48 Hours - Cal Harris: The Final Verdict

Episode Date: May 29, 2016

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Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. This morning, we were identified and we arrested Calvin Harris. He's charged with income second degree murder. As I have stated before from day one, I did not have any involvement in Michelle's disappearance.

I would never hurt the mother of my children. Cale Harris calls it a press conference. I just call it desperation. He's got to try something new. What he's been doing isn't working. For the past 13 years, my children and I have endured under extremely difficult circumstances. We need to know what really happened to our mother.

We know our dad had nothing to do with her disappearance. We also know there are people out there with information who can help us get answers. It's been 13 years almost of hell. We had the first trial. He was found guilty. The conviction was thrown out. Finally had a second trial. He was found guilty again. And the conviction was overturned. I'm'm Greg Taylor I'm Michelle Harris's brother 24 people totally agreed that he was guilty you cannot get two people to agree on what color your

hair is we do another trial and another one I mean when's it going to stop? If I was one of the 24 jurors from before, I would be so pissed. Over the past nine years, Cal Harris has gone on trial for the murder of his wife four times. He was convicted twice, even though Michelle's body has never been found. Both convictions were overturned. A third jury couldn't decide. So now it's number four. Will this be the final trial for Cal Harris? Are there misconceptions that people have about you? Oh, yeah, absolutely.

That I'm this cold, calculating killer. I'm greedy. You know, this is all about money. People out there are only getting one side of the story. What has that been like for the last 13 years? It's been horrible. It's horrible. It's been a nightmare. I've been ripped away from my kids three times now. Three times now. I've had to sit in a jail cell or a prison cell and wait for a judge or judges to overturn this thing.

I feel like I'm being kidnapped in broad daylight and no one can do anything about it. He has the financial means to hire law firms, to find some technicality. If it was anybody else, we wouldn't be going through this again. I'm being put in a position that no one should be put in, and that is I'm having to try to solve this case to save myself so I can be with my children. I have to ask you this question. Everyone wants to see you answer it.

Did you have anything to do with the disappearance of your wife? Absolutely not. Not even close. I'm Erin Moriarty. Tonight on 48 Hours, Cal Harris, the final verdict. Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of monopoly introducing the best idea yet a brand new podcast from wondery and t-boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bold risk takers who brought them to life like did you know that super mario the best selling video game character of all time only only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye?

Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans, discover the surprising stories of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus. It's just the best idea yet. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of them. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years, I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn.

When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with. In the Pitcairn trials, I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wond and I, experienced two horrific tragedies. Our mother, Michelle Harris, disappeared, and our father, Cale Harris, was targeted as a suspect. Has any of your children asked you point blank

whether you had anything to do with your wife's disappearance? Your dad says that not one of you has ever asked him whether he was involved. We already know. There's been no doubt. So you haven't had to ask? No. September 12th of 2001 was a long time ago, but it's the day that I lost Michelle.

For the Harris children, that date changed their lives. For their nanny, Barb Thayer, it all started when she was awakened by an unexpected phone call. It was like 7 o'clock in the morning, and it was Cal. And he said, Barb, can you come help me get the kids ready for school? Michelle didn't come home last night. And I said, what? And he said, Michelle's not here. I need to get the kids ready for school. And I said, I'll be right there. I remember when I was driving up there, I kept saying to myself,

Michelle, where the hell are you? I went in through the garage and I hollered and I said, Kel, is Michelle here? And he said, no, she's not. And I said, well, her car is at the end of the driveway. And he said, well, we got to go get it. 8.05 on September 12th. That is a time that will stick in my head for the rest of my life, probably. Most every morning at that time, Nikki Burdick would call her close friend Michelle. Nikki said, Barb, what are you doing there? And I said, well, Michelle never came home. She did not spend the night out. That was not Michelle.

Where the hell are you? I called Michelle's cell phone. You need to call me as soon as freaking possible. I knew that something happened to Michelle. Call me as soon as freaking possible. I knew that something happened to Michelle. Tioga County in upstate New York, where Michelle Harris lived, is the kind of place people go to escape the crime of the big cities.

A murder in Tioga County, it's a pretty rare occurrence. What about disappearances? Even more so. For an actual person to go missing and not be able to find them is extremely rare. The disappearance of Michelle Harris mystified State Police Captain Mark Lester. Normally you would expect at some point along this way, we're going to find her. And we still haven't been able to find her remains. It was unusual that Michelle's van would be sitting at the end of her driveway in the early morning hours of September 12,

2001. It was a gut feeling, I think, right from the get-go that something was wrong. But getting a search underway on the day after September 11th wouldn't be easy. We had just sent five or six hundred troopers to New York City the night before. So trying to gear this thing up quickly wasn't happening as easily as it normally would. Adding to the pressure, Michelle was the wife of Cal Harris, a prominent businessman from a wealthy and influential Tioga County family. It's a family with significant stature in the community. The patriarch, Dwight Harris, bought a string of car dealerships that his three sons helped him run. Michelle, fresh out of college, was working as a secretary at one of the dealerships

when she caught the eye of Dwight's youngest son, Cal. She is, to this day, she is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen. And then I got to know her. She's funny and outgoing. Michelle was just like a magnet. She was beautiful and she was a happy person. And she was young. I think that that was something that thoroughly attracted Cal. And Cal was a catch. An outstanding athlete in high school, an All-American lacrosse player in college, and by the age of 27, a successful businessman. I think it was like a Cinderella story. Michelle, the older of two children from

a working-class family, had never met anyone like Cal. Michelle came from a small town, not a wealthy family or anything like that, and then here's this man that kind of sweeps you off your feet and you travel and you do fun things. It was a fairy tale romance and no one was happier than Michelle when she married Cal and became pregnant. By the time she was 33, she had four children under the age of six. Michelle was the emotional, the loving, the caring, the one that did the daily stuff. Cal was the provider. And he provided well. Michelle and Cal lived on a 252-acre estate, complete with a private lake. If there were any marital problems, Michelle kept them hidden from friends and family, including her sister-in-law, Shannon Taylor.

I thought that her life was absolutely perfect. You never saw her when she wasn't smiling or laughing. Until Michelle's fourth child was born. That's when Shannon would learn that life at the Harris house was no longer quite so perfect. I had no idea. I remember saying that to her. Oh my gosh, I had no idea. Michelle began talking about Cal's temper and his controlling behavior. Everything just had to be absolutely perfect. And if it wasn't, what would happen? He'd scream, he'd yell. Cal had told her that she was born in Tioga Center, raised in Tioga Center, and she'd die in Tioga Center. Like, you're a small town, you're beneath me. And then Michelle discovered Cal was having an affair. She was devastated. How does Cal Harris respond? He would only speak with us prior to trial if we would agree to certain restrictions.

And if you notice, his attorney Bruce Barquette was there. That's just something that I'd rather leave to the courtroom. To stop Harris from answering some questions. Cal and Michelle tried to save the marriage, but in January 2001, after 10 years, Michelle filed for divorce. Did Cal want this divorce? No. No.

No. He told her many times, you will not divorce me. Michelle's brother, Greg, says it was a bitter split as Michelle fought with Cal over money, demanding a full accounting of his businesses. There's no way that he was going to let Michelle take his family money. The situation was made even worse because the couple, forced by the courts, continued sharing the house. It was extremely tense. You know, there would be a lot of times when I'd be there and they'd be hollering back and forth. But on September 9, 2001, Barb remembers a change in Michelle.

She seemed happier. She says, I am finally getting my life back. I can't believe how I feel. Barb says that while Michelle hadn't told her husband yet, she had decided to accept a financial offer from Cal and finalize the divorce. Three days later, just hours before she was supposed to meet her lawyer, Michelle Harris disappeared. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty.

Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marcia Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases. And this one belongs right at the top of the list. She was addicted to the game

she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago housing project. It was about this supernatural killer who would attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror.

Candyman. Candyman? Now, we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear. But did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created.

Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, wherever you get your podcasts. I've never seen the number of twists and turns that have been generated by this case. New York State Police Senior Investigator Sue Malvey, now retired,

became involved in the Harris case after receiving a phone call on September 12, 2001. on September 12, 2001. Michelle Harris's divorce attorney had come forward and said that she was missing, that she hadn't returned home, which was way out of character for her, and he was sure something really bad had happened. Shannon Taylor also feared the worst. I said to the secretary when I walked out of my office, I said, I'm going. I don't know when I'll be back.

I am pretty sure that my brother-in-law killed my sister-in-law. So you thought that immediately. And so, less than one hour after Michelle's divorce lawyer made the call, And so, less than one hour after Michelle's divorce lawyer made the call, investigators Mike Myers and Mike Young arrived at Cal Harris' dealership to question him. He was very calm and unemotional. He didn't seem to wish that he was trying to hide anything or stop us from doing anything. If Cal had something to hide, he sure didn't act like it.

He even took the investigators back to his house so they could look around for themselves was Cal willing to take you through every room absolutely upstairs downstairs he wasn't concerned at all about us being in his house or at the end of his driveway there was no problem they didn't see anything that alarmed them. But to investigator Myers, Cal seemed almost too unconcerned. He comes across as personable and cooperative. To me, it seems like there's a little something missing. Cal Harris denied he had anything to do with Michelle's disappearance. Instead, he told investigators to take a closer look at Michelle herself.

While she was still sharing the house with her husband, Michelle was leading the life of a single woman. When Cal reportedly cut off much of her allowance, she began working nights at a local restaurant. Suddenly, she had freedom, money of her own, and new men in her life. Once she disappeared, the men became suspects. On top of the list, 23-year-old Brian Early. Not only was Michelle dating the much younger man, she was with him the night she disappeared. You were one of the last people to see her alive, Brian.

Last person who was admitting to it. That puts you in a bad spot, doesn't it? Yeah. On the evening of September 11th, Brian admits Michelle had stopped by his apartment after work. He says she left to drive home just after 11 p.m. I walked her to her van, closed the door, I leaned in the window, gave her a kiss goodnight, told her I loved her, see her tomorrow.

That was it. She backed out of my parking spot, drove away. Brian, a land surveyor living in Philadelphia, started dating Michelle after he met her at a local bar in the fall of 2000. Said she had four children, said she was not happy with her marriage. That Michelle was married and still living with her husband didn't worry Brian. And in June of 2001, he gave up his job and home to move to Tioga County just to be near Michelle. He even gave her money to help buy a house in Owego. Was that everything you had? No, it was a good chunk of it. You must have really... I loved her. And he hoped to marry Michelle as soon as her divorce was final.

But Barbara Thayer says Michelle didn't see the relationship in quite the same way. Michelle was certainly not going to go from what she was just going through and turn right around and get married. But Brian wasn't the only man Michelle was seeing. Michelle had also dated a co-worker, Michael Casper, a secret she kept from even her closest friend, Nikki Burdick. That I did not know about. I would think I was as surprised as anybody else that found out about that. As it turned out, before Michelle saw Brian on the night she disappeared, she had drinks after work with

Michael Casper. Did he have an alibi for that night? No, he did not. Drinking with Michelle and Casper was another co-worker, Michael Hakes. A routine look into his background took investigators by surprise. I think when we saw what Hakes' background looked like, that got our antennas up. Hakes is an ex-convict with a serious record. He had a rape conviction in Arizona and had served 10 years in prison. And there was another man, Stacy Stewart, who recently moved to town and frequented lefties. I think maybe she gave him a ride one night, or I don't even know.

You think if she were worried about somebody, she'd tell you? Oh, yeah. She told us that she was worried about Cal Harris. I'm, you know, that's the one person she ever mentioned or talked about being afraid of was Cal. New York State Police Forensic

Specialist Steve Anderson was sent to the Harris home to take a closer look. It is because of what he found there that the investigation zeroed in on Cal. It was quite obvious to me that we had blood spatter in the house. Anderson says he found tiny specks of blood on a kitchen doorway that investigators who had been in the home just two days earlier didn't see. They obviously missed it, and apparently Cale Harris missed it, too.

That clinched it for investigators. They were now convinced they had found a crime scene. We want the person responsible for her not being here to be held accountable. What happened to 35-year-old Michelle Harris, last seen late on the night of September 11, 2001? Friends and family still wonder, why hasn't her body been found? It's actually hard to believe. I think we always expected to know, to find something that would just make this case crystal clear. The mystery of Michelle's disappearance has weighed heavily on her friends and family,

but they say Michelle's estranged husband, Cal, seemed to move on immediately. He took up a relationship with his old girlfriend. How soon after Michelle disappeared? The night of Michelle's birthday, which is September 29th. So that was like 18 days. Barb Thayer continued to watch the children for Cal after Michelle disappeared. He never asked me, have you heard from Michelle? Did Michelle call you?

Is she wondering where the kids are? He never has mentioned Michelle to me. And I worked for him for a solid year afterwards. Did he call you? No. He didn't call you? He didn't say, like, oh, my God, you know, I'm really worried about your daughter?

No. Michelle's father, Gary Taylor, was deeply troubled by Cal's apparent lack of concern. When we'd have birthday parties for the kids, he would drive them down sometimes, but he would never look at you or look you in the face. So that's when it became kind of more evident to me that I think he might have had more to do with it

than what I was initially thinking. You knew something had happened to Michelle, but who did you think was responsible for her disappearance? Her husband. There was never a question. Never. Ever. A question. Investigators also believe that Harris killed his wife, but there simply wasn't much of a case.

Without a body or a murder weapon, there was no cause of death. In fact, there wasn't even proof that Michelle was dead at all. What investigators did have were those small drops of blood in the kitchen and garage. And then there was Cal Harris himself, what he did after his wife disappeared, and what he didn't do. He never made a phone call that morning to find out where she was. If the mother of your children who takes care of them every morning suddenly doesn't show up, I think your first reaction is going to be to pick up the phone and make a call and say, hey, where the hell are you? If he got up in the morning and she wasn't there, he'd be flipping his gourd. Nikki Burdick says Cal's demeanor was completely out of character.

That is not in his personality to be calm, cool, and collective about anything. Cal is a very explosive person. He has a temper. But that morning, Barb Thayer says, Cal was unusually calm about Michelle's disappearance. And after looking through Michelle's van, she says he made a strange request. He said, oh my gosh, this car is a mess. I want you to drop it off at the dealership and I'm going to clean it from top to bottom. It just reinforced to me that there was something wrong. Barb also found it odd that following Michelle's disappearance, Barb also found it odd that following Michelle's disappearance, Cal seemed unconcerned about security. The locks were never changed. Security codes weren't changed. The house was never kept locked.

Were you scared that if someone could take Michelle, someone could take this kid? Well, no, because we're safe here. You know, the accusation is that this crime took place in this house, and it didn't. You know, there's nothing happened here, and we've always been safe here. Again, we were restricted from delving into issues likely to come up at trial, like the strange story Michelle told her brother and sister-in-law. So she said it kind of in a laughing way. A few months before she disappeared, Michelle said that Cal had threatened her. I got the perfect place to put your body. They'll never find you. You didn't think Cal was kidding or just saying that off the top of his head? That's not something you say unless that in the back of your mind you think that

you know I might just do this. But Cal's friends, Kevin O'Hara and his wife, Tracy, see his behavior in a different light. It's interesting that people who haven't gone through a certain situation are very, very quick to say that someone else should have reacted or acted in a certain fashion. To me, the way he acted was Cal. The local state police convinced that Cal had buried Michelle's body focused the search in and around the Harris property. They used helicopters in the air. Dogs on the ground.

They were here. They were all over the property. Did they ever find any sign that either any of Michelle's property or her body anywhere? None. The search went on for a year, then two. After four years and no sign of Michelle, investigators felt it was now or never. The case wasn't getting any better. There were really no new significant leads or evidence coming in. But win, lose, or draw, this case had to go to trial. So on September 30th, 2005, four years after Michelle disappeared, Cal Harris was arrested and charged with her murder.

That's a shocker. They came busting down the door in my office, three of them. Handcuffed my hands, handcuffed my feet, and walked me out in front of my employees and my customers. You know, I wasn't going anywhere. An illegal battle spanning a decade began. When I'm around town, I get the stares and the glares and the mumbling in the background. And then to have it in front of the community, and my kids are part of the community now, especially that they're older, it's horrible.

Nothing has quite divided the town of Owego, New York, like the murder trials of Cal Harris. The people of Owego are frustrated that it's never ending. In 2007, six years after his wife disappeared, Harris, out on a half-million-dollar bail, went on trial for the first time. I think that he is a powerful man. I think he's a smart man.

Jerry Keene, Tioga County's district attorney at the time, prosecuted the case. Have you ever had a case where there was no body and you prosecuted someone for murder? No body, no witness, no murder weapon, nothing. No, this is the most difficult case that I've ever done. But Keene did have that small amount of blood evidence inside the house. Six drops of Michelle's blood on the kitchen doorway, more drops on a kitchen throw rug, and on the garage floor. With so much writing

on that evidence, the prosecution recruited renowned criminologist Henry Lee. Some action have to create this bleeding. Lee says the pattern of blood spots in the doorway was caused by two separate blows to Michelle from some kind of blunt instrument, even a fist. Senior forensic investigator Steve Anderson demonstrated Dr. Lee's blood spatter explanation for us using red dye. And then I'll apply the force to the blood. The first blow, they say, knocked her down. The second hit caused her blood to fly.

The spatter was approximately a millimeter in size, and some was smaller than that. To get that size, you have to apply a force to break that up into smaller droplets and propel it through the air. But isn't it normal in a family's home to find blood? I mean, people bleed. There's kids. People bleed. Yes, but normally not a medium velocity impact spatter. Yes, but normally not a medium velocity impact spatter. Relying on that blood evidence, Keene was able to convince the jury that Michelle was killed in her own home.

And they convicted Cal Harris of second degree murder. What went through your mind when you heard that verdict guilty? I was in shock. My stomach, my stomach just fell out. I couldn't breathe. You know, just my first thought was, I'm not going home. I am not going to see my kids tonight. Make a hole. Make a hole.

And then, just days before Harris was to be sentenced, a new witness came forward, Kevin Tubbs, a local farmer. Do you think Cal Harris is innocent? I think he's innocent. Tubbs says six years earlier at dawn on the morning Michelle disappeared, he drove past the Harris driveway and saw two vehicles. There's a man at the back of the pickup. There's a woman at the side of the pickup. She was a blond-haired woman. It appeared that she was crying,

and it appeared that he was a little upset. It's a woman that I believe was Michelle Harris. If Tubbs really saw Michelle at around 5.30 on the morning she disappeared, then Cal Harris wouldn't have had time to kill her. Prosecutors argued that Tubbs was mistaken, that it was too dark at that hour to see what he says he saw. I have always said that I cannot be 100% sure. If people want to believe what they can, if they don't, there's nothing I

can do about it. But the judge believed Tubbs and threw out Cal Harris' conviction. I'm sitting there in my orange jumpsuit, my handcuffs, and he said, take the handcuffs off. It's still emotional to think about that. Yep. Jerry Keene vowed to prosecute him again. In the meantime, Harris was allowed to go home on bail for the next two years. Then in June of 2009, Harris went on trial for the second time. Unlike the first trial, Harris took the stand to deny he killed his wife.

But his testimony did not convince jurors. And once again, he was convicted. Devastating. Devastating. I mean, this time, you went to prison for a while. Yeah, three and a half years. Very few things can be worse than going to prison. It was really hard having to go to the jail every weekend and seeing him in that situation.

It was really hard on us. And just him not being home and having to miss out on things like birthdays and lacrosse games and just special events that your dad should be at with you. Shockingly, three years later, Harris' conviction was once more overturned, later, Harris's conviction was once more overturned, this time over the judge's handling of jury selection and allowing in hearsay testimony. Again, Cal Harris was let out on bail, and the stage was set for a third trial. Good afternoon, everyone. With a third defense team. What we're going to do is portray Cal for what he really is, a decent and honest man who's going through a divorce, a good father, a loving friend, and an innocent man. Joining lead

attorney Bruce Barquette are Donna Aldea and Aida Leisingring. They, like all of Cal's previous lawyers, say the case is weak and that he's been unfairly portrayed. It's ridiculous. They plan to question the truthfulness of one of the most important witnesses from Cal's previous trials, Barb Thayer, who was instrumental to the prosecution in setting a timeline and in depicting Cal as unconcerned. When Barbara Thayer testifies, she's going to be confronted with questions and an examination that she has not heard so far. Barb had no reason to lie. I mean, Barb loved my sister. Cal has a lot of reason to lie. Phone records show that on the morning Michelle disappeared, someone at the Harris home called her cell phone at 7.14 a.m. Barb says that

she, not Cal, made that call looking for Michelle. I just quickly called her cell phone. I didn't say anything because Cal was in the house, so I just hung up. No. Not true, says attorney Barkat. Cal made that call from his home before Barb even arrived.

Barb, he argues, didn't have enough time to drive from her house and make the early morning call from the Harris home. I don't know what's in her head, but I know that she couldn't have made the phone call that she claimed she made. It's impossible. I drove it. I went out there. I was frantic. It's not like I was driving 30 miles an hour. I knew something was wrong, so I was there really quickly. And Barb insists the cow made a troubling request when Michelle had been missing for only a week. He said, I want you to take everything Michelle's

out of this house and you can have a garage sale. And he said he'd split the money with me. It really wasn't a garage sale in that sense. And Barbara Thayer's testimony about what was sold and what wasn't is going to be belied by what's still in the house. And Barbara Thayer's testimony about what was sold and what wasn't is going to be belied by what's still in the house. The house is crucial to the defense's case. They have to dispute that important blood evidence found there. No reasonable person who has seen a bludgeoning scene, which is what the prosecutors maintain happened here, and looked at this kitchen would say that that was a bludgeoning scene. The most important thing about it is that the prosecution could not establish when that blood was deposited.

Barbara Thayer said that she washed that throw rug, so that would at least limit how old that blood was on the throw rug. No, it wouldn't. The suggestion that she washed that rug is as ludicrous as the suggestion that she made a phone call from Cal's house that day. Didn't happen. I know what didn't happen to Michelle Harris. She was not murdered in that house by Cal Harris.

Did Michelle have secrets then? Yes. Secret life? Yes. There's things about Michelle that haven't been brought out to this point in time. Opening statements for the third murder trial of Cal Harris will begin tomorrow morning. And the Tioga County District Attorney prosecuting the case is moved as well. In February 2015, Cal Harris went on trial for the third time, but not in Tioga County, where he lives.

The local perception of me is just so toxic that in this county, jurors just can't walk out of that courtroom with anything but a guilty verdict. So instead, the case is being tried two hours away in Schoharie, New York. In addition to his new defense team, there's a new prosecutor, judge, and new rules. This time, not even still cameras are allowed inside. Paparazzi's here. As the trial begins, the prosecution once again lays out its largely circumstantial case, calling some 50 witnesses, most testifying for the third time. It's hard.

We've gotten a verdict twice before, and we have to do it again. It seems a little crazy. For the defense, this will be a battle to discredit not just the prosecution witnesses, but the crime scene evidence the state is relying on. It would have been impossible for him to have done what the prosecutors theorized he's done. The defense brings in its own blood spatter expert, who says that blood found in the kitchen and garage of the Harris house is not evidence of an assault. There's nothing that turns that house into a crime scene. There's no evidence that a crime took place there. And all along

defense attorney Barquette takes aim at the victim herself. But don't you run a risk that you're demonizing the victim to just get the heat off of your client? We're not demonizing. What we're doing is reporting the facts. And unfortunately, her lifestyle at that time led her to some dangerous places. They have to try to discredit her. They don't really have anything else to work with. But there is plenty for the defense to work with when it comes to some of the people Michelle knew through her job at Lefty's restaurant and bar. She was clearly seeing a multitude of different people, not just one, not just two. If you're out drinking late at night with different crowds, you're running a risk.

Obviously, in this case, something happened. So just how thoroughly did the police investigate Michelle's friends? Like Brian Early, Michelle's boyfriend. Were pictures ever taken of Brian to see whether he had any injuries after Michelle disappeared? No. Was his house checked to make sure whether there was any kind of blood or any possible incident in the house? No and we we would have there was any kind of blood or any possible incident in the house? No, and we would have to have some kind of basis to obtain a search warrant, and we wouldn't have had enough in my opinion.

Tell me about Stacy Stewart. He bought property in this area. Was that property ever searched? It was by Cal's defense team, but again we never searched it. Police say other suspects fully cooperated and had no motive to kill Michelle. They were eliminated as suspects because investigators believe the murder took place inside the Harris home. What's more, they all passed polygraphs. Cal Harris refused to take one. Nobody can credibly point at a polygraph and say, aha, we now know if somebody's telling

the truth or not. Sue Mulvey calls the police department's work exhaustive and even-handed. But Barquette claims two men who knew Michelle from Lefties, Stacy Stewart and his friend Christopher Thomason, were involved in her death, and he's confident he has the evidence. STACEY STEWART, It includes burning of bloody clothing on the morning of September 12th by individuals who were claimed to have been pursuing Michelle, having sex with her, doing drugs with her, multiple admissions about things like that. But Judge George Bartlett rules the evidence presented by the defense is thin

and is based largely on speculation, so jurors will never hear about it. Nearly 30 years of practicing law, this may be the worst decision I've ever seen. What if you are convicted a third time? What if you are convicted? A third time. What if you are? Hey, I'm blocking it out. Yeah, I just don't like knowing that the fact that he, we could lose him again, it just, I want him here with me. Cal's children are by his side day after day after day.

How are you feeling, Cal? Stressed out. As all sides wait for a verdict. But in the end, no amount of time could help the seven men and five women reach a consensus. And on day 12, the judge is forced to declare a mistrial. We got closer to justice, but we're not there yet. I want to urge Michelle's family and the law enforcement community to please consider that you're wrong. My obligation as a district attorney is to seek justice, and I will continue to do that. On March 31, 2016, Cal Harris went back to court for his fourth trial.

But this time around, he took a big gamble. He asked for a bench trial, which means a single judge instead of 12 jurors will decide his fate. We thought it through and think that going through another jury trial in the same community is a large potential you're going to end up with the same result. The prosecution's case was essentially the same as before. Most of their witnesses back for the fourth time. I submit that the evidence proves that Michelle was murdered in an act of domestic violence by her estranged, controlling husband, Calvin Harris,

who had previously threatened to kill her and make her disappear. They have not found Michelle Harris, and they have not solved this case because they've been investigating the wrong man. The defense pinned hopes on new witnesses because this judge, unlike the earlier ones, allowed testimony pointing to other possible suspects, namely Christopher Thomason and Stacey Stewart. KEVIN TUBS, So Kevin Tubs, without ever meeting Stacey Stewart, without ever meeting Michelle Harris, described to a T an individual that matches the description of Stacy Stewart,

that matches the description of Michelle Harris. But Tubbs' claim that he could identify two people six years after he saw them is incredible, says Prosecutor Martin. I submit that no one upon no one can remember someone they had never met or seen before and drove past two weeks ago in the dark, let alone six years prior. The judge also allowed testimony from Stewart's ex-girlfriend who said he told her that he was the last person to be seen with Michelle alive. As in the earlier trials, the crucial issue was that blood evidence found in the Harris home,

which the state claims is proof of a crime scene. Michelle Harris was attacked by her husband when she walked through that door. Her blood was spattered in that alcove, and then she was moved to the garage where she was ultimately killed in that very spot. bled on the floor of the garage and the defendant cleaned up that blood our common sense tells us that there is no way on earth that a violent assault resulting in a murder yielded this much blood you can't rely on that kind of evidence to convict a man of murder.

In the end, after deliberating for 12 hours, Judge Richard Mott reached his verdict, not guilty. Not guilty of murder. I was shocked. I was truly shocked. Kyle Harris is now a free man. That's all I kept fighting for, my four kids. I love you. I love shocked. I was truly shocked. Cal Harris is now a free man. That's all I kept fighting for, my four kids. Love you. But while this verdict ends his legal ordeal, it does nothing to solve the mystery of Michelle Harris' disappearance.

I still miss her every day. She's not coming back, so it's not ever going to be over. Because of Double Jeopardy!, Cal Harris' criminal case is now officially over. Harris is considered in a civil suit. After four trials, do you agree with the verdict? Chat now with correspondent Aaron Moriarty on Twitter. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey.