60 - Michelle Anne Harris

[00:00:04] At the intersection of true crime and real estate, you'll find Crime Estate. I'm Heather.

[00:00:09] And my name is Elena. As real estate agents and true crime junkies, we view crimes through a different lens.

[00:00:15] So walk through the door of some of the most notorious true crimes with us and discover how sometimes the scene of the crime has its own story to tell.

[00:00:27] Hey y'all, thanks for joining us for another episode of Crime Estate. We have an intriguing story for you today.

[00:00:34] One suggested by our fabulous producer and commentator, Melanie.

[00:00:39] And if y'all been with us for a while, you'll know that Mel loves to research a good story. So we are excited to share this one with you today.

[00:00:46] I'm Heather and I'm joined in studio today with my good friend and Dallas realtor extraordinaire, Alana, along with Mel. Hey ladies.

[00:00:52] That was a really nice intro, Heather. I appreciate that. Y'all are, I think y'all are all awesome, both of you.

[00:00:57] That was really nice too. You know, I always feel like when we do these recording sessions, I get a little like the adrenaline, like, you know, of love from your friends where you feel like built up.

[00:01:08] And I think that's one of the most fun things about, about all this is how I, like I get tears in my eyes. I just have a good time hanging out with you guys.

[00:01:17] Apparently I don't cry very often, but I'm emotional today. So I love spending time with you ladies.

[00:01:22] That's really sweet. I'm going to be honest. I never heard of this story until you brought it to us, Mel.

[00:01:27] And in some ways, Heather, you'll tell us more about this, but there was so much going on when this crime occurred that I can see why it might not be one that a lot of people have heard of.

[00:01:35] Yeah, you're right. So the crime we're covering today took place on September 11th, 2001, the same day as the horrific attacks on the World Trade Center in New York.

[00:01:44] Where were you guys when you heard the news about the towers?

[00:01:48] I was senior in college and I saw it happen on Good Morning America and I was late to my class.

[00:01:54] I remember I was late and everyone was on time. So no one else in the class knew at that point because I was glued to the TV when it happened.

[00:02:01] Wow. Yeah, I was at work. Well, actually, I was driving into work listening to NPR.

[00:02:08] And so I heard the first airplane hit there and we thought it was an accident.

[00:02:14] And then I get to my client's site, which was actually in East Dallas.

[00:02:18] I was a consultant and we like are listening on the radio.

[00:02:23] And then we're like, when you hear the second one hit, you're like, no.

[00:02:26] So we left work pretty quickly. And my coworkers, because I lived at the closest to the office, all came over to my house to watch TV.

[00:02:34] And, you know, because we didn't have the smartphone.

[00:02:37] So it was a lot harder to kind of watch a lot of it in real time.

[00:02:41] Well, to your point, talking about like the technology we had and didn't have back then, I was also in school and college.

[00:02:47] And I woke up to the Today Show that was on. That was sort of my alarm.

[00:02:52] It came, the TV came on and it was in between the first and second tower being hit.

[00:02:57] And I immediately called my mom and I got a busy signal, which, you know, is something we don't deal with today.

[00:03:04] But I don't know if my kids would understand what a busy signal is.

[00:03:07] It's always struck me, though, is just sort of like this poignant commentary on what we do when we're in crisis or in trouble.

[00:03:14] Like there's just something about calling your mom that makes the world make a little more sense.

[00:03:19] Absolutely. It doesn't matter how old you are, where you're living.

[00:03:22] Yeah. And the days near after this, my dad had been stuck traveling and he came over to our house and stayed some time.

[00:03:29] And there's something about wanting to be with family, even in a crisis that's not maybe an immediate impact to you, but it's something of such a large scale.

[00:03:39] I mean, that's what I remember was wanting to reach out to all my family.

[00:03:43] Well, and that's why John and I got married when we did.

[00:03:45] We were living apart. He was in law school and I was in college and we were in separate states.

[00:03:49] And after this happened, I called him and I was like, what are we doing with our lives?

[00:03:53] Why are we living so far apart?

[00:03:55] And so I ended up graduating a year early just so we could get married.

[00:03:59] I know, right?

[00:04:00] All right.

[00:04:01] Well, babies marrying babies.

[00:04:03] I know. It's not, I mean, I love my husband, but it's not something I would recommend for anybody else at 21 years old.

[00:04:08] Including your son.

[00:04:09] Our son.

[00:04:09] Definitely.

[00:04:10] The idea that our sons would be married at that age is laughable.

[00:04:14] I'm just hoping my son will talk to a girl by the time he's 21.

[00:04:17] I don't know. Elena's son, he's a good catch.

[00:04:21] All our sons are a good catch.

[00:04:23] But, you know, the girls have already found your son.

[00:04:26] Yeah, unfortunately.

[00:04:26] Unfortunately, he cannot pass the reflection in a mirror window without looking at himself.

[00:04:31] Well, he has got to fix the hair.

[00:04:32] He does have good hair.

[00:04:34] I'm just hoping for deodorant over here.

[00:04:36] So, you know, maybe he'll rub off on us.

[00:04:39] All right, gals.

[00:04:41] Well, before we dig into this crime that occurred on September 11th, let me give you a little bit of background on the people involved.

[00:04:47] Cal and Michelle met in the late 1980s when Michelle was working as a receptionist at a car dealership.

[00:04:53] Now, she had grown up in a working class family and was enamored with Cal, whose family owned not only this car dealership, but several others in the area.

[00:05:02] By all accounts, Cal was a catch.

[00:05:04] He was a high school athlete, played lacrosse in college, and by the ripe old age of 27, was already very successful in the family car business.

[00:05:12] Friends described their relationship as a Cinderella story with Michelle being swept off her feet by the debonair cowl.

[00:05:19] The two married in 1990 and moved into a luxurious house on a 252-acre lot.

[00:05:27] Too much.

[00:05:28] That's huge.

[00:05:29] That's huge.

[00:05:29] Mm-hmm.

[00:05:30] Complete with a private lake and a pond.

[00:05:33] So, my grandparents had a 1,000-acre farm, like a working farm that they, you know, had cattle and crops in.

[00:05:42] So, I had 252 acres.

[00:05:43] Like, I can't even imagine having one house on that, even with the lake and pond.

[00:05:49] I mean, I looked at the pictures, and the house is fine kind of for that time period, but the lands were gorgeous.

[00:05:57] And whoever had taken the pictures was lucky to get it during the fall foliage, and so it looked really pretty.

[00:06:05] Nice.

[00:06:05] If you think about it in upstate New York and the trees changing colors and a beautiful lake property.

[00:06:12] I just don't like nature that much.

[00:06:14] I mean, I like nature.

[00:06:15] I'll visit nature, but I don't want to live in nature.

[00:06:19] Is that weird?

[00:06:20] You're so funny.

[00:06:22] Just don't need to see it every single day.

[00:06:23] You always surprise me.

[00:06:25] I'm like, where are you going?

[00:06:27] So, but for someone who likes these rural areas, but I think it was in the surrounding.

[00:06:33] Well, you tell us about the surrounding area.

[00:06:35] Yeah.

[00:06:35] So, this home.

[00:06:36] Well, actually, I don't have anything about the surrounding area.

[00:06:39] Well, it was in near.

[00:06:41] The mill's like, well, I do.

[00:06:44] It was outside the village of Spencer where she had grown up.

[00:06:49] But this is basically in upstate New York, in the Ithaca, New York surrounding region.

[00:06:56] Yes, you are correct.

[00:06:57] And this home at 381 Hagedorn Hill Road in Owego, New York, I guess is how you pronounce that.

[00:07:05] O-W-E-G-O.

[00:07:06] It was built in 1993.

[00:07:08] And according to the real estate listings, it had eight bedrooms with more than 7,000 square feet of living space.

[00:07:14] And while that may seem excessively large, Michelle and Cal probably needed the space having four kids in a span of six years.

[00:07:22] Can y'all imagine?

[00:07:23] Mm-mm.

[00:07:24] No way.

[00:07:26] Friends and families say their life was Instagram perfect.

[00:07:28] Michelle stayed home with the kids while Cal worked at the car dealership and supported the family financially.

[00:07:34] Weekends were spent traveling or spending time with friends on their lake.

[00:07:38] Michelle's sister-in-law, Shannon Taylor, said that she didn't suspect marital trouble between the two until Michelle confided in her after their fourth child was born.

[00:07:47] Michelle told Shannon that Cal had become controlling.

[00:07:50] He was particular about how clean the house was and blamed her lack of keeping it clean for an affair he had been having.

[00:07:58] What's called gaslighting?

[00:08:00] I think you're right.

[00:08:01] Yeah.

[00:08:01] Oh, yes.

[00:08:02] Yeah.

[00:08:02] Yeah.

[00:08:02] Oh, I'm sorry.

[00:08:04] It's your fault because, you know, you have four small children.

[00:08:07] And live on a 250-acre property.

[00:08:10] But you're not keeping it clean enough.

[00:08:12] So I'm going to, you know, go have an affair.

[00:08:15] And was Shannon his sister?

[00:08:17] Shannon was her brother's wife.

[00:08:20] Okay.

[00:08:20] I believe.

[00:08:21] So on her side.

[00:08:22] Yeah, her side of the family.

[00:08:23] Okay, that makes more sense.

[00:08:24] Yeah.

[00:08:25] So if this wasn't bad enough, Michelle went on to tell Shannon that everything in the house had to be perfect or Cal would scream and yell.

[00:08:33] Now, the Harris's longtime nanny, Barb Thayer, was quoted in an article as saying, Cal had told her that she was born in Teoga Center, raised in Teoga Center, and she had died in Teoga Center.

[00:08:44] Like, you're a small town.

[00:08:45] You're beneath me.

[00:08:46] Dang.

[00:08:46] Can you imagine as a husband?

[00:08:48] No.

[00:08:49] Yeah.

[00:08:50] That's horrible.

[00:08:51] And Teoga County, Wago is in Teoga County, which is only about, you know, less than 19,000 people as of the 2020 census.

[00:09:01] And so it's in the southeastern corner of the county.

[00:09:05] So it's kind of on the Pennsylvania border.

[00:09:07] So it's going to be a couple hours from New York City, but it is definitely kind of a smaller town part of New York State.

[00:09:15] Yeah.

[00:09:16] And I don't have this in the show notes, but he also was like really hard on her about her weight after having these kids.

[00:09:24] And if you will post pictures on our social, she is beautiful.

[00:09:27] She is not overweight.

[00:09:29] Not that it would matter at all.

[00:09:31] I thought that it would matter, but it's just like apparently she did everything she could to try to be picture perfect for him.

[00:09:37] And I'm like, hey, if your husband is telling you to lose weight after you've just had four of his children, peace out, man.

[00:09:45] Yeah.

[00:09:46] Yeah.

[00:09:46] That's sad.

[00:09:47] Yeah.

[00:09:47] I agree.

[00:09:48] Okay.

[00:09:48] Sorry.

[00:09:49] That's, I'll get off my soapbox about that.

[00:09:51] That's a good one to be on though.

[00:09:52] I agree.

[00:09:53] Yeah.

[00:09:54] And so, girls, the idyllic marriage was starting to crumble and in January of 2001, Michelle filed for divorce.

[00:10:02] Now, it should come as no surprise to you all that a wealthy, controlling Cal Harris was not keen on a divorce.

[00:10:07] If for no other reason than it would set him back financially.

[00:10:11] At the time, his net worth was estimated at $5.4 million.

[00:10:16] And Michelle and Cal continued to navigate their marriage and impending divorce from their shared home at 381 Hagedorn Hill Road.

[00:10:23] A decision which we've gone on record as saying we think is a really bad idea.

[00:10:27] We don't think you should live with the person.

[00:10:28] You're in the middle of divorcing.

[00:10:30] But in this case, it seems to be some sort of court-ordered arrangement.

[00:10:34] And Mel and I were actually talking with my husband before you got here, Alana.

[00:10:37] And he was like, no, no, no court is going to order them to live in the same house.

[00:10:41] But they may have said, her attorney may have said, you can't really leave.

[00:10:47] It looks like you're abandoning your children.

[00:10:51] Or maybe the judge said, well, I'm not going to force him out of the house.

[00:10:55] If you want to live there, fine.

[00:10:57] But he can also live there.

[00:10:59] So, anyway.

[00:11:02] All together, it does not sound like a healthy situation for a divorcing in a very turbulent divorce to be under the same roof.

[00:11:15] Right.

[00:11:15] Yeah.

[00:11:15] And Cal was required to give his guns to his family for safekeeping because Michelle had a protective order against him even though they were living in the same house.

[00:11:24] Now, during this time, both parties engaged in extramarital affairs.

[00:11:29] And Michelle took a job waitressing outside of the house at a little, like, bar and grill called Lefty's.

[00:11:35] Michelle's brother, Greg, says that the split was a bitter one and the two fought over money.

[00:11:39] And Michelle wanted a full accounting of Cal's business in order to determine what assets she was entitled to.

[00:11:45] And their nanny said that there was no way Cal was going to let Michelle take his family money.

[00:11:51] She later went on record as saying that it was extremely tense at the house during this time and that there would be a lot of times when the two would just constantly yell back and forth.

[00:11:59] That's sad for the housekeeper.

[00:12:01] For the housekeeper, for the kids.

[00:12:03] Well, the kids too.

[00:12:03] I mean, everybody.

[00:12:04] Yeah.

[00:12:04] Yeah.

[00:12:05] Now, Michelle's attorney said that she feared the power that Calvin and his family had wielded in the—or that they could wield in the community.

[00:12:13] You know, they—this is a small town where the car dealership people, like, they do have a lot of money and influence and power.

[00:12:21] You know, I think anybody that owns a big business in a small town wields a lot of power with local authorities.

[00:12:27] And so, you know, she was worried about that.

[00:12:29] And I think, unfortunately, rightly so.

[00:12:32] But things seemed to change on September 9th, 2001.

[00:12:36] According to the nanny, Michelle seemed like her happy old self again and told her that she was finally getting her life back.

[00:12:43] Friends of Michelle say that while Cal didn't know it yet, Michelle had decided to accept Cal's most recent financial settlement offer in order to finalize their divorce.

[00:12:52] She had a meeting with her lawyer set for September the 12th.

[00:12:56] According to that lawyer, the settlement would have made her financially secure for the rest of her life, giving her custody of the children and $80,000 a year for the next 10 years.

[00:13:07] That doesn't seem like enough.

[00:13:09] I mean, we're in, like, 2001.

[00:13:11] I mean, probably not.

[00:13:13] I don't know what the other details were.

[00:13:14] Okay.

[00:13:15] But her lawyer thought it was a good deal.

[00:13:16] Okay.

[00:13:16] And she had agreed to accept it.

[00:13:18] Okay.

[00:13:18] So.

[00:13:20] However, that settlement, it wasn't final yet.

[00:13:23] And Michelle was having some financial problems as Cal had cut off her allowance.

[00:13:28] He was only giving her, like, $400 a week for household expenses and that kind of thing.

[00:13:33] So she had run up a little bit of credit card debt and was, you know, working in order to, I think, probably one to get out of the house on evenings when he was there and also make a little bit of money that was her own that he couldn't control.

[00:13:46] Right.

[00:13:53] She had a family at their home but later went to her waitressing job at Lefty's Restaurant.

[00:13:57] Now, her shift that evening ended at 930.

[00:14:01] And after work, she met up with one of the two men she was dating, a co-worker by the name of Michael Casper.

[00:14:07] The two had drinks with another friend, Michael Hakes.

[00:14:10] And later that evening, after drinks, Michelle left and went to the home of her boyfriend, 23-year-old Brian Earley.

[00:14:17] While close friends knew that Michelle was seen early, the fact that she was also seeing Michael Casper was a surprise.

[00:14:24] And, you know, I've thought a lot about this.

[00:14:27] Again, we're on 9-11.

[00:14:29] She gets out of the house.

[00:14:30] She goes to her job.

[00:14:32] At first, it seemed a little odd.

[00:14:34] And Mel and I were talking about this offline.

[00:14:36] Like, why would she go out and have drinks?

[00:14:38] But I could see, like, sitting at a bar, watching CNN, catching up with some of the closest people that you've connected with over the last few months just to, you know, have some, like, camaraderie and somebody to talk to about things.

[00:14:51] Because she didn't really have that at home.

[00:14:53] Right.

[00:14:54] Now, let me give you a little bit of background on Michelle and Brian's relationship.

[00:14:59] Remember, he's the 23-year-old.

[00:15:01] The two began dating in 2000.

[00:15:03] And Brian was a land surveyor in Philadelphia.

[00:15:07] The two met at a local bar, maybe even lefties.

[00:15:10] I'm sort of unclear about that, in June of 2001.

[00:15:14] And Early actually gave up his job to move closer to Michelle, going so far as to give her money so that she could buy her own house close by.

[00:15:23] Now, side note, I couldn't find any details on whether or not this home was purchased or in the process of being purchased.

[00:15:28] But it's really not relevant to the story other than laying the groundwork for how serious Brian Early was about Michelle.

[00:15:36] According to friends, he thought the two would get married after her divorce.

[00:15:39] But Michelle wasn't so sure and really wasn't ready to go from one bad relationship right into another relationship.

[00:15:46] Okay.

[00:15:47] He's 23?

[00:15:48] He's 23 and she's like 32-ish maybe.

[00:15:53] Don't quote me on that.

[00:15:54] But like early 30s.

[00:15:55] Okay.

[00:15:55] That's a big difference.

[00:15:56] And she has four kids.

[00:15:57] She has four kids.

[00:15:58] And I mean, a 23-year-old man is not like super mature.

[00:16:03] No.

[00:16:04] I mean, mine was ready to get married at 23.

[00:16:06] But most are not.

[00:16:07] Right.

[00:16:08] Yeah.

[00:16:09] Plus entering a situation where you're with a woman 12, 13 years older who has four children and going through a troublesome divorce.

[00:16:22] I mean, that's a lot to take on for anyone.

[00:16:26] Yeah.

[00:16:26] That's so young.

[00:16:26] I didn't want to get married at 23.

[00:16:29] That's way too young.

[00:16:30] Oh, and no offense.

[00:16:32] No, I agree.

[00:16:33] In retrospect.

[00:16:33] It's working out really well for you though.

[00:16:37] Okay.

[00:16:37] So after work and drinks on the night of September 11th, Michelle went to Brian's apartment leaving around 11 p.m. to drive home.

[00:16:45] So remember, she got off her shift.

[00:16:47] She had drinks with the two Michaels, one of which she's dating, one of which is just like a friend.

[00:16:53] Like I'm just assuming they're all at the bar and they're like, hey, let's grab a drink after work.

[00:17:04] Mm-hmm.

[00:17:05] Close the door.

[00:17:06] I leaned in the window, gave her a kiss goodnight, told her that I loved her and I'd see her tomorrow.

[00:17:11] She backed out of the parking spot and drove away.

[00:17:14] What?

[00:17:14] Where are her kids?

[00:17:16] Well, her kids are at home, presumably with dad.

[00:17:19] Okay.

[00:17:20] Who worked all day and then came home and then she's like, yeah, she left.

[00:17:25] Okay.

[00:17:25] Yeah.

[00:17:26] But this whole timeline is important to our story because after 11 p.m. on September 11th, no one admits to seeing Michelle alive again.

[00:17:37] On the morning of September 12th, Cal calls their nanny at home.

[00:17:42] And in an interview, Barb Thayer, who is their nanny, recalls it was like seven o'clock in the morning and it was Cal.

[00:17:48] And he said, Barb, can you come help me get the kids ready for school?

[00:17:51] Michelle didn't come home last night.

[00:17:53] And I said, what?

[00:17:54] He said, Michelle's not here.

[00:17:55] I need to get the kids ready for school.

[00:17:57] And I said, I'll be right there.

[00:17:59] And she says, I remember when I was driving, I kept saying to myself, like, Michelle, where the hell are you?

[00:18:05] And then she comes in through the garage and she hollers up to Cal.

[00:18:09] She's like, is Michelle here?

[00:18:11] And he's like, no, no, she's not here.

[00:18:12] Like, you know, I just called you to come get the kids ready.

[00:18:16] And she says, well, her car is at the end of the driveway.

[00:18:19] And so Barb and Cal go to see Michelle's car at the end of the driveway.

[00:18:22] In fact, Michelle's minivan, a gold 2000 Ford Windstar with New York dealer plates, was discovered sitting near the entrance to their property with the keys still in the ignition.

[00:18:32] So it's like, I'm guessing it's a long driveway.

[00:18:35] It's not like a suburban.

[00:18:37] Yeah, it was actually like a quarter of a mile long because they're on this big estate.

[00:18:40] So like the drive up to the house was pretty long.

[00:18:43] So they had to get in the car and like drive down there.

[00:18:46] I can imagine, especially if it's windy roads and it's heavily treed, you would not see the car from the house.

[00:18:52] Yeah.

[00:18:53] And you probably weren't looking for it.

[00:18:54] I mean, yeah.

[00:18:57] So, okay.

[00:18:58] So Cal asked Barb to drive the car back to the house, which sort of confused and concerned Barb, who felt like they should be looking for clues as to what might have happened to Michelle in or around her vehicle.

[00:19:10] And when Michelle didn't show up to an appointment with her attorney later in the day, he called to report her missing.

[00:19:17] Not her husband, her attorney.

[00:19:20] That call went to Detective Mulvey, who recounts that Michelle's attorney said not returning home was very out of character for her.

[00:19:27] And then he was sure something really bad had happened.

[00:19:29] But again, let's remember that this is September 12th, 2001.

[00:19:33] The day after the terrorist attack on New York City and the town of Owego, sitting only three hours away from New York, had sent over 600 officers to help out.

[00:19:43] So the number of people present and able to search for Michelle was fewer than normal.

[00:19:48] I don't think it's weird that the attorney called the police.

[00:19:52] I don't think it's weird the attorney called the police.

[00:19:54] I think it's weird the husband didn't call the police.

[00:19:55] I also don't think that's weird.

[00:19:57] No?

[00:19:57] Well, if they were having a very bad divorce and separation, he could have just been like, she's out with her, you know, her boyfriends again.

[00:20:06] Yeah, but with the car at the end of the driveway?

[00:20:08] Yeah, I don't know.

[00:20:10] It's definitely weird.

[00:20:11] Okay, you're allowed to have your own opinion about this.

[00:20:12] I just, I'm trying to see both sides.

[00:20:16] I appreciate that.

[00:20:17] Okay.

[00:20:17] When Shannon Taylor, Michelle's sister-in-law, learned of Michelle's disappearance on the 12th, she walked out of her office and said to her secretary,

[00:20:24] I'm going.

[00:20:25] I don't know when I'll be back.

[00:20:27] I am pretty sure that my brother-in-law killed my sister-in-law.

[00:20:30] Dang.

[00:20:31] Yeah.

[00:20:32] Now, despite the short staff department, investigators Mike Myers and Mike Young arrived at Cal Harris' dealership to question him within an hour of receiving that call from Michelle's divorce attorney.

[00:20:42] A lot of Mikes in this story, Michaels and Mikes.

[00:20:45] A lot.

[00:20:45] It's a sign of the times.

[00:20:46] Yeah, we got four at least.

[00:20:47] Yeah.

[00:20:48] I'll have to put a flow chart on the Instagram page.

[00:20:52] So when they get there, Cal is helpful, he's calm, he's pretty unemotional about the circumstances.

[00:20:59] And Mike Myers says, he didn't seem to us that he was like trying to hide anything or stop us from doing anything.

[00:21:07] Actually, after speaking with the investigators at the dealership, Cal offered to take them back to his house to look around.

[00:21:12] He proceeded to give them full access to the house, even offering to leave them there to look around when he needed to return to work at the car dealership.

[00:21:20] According to the investigators, they did not find anything at Cal and Michelle's home that seemed incriminating or suspicious.

[00:21:27] Their only concern at this point, beyond finding Michelle, of course, was that Cal didn't really seem concerned, though he did suggest to them that perhaps the issue was Michelle herself.

[00:21:37] He told family as well as the police that Michelle had been drinking heavily and using cocaine.

[00:21:43] And he suggested that one of the other men in her life might be responsible for her disappearance.

[00:21:48] And in fact, neither boyfriend, Michael Casper or Brian Earley or Michael's friend, also named Michael, as we said, had an alibi for that evening.

[00:21:58] Now, I should point out here that Michelle's friends and family strongly disagreed with Cal's characterization of Michelle's partying ways,

[00:22:05] saying that while she was enjoying being out of the house and meeting new people, she was not drinking to excess or doing drugs.

[00:22:14] Captain Lester, who oversaw the investigation, said that it was unusual that Michelle's van would be sitting at the end of her driveway in the early morning hours of September 12th.

[00:22:23] He was quoted as saying there was a gut feeling, I think, right from the get-go that something was wrong.

[00:22:29] And look, ladies, we know who the prime suspect in Michelle's disappearance is going to be.

[00:22:33] Of course, investigators initially suspected her husband, Cal Harris.

[00:22:37] And while Kyle had financial motive pertaining to the divorce, remember, he didn't know that she had actually agreed to that last settlement offer,

[00:22:46] they really couldn't find anything to tie him to the crime itself.

[00:22:50] There was nobody, no real evidence of a crime.

[00:22:53] Michelle was simply missing.

[00:22:55] And while everyone agreed that she wouldn't just take off and leave her kids, it's not impossible either.

[00:23:02] According to one article I read, an extensive search of the area produced no clues as to her whereabouts.

[00:23:09] There was no activity on her cell phone, her bank accounts, or her credit cards since the time she was thought to have disappeared.

[00:23:15] But, and that's, yeah, very valid.

[00:23:18] But this area is a fairly rural, kind of picturesque area on the,

[00:23:23] and I won't pronounce it correctly, but the Squasquanahana River runs through that area.

[00:23:31] So there's a lot of wooded areas that locals are not shocked that her body was not found.

[00:23:38] Because there's a lot, I mean, a lot of places to hide.

[00:23:41] Yeah, and, you know, the police did use, you know, helicopters and all sorts of, you know, dogs.

[00:23:47] And, I mean, they exhausted their search capabilities looking for her, for sure.

[00:23:51] As the investigation continued, police looked into the three other men she had been with the evening she disappeared

[00:23:57] and were surprised by what they found about Michael Hakes.

[00:24:00] Captain Lester said,

[00:24:02] I think when we saw what Hakes' background looked like, that got our antennas up.

[00:24:06] You see, Hakes had been convicted of rape in Arizona and spent 10 years in prison.

[00:24:12] This made him a person of interest in Michelle's disappearance.

[00:24:15] But much like with Cal, there really wasn't anything to tie him to her other than the fact that he had been with her the evening before.

[00:24:23] And Hakes was the friend?

[00:24:25] Hakes was the friend.

[00:24:26] He was not one of the boyfriends.

[00:24:27] Okay.

[00:24:27] That's correct.

[00:24:29] So despite Hakes being a promising person of interest, suspicion continued to rest on Cal Harris.

[00:24:35] Michelle's brother-in-law, Greg, said that Michelle told them she was worried about Cal.

[00:24:40] He says he's the one person she ever mentioned or talked about being afraid of.

[00:24:44] In one instance during their divorce, Cal called Michelle and threatened her over the phone.

[00:24:50] Michelle just happened to be getting her hair done at the time and put the call on speaker so that her hairdresser heard his threats.

[00:24:55] Dang.

[00:24:56] Yeah.

[00:24:56] So, you know, the police decided they needed to take a deeper look at Cal Harris,

[00:25:00] and they sent a forensic specialist to the home that Cal and Michelle shared.

[00:25:04] And finally, they found some evidence that suggested Cal had murdered Michelle at their home on Hagedorn Hill Road.

[00:25:12] The forensic team found tiny specks of blood on the kitchen doorway, what they considered to be blood spatter.

[00:25:19] But more important to investigators than the blood in the kitchen was Cal's behavior when his wife went missing.

[00:25:25] In particular, he didn't call her to find out where she was.

[00:25:28] And according to friends, this is a situation that would have caused him to lose his temper and call her in a rage.

[00:25:33] Remember, he was very controlling.

[00:25:35] The fact that she was not home to, like, get the kids ready for school,

[00:25:38] and he was inconvenienced and had to call the nanny and do it himself.

[00:25:42] I can totally see that would have sent him into her rage.

[00:25:45] Instead of inspecting Michelle's car for clues to her disappearance,

[00:25:48] he had it taken to the dealership and detailed.

[00:25:51] Investigators wondered why he would do this unless he was trying to get rid of evidence of a crime.

[00:25:56] And he also seemed not to be concerned about the security on the estate.

[00:25:59] And investigators thought that if he was worried that Michelle had been abducted,

[00:26:04] that he would have changed the locks at the house and increased security measures to make sure his kids were safe.

[00:26:09] But of course, he didn't need to do that if he knew what happened to Michelle and knew that the kids weren't in any danger.

[00:26:16] Also incriminating, Macau sold all of Michelle's belongings at a garage sale within a week of her disappearance.

[00:26:22] And within three weeks, he had a new relationship with an old girlfriend.

[00:26:26] Okay, I love my husband, but if he has sold all my stuff in a week and hooked up with somebody else in three weeks,

[00:26:32] you all need to call the cops on him.

[00:26:35] I mean, the hooking up is bad, but she was dating other people.

[00:26:40] And he was too.

[00:26:41] So they were, yeah, they were already doing that.

[00:26:43] But selling all her belongings, even if it, you know, you're mad at them,

[00:26:48] this is your child's, four children's mother.

[00:26:52] Sure.

[00:26:53] What do you think, Alana?

[00:26:57] I don't know why, but I'm still getting the vibe that he was just angry at her

[00:27:03] and could see her leaving or going off with someone.

[00:27:07] I don't know.

[00:27:08] I don't know.

[00:27:08] I mean, I do think selling all the possessions is a bit of rage.

[00:27:11] No, it's like, F you.

[00:27:14] Right.

[00:27:14] You didn't come home.

[00:27:15] Yeah.

[00:27:15] You no longer live here.

[00:27:17] Yeah, I can see that.

[00:27:18] That's my gut saying.

[00:27:18] I can see that point of way.

[00:27:19] Okay.

[00:27:19] Eventually, and by eventually, I mean four years after Michelle disappeared,

[00:27:24] Cal Harris was arrested for the murder of Michelle Ann Harris.

[00:27:27] Now, Chief Lester, who led the investigation, said the case wasn't getting any better.

[00:27:31] There were really no new significant leads or evidence coming in.

[00:27:34] But when lose or draw, this case had to go to trial.

[00:27:38] His trial took place two years later in 2007, and he was found guilty.

[00:27:43] But ladies, get this.

[00:27:45] Before he could be sentenced the next day, a farmhand came forward and said that he saw

[00:27:51] a woman and a man arguing on the morning of 9-12 sometime around 5.30 or 6 a.m.,

[00:27:58] and this would have been the date after Michelle was said to have disappeared.

[00:28:02] His description of the man ruled out Cal, and additionally, he said that the man was driving

[00:28:08] a black truck.

[00:28:09] Cal didn't own a black truck, but guess who did?

[00:28:13] Wait, why did he wait so long?

[00:28:14] That's a great question.

[00:28:16] In what the likelihood do you remember that many years later, this specificity to describe

[00:28:24] somebody?

[00:28:26] I mean, like 9-11 is one of the biggest days on one hand I remember of my life, but on

[00:28:34] the other hand, I don't remember who I happened to see talking.

[00:28:39] I barely remember who I was with, let alone the look and feel of somebody that I happen

[00:28:44] to see now.

[00:28:45] So do you think a little money slipped hands to this farmhand?

[00:28:49] Is that a gut feeling on this?

[00:28:51] Well, now it is.

[00:28:54] Well, so to be fair, my question about who owned the black truck was a little bit of a

[00:28:59] trick question because the truck belonged to yet another guy who frequented the Lefty's

[00:29:04] restaurant where Michelle worked.

[00:29:06] How many black trucks are out there?

[00:29:08] How does he remember which one it belongs to?

[00:29:11] That's fair.

[00:29:11] But when they started like trying to figure out who owned a black truck that was in Michelle's

[00:29:17] orbit, it was a man by the name of Stacey Stewart.

[00:29:21] He was a steel worker who by all accounts really didn't have a relationship with Michelle other

[00:29:25] than like knowing her from Lefty's.

[00:29:28] So the judge overturned the case and further investigation of Stacey Stewart revealed that

[00:29:35] he had actually told another girlfriend that he had killed someone and knew how to hide

[00:29:39] a body.

[00:29:40] When his property was searched, they found a burn pile with bloody clothing and a bloody

[00:29:45] bra strap.

[00:29:46] But ultimately, they weren't able to tie those clothes to Michelle.

[00:29:51] So he sounds like a stand up guy.

[00:29:54] Yeah.

[00:29:55] And maybe murdered someone else.

[00:29:57] Maybe.

[00:29:58] I mean, how do you get a bloody bra strap in your burn pile?

[00:30:02] Right.

[00:30:02] I mean, that's weird.

[00:30:05] But I mean, this is also years and years after the effect.

[00:30:10] You're right.

[00:30:11] That's true.

[00:30:13] So Cal was tried for a second time in June of 2009.

[00:30:18] And he was found guilty and was sentenced 25 years to life for the murder of Michelle Ann

[00:30:23] Harris.

[00:30:24] But this time, his conviction was overturned due to legal technicalities.

[00:30:29] That didn't stop prosecutors from trying him for a third time.

[00:30:33] This time in 2015.

[00:30:34] But that trial ended up with a deadlocked jury and resulted in a mistrial.

[00:30:38] Oh, my gosh.

[00:30:39] I know.

[00:30:39] Y'all should see Elena's face.

[00:30:40] And she's like shaking her head over here.

[00:30:44] So in March of 2016, Cal Harris was tried once again.

[00:30:47] But this time, his fate would be determined in a bench trial or by a judge, not a jury.

[00:30:52] And the judge determined that there wasn't enough evidence to convict Cal of Michelle's

[00:30:56] murder.

[00:30:57] He was acquitted in this fourth and final trial.

[00:31:01] To date, Michelle's body has not been found and no one has been convicted of her murder.

[00:31:05] In 2014, Cal gave a press conference in which he said,

[00:31:09] As I have stated before, from day one, I do not have any involvement in Michelle's disappearance.

[00:31:14] I would never hurt the mother of my children.

[00:31:17] For the past 13 years, my children and I have endured under extremely difficult circumstances.

[00:31:23] In another interview, he said,

[00:31:24] I'm being put in a position that no one else should be put in.

[00:31:27] And that is, I'm having to solve this case to save myself so I can be with my children.

[00:31:32] It is worth noting that all four of Cal and Michelle's kids support their father and believe

[00:31:37] in his innocence.

[00:31:39] It's also worth noting that Cal is arrested once again post-trials for harassing an officer

[00:31:44] who was involved in his case, arrested for a hit and run, and also arrested for driving

[00:31:49] while intoxicated.

[00:31:50] So given all of that, Elena, do you still think it wasn't Cal and that she went off with someone

[00:31:58] else?

[00:31:58] Somebody else did it?

[00:31:59] What do you think?

[00:32:00] I don't think she went off with someone else.

[00:32:03] I feel like someone else did it.

[00:32:06] I don't even know why.

[00:32:07] I have like no...

[00:32:09] I don't know.

[00:32:10] Your gut sometimes is really good.

[00:32:12] That's what I'm going to go with.

[00:32:13] Okay.

[00:32:14] Well, his family would love this and we are not sponsored by the Harris family car dealerships.

[00:32:22] And on one hand, you know, I want that to be true because that's what the kids think.

[00:32:31] And obviously he defeated in the multiple trials.

[00:32:37] But then on the other hand, you know, Reddit tells me, you know, the all important Reddit,

[00:32:43] which I'm sure has lots of fallacies, is that locals all think that he did it.

[00:32:48] So if he didn't do it, then I do feel very sorry for him because, you know, the locals

[00:32:54] all do think he is.

[00:32:55] I don't know.

[00:32:56] Like, I don't know.

[00:32:57] It's one of those things until the body is found or there is, you know, evidence otherwise,

[00:33:03] we won't know.

[00:33:04] And it's just kind of a sad situation altogether.

[00:33:09] He definitely does not sound like he was a good husband.

[00:33:13] But, you know, we're only hearing one side of the story many, many years later.

[00:33:19] Yeah, I think that's a very fair point of view.

[00:33:22] All right.

[00:33:23] So do you all want to know what happened to the house?

[00:33:25] Mm-hmm.

[00:33:26] All right.

[00:33:26] So in July of 2017, the Ithaca Journal reported that Calvin, a.k.a.

[00:33:31] Calvin Harris.

[00:33:32] Not the DJ, you know, that.

[00:33:34] Yes.

[00:33:34] That did make the research for this story a lot harder because DJ Calvin Harris has put

[00:33:39] a very mega mansion for sale recently.

[00:33:43] Yes.

[00:33:44] So, okay.

[00:33:44] So Calvin Harris sold 381 Hagedorn Hill Road to Fire Rocket LLC for $650,000 on May the 4th.

[00:33:54] So that was May the 4th, 2017.

[00:33:56] And Mel, you said you thought that was like a sell-off of some of the land to a developer.

[00:34:01] Yeah.

[00:34:01] I found a couple of press articles where he sold some of it to the Fire Rocket, some of

[00:34:07] it to another gentleman.

[00:34:08] But honestly, it all was the same address.

[00:34:12] And when he started looking at the name of the person that I found and Fire Rocket LLC,

[00:34:19] it sounded like some property developers in that Ithaca region of New York.

[00:34:26] And that kind of makes sense because there wasn't – the Zillow pictures didn't seem to be of the house

[00:34:32] necessarily for sale.

[00:34:34] I'm thinking it was more that the property might have been kind of quietly sold and broken off.

[00:34:39] I mean, it was 250 acres.

[00:34:41] So they could probably sell it to a few different developers or a few different properties.

[00:34:46] Yeah.

[00:34:46] Yeah.

[00:34:47] I do have to say the Zillow pictures were really bad.

[00:34:49] We'll post a few on our socials.

[00:34:52] You all have to go take a look.

[00:34:53] Elena and I were talking earlier.

[00:34:55] I was showing her.

[00:34:55] But they posted a few of the pictures with like toilet seats up and dirty towels hanging on the walls.

[00:35:01] That's just a no-no.

[00:35:03] Yeah.

[00:35:04] I mean, if you're going to take a picture of a toilet, the seat better be damp.

[00:35:09] Or no toilet.

[00:35:11] Or no toilet.

[00:35:12] That's preferred.

[00:35:12] But sometimes you can't help getting the toilet in the angle.

[00:35:16] I get annoyed with my kids.

[00:35:18] And I mean, don't get me wrong.

[00:35:20] They leave toilet seats up all the time.

[00:35:23] I'm annoyed by it.

[00:35:25] I wouldn't let it in a picture.

[00:35:27] Do you have any more photo rules?

[00:35:28] I don't like to see – like bathroom photo rules.

[00:35:30] I don't like to see shampoo or conditioner or your razor.

[00:35:33] I don't like to see fans on.

[00:35:35] Oh, yeah.

[00:35:36] Fans off.

[00:35:36] Shades open.

[00:35:38] Yeah.

[00:35:39] No scale.

[00:35:40] No trash cans.

[00:35:41] I don't need to see your bathroom trash can.

[00:35:43] Yeah.

[00:35:43] Nothing that looks like you just got ready that morning.

[00:35:46] Exactly.

[00:35:47] It should look like it's ready for a magazine.

[00:35:49] You mean all the things that normal people –

[00:35:52] As a non-realtor, I'm like, you mean the things that normal people live with all the time?

[00:35:58] Yeah.

[00:35:58] Hide those for a picture.

[00:36:00] Absolutely.

[00:36:01] Absolutely.

[00:36:01] 100%.

[00:36:01] I'm like, go get a little plastic caddy.

[00:36:03] Put all your shower stuff in it every morning.

[00:36:07] Stuff it in a cabinet.

[00:36:09] And before showings too, if possible.

[00:36:11] Put all that stuff up.

[00:36:12] Like that grosses me out when I go in and there's like a toothbrush sitting there.

[00:36:16] Like there's people coming in and out of your house.

[00:36:18] Put your toothbrush up.

[00:36:19] Yeah.

[00:36:20] I'm with you.

[00:36:20] Yeah.

[00:36:21] As I'm going to go home tonight, I'm going to like look at all my like personal bathroom stuff and go –

[00:36:26] I mean look, if you walked into my bathroom right now, like the toothbrush is out, the makeup's still out from this morning.

[00:36:33] But I'm not having people come tour it either.

[00:36:36] Yes.

[00:36:36] Yes.

[00:36:36] I think there's a very big difference between normal day-to-day living and professional –

[00:36:47] Oh, yeah.

[00:36:48] Yeah, yeah.

[00:36:49] If you think about it as the goal – I mean this is not me just being bitchy, although I can be.

[00:36:54] But if the goal is to help somebody visualize themselves in your space, then putting your very private personal things in their space does not help with that visualization.

[00:37:06] Mm-hmm.

[00:37:07] So, you know, let's remove the things that are very personal to you.

[00:37:12] And – okay, this is a bit of a tangent, but what do you – on personal photographs in the house?

[00:37:20] What are your thoughts, Elena?

[00:37:22] I don't like it.

[00:37:23] I don't like – if I were going to sell my home, I would definitely move all the pictures of the boys before pictures because I don't want that on the internet.

[00:37:30] And I don't like it for my clients if they can avoid not having it out just because, like Heather said, you want someone to walk in like, this is a magazine.

[00:37:41] Like, I could put my kid's picture here, not, oh, this is this random family picture.

[00:37:46] But that's my opinion.

[00:37:48] Yeah.

[00:37:48] So, I'm probably a little more like middle of the road.

[00:37:51] I think one or two is fine, especially if the neighborhood you are selling in is like a big family neighborhood

[00:37:59] and people are going to have their own family pictures there, then, like, I think they can easily visualize that swap, right?

[00:38:05] Like, that's my kids in that photograph instead of yours.

[00:38:08] I really don't like pregnancy photos.

[00:38:11] Like, a lot of people for a long time had those, like, artsy black and white pregnancy photos.

[00:38:15] And those are beautiful, and you should absolutely take them and be proud of your body.

[00:38:19] You should not have them up while you were selling your house.

[00:38:22] Although, thinking on it, though, I have had buyers walk in and have enjoyed seeing family pictures.

[00:38:28] Like, oh, they're such a cute family.

[00:38:30] And I have had that before.

[00:38:33] Yeah, I think a few are fine.

[00:38:34] You just don't need them everywhere.

[00:38:37] Yeah.

[00:38:38] And I know it's a bit of a tangent, but I think it kind of relates to this.

[00:38:42] And I'm always, you know, I'm just curious about that because sometimes I'm like, okay.

[00:38:47] And I have a lot of art and different things on the walls.

[00:38:49] But I'm like, if I took a couple of the family photos down, there would be a bunch of blank spaces.

[00:38:55] And I'm like, okay, would that be weird or less aesthetically pleasing?

[00:39:00] I don't know.

[00:39:00] That's why you need to have a good, real attempt.

[00:39:02] We'll come in.

[00:39:03] We'll put the right art.

[00:39:04] That's right.

[00:39:05] In your back pocket, you know, to help give you that guidance.

[00:39:09] So I know that was a little bit different.

[00:39:10] But I think that our listeners are always kind of interested in some of your hot takes.

[00:39:15] Yeah.

[00:39:16] All right.

[00:39:16] Well, it's time for the question we ask each episode, or I guess the questions we ask each episode.

[00:39:21] Would you live there or would you list it, Elena?

[00:39:27] I think I would do both.

[00:39:30] Okay.

[00:39:31] Because there was no body.

[00:39:34] There was a little blood that they found in the house, but not like gory or anything like that.

[00:39:38] And her car was at the end of the drive.

[00:39:40] I'm going to go both.

[00:39:42] I would list it and live there.

[00:39:44] What about you, Melanie?

[00:39:45] Yeah.

[00:39:46] I think I'm leaning towards that.

[00:39:47] And especially because of the large property size where it was probably going to be subdivided.

[00:39:53] You know, you're maybe not even living in the house at that point in time.

[00:39:58] That brings up a good point.

[00:39:59] Like if, let's just say if he murdered her and buried her body.

[00:40:04] Oh, okay.

[00:40:05] Well, that's the whole thing.

[00:40:06] Well, I'm just saying.

[00:40:07] But then he sold the property off to developers who are going to build on the land.

[00:40:12] I don't think he would have done that if he was worried about her body being uncovered.

[00:40:18] That's very true.

[00:40:19] That's a good point.

[00:40:20] Yeah.

[00:40:22] I agree with both of you.

[00:40:23] I would live there.

[00:40:24] It seems like a really beautiful part of the country.

[00:40:27] It seems, despite the things that happened there, it seems like very serene and lovely.

[00:40:33] And I would definitely list it.

[00:40:36] I don't think there's anything, you know, so off-putting about it that it would be a hard listing.

[00:40:41] So.

[00:40:42] Yeah.

[00:40:43] But this is a great story.

[00:40:45] Thank you for bringing it to us because I know that as someone who grew up with kind of 9-11 in the backdrop as one of the foundational events of our lives, you know, it's just fascinating to hear about some of the stories that kind of surrounded that day and that week and the months thereafter.

[00:41:03] And I can understand why, for understandable reasons, this story might have been kind of hidden a little bit, but it is fascinating to know it was kind of going on with that backdrop.

[00:41:17] So thank you to all of our listeners.

[00:41:20] Don't forget to like, subscribe, give us a review.

[00:41:24] Honestly, this is a labor of love for us.

[00:41:26] So we appreciate any feedback and obviously we love getting ideas because sometimes we have to kind of think through our ideas and we like to showcase different stories from different parts of the country and beyond the U.S.

[00:41:41] And different type of houses and different type of victims.

[00:41:44] So, you know, the diversity really is helped by giving your suggestions to us.

[00:41:52] So we thank you and I hope you have a stay safe and sexy week.

[00:41:57] Sexy week.

[00:41:58] I love it.

[00:41:59] Mel's all home alone this week, so she's all about like.

[00:42:02] Oh, I will say, you know, I'm not a big anxious person, but I've been keeping all the lights on.

[00:42:12] Nobody's sneaking up at my house late at night.

[00:42:14] I like it.

[00:42:15] Well, by the time this airs, all your men will be back.

[00:42:17] Yes, they will.

[00:42:18] All right.

[00:42:19] We hope you all enjoyed.

[00:42:20] Bye.

[00:42:23] Bye.

[00:42:24] Hey, y'all.

[00:42:24] Thanks for listening and being a part of our Crime Estate family.

[00:42:27] If you're curious about today's featured Crime Estate, you can find additional photos and details from today's episode online at CrimeEstate.com or on Facebook and Instagram by following at CrimeEstatePodcast.

[00:42:39] Have a Crime Estate we should cover?

[00:42:40] Let us know.

[00:42:41] Shoot us an email at CrimeEstatePodcast at gmail.com.

[00:42:44] Until next week.

[00:42:45] Bye.