Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Breast Milk Proves Murder, Hubby Poisons Wife with Heroin

Episode Date: February 9, 2022

Christina Harris is found dead by a neighbor. Harris’ cause of death was initially ruled accidental by the medical examiner's office after a blood sample tested positive for opiates, but her family is adamant Christina did not use drugs. The family even insisted officers test her frozen breast milk to prove it. Harris was still breastfeeding an infant. Police ultimately arrest husband Jason Harris for poisoning his wife's cereal.Joining Nancy Grace today: Matthew Mangino - Attorney, Former District Attorney (Lawrence County), Author: "The Executioner's Toll: The Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words and Executions of 46 Persons in the United States" Dr. Shari Schwartz - Forensic Psychologist (specializing in Capital Mitigation and Victim Advocacy), www.panthermitigation.com, Twitter: https://twitter.com/TrialDoc, Author: "Criminal Behavior" and "Where Law and Psychology Intersect" Justin Boardman - Former Special Victim's Unit Detective, West Valley City (Utah), Author: "I Was Wrong: An Investigator's Battle-cry for Change Within the Special Victims Unit", JustinBoardman.com, Twitter: @boardman_train Dr. Michelle DuPre - Former Forensic Pathologist, Medical Examiner and Detective: Lexington County Sheriff's Department, Author: "Homicide Investigation Field Guide" & "Investigating Child Abuse Field Guide", Forensic Consultant DMichelleDupreMD.com Karen Drew - TV News Anchor/Investigative Reporter, WDIV TV, NBC Detroit, Instagram/Twitter: @KarenDrewTV Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A gorgeous young mother still breastfeeding ends up dead. The coroner's report says she was on heroin, that it was an overdose, but her family is insistent. She had never done drugs, but there's no doubt about the toxicology report. There is heroin in her system. So how exactly did Christina die leaving behind a child still breastfeeding? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. Take a listen to our friends at CrimeOnline.com. Just after 10 a.m. on September 29th, Jason Harris called asking his neighbor

to check on his wife. It was the second time he had made that request. The first was just 11 days before. In that instance, Jason Harris asked his neighbor to see if his wife's vehicle was still in the driveway. He was afraid his wife Christina had overslept. The neighbor went to a side door but got no answer to her knock. She was able to open the door and call out to Christina, who then answered her. The second time, September 29th, the neighbor again went to the door, which was unlocked. Christina Harris was in bed with the covers pulled over her face. The neighbor touched Christina, but there was no response. Thinking Harris was still asleep, she left and

called Jason Harris to let him know. Concerned, the neighbor went back and Christina was cold to the touch, stiff, and had foam coming out of her mouth. The neighbor also said Christina had no pulse and wasn't breathing. She called 911 and another neighbor who is a registered nurse to help. Christina Harris was dead. This young mom with a little baby still breastfeeding, dead in her own bed, frothing at the mouth. What happened? With me, an all-star panel to make sense of what we know now. First of all, Matthew Mangino, former elected district attorney,

now private lawyer and author of The Executioner's Toll. Dr. Sherry Schwartz, forensic psychologist, joining us, specializing in crimes of this nature. Her book, Criminal Behavior and Where Law and Psychology Intersect. Justin Boardman, former Special Victims Unit detective, West Valley and author of I Was Wrong, an investigator's battle cry for Change Within the SVU, Dr. Michelle Dupree, medical examiner, forensic pathologist, detective, and author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide. But first to Karen Drew, special guest joining us,

TV news anchor, investigative reporter with WDIV-TV, NBC. Karen, thank you so much for being with us. Karen, first of all, take a listen to our cut one. Who is Christina Harris? Christina and Thompson and Jason Harris were married for 11 years, but they had been a couple for five years before that. Six years into the marriage, they welcomed a daughter. Five years later, daughter number two was born.

Christina Harris's family says she loves swimming, crafting and family game night and being a stay at home mom. She was still breastfeeding and stocking a freezer full of milk for her infant. The little girl was just eight months old when Harris was found dead in their home. I can't even imagine to you, Karen Drew. I remember when I gave birth to the twins, Lucy and I almost died. And it was horrible. We were all in intensive care. The children were in intensive care a really long time. And I remember lying there in the bed thinking, am I going to die? Am I going to watch my children from the other side of life grow up without a mother? And that thought consumed me. And here is this woman, Christina Harris, with this eight-month-old baby girl, gone. No mother to raise a child. Tell me what happened. What was her toxicology report? Heroin? That is what investigators found, Nancy, that there was heroin in her system. And I can tell you, I talk with family, I talk with one of her best friends, and they were fl being a mom. She always wanted to be this terrific mom.

Breastfeeding was so important. Healthy food, spending time with the children. And you know, Nancy, the whole bond that you have with breastfeeding a child, that was very, very important to her. She took being a mom very serious. She worked part-time at a local subway shop to pick up a few hours just to help ends meet. You know, but her priority was being a mom, being there for her kids,

and taking care of them the best way she could. And so when family found out that there was heroin in her system, they just simply said, no way, not possible. You know, to Dr. Sherry Schwartz, family and friends, they always think they know you so well. But if you are addicted to drugs or alcohol, that can make even a new mom do things she wouldn't normally do, things that she would keep secret from family and friends like drugs

and alcohol addiction. Well, that's absolutely right. that she would keep secret from family and friends, like drugs and alcohol addiction. Well, that's absolutely right. But when we're talking about a drug like heroin, that's kind of a hard one to keep a secret, right? Because there's also physical signs, not just the impairment, but you would see possibly track marks, right? Clouded thinking, flu-like symptoms. So that would be hard to mask from people who see you frequently. You're right. Heroin is pretty hard to hide. To you, Karen Drew, joining us WDIV-TV. Karen, what can you tell us about the day that Christina was found dead? Well, it was a little different kind of a day. Her husband, they lived in a middle to lower class community.

He had gone to work, went to work a little bit earlier than normal, and she would be at home with the kids. He left, and from what we understand, he was trying to call her later in the morning, you know, around that eight, nine o'clock time and hadn't heard from her. And that seemed a little strange because she would be up by that time with the kids and called a couple times, didn't hear from her. He became worried, so he called the neighbor that lived right in back of the house, and I had talked to her too. And she said she was a little surprised to hear from Jason, her husband, but then he had called her one time before, just kind of making sure that his wife was okay. So he just said, hey, can you just check on Christy and knock on the door?

I've been trying to call her. So then the neighbor went over to the house, and as you had said earlier, then found her pretty much lifeless with foam from the mouth, in the bed, a very scary situation for her. So then they called another neighbor who was a registered nurse. She came in at that point. She knew Christy was dead. She was lifeless. To Dr. Michelle Dupree, former forensic pathologist, medical examiner, and author. Dr. Dupree, what does that mean when you have foam coming out of your lips and death?

Well, Nancy, this is typically pulmonary edema, which means that your lungs are filling up with water and fluids. And we often see this in especially two types of death. One is drowning and one is a drug overdose. Now, how does that work? How do you get liquid in your lungs? I understand from drowning because you breathe in the water and then you aspirate it up. But why would you aspirate? Why would you breathe out liquid foam after a drug overdose? Because in this case, especially with something like heroin, which is a depressant, a central nervous system depressant,

your lungs don't function as they should. And so even your saliva and the fluids that you would just normally cough up are going to be retained in your lungs and cause that. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Right there. Right there. Saliva. Of course, you're the MD. I'm just a JD.

But why would there be saliva in your lungs? Isn't that in your stomach? I don't get how. Because you take drugs and you have a drug OD. You get fluid in your lungs. It's in your mouth. Saliva is in your mouth. And you don't really swallow it down your esophagus as you should.

Instead, it goes down your trachea and into your lungs. In addition, the surrounding tissue, the fluids just begin to ease out because your body is not functioning as it should. It's depressed and it isn't working as properly as it would. Okay. See, Dr. Dupree, you're the reason that the medical examiner and all of the examiner staff would hide when they would see my beat up Toyota coming to the parking lot. See, everything you just said, that makes no sense to me at all now you said something about and i would have to go through every medical examiner report and their pages and pages line by line and go what does that mean okay what does that mean so i heard you say jackie did you hear say this that fluid eases

out what fluid eases out then you die i don't understand that yes what into what our vessels our blood vessels are under pressure our lymph vessels are under pressure because our heart is pumping normally and is pumping strongly when that heart begins to pump weakly, not as it should, then the pressure that is holding our vessels and all the fluids inside of our vessels together begins to ease. And that's why we have pulmonary edema or pleural effusion, things like that when someone is CNS depressed. Okay. The only way I can make sense of what you're saying is, okay, don't laugh, Dr. Dupree, which I know you're laughing right into your fist, is comparing it to gravity. As long as the earth keeps spinning, you've got that gravity.

The moment it stops, like the heart stops, suddenly, poof, we all just float away. So as soon as the heart stops pumping, that pressure going through the veins and all of the organs stops. And it, as you said, eases out. And as she's barely still breathing, that fluid that has now accumulated in her lungs comes out as froth out of her mouth. Now, let me ask, do you actually asphyxiate on that froth? I mean, why would you die? Or do you die because your heart stops because the heroin slows it down? You really die because it is a central nervous system depressant and all of your organ functions, your brain, your heart. Okay, did you just say in your own special way that your heart stops

because it's depressed? Yes, it slows down and then it eventually stops, as does your brain. Okay, I think it should be repressed because depressed seems like the heart is sad. Well, I'm sure that it is. But what I'm saying is it stops, it slows the heart down so much the heart stops and that's why you die with an overdose. Yes, your heart and brain stop. Yes. Okay. Just as an aside, what about if you're on meth, which speeds you up? How do you OD on meth? Well, on meth, because it is a stimulant, as you said, it speeds everything up. You can actually speed your heart up so fast that you have an arrhythmia and that can cause death. I knew you'd have an answer and that one I understood pretty easily. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.

Isn't it true, Matthew Mangino, you were the elected DA, now a private lawyer. Juries can't, well, in most jurisdictions, I had one judge and the judge would suddenly just blurt out a question in my direct or cross-exam, just out of the blue. And he would let the jurors blurt out questions in the middle of the, and it could be a question I didn't want the answer to. But jurors typically cannot blurt out a question. So that is why, Matthew, we have to pin down the witnesses and especially experts who taught their own language before they get on the stand. So they make sense to the jury. I'm not cross-examining Dupree any more than I would anybody else I put on the stand. Well, right. I mean, it's important that a witness that you've called as an expert does not speak in terms that a jury isn't going to be able to relate to.

Yeah, Dupree, did you hear that? We can sit and talk about all these things and, you know, all these different medical terms, which really won't amount to a hill of beans for a lot of jurors. So you have to be sure that you spend the appropriate amount of time with your expert witnesses are the kind of folksy kind of person who can talk layman's terms and relate to issues that a jury is going to be able to understand. And so that's always an important aspect of preparing for a case. You know, another thing. Absolutely. And for example, when I'm in court, I often look at the jury and I'll answer a question by starting off saying, it's not like how it happens on TV. Here's the way it really happens. That's so true, Dr. Dupree. And I don't think it's just jurors that don't understand. I don't think lawyers know what the doctors are saying either, but they're too pompous to admit. They don't think it's just jurors that don't understand. I don't think lawyers know what the doctors are saying either.

But they're too pompous to admit. They don't know what the hay is going on. So they just act like they know what. Jump in, Matthew. Well, I think it's interesting when you look at this case, you know, what did the police do in terms of their investigation? I mean, this is a 36-year-old woman who's otherwise healthy. You know, you found her in her bed overdosed, as we've heard, on heroin. But did you search the house? Was there heroin found in the house? Were there any tools that's typically used,

you know, to use heroin? Was this heroin injected? Was this heroin inhaled? That's really smart, Matthew Mangino, and you're absolutely right. As cops love to call it, drug paraphernalia. And I know why they say that, because there's such a long list of drug paraphernalia. You can't fit it onto an indictment. We're talking about your syringe. We're talking about your spoon.

We're talking about your bong. There're talking about your spoon. We're talking about your bong. Just there's so much drug paraphernalia. They call it all paraphernalia. And that's a really good question. Karen Drew joining us, who's been on this from the very, very beginning when she heard that Christina's family, sisters were going, she's never done drugs ever. This isn't true. This can't be right. But they check and they recheck the toxicology. And oh, yes, she did OD on heroin. Karen Drew joining us, WDIV. Did they search the home for drug paraphernalia or her heroin stash? From what we understand, Nancy, you know, obviously the home was searched, but I have to tell you that the detective that was there at the time, when they, obviously everyone responds to the body, then Jason came home understand the detective left because they thought it was an overdose case. So there wasn't I mean, there from what we understand, there was nothing else found drug related in the home.

I don't have the tabulations from from if there was a search warrant that was presented. But everything from what I understand, talking with family, talking to detectives, and talking to the prosecutor. There was nothing found in the house that really supported a drug habit, a drug paraphernalia. So that was a little bit of a mystery there. Or did they really even look Karen Drake? You know what, Nancy, that's the question. Did they? Because I have to give you the scene for for Davison. Davison, Michigan, is a small town. And I mean small murder, crime, robbery. It doesn't happen in Davison. It's just a small town, a small police force. So that's not really on your radar when something happens. There's not a lot of detectives that are are searching for clues. There's just not a lot of experience. And so that's been brought up too. Was there something? Did they miss something? Did they

do a search? Was it complete? Because it just was a place that, you know, there isn't a whole lot of crime, not a lot of police experience. And that has been really examined a lot in this case. And really, you know, go ahead, jump in. So, you know, another really a lot in this case. Go ahead, jump in. So, you know, another really good method in this case, a forensic method, we can analyze the hair to determine if it has been long-term heroin use. You know, that can tell a real story. I did not know that, that you could actually tell in the hair, which grows, of course, from the root. A lot of people think your hair grows from the tip. It doesn't. And in your hair, as it grows out, it can be tested to see what you

had ingested drug-wise a week, two weeks, a month, even longer before. That is so smart, Dr. Dupree. Listen to this. Christina Harris's cause of death was initially ruled an accident by the medical examiner's office after a blood sample tested positive for opiates, but her family was adamant Christina did not use drugs. The family even insisted police officers test her frozen breast milk to prove it. Remember, Harris was still breastfeeding and eight-month-old. Friends and family said Harris was very careful about what she put into her body. Plus, she was supposed to go to an OBGYN appointment the morning she was found. You know, to Karen Drew, joining us on WDIV-TV, I find it very odd that she would actually take heroin just before she was going to the OBGYN.

Right? I agree. That seems a little strange if you know you're going to the doctor's office. I mean, we all knew how serious of a mom she was in terms of she was really, everything family told me, you know, cared about the kids and making sure the sockets in the wall were plugged and getting healthy food and doing all of this. So it seems strange if she was doing heroin that she would even be breastfeeding then, or if she was doing heroin, she was going to go to the doctor the same day. So let me ask you a question. I keep hearing the family became upset. They insisted she had never used drugs. Who in the family was upset? The mother was very upset. And she had two sisters. And I will tell you, those sisters were are a force. I mean, they they really, really, really were strong on this. And really,

Patricia and Katrina just were very vehement. They said, there's just no way I know her we spend, you know, we do birthday parties together. We do, we have coffee together in the morning. I mean, it wasn't just like we just visit on the weekends. They saw each other and talked to each other almost every single day. So they just, they felt they really knew their sister. But I guess the police were saying, yeah, we hear you. We hear you. But the blood tests show it was OD heroin.

Take a listen to our cut, Jay. Davidson police didn't consider the mother of two's death a murder. That is, until Christy's sisters started nosing around. I'm not a detective, but I mean, I looked up more than I've ever looked up before. Their first concern, how the crime scene was handled the day their sister's body was found inside her Davidson home. Remember, her death was deemed an accidental drug overdose. As soon as my sister's body left the house, and the officer left when she left. Then there is their sister's breast milk.

The family kept telling police to check Christy's milk. It would show she was not doing drugs. No tests were run. They had information at their fingertips that they ignored within the first 48 hours. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Okay, I don't believe I've ever had the opportunity to say this in a single case I investigated, prosecuted, or covered.

Let's talk about breast milk. All right. To Dr. Michelle Dupree, former forensic pathologist, medical examiner, and author of Homicide Investigation Field Guide, what will breast milk show, probatively speaking? What can it prove? Well, Like, what can it prove? Well, Nancy, it can actually prove that there was, in this case, heroin in the mother because it is then in the mother's milk. It also passes along basically antibiotics and things like that.

So basically, whatever you drink or eat will be passed to your baby through your breast milk. Yes, exactly. Huh. eat will be passed to your baby through your breast milk yes exactly huh i mean i've heard cases where mom would have mexican food and then breastfeed and the baby would get a sick stomach and burp and carry on because it's getting the after effects of spicy food is that real yes it is real and the same thing with alcohol or drugs in this case. Bless you, whoever that was. Justin Borman, let me go to you, former Special Victims Unit detective and author. Why would the police be so resistant to the sister saying there's something wrong with that toxicology?

Get her breast milk. It's in the freezer. Well, we seem to, as a profession, sometimes get stuck in our silos and not look quite out of them, if you will, or ask questions. As a profession, we are the foam cone is what we're calling it if you will we go okay well it looks like an opioid overdose and one of my questions for dr. Dupree was we keep calling this heroin and this is something that's that's that's fine I don't know if it was exactly heroin, but would heroin and an opioid like OxyContin show up in the testing as the same, like an opioid? Are we assuming it was heroin? What about it, Dr. Dupree? Would it show up as the same probably of whatever the original drug was. There may be some native drug as well. And that's one of the things we do is we compare the metabolites to the native

drug to determine how long that has been in the system. What did she say? Okay, let me dumbing down my question. Okay, if she had taken oxy, oxycontin, for instance, oxycodone, would it show up in the toxicology test the same way heroin would? That's a yes, no, Dr. Dupree. Essentially, yes. I knew you would not do it in one word. I didn't know what the other word was going to be, but now I know it's essentially. Okay, so there's your answer.

You know what I think, Karen Drew, WDIV? I think that many times cops discount what women tell them women women i mean i hear somebody groaning groaning all you want to don't care i think that the cops went oh the sisters are calling again who's gonna take have you ever seen home alone when he the mom is calling from paris and they go ah it's the mom again. You take it. Same thing. It's the sisters again. Ah, she's a heroin addict.

Why do they keep calling me? You know that's what happened, Karen Drew. I've seen it in the stories I've covered. I mean, there's many times that there's the eyes roll back and say, okay, whatever. And come on, it's the sisters. What family really, very rarely, unless it's a very well-known drug addiction, does family know about it? Many times family is surprised and family says, this isn't true. This couldn't be. So it's no surprise they said

that. And you're right with the way the body reacted, you know, the authorities are thinking one way, but I have to say, Nancyancy they have this breast milk that they said they had and they're like i felt like that that kind of opens the door some to like could we check it could we check it and but they just were like these are these sisters they don't check it but no they wouldn't check it and certainly our stubborn personal biases are one of those reasons those male biases if you will um but i think who's admitting i've got two guys on the the panel justin boardman and matthew mangina who's confessing to male bias justin is then everything went quiet

so you've got the sisters just riding the police like a mule, insisting they're all wrong, begging them to test the breast milk. They won't do it. But wait, wait, wait. Now listen to this. Take a listen to our cut for from Crime Online. Sheila Koop told police that on one occasion she saw Christy Harris run out of her home visibly upset, sobbing.

Harris told her that Jason Harris was cheating and her newborn was just two weeks old. Other family and friends also thought Jason Harris was seeing other women. Nearly 5,900 texts were found to a woman from Providence, Rhode Island. There were also emails and pictures sent to several other women. Nine days after Christina died, Jason Harris bought a plane ticket to go visit the woman in Providence. Not long after that, a woman and her daughter moved in with Jason Harris in the home where Christina had died. What more will it take to put a fire under the rear ends of the police? A woman moves into the home right after Christina dies and

brings her daughter to? They didn't know that. Karen Drew. Oh, folks knew that, Nancy. I mean, again, this is a small town. People know what's going on. And she moved in and the kids are in the house. And it just seems strange no matter what, like what's going on. So, yes, lots of people were. I talked to two of the neighbors and they were they were very upset. It seemed very strange. The sisters were mad. They didn't know what was going on. But you know, it's not illegal to move someone into your house. So, you know, there was no action from police. It took two years, two years after the heroin overdose, before anybody finally got around to testing that breast milk.

Now, you know, another woman has moved into the home with her children. So I doubt very seriously that the new girlfriend would keep the ex-wife's breast milk in the freezer. Wait a minute. Take a listen to our cut FWDIV. Two years after the medical examiner ruled her death an accidental overdose, a key piece of evidence was found at her parents' house. Police were able to secure three plastic packages of Christina Harris's frozen breast milk that were placed in a cooler. All three of those were submitted to the Michigan State Police Crime Lab. In each instance, no controlled substance was detected. So then how did heroin get into her system? Take a listen to more from Michigan State Police. He believed Jason Harris murdered his wife. We believe he put heroin into her cereal and milk

the night that she died. Now take a listen to our cut. See Stephanie Park, NBC 25. One of his co-workers actually claims that Jason Harris first tried to hire him to kill his wife, but that co-worker said no. In court today, this man said he thought that this was all just set out of frustration. That was until he found out Christina, who had just had a baby, was found dead at the home she shared with Jason Harris. He had asked me if I would do it, and he told me he would be able to pay me out of a life insurance policy she had. That shocking question came from Zachariah Shustock's boss. Jason Harris was his supervisor at work. At the time, Shustock thought it was just Jason venting, but the odd questions continued. I knew of anything that would put her to sleep. Shustock thought it was just Jason venting. But the odd questions continued.

I knew of anything that would put her to sleep. Shustock says Jason kept asking for pills. He asked me if I knew of any that were tasteless or that she would not know of being put inside something she was going to eat or drink. Shustock knew Jason was struggling in his marriage because he would complain a lot to him. He was just saying that Christina wasn't wanting to go back to work, that he believed the child they had wasn't his, and that she was just laying around the house not doing anything and he was just getting tired of it.

Okay, it just takes me a minute to hear that because, you know, I laid around the house too after I nearly died during childbirth and didn't really feel like doing anything so his answer is to kill her because she didn't want to go back to work who is this person Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Karen Drew joining us WDIV. Who is this guy? 6,000 text messages to other women. Wants to have his wife killed because she's laying around the house and won't go back to work.

This is her second child. She's still breastfeeding. Who is this guy? You know, nobody can figure him out. He really is. I mean, she is this loving, doting mother. She's breastfeeding. He's, I don't, I'm a loss of words here. A jackass. That's a technical legal term. A complete horse's rear end. And another thing, let's get off him for a moment.

Let me hop back on the police. Two years pass. Time passes. So Matthew Mangino, joining me, former elected D.A. Lawrence County, now private attorney and author of The Executioner's Toll. Matthew, it took a civil lawsuit, statute of limitations, running, ending before the police got off their rear ends. What happened, Matthew? Explain it. Well, really, it's a clever way to gather evidence in this case. The suit was filed, and I'm sure through discovery, they were able to obtain information about people that he was communicating with, other women, you know, emails, all this sort of thing that would help them begin to build a case, you know, circumstantially,

you know, here's a motive, here's a reason why he would want to kill his wife. And then, you know, some of these other pieces began to come together as the state police got involved in this investigation. And they very, you know, fundamentally built a case based on information that they were able to obtain from the defendant in a civil lawsuit. It's a clever maneuver. And I heard you say a reason to kill her. So I guess you're saying that the wife laying around, and that's with air quotas, after giving birth was a reason for murder. Okay, before I tear you to shreds on that, Matthew Mangino, here's a good comparison. Who can forget the O.J. Simpson murder trial? Remember how much more we found out in the civil case, how that was his Bruno Mali footprint at the crime scene in blood, how he failed his polygraph with another, I think, a negative 40 something.

Just so much more came out in the civil case than we learned in the criminal case. That's exactly what happened here. But in the reverse order, Nancy, because. Yeah, that's right. Simpson went to trial first. Right. They come after a criminal case because there's a conviction. It's much easier to prove what you have to. The burden of proof is much less in the civil case.

But here we have it used. And that's why I say it's clever. They used it in a different way. They used it to accumulate evidence to prosecute a criminal case. They did. Take a listen to our cut G, our friend, Karen Drew, WDIV, on that civil lawsuit. Christie's family filed a wrongful death lawsuit, so Jason was deposed under oath. Let's start with another woman he admitted being in contact with during his marriage to Christy. You sent sexual messages to her?

Yes. You disclosed this at some point to your wife? Yes. When did you disclose it to Christy? As soon as she asked about him. She asked what the number was and I told her. Harris also admitted what he said about divorcing Christy. I think it came up as an option for the whole theory of living in a perfect world.

He was questioned about money problems in his marriage. What was the reason for filing bankruptcy? Because we were well over our head. Then asked about hiring a hitman to kill his wife. Did you ever request that Mr. Shustak kill your wife? No. And if he said that you did, he's either lying or mistaken? No, he'd be lying.

Oh, I love it when defendants do that. Everybody's lying. But them, they're the when defendants do that. Everybody's lying, but them. They're the only person telling the truth. Take a listen to more from Karen Drew, WDIVR Cut H. The 44-year-old father also talked about what happened inside his Davidson home while the couple's two children slept the night before his wife died. When you went to bed that night, you weren't concerned that anything was wrong? Did you notice anything out of the ordinary? Other than her falling asleep when pumping. She got hungry and made her up a bowl of cereal. That's what she asked for. Harris left early for

work the next day. And when you left, she was alive. Correct. A neighbor then found his wife dead in her bed after Jason called that neighbor asking her to check on Christy. At that time, Christy's death was ruled an accidental overdose. You had nothing to do with your wife's death, right? Correct. Right. Okay, so Karen Drew joining me, WDIV-TV investigative reporter. So the working theory is that he put heroin in her cereal he made her the night before. Yeah, that is that that was the theory that was going, you know, that's what the prosecutor believed. And there was some digging from the sisters as they were trying to get that information from the civil lawsuit because they were knocking on doors and talking, talking to

neighbors and talking to co-workers. And there was some word out on the street that he was unhappy in his marriage. And he was talking to some folks who were known to deal drugs and things like that. So that was kind of the pieces that they were trying to put together that they thought he literally put heroin in her cereal. So is it true that he would proposition people at work to be a hitman? Can you believe that? I mean, we always talk about dumb criminals, but I mean, that was the case. They had two individuals from his work take the stand and talk about how he, one, complained about his wife, and then a second one, he was looking for a hitman. And then a third, he was trying to get drugs. And there was some situation where he did some, I think it was a Klonopin or some type of drug that he did initially try. There was a weird taste.

She was eating. It was a weird taste. So she didn't finish whatever he tried the first time. And then when he went back and talked to the guy at work, there was just even this guy was like, this guy's a little crazy. I don't want anything to do with him right now. So he stopped helping him out with his plot. What's amazing to me is that the co-workers just never said anything. You got a guy trying to hire a hitman. And isn't it true that he bragged he hired another hitman for five thousand dollars and the hitman was doing surveillance and got caught with a gun and sent back to jail because he was on parole. And he bragged about that at work.

Yes. Hi, here's a hitman guy gets busted with a gun right there. Now we got to feel free from the police when I got to be like, OK, what's going on here? I mean, we've got so much stuff going on. Clearly somebody is trying to do something to their wife. I mean, you had to interview that guy, but nothing was done. I don't get it. And I want to go straight out to our shrink joining us.

And I say that in a loving, caring way, Dr. Sherry Schwartz. Dr. Sherry, people just sit by and listen to a guy soliciting for a hitman to kill his wife and they do nothing. And then she pops up dead and they still do nothing. Well, we know that this happens more frequently than we care to talk about. I think a lot of times, you know, people think, oh, this guy's just crazy. He's not really going to do it. He's not serious. He's just talking nonsense. And then you have the other guy who's giving away or selling Klonopin. That's somebody who's highly unlikely to go to the police, right? Because they're engaging in criminal behavior.

They don't want to be detected. Where did he work, Karen Drew? I don't remember the name of the facility, but it was kind of like a manufacturing factory kind of environment. Okay. In case you're wondering whether he got away with it, take a listen to our cut B, our friend, Karen Drew, WDIV. The jury didn't believe your lies, and now we're finally exposed for the selfish, murdering, lying monster that you are. Judge David Newblatt did not hold back on what he thought about Jason Harris and his plot to kill his wife, Christy Thompson Harris,

and cash in on her $130,000 life insurance. What you wanted, all the stuff, you sacrificed your daughters, right? You took away their mother. That's the first thing you did. You took away their mother. 47 year old Harris was found guilty of a murder plot that involved Harris lacing his wife's cereal with heroin, causing her death. Christie was a mother of two. It was her breast milk that would prove she was not doing drugs and was poisoned by her own husband. To Karen Drew, special guest joining us, WDIV-TV. Where is this POC, another technical legal term, Jason Harris now? Oh, he's behind bars, sentenced to life in prison. I can only hope that he stays there.

I can't even put into words. I've covered a lot of court cases. And as a reporter, you normally use sound from, you know, when somebody takes the stand and talks. But that judge, I had never heard a judge go off on an individual more than this judge. And he summed it up. You wanted to buy a car with that. You wanted to have an affair. You just wanted some stuff. And then you left your two kids without a mom. Who has the children now, Karen? Well, I hate to say now they're in a fight with guardianship because when this is all going on, when Jason was pulled out, you know, when they were in court, his parents were watching the children. And Christy's parents obviously want to have the children, but that's why they're

remaining quiet. And I knew they wanted to talk on this podcast, but they have to do everything they can to try to make sure they do every single thing right to win 100% guardianship of those kids. So they're in the process of that right now. The 12-year-old, one of the children is 12 right now. They read her statement in court. It was chilling. I mean, she basically said, Dad, you lied to me. You killed my mom. And the children don't want anything to do with him. All I can say is Jason Harris, rot in hell, of course. And to the CI, Correctional Institute, where he is housed. Don't let him work in the cafeteria. Nancy Grace, Crime Story, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.