up next a woman goes missing and her
family thinks it's foul play Michelle
wasn't going to take off and leave her
kids you know investigators learned some
of her friends have shady pasts
he had been convicted of r*pe and
attempted m*rder in Arizona but without
a body police had no solid Clues until a
suspect makes a tiny mistake they had
gotten a call that they may have
possibly found a body or something near
his property and he says that's not
possible
wait a minute what do you mean that's
not possible
[Music]
on a cool September morning in the small
town of awaygo in upstate New York Cal
Harris smoked early as he usually did to
help get his two children ready for
school and get to work
Harris owned several large car
dealerships in town but on this morning
he discovered his wife hadn't returned
home from her waitressing job the night
before that wasn't entirely surprising
the two were leading separate lives and
were planning a divorce she was always
staying at the house for the children
sleeping in the couch in the living room
Cowell told police Michelle sometimes
went out after work but staying out all
night was unusual Michelle was home
every night you don't want to see the
kids before they went to school in the
morning so we were all very alarmed
Michelle's van was found a half mile
from the house along a driveway on their
huge estate the keys were still in the
ignition but none of this necessarily
indicated foul play he figured she met
somebody into the driveway to go
drinking left the van there and left
with that person and just hasn't come
back yet
we found no blood no damage to the
vehicle and police found nothing
suspicious inside the home we could look
wherever we wanted and we checked every
room in the house we didn't notice
anything out of line troopers and search
dogs even scuba divers searched the
Harrises 250 acre property which
presented more than the usual challenges
there's a large number of laid up wells
so we brought in an underwater camera
and searched all those wells as we were
doing the organized searches in the
woods they had helicopters they had
divers in the lake
nothing no clothing no blood no no bones
no no nothing they found literally no
trace of her outside of that house
police traced Michelle's whereabouts for
the night before Michelle worked at a
local restaurant and co-workers said she
left when her shift ended at 9:00 p.m.
but she didn't leave alone she left with
one of the cooks Michael hates police
investigators they interview mr. heggs
he tells them that he said goodbye to
Michelle Harris that night in the
parking lot and that was the last time
he ever saw her the surveillance tapes
from the restaurant parking lot couldn't
confirm this but Hakes had an alibi he
said he left the restaurant and went
directly to his girlfriend's house and
we went back to her did mr. Hicks ever
ask you to make up an alibi for him or
to lie to the police
she said no there and he came here after
work that night he stayed all night
kake's girlfriend told police he arrived
there around 9:45 p.m.
but if Hakes left the restaurant at 9:00
p.m. and his girlfriend lived only 15
minutes away
there was a 30-minute period he couldn't
account for then a background check
revealed a sparkling piece of
information Michael Hicks had been
convicted of r*pe and attempted m*rder
in Arizona and served ten years in
Arizona state prison for that and he'd
been out of prison for about one year as
of that time Hakes employers at the
restaurant didn't know he was a
registered sex offender and apparently
neither did Michelle Harris I don't know
if she knew about his
background let me reconvince right away
that something untoward had happened
[Music]
police in upstate New York were baffled
by the disappearance of Michelle Harris
all they knew was that she failed to
return home from her waitressing job and
her abandoned car was discovered a
half-mile from her home
Michelle left the restaurant with a
co-worker
Michael Hakes a convicted sex offender
although no one knew he had a felony
conviction at the time when analyzing
Michelle's van criminalist found two
different sets of fingerprints on the
driver's side door that's something of
you know great significance to a case
the finger prints did not match
Michelle's co-worker Michael Hakes
so police searched mechele's cell phone
records and they revealed a man named
Brian early called Michelle on the night
she disappeared
he did call her on her cell phone that
night left a message for her asking her
to stop by his place
Brian early and Michelle Harris had been
dating for the past year he had recently
moved from Philadelphia to upstate New
York so he could be closer to Michelle
she certainly saw a great deal of him
and they had both had very strong
feelings and they were taking concrete
steps to move forward when police
questioned Brian he admitted seeing
Michelle the night she disappeared but
said she left his apartment around 11:00
p.m.
he says he walked her out to the car
kisses her goodnight and she leaves in
her van and that's the last time he ever
saw her and that as far as anyone knows
is the last time she was seen alive
fingerprint technicians identified Brian
Early's prints as the ones on Michelle's
car door
but Brian early said this was consistent
with his story but he leaned in through
the window to kiss Michelle goodnight
and he insisted this took place in his
apartments parking lot
although Brian was the last known person
to see Michelle alive police also had to
consider the possibility Michelle's
estranged husband was somehow involved
Michelle and Cal were going through a
divorce one that would be very costly to
him Cal Harris owned six car dealerships
the car dealerships were very successful
Cal made a settlement offer of three
quarters of a million dollars which was
rejected and shortly before Michelle's
disappearance the divorce court ordered
an independent valuation of Chows
business the valuation alone would cost
him $30,000 I think when he had gotten
the certified letter of the $30,000 for
the CPA he was furious I've yet to hear
of anyone getting divorced male or
female that likes to give up a dime to
the spouse that's leaving that's never a
happy prospect no matter what your
station in life Cal Harris also had a
history to his neighbors it was hardly a
secret
we saw the sight of him in his past
relationships where there was incidents
of domestic v*olence and controlling
behavior so police asked Cal Harris
Michelle's boyfriend Bryan early and the
cook at the restaurant Michael hates to
take polygraph examinations one of them
refused
[Music]
when police asked Michele Harris's
boyfriend Brian early to take a
polygraph test he willingly complied
they passed the exam anytime we needed
him for DNA fingerprints additional
questions no problem the cook at the
restaurant Michael hates a convicted sex
offender also took a polygraph
examination he too passed but the lawyer
for Michele's estranged husband Cal
Harris adamantly refused to allow him to
take the polygraph at least the one
administered by the police we obtained a
warrant and put a GPS on his vehicle and
he went to another part of the state and
took a polygraph test the private
investigator that he hired took him out
to that test then Cal Harris said
something unusual to investigators it
was something he said about Michelle's
van he says well I've got to get it back
to the dealer I want to get it detailed
and clean and put back on the lot
in other words Cal planned to sell in
Michelle's van as soon as possible
it's just wait a minute really you know
it it just didn't sit right
some of Michelle's friends told police
that Cal had threatened Michelle in his
anger over the upcoming divorce Cal said
you know if I wanted to k*ll you I don't
need a g*n to k*ll you and if I do k*ll
you they'll never find you
chin was quite vocal and her abject
terror of Calvin and what he would
ultimately do to prevent their divorce
Michelle told her family that the only
reason she stayed in the house was that
she'd lose custody of her children if
she moved out then ada got her for
abandonment the divorce judge or the one
that handled that said that she had to
stay there Michelle and Cal first met
when Michelle got a job at one of cows
car dealerships they had been married
for 11 years and there were problems
from the start he had cheated on her
many times amazingly they all look
similar to Michelle all petit plans very
nice women then he'd say well let's go
to a marriage counselor and so then she
would show up at the marriage counselor
and he wouldn't show up friends said
cows need to control the relationship
was all-consuming and divorced didn't
fit into that scheme on September 11th
many areas of Cal's life were Otakon out
of his control his wife was out of his
control the children were out of his
control and for a person of his
temperament and we have to imagine that
was pretty unbearable and on September
12 all those areas are back under his
control
investigators had done a cursory search
of the house the day Michelle went
missing now three days later they sent
in forensic examiners again nothing
seemed amiss until they stepped into the
kitchen and saw what appeared to be tiny
drops of blood on the walls
the parent bloodstains that I saw were
roughly a millimeter in size and then
there is on the one door molding there
is like an upside-down u-shaped pattern
that had a void in the center these
u-shaped patterns are formed when water
is mixed with blood causing the edge of
the stain to dry faster that was
indicative of a potential cleanup the
size of the bloodstains that hadn't been
cleaned was even more telling
this was medium-velocity blood spatter
which results from an object striking a
body more than once with extreme force
with a b*ating or kicking a type of
death you're gonna see the
medium-velocity blood stain or impact
spatter when investigators turned over a
throw rug in the hallway next to the
kitchen they found even more blood Steve
Anderson accounted something like 78 or
80 different bloodstains and again many
of them were a millimeter or less in
size it would be consistent with some
sort of as*ault of event having occurred
in the kitchen area no w*apon was
discovered but investigators found more
evidence of a cleanup in the garage you
in indications of a directional force
having wiped the floor because you have
blood pushed underneath a one edge of
the paint chips and not the others DNA
testing showed it was Michelle's blood
and we confirmed that with the use of a
toothbrush to get Michelle Harris is
known DNA profile this is starting to
paint a picture of what could have
happened to her except an important
piece of that picture was missing the
body of Michelle Harris and without a
body taking this to trial would be a
difficult decision
juries are so unpredictable you don't
know what they're gonna do I guess human
nature says without a body how do we
know what crime was committed how can
you prove that beyond a reasonable doubt
[Music]
blood spatter evidence indicated
Michelle Harris had been att*cked in her
kitchen Michelle's blood was also found
on the garage floor the amount was
difficult to judge I cannot accurately
provide you with an estimate of the
original amount of blood that was there
we're dealing with what was left over
the only question was where was her body
her estranged husband Cal Harris had a
motive their upcoming divorce was going
to be very costly to him and he made
numerous incriminating statements to
friends he was at a family picnic after
she had disappeared they had gotten a
call that they may have possibly found a
body or something near his property and
he says that's not possible
wait a minute what do you mean that's
not possible as the search for
Michelle's body continued Cowell went on
with his life within days he sold
Michelle's clothes and kept seeing his
girlfriend he asked that girlfriend to
come to his house on the night of
Michelle's birthday at the end of
September and she was afraid that
Michelle was going to come home and he
said don't worry she's not coming home
investigators found no blood on or in
any of the family's vehicles
coincidentally Cal had his truck washed
at his car dealership the day Michelle
went missing
but if Cal did it how did he get
Michelle's body out of the house he
could have put her in a garbage bag or
wrapped her in a blanket again we don't
know although prosecutors arrested Cal
Harris and charged him with Michelle's
m*rder they waited several years before
bringing the case to trial they feared
the defense would argue that Michelle
was still alive we wanted to take away
that argument from the defense that you
know for all we know she's not even dead
it was difficult for Michelle's family
to deal with Cal while he was out on
bail awaiting trial we'd get the
grandkids for birthday parties and stuff
and he could never look you straight in
the face would never make eye contact
with you or anything like that
almost tells us he's involved somehow he
hired fabulous attorneys very competent
attorneys my only thought was is I hope
they've got enough evidence because
there definitely will be the best law
firm defending him despite a lack of
evidence one fact was inescapable Cal
was the one person I had something to
gain from Michelle not being here
even without a body prosecutors were
convinced Michele's battered blood could
prove she'd been k*lled even if it's not
the strongest case in the world that
deserves to be tried and we owe it to
her we owe it to her family
prosecutors believe Cal was in the
kitchen when he heard Michelle's van
coming into the garage and he may have
been angry after learning the divorce
court ordered an independent valuation
of his business that would cost him
$30,000 when Michele walked inside Cal
att*cked
hitting her at least twice with a blunt
object producing the blood spatter found
on the kitchen floor blood spatter on
the molding shows he hit her at least
once more as she was on the ground the
evidence shows he carried Michelle into
the garage where she bled onto the
concrete floor prosecutors believe he
placed her body into a plastic bag and
then put her in the back of his truck
and buried her somewhere on their huge
property back at the house he drove her
van to the edge of the driveway over a
half mile away and left it there
[Music]
investigators think he wanted to get the
van farther away but didn't want to risk
anyone seeing him walking home which
will be hard to explain once he got back
in the kitchen he tried to clean the
blood but there was simply too much the
blood pointed to where the crime scene
was the crime scene was in control of
k*ll Harris for somebody who wanted
everything in order he was the one who
cleaned up that blood he didn't do a
good job of doing it when Cal Harris
good trial he took the stand in his own
defense what he couldn't make his
testimony fit with the testimony of all
the witnesses they had testified in the
case he basically accused them of being
Liars that they lied about critical
facts in the case just to fabricate a
case against him the jury also learned
that cell phone records showed Cal never
called Michelle's cell phone on the
morning she went missing other times
when she stayed out too late or he did
it you know she didn't come home there'd
be a volley of phone calls to her cell
phone telling her to get home I'm more
inclined to think that it was planned
out that he had thought about how he
could do it where he could do it and
where he would put the body Cal Harris
was convicted of second-degree m*rder
and was sentenced to 25 years to life in
prison I don't know if they would have
gone to trial without the blood but
after hearing everything that I heard I
don't know that the outcome would have
been any different they keep on changing
venue I think I've been tried in Egypt
and with the amount of evidence that the
State Police had gathered and the way
that Keane presented it
you know they could have later found him
guilty anyplace
sadly Michelle's body has never been
found we'll always look for we still
received teletypes Michels DNA and
dental records are entered into
international databases people still
call in with tips and theories and we
talked to everybody
psychics still call us with ideas so the
state police will always look into where
Michelle Harris is
[Music]
14x18 - Auto-Motive
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Documentary that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness.
Documentary that reveals how forensic science is used to solve violent crimes, mysterious accidents, and outbreaks of illness.