
00:45:56
I don't know how they could determine that the clothing belonged to the person that placed her there but
00:46:03
could not say that it belonged to her actual killer MH but what you have here Captain is
00:46:11
almost it's a a complete dump site where we're now going to try to hide and conceal the remains of the victim and
00:46:22
the perpetrators also like dumping items that were involved in the the crimes itself clothing this this car seat box a
00:46:36
pair of gloves it's almost like the killer dis disposed of the victim and then disposed of any evidence that they
00:46:44
had on them everything that that that he thought had to do with the crime I'm going to get rid of that as well I don't
00:46:51
know why a perpetrator wouldn't take the extra time to place these it items elsewhere it seems a little
00:46:59
counterintuitive counterproductive to to the the purpose of concealing the body but maybe they thought that none of
00:47:07
these items would be found or that they wouldn't be found for a good deal of time or maybe this witness the person
00:47:14
that says that they thought they saw a man in a car leaving that area maybe that witness spooked the perpetrator or
00:47:22
the person that dumped the body and they were rushed out of the area right so let's go through some of the things that
00:47:29
were found at the scene here Captain because yeah from the litter bug correct so first we know 100% it's a little
00:47:37
questionable about these other items right but we know for a fact immediately that this bag is part of the
00:47:46
investigation it's evidence in this investigation because they could tell that she was in this bag and then
00:47:53
dragged to this spot in the garage so he used the bag as a way to transport the body yeah and probably an attempt
00:48:02
to hide the smell a little bit to and and also you know evidence will fall off of this body you don't want it falling
00:48:11
off in the trunk of your vehicle and this bag they can confirm that it's related to the crime 100% because it's
00:48:19
shown it's found in a state of of where it's falling apart because she was dragged to this spot so part of the bag
00:48:29
is still on the remains when the body is located now this bag apparently was pretty
00:48:38
unique in the sense that it had a certain pattern and thickness to it that were not common to just your standard
00:48:46
trash bag the bag itself was traced to a uh having been manufactured at a factory in
00:48:56
Pioneer Ohio these types of bags were used for packaging material and packaged for uh
00:49:06
car seats and such MH what was interesting was they were also able to determine that this type of packaging
00:49:14
was only used on black vehicle seats on black car seats I wonder how they were able to
00:49:22
determine that maybe the the manufacturer that made the car seats only made them in one color black oh
00:49:28
there you go used this type of packaging sold them but what's interesting about that is we have our witness Roy who says
00:49:38
Not only was it a dark colored van but I could see the tops of the seats from my
00:49:43
vantage point and the the seats were black in color right so this is all starting to match up and these seats
00:49:54
these vehicle seats were sold through the old Sears company they were only available for a
00:50:01
period of time a short period of time now the the Box we mentioned the Box what they were able to determine about
00:50:10
this piece of cardboard box is that it contained the victim's blood what's in the box what's in the box so here again
00:50:18
immediately we know this is connected to our crime this is going to be further evidence that type of box was a Again
00:50:26
part of packaging for these types of seats right so these are like seat covers correct so they're starting to
00:50:35
wonder like whoever used this material to conceal the body and then dump the body they either were a purchaser of
00:50:44
these types of seats or had access to this these materials at a later date after somebody else purchased the seats
00:50:53
right what they discovered was was only about uh 23 24 people in Northern Ohio which is the area of the crimes had
00:51:04
purchased this type of car seat the problem here is when they go to look into this they
00:51:13
got you know about two dozen people to look at none of them own a vehicle that matched the
00:51:22
abductor vehicle description yeah so this is really fascinating to me because both crimes um the the Harrison
00:51:34
crime and the Harmon crime and the Harmon crime both crimes were about 15 miles away and very similar you know uh
00:51:45
um a remote Road dumping of the body but not trying to bury the body not trying to really
00:51:53
hide the body that well but what we have is in the one case we have two guys on trial and they were
00:52:02
convicted yeah and so people in this community had to be thinking one it's happening
00:52:13
again or two they got the wrong guys behind bars because this seems like a a Serial
00:52:22
murder yeah you have crimes that are taking place within a a time period of less than a year from one another right
00:52:31
within 15 miles roughly of the two you know you compare the Abduction of Harrison to the last known sighting of
00:52:41
Harman you and the victimology is the same they're the same age they're girls and there we have the same
00:52:51
situation of one went missing one went was abducted and there's a period of days before the remains are found but I
00:53:00
also believe if we think that Harmon went missing from the truck stop mhm what is
00:53:09
the truck stop a highly highly trafficked area we have people in the area this person that took Harmon has no
00:53:20
fear of being seen what do we have in the Harrison case not only was this individual that took Harrison not afraid
00:53:28
of being seen he also said bye Roy yeah he may said something to one of the witnesses I mean this is um a
00:53:39
predator that you do not want out on the loose this is this is an individual that is not a afraid of
00:53:50
taking his chances to to get a victim so picture this if you're someone in this area and you're you know smart
00:53:58
individual like many of our listeners you're going okay victimology is the same location the same within a year of
00:54:04
one another similar type crimes these got to be connected however well they can't be because two guys are on trial
00:54:12
for the first one they're both locked up at the time of when Christa Harrison is
00:54:19
abducted from the park right and then you start hearing that two people are going to recant their testimony that
00:54:26
convicted one of the guys and you're going a similar crime happened while these two were locked up
00:54:33
there's something very strange going on here and like I said you could put a picture of these two girls side by side
00:54:41
they could be sisters cousins I mean very similar as far as victimology shortly after Christa
00:54:51
Harrison's body was found a $10,000 reward was placed for information regarding the abductor remember we have
00:54:59
the comp composite sketch in the newspapers at the time of the man that police believe abducted Christa Harrison
00:55:08
from the park sadly even with this money being offered up and a composite sketch in the
00:55:16
papers they're not getting any leads of use at this [Music] time [Music] [Music]
00:55:34
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Badges

This episode stands out for the following:

  • 80
    Most heartbreaking
  • 70
    Most shocking
  • 70
    Biggest twist
  • 65
    Most intense

Episode Highlights

  • Rosetta Stone Holiday Deal
    Get 50% off a lifetime membership for unlimited access to 25 languages!
    “It's a GameChanger!”
    @ 00m 44s
    November 16, 2023
  • Tina Marie Harmon Case
    A tragic story of a 12-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in 1981.
    “She was last seen on October 29th, 1981.”
    @ 04m 27s
    November 16, 2023
  • Witness Testimony Issues
    Two witnesses recanted their testimony, raising doubts about the convictions.
    “Two of the four witnesses recanted their testimony.”
    @ 05m 14s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Abduction of Christa Harrison
    On July 17, 1982, Christa Harrison was abducted from a baseball field near her home.
    “Christa was taken from a baseball field across the street from her home.”
    @ 28m 46s
    November 16, 2023
  • Eyewitness Accounts
    Conflicting witness accounts complicate the investigation into Christa's abduction.
    “Two different accounts of what took place that day.”
    @ 32m 20s
    November 16, 2023
  • Discovery of Remains
    Six days later, Christa's remains were found in an abandoned garage.
    “The remains were in an advanced stage of decomposition.”
    @ 35m 38s
    November 16, 2023
  • The Connection Between Crimes
    Two similar abduction cases raise questions about a possible serial killer.
    “This seems like a serial murder.”
    @ 52m 21s
    November 16, 2023
  • Reward for Information
    A $10,000 reward is offered for leads on the abductor of Christa Harrison.
    “Sadly, even with this money being offered, they're not getting any leads.”
    @ 54m 53s
    November 16, 2023

Episode Quotes

  • She was last seen on October 29th, 1981.
    When the Demons Came Out /// Part 2 /// 460
  • She is not to be believed, she's not credible.
    When the Demons Came Out /// Part 2 /// 460
  • Three trials, nobody got anything right.
    When the Demons Came Out /// Part 2 /// 460
  • The body was discovered in an advanced stage of decomposition.
    When the Demons Came Out /// Part 2 /// 460
  • For three days, they could not determine if it was Christa.
    When the Demons Came Out /// Part 2 /// 460
  • This is an individual that is not afraid of taking his chances.
    When the Demons Came Out /// Part 2 /// 460

Key Moments

  • Language Learning00:32
  • Tina's Tragic Story04:23
  • Witness Credibility17:02
  • Eyewitness Testimony25:22
  • Three Trials25:36
  • Victimology Similarities52:44
  • Bold Predator53:45
  • No Leads55:19

Words per Minute Over Time

Vibes Breakdown