Driven to Kill: The Clara Harris Story | The Evidence Room, Episode 21

foreign [Music] this man has an eight to ten year history of killing women all across the country [Music] an employee coming in just after eight this morning made the horrible Discovery four employees of the Malibu Grand Prix stabbed to death she doesn't dispute that she stabbed her husband a staggering 193 times Harris's 16 year old daughter witnessed her stepmother run the wheels of her Mercedes over her dad several times police say the suspect may be responsible for the murders of at least six women foreign [Music] welcome back to another episode of The Evidence room and this week we're talking about a case that still has a lot of people divided in exactly how they feel we're talking about the case of Clara Harris more than two decades ago Harris was convicted of murdering her husband even if you don't recall Harris found her husband who was having an affair in the parking lot of an Nassau Bay Hotel and proceeded to run over him three times in her Mercedes S-Class now I'm very lucky today to be joined by my friend and colleague Amy Davis and when we were putting together the list of episodes for this season you had said I really want to do this one why I I mean I've always been intrigued by this case but I feel like who hasn't I mean that I think that's probably one of the reasons that got so much coverage nationally whenever it happened and then the trial because it's got everything for a story right and then follow-up like lifetime stories I mean murder a successful couple with money and and you know just everything you could imagine infidelity so there were all those pieces but on honestly 20 years later I just wondered as a mom a somebody who lives in the same Community I'm just I wanted to know sort of her state of mind and I really wanted to sit down and talk with her so you found her though right I did I did so um I tracked her down she's served her time so she went off of Parole in February of this year so she served all of her time and I knocked on her door and she invited me in and spoke with me for about an hour at her dining room table my goal was to have her I explained the whole docu-series the evidence room what it is that you're doing here and told her why I wanted her to talk to her because she said why and and then you know I said well I think a lot of people would like to hear from you I know I would um just sort of all these things do you regret it and then when I explained to her the whole archive room the evidence room and you know we'd go through what's in her box he's about that yeah she wanted trial exhibit archive yeah all the evidence that's still left well for me I think the the image that everybody remembers is that video of that Mercedes S-Class going and bumping and knowing that that's a body every time you see it bump going round and round again that that's gotta is that still in there um so that is one of the things in the in this box and that old evidence box and when you say that I just have to say that she maintains and it was part of her defense that she said she hit him once and that you know the video was taken for at such a distance that nobody could tell but but then the prosecutors argued that the car going up and down was her running over her husband they maintained her defense that that was her going over a curve and that because you couldn't see that clearly from that far away and she still says that so what else is in evidence still um well so some of the things I thought it was interesting that that she asked me about um she said well is my person there and there is a a zebra material pattern purse that in the evidence Room box I believe it says it was found underneath her Mercedes and so I sent her a picture of that I was like is this your purse because she said she never received any of her belongings back after the um murder and you know she didn't go straight into custody if you'll recall she was out for some time and she she said her wedding photo album was I was like why was that in your vehicle and she was like you know like the events leading up to this there had been a whole lot of things that she explained and she wanted she never got her wedding photo album back so she doesn't know where that is and she wanted that let's talk a little bit about the history first so for people who who don't know um from Columbia Claire Harris is from Colombia and so she had she was here she'd received her license to be a dentist her husband David Harris they had both met like very early on in their careers so she had a dentist office in Lake Jackson he had a dentist office in Clear Lake City an orthodontist office and then he would go twice a week in practice in her office and they were opening up some at least one officer a few offices together when all this happened they were a successful couple I mean they had a by all intents and purposes a very nice life they did I mean so they had a a large home in Friendswood where they all lived there together and again they were on the verge of opening more offices together to practice Dentistry together in his Orthodontics office so it seemed like they were a good match for for one another right I mean so they had been married um for 10 years they married in 1992. they have kids um they had two kids twin boys who were four years old when this happened they were very young and then they were raising his 16 year old daughter from a previous relationship they were raising her together and so all of that sort of was tied into this because on the night that his murder happened her 16 year old stepdaughter was with her in the car could you tell us if you actually if you did this and why you did it it was an accident he was what it was an accident Lake Jackson dentist Clara Harris did not mean to run over her husband repeatedly in the parking lot of a Clear Lake hotel she says this after she found Dr David Lynn Harris in the lobby with a female ex co-worker I don't know if she'd caught him or he was just mere suspicion as to why she hired him Harris told police she hired a private eye to track her husband Nassau Bay PD responded to a domestic disturbance in the lobby of the Hilton however the fight had moved to the parking lot Harris's 16 year old daughter seen in this picture with her dad and twin half-brothers witnessed her stepmother run the wheels of her Mercedes over her dad several times it seems to be that kind of more of a circle type motion I can't believe it not him patience of the Space Center orthodontists are stunned by the murder of the young doctor I would have never expected anything like this to happen I thought to myself what is this the right Dr Harris that you know that I used to work with it was unbelievable the Harris is both dentists by trade lived at this Friendswood estate between the two practices she worked at the Lake Jackson office he worked in Nassau Bay how in the world did everybody wind up at this hotel at the same time in this parking lot well that's kind of what one of the things that made this case so crazy so Clara Harris knew that her husband was having an affair he told her he was having an affair he admitted it he apologized for it he said he was going to break up with this woman he who worked with him at his office he had already fired her and so on this night he was supposed to be having dinner with her and telling her the affair was over and Clara knew that although she didn't quite know that I mean she was suspicious well it knew that they were having dinner but not going to this hotel right so she had hired a private investigator and ask the private investigator to follow David so that she could make sure that that is what was happening that night so the private investigator did follow David and followed them to this Hilton followed them here and so then Clara got word of that through the private investigator that the pi saw David and Gail bridges come here to the Hilton get out and walk inside holding hands so then Clara gets in the car that same night with David's 16 year old daughter and drives here to confront them at the hotel so they pulled in here to this parking lot they spotted Gail Bridges SUV she was driving a black Navigator Clara knew what she drove we've seen the evidence and we know that she got out of her vehicle and Clara did Clara got out of her vehicle the bridges Lincoln Navigator was here in the parking lot and she vandalized it she put a huge scratch down the side of it with her key she ripped off a rear windshield wiper and pulled up the windshield wipers in the front and snapped them bent them back and then they parked Clara and Lindsay both went inside the hotel I still think it's nuts that she brought the stepdaughter with her I just think that's nuts yeah I mean so the stepdaughter knew about the the affair too we learned more about that later um but so she went inside the lobby with Lindsay the 16 year old and they asked at the front desk um they asked you know which room David Harris was in they're like oh we don't have anybody here by that name they asked which room you know the mistress using her name they didn't have anybody here by by the name of Gail Bridges so each so they were careful not to use their real names yeah checking in right so each of them called David Harris and made up some story that the twin boys at home one of them or that were sick and that he needed to come home to the you'd use this story to sort of lure him downstairs and they were waiting right outside of the entrance until they could see him come out and they watched Gail and David walk out of the elevator in the lobby holding hands and so Clara immediately goes up to Gail Bridges and you know attacks her there was um court documents that showed testimony that she her blouse was ripped and that is oh so there was an actual there was a fight there was a physical altercation and that is the first 9-1-1 call that went into 9-1-1 operators from this hotel was right when that was happening after the staff steps in how did everybody go from the lobby out to here still able to confront one another so after that 9-1-1 call Hotel staff broke up the fight the altercation between Clara and Gail Bridges and escorted Clara and Lindsey outside the hotel they told him to leave so Gail and David left separately it's always been Clara's story that she and Lindsay went to the car and then you know obviously they knew exactly where Gail Bridges was parked and Clara it was her intention to Ram Gail Bridges SUV to hit it with her Mercedes so she says she was circling the parking lot to do that and when she came around the back side of it David stepped out from the side of the SUV and when she saw him it was too late for her to stop in time and she hit him so she claims it was an accident she claims it was an accident also now I get it where we got that Infamous video of the Mercedes circling because the pi was all still out here yes I mean so they were here the entire time they didn't catch everything on tape so from what we can gather from that video they didn't start rolling until after the initial impact and remember it was dark it was nighttime video quality wasn't that great back in 2002. so you see the Mercedes going in circles and so the prosecution always argued that when you see the vehicle go up the movement that that was the vehicle going over David Harris's body multiple times but Clara and her defense team argued no that was her vehicle going over curbs in the parking lot not his body didn't but didn't her step-daughter contradict that when she testified so Lindsay was in the front seat of the vehicle the whole time it was happening and in court there was a quote from the test from her testimony where she said that Clara Harris said just before she hit David Harris I'm going to hit him I think it was Shakespeare Hell hath no fury as a woman scorn she was scorned rocket Rosen is no stranger to the scorned with several high-profile cases under his belt he believes Clara Harris will take the stand and that the drama has only just begun I think after he uh finally ties it up on his defense the jury will see that this was a lady that was absolutely humiliated shocked violated if you want to say raped I'll use that even so damage control is in order says Rosen after the Searing testimony from Lindsey Harris who talked about watching Clara kill her father it's not justified her actions uh is it acceptable obviously not but I feel in this type of case a jury can relate and feel it when you are brokenhearted and that knife keeps turning you and when she laid eyes upon that lady and her husband walking out of that hotel room arm and arm kissing that may have been the kiss of death [Music] she's been a prominent member of her community a respected professional and a mother of twins now accused of killing their father investigators say Clara Harris ran over her husband in a hotel parking lot when she discovered he was having an affair with another woman and what I think so ironic about all of this I didn't realize it until I started looking through the case in our old reports this Hilton Hotel is the same hotel where David and Clara Harris had their wedding reception 10 years before the murder I had forgotten that but man this that is something to bring your mistress to the same place where you had your wedding reception wow it's not the same Claire I know something I think something happened co-workers and Friends describe both victim and the accused as a happily married couple she'd have been the last person out of thought to do that he's so friendly and so just happy and just easy going guy I mean that I was shocked a couple of the things that we found in the Box were two relationship books and I was assuming that those books were something that her defense had presented to show that you know she wanted to stay with him she was trying to stay back together with him and she looked like what I'm not sure what books you're talking about and I said well one was Dr Phil one was a Dr Phil book that was called relationship rescue a seven step strategy for reconnecting and she said oh that was Lindsay that's the stepdaughter that purchased her stepdaughter yes and then the other book that we saw was one called Getting Back Together how to create a new loving relationship with your old partner and make it last so the back story to those books she said um that when David um and her when the whole family went over to his parents house so that he could tell them what had happened and that he had been unfaithful and that they were going to make their marriage work that Lindsay left at that time and went to the bookstore at the mall while they were all having this adult conversation Lindsay was very much aware of the infidelity and what had happened because prior to that Clara said Lindsay asked her like what is going on with my dad like why would he do this and Clara said that she told her I I don't know he's having a midlife crisis so when Lindsay comes back from the mall she comes back with these two books and said hey I found these for you guys maybe they'll help I couldn't find anything on a midlife crisis but I did find these two books and that is why those were in the box it's a lot for a young girl 16 years old that's a that's a that's a that's a lot to deal with yeah so um so those books were in the box and she said I would when I first said the Dr Phil books she was like I didn't she was like I wouldn't have purchased I don't like Dr Phil should I never have this poor young lady was just trying to do what she could to help us together she must have loved Clara very much to keep her her parents together I mean and what Clara described was a very tumultuous obviously week leading up to this I mean she admitted that she was self-medicating with alcohol with um uh other drugs because she said she said something was going on before the confession so we didn't talk a whole lot about that if she did but she probably had to have known at least something was up right something was different well yeah and so but it went from finding out getting a confession to then thinking um hey we're gonna we're gonna be okay like this was a rough patch but you know we're making things work and he wants to turn it around and he's breaking up with her so imagine going through all of that I mean this is you know and then she finds out he's not breaking up with her flanked by attorneys and family Clara Harris stood quietly as the prosecutor recounted the charge that Harris murdered her husband David in this case murdered by Mercedes Witnesses claiming Harris confronted him at a hotel where she'd found him with another woman she allegedly ripped the woman's blouse off in a rage then came after David Harris in her car running him over in the parking lot not once but three times then backing up to leave the car parked on his body she's a beautiful person and sweet Kathy Bunton can't believe it's the same Clara Harris she's known since 1985. Harris had just immigrated from Colombia and trained as a dental assistant with Bunton before going on to earn her degree in dentistry it's not the son Claire I know something I think something happened I can't believe it David Harris was looking to the Future before he died building a new larger clinic for himself and his wife just after her arrest Clara Harris claims his death was an accident her attorney is still investigating I don't doubt that she said that I'm going to take a look at the circumstances [Music] not only of what occurred but also any statements made by her Harris is free on thirty thousand dollars Bond as a condition the judge has ordered her to have no contact with a woman she claimed was having an affair with her husband so after she hit David did she did she stay there did she go home what did she do no I mean she stayed there at the scene I mean we have all the the recounting of whenever she got out of the car and kneeled over her husband we know from court records that she said at one point David look what you made me do um so obviously she did go they went with detectives and officers in for questioning after this but then there was a time period that she was out before her trial started she wasn't held in jail leading up to that she was convicted with of murder under the influence of sudden passion which meant that she could have received a prison sentence as few as two years it was two to twenty years maximum but the jury gave her the maximum sentence of 20 years is that because of the sudden passion because of the sudden passion and now what was important to Clara when I spoke with her something that she really wanted was this accident sort of reconstruction that her defense attorney had hired this this accident reconstruction guy at a Down Alice to create sort of using you know the circumference and you know how wide a turning radius that this Mercedes had to show that she didn't hit him multiple times that she only ran over him once and then she was going around in circles and so they had paid for that presentation they were so what there was a curb she was hitting yeah so that's that you saw in the video was their claiming was a curve right yes correct not him correct okay um but right before they were set to introduce that so obviously this evidence has been submitted to the judge the prosecution presented this HPD expert witness also an expert in accidents and reconstruction and he said oh but looking at your expert out of Dallas his presentation he missed a set of tire marks that are there on the ground in all the photos from the accident scene and so they said okay so knowing that this is there now would you still stand by your theory that he couldn't he have been run over more than once and they said yes and so I called this accident reconstruction guy to say hey can I get that presentation can we see it because no one's ever really seen it because the judge didn't allow it in court he never returned my calls Clara did say that she wanted her sons who are now 25 years old to see that because it supports her side of of the story of what actually happened that night we the jury find the defendant Clara L Harris guilty of murder stunned but stoic Clara Harris convicted of murdering her husband David with her Mercedes the jury not buying her defense that it was all an accident now the jury must determine her sentence in the punishment phase only one witness is called for the prosecution Clara Harris's stepdaughter Lindsey Harris the 17 year old told jurors that witnessing her father's death has caused her depression and several suicide attempts that's when Clara Harris lost it crying and yelling out I'm sorry I'm sorry Lindsay baby after the Outburst the judge then excused the jurors and told Dr Harris to control her emotions or leave the courtroom also during the punishment phase milled with Harris testifies for her daughter-in-law the prosecution asks her if she goes to jail would you get custody of the children yes prosecutor would you be just as loving and supportive if she goes to jail Mrs Harris yes but that's not our preference as Mrs Harris leaves the courtroom several trial Watchers are heard crying once again the judge asks the jury to leave and admonishes everyone to keep quiet or get out the day's events proving too much for the defendant and Her counsel on this night Dr Harris would not be going home to her twin boys in a daze she's told to remove her jewelry because now she belongs to the state in addition to the criminal trial there was also a couple civil trials right yeah I mean there were quite a few so Clara Harris ended up suing George parnam her defense attorney because she didn't think that he represented her well and she lost that case that case ended in 2008 but even before that one ended she was going through a civil suit with her in-laws who were suing her for part of David's estate and keep in mind her in-laws testified basically in her defense in the criminal trial and said that she was a good candidate for probation so that she could not go to prison and that she could raise her two twin boys that is interesting because I do remember the coverage back then the father making comments to the effect of they both made awful mistakes yet they both deserve forgiveness but they still sued her for wrongful death they sued her for wrongful death because in they said that their son had they survived had promised to take care of them in their older years and as they were aging and he wasn't there to do that anymore and there was some dispute over what part of his estate he would get and so that was their means of of making sure that they had part of his estate who got custody of the boys um so a neighbor of Clara Harris's she gave them custody of her voice not family but the boys would visit her frequently when she was in prison and she would see them regularly and when I was there at her home she had one of her son's dogs there she said you know I mean I'm trying she said if it was just me if it was just me coming on to tell my story and all the things that I think never came out about this whole thing then I would say yeah she was like but it's not just me she was like I have two sons that she is very protective of that are just now turning 25 years old and she's very close with and she said I want to protect them she said I also want to protect my life now I've served my time and she's in an area where she can go to the grocery store and live her life as a normal person and not worry about people pointing fingers and saying like oh that's Clarity she probably looks very different now but she's 20 years later 2003. right yeah and so she said all those things a couple of the other things that I asked her just and she said what would you be asking me anyway and I said well I I just wonder what you thought of this whole sort of group of women who could say golly I could see how that could happen I remember at the time it was really polarizing there were a lot of people they were like look I can't condone what she did but I certainly can understand it even her defense attorney I mean obviously they're looking for a jury that would be sympathetic to that and it was well publicized they gave the media you know a lot of access to their planning before the trial and they said we're looking for a jury made up of women who would be sympathetic who likely have been cheated on Whose husbands have been unfaithful because they might be able to understand her emotional state at the time so I asked her about that I said I mean you know there are all these women and she said do you know when I went to prison she said you know a senior sort of guard took me out of my cell one day and took me around a corner where there were no cameras that would capture our conversation and she said I just want you to know that I understand what you did and I'm proud of you and Clara said I never asked for that she said I didn't think anybody should be proud of me for what I did and I said what did you say to her and she said I don't I was speechless I wasn't sure what she was expecting me to say so she said I think I probably nodded my head also realizing that this guard is is an authority figure over me I wasn't going to say anything she said but I was shocked she said I was a shocked that she said she was shocked that anybody would think that she would take that as a compliment that you know that she would think that what she did was a good thing I mean she had you know 15 years where she was locked up and didn't get to raise her children how how did she spend her time in prison so almost like pretty shortly after she went in the prison system Texas prison system for women has this program where you can transcribe textbooks for kids in school who are blind and you can translate the written word into Braille and so right away she started doing that and to this day when she got out she went almost immediately to Kentucky for a program there with the Braille and got certified in training and she just started a new job recently doing that so she's very passionate about that you're sitting you said you spoke with her about an hour at the dining room table what was she like I know that sounds like a silly question but I am curious did she seem aggressive bitter soft-spoken she seemed um she seemed kind she seemed like a she seemed vulnerable and almost like any I hate to say grandmother because she's 65. but I caught her off guard knocking on her door one morning without calling and just showed up at her door and so that's why I say you know she was in her robe and slippers and so she that that may be why I say she seemed vulnerable and and how did you find me and I said I can't be the first reporter who's asked you to talk to them or do an interview since you've gotten out of you know served all of your time and she said well you are the first person who's knocked on my door welcome assuming everybody else probably called right yeah and so she's very protective of sort of where she is now um hoping that you know she just wants to live her life as a she's not a grandmother she doesn't have any grandchildren but as a mother to her adult children being able to sort of help them and and be with them for all the years that she's missed seeing them and have them be able to come over to her house without fear of other people watching them well I think she's probably in that unique position in in that a person who was literally thrust into the international Spotlight I didn't think there was even a made made for TV about all this has actually been able to somewhat reclaim their anonymity because it has been so long she I'm assuming she I mean you tell me she probably doesn't look like she used to um she I mean you can I mean when you see her and you know who she is you can tell but it's not going to be somebody that's just walking down the street in the grocery store or walking down the street no it's not and so you know she wants to maintain that when she was deciding whether or not to speak with you on camera did she have any stipulations or anything like that because I know a lot of times people like well I'll do this but only if so initially she said could I speak to you but only use my voice could you hide my face and and we actually spoke about that and I actually spoke with our executive producer and we said yeah we could do that I mean I think it's more important that people hear her voice and hear from her and her reasoning for that was because people could hear her could hear her side could hear all the things that she wanted people to know that she thinks we're not covered in the original coverage of the trial but she could still be able to leave her home and come and go and even have her neighbors not realize that that is part of her past that that was who she was she was like my neighbors don't know who I am yeah because no matter no matter your opinion or anybody's opinion on what she did she has paid her debt to the state of Texas right crime scene After Crime Scene After Crime Scene reports of the so-called Acres Home serial killer on the loose had this community afraid of what he could do next it was really really troubling because it wouldn't stop and we're back next week with the season finale of The Evidence room it's going to be about the Acres homes serial killer going to be hitting the road again we're going with one of the detectives who practice case into the neighborhood where these murders happen what was interesting is that we're going to hear how when investigators first started looking into this case they thought they were looking for one killer but wound up uncovering so much more our season finale is next Wednesday at 6 30 p.m on KPRC 2 plus have a great rest of your week [Music]

Channel: KPRC 2 Click2Houston

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Keywords: Clara Harris, The Evidence Room, True Crime, Documentary, true crime documentary, true crime documentaries full episodes, clara harris documentary, clara harris movie, clara harris interview, clara harris trial, clara harris today, clara harris released, true crime documentary murders, the evidence room season 3, true crime documentary 2023, true crime youtubers, true crime stories, criminal justice, crime tv shows, crime documentary, the evidence room the devil in them

Id: gs19N6m20Tw

Length: 31min 6sec (1866 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 13 2023