The Deck - Renee Rosita Harris (King of Spades, Florida)

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

In the spring of 2000, a 24-year-old woman was found floating in a Citrus County, Florida canal. Though answers have eluded authorities for more than two decades, a present-day sergeant is hoping that putting her story in the spotlight may help reveal the truth.If you know anything about the murder of Renee Rosita Harris, you can call the Citrus County Sheriff’s Office at 352-249-2790 and ask for the major crimes unit. Or, if you wish to remain anonymous, you can call 1-800-ANY-TIPS (269-8477).View source material and photos for this episode at: thedeckpodcast.com/renee-rosita-harris/ Let us deal you in… follow The Deck on social media.Instagram: @thedeckpodcast | @audiochuckTwitter: @thedeckpodcast_ | @audiochuckFacebook: /TheDeckPodcast | /audiochuckllcTo apply for a Cold Case Playing Card grant through Season of Justice, please visit: www.seasonofjustice.org The Deck is hosted by Ashley Flowers. Instagram: @ashleyflowersTikTok: @ashleyflowerscrimejunkieTwitter: @Ash_FlowersFacebook: /AshleyFlowers.AF  Text Ashley at 317-733-7485 to talk all things true crime, get behind the scenes updates, and more!

I'm sure you've already noticed, but we have released two episodes today, two separate cases that both have limited information, but we couldn't let that stop us from telling you their stories. Our hope is by releasing these episodes, listeners from both areas will recall information that helps fill in the gaps for investigators and ultimately allows the truth to what really happened to each of these two women come to light. Our first card this week is Renee Rosita Harris,

the King of Spades from Florida. In the spring of 2000, a 24-year-old woman was found floating in a Citrus County, Florida, canal. Though answers have eluded authorities for more than two decades, a present-day sergeant is hoping that putting her story in the spotlight may help reveal the truth. I'm Ashley Flowers, and this is The Deck. A A fisherman and his family were up before the crack of dawn on May 20, 2000. They were going to spend some quality time together shore fishing at the Cross Florida

Barge Canal in Crystal River, a popular spot in central Florida, which I actually believe has been renamed the Marjory Harris Car Cross Florida Greenway. But either way, it's a popular spot to fish on Saturdays. They were some of the first ones there walking along the bank just as the sun was rising. But before their lines were even in the water, their day was upended. They noticed what looked like a body floating in the water and then immediately notified law enforcement. That's Sergeant Chris Holloway with the Citrus County Sheriff's Office.

He's very familiar with this canal, used to take his own kids fishing there too, in fact. I imagine it scared them, and then they had, I think, a child with them as well. It was either members of the Coast Guard or the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission who flocked to the scene that day. It's a little unclear which though, because they both would have had patrols stationed

nearby, followed in short order by the sheriff's deputies. After securing the crime scene, the agencies worked together to recover the unknown woman's body, which wasn't easy because of the terrain. It's very hard up in a bank to collect a body off the side, take a chance of damaging evidence. So, it's a lot easier in this type of case to put the body in a bag and then transfer it to a boat. So, you preserve as much evidence as possible.

It is the Gulf, so we do have tides that come in and out. So it's the body, I believe, at the time they were able to get it was near shore. Upon first look, it didn't seem like the woman had been in the water very long. And there weren't obvious signs that could clue them into exactly how she may have died, like no blatant signs of trauma visible to the average eye. Now, since the woman was found nude, we wondered if there were any other identifying factors, like jewelry or something, found on or with her. But our reporting team asked Sergeant Holloway, and he said he couldn't discuss it. At the time, there weren't any reports of missing local women in their jurisdiction,

so Citrus County authorities were going to have to branch further out to try and see if any neighboring counties knew who she was. And in the meantime, that left other investigators at the site of the canal to check for any potential evidence along the shoreline. But unfortunately, nothing stuck out as clearly being related to this particular woman. Just random things here and there that could be litter or could be evidence. There's only one way to find out, right? So to do their due diligence, they pretty much grabbed anything and everything they could find just in case.

It is an area where people populate or people go to fish. So we found quite a bit of evidence, but you just don't know what part is evidence that's relevant or evidence that it's just trash. Because it's in a body of water, it's the Gulf of Mexico, so what stuff floated up that was there had nothing to do with it. You just don't know. So you try to collect everything you can,

because you don't know what you don't know at the time. They didn't know a lot. I mean, how she even got to this spot in the water was a mystery. Did she jump off a bridge as a possible suicide? Did she come from up further up the canal? Did she come from the Gulf of Mexico, dumped off a boat? You have no idea. So they're trying to figure all that out. Since she was discovered so early in the morning, they were able to get her body over to the medical examiner's office to conduct an autopsy that same day. Medical examiners ruled the death a homicide after finding the cause to be blunt force trauma and drowning.

Sergeant Holloway said he didn't want to publicize anything else, like what she was likely killed with or where she had been hit. I mean, really, it's unclear if they even have those answers today. But here's what Sergeant Holloway would say when we asked if a sexual assault kit was ordered. And almost all homicide cases with females, even males as well, will still do a s*** exam or request it done by the medical examiner's office. So we always get those regardless, because since we don't know what happened at the time, even if they were thrown in the water, we still do the same. We're still able to cover evidence that way.

But what, if anything, they found, Sergeant Holloway wouldn't say. And he's being equally tight-lipped about all the items that they collected at the scene. He said that they sent them off for testing, but that's all we could get. The autopsy did bring about one big answer. I know that for sure. Using her fingerprints, they got a hit for an Ocala woman with records out of Marion County, Florida, about an hour northeast of Citrus County. Their victim was 24-year-old Renee Rosita Harris. Renee's prints were in the system because she'd been arrested recently for charges related to

sex work. Now, there was no missing persons report filed for Renee, anywhere, which could have simply been the result of timing. I mean, considering it didn't look like she'd been in the water for too long, she was probably found before anyone even realized that she was gone. I don't know what Renee's mom, Mildred, said or thought when she found out about her daughter's death. Sergeant Holloway didn't know much about how that conversation went down between her and the detectives. But reports indicate that those who knew Renee had some nice things to say about her. She was very smart in school, outgoing, nice person. After looking over

her recent criminal record from Marion County, police immediately wanted to talk to anyone who knew Renee from her job as a sex worker. But because she didn't have any real ties to where she was found in Citrus County, tracking down her friends, her clients, her associates, all of that was really difficult. I mean, where she lived, worked, and hung out were all about 45 minutes to an hour away from Crystal River. We had to rely on other agencies to help us out quite a bit, which they're always willing to do, but it puts a hamper on what they're doing as well. Because they have their own investigations going on, and they have their own stuff going

on in their county. So we're having to rely on them to help us out quite a bit, because we don't even know the players up there. So we can go up there and interview people, but we don't know who we're interviewing. So if you work in that county, you'll know who those people are, you'll know if they're telling you the truth, you'll know who to go to next, or who would be the person that would know what those people are. You'll know if they're telling you the truth. You'll know who to go to next, or who would be the person that would know what have happened.

It took a few trips over to Marion County and help from other agencies, but they did eventually start to put some of the pieces together. Like the fact that although there was a house that Renee often stayed at, she was more recently known to spend a lot of time at the town plaza,

and then a few other motels slash hotels in Ocala. So we had to go to every one of those areas because you don't know where, we don't know if she was picked up and that's what did it. We had to check anybody that sold her drugs, anywhere she sold drugs to or traded off drugs for sex. Along with passing out flyers to try and spread the word about Renee's murder far and wide within the community, law enforcement also announced a reward in an effort to get more information flowing.

And it must have worked, because they got a witness to come forward who could help narrow down the time of Renee's death. A woman that Renee worked with came forward and said that she'd last seen Renee the night before her body was found at the town plaza in Ocala at around 1130 p.m. And that really helped narrow the timeline down for investigators, because if she was found the next morning in the canal around 630 in the morning, that's about a seven-hour window for her to be killed. The problem was, the town plaza was full of transient people, many of whom pay by the

hour, not day. So despite their best efforts, they couldn't track down any other witnesses who could help them figure out if Renee had been seen after 1130, or who she might have been with. And trying to get physical evidence from the motel was just as fruitless. It seemed like Renee had been in and out of several different rooms, even sharing them with people at times. So there wasn't one specific location where she was known to last be.

And who knows who had been in and out of there since. But even though they couldn't narrow their seven hour window down, they were able to piece together a lot more of Renee's movements leading up to that night. And that was helpful. We were able to locate some of our, what we thought were suspects

or still continue to think are suspects and backtrack where she was all the way, even to several nights. Well, sometimes even go back two or three weeks prior. Maybe she only sees them once a month. So we have to go back quite a bit to see her whole history. The type of clients she tended to spend the most time with, according to Sergeant Holloway, were middle-aged, working white men. So they wanted to track down

men who fit that description and who she'd seen within the last several weeks or so. For one she was scared of that may have been rough with her at one time or another, you don't want to be tunnel vision into any just one person saying, oh, this guy likes to choke women, so he must have killed her. This guy likes to beat women, so he must have killed her. The investigators have to look at all of that because since we don't know who she was with last, we don't have a log book of what she's got next or what coming up. There was, however, one client whose name kept coming up amongst the other sex workers that they were speaking with because, according to Sergeant Holloway, he was known to abuse women.

So a lot of the people were scared of even going on a date with him, would not even go out with him, and would not get in the car with him. So that was one of the suspects we were looking at. When that man, who we'll call Jasper, was interviewed shortly after popping up on police's radar, he did own up to having slept with Renee in the past, but he wouldn't admit to ever being violent with her. Though investigators seemed to be focusing in on Jasper, it was also crucial they find out who else she had contact with that day. Whether they were clients or people who had sold Renee drugs, detectives

were looking at a total of five or six different men who looked good for the crime, including two men who may have had dates with her the day that she was last seen alive, one around 4 p.m. and then the other around 6. Sergeant Holloway says that of that group of five or six men, he believes that there are a few who stand out above the rest as more viable suspects. Availability, your motive and ability to do it in lifestyle. These men were questioned several times during the first months of the investigation. But eventually, things went quiet. It was actually fairly quick for that type of case because you've got that so many people talk to,

but nobody really comes forward. They don't really come forward and say, hey, I know she told me this. They don't come back and talk to us. They don't really come forward and say, hey, I know she told me this. They don't come back and talk to us. They don't like talking to law enforcement and they just feel like they're moving on and doing their own thing even though Renee's mom is not. But in the fall of 2000, five months after Renee's murder, detectives zeroed in on one of Renee's clients, a man already in custody on another unrelated charge. Not only were they questioning him, but a grand jury was being called.

Sergeant Holloway wouldn't reveal any suspect names during our interview, but we were able to find this one guy while doing our own research on Rene's case. According to reporting in the Tampa Bay Times published on October 11th of 2000, police had interviewed a man named Bruce Midkiff, who not only admitted to paying Renee for sex the night she disappeared, but also admitted to smoking crack cocaine with her. Here's a voice actor reading part of that Tampa Bay Times article written by Jim Ross. Jim Ross, Voice Actor, Tampa Bay Times, New York City, New York City, New York City, New

York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, New York City, article written by Jim Ross. Citrus law officers who are investigating the death of Renee Rosita Harris have interviewed a Marion County man, although they won't say whether they consider him a suspect. The man whom authorities questioned, Bruce Midkiff, 23, is serving a six-month sentence at the Marion County jail for grand theft and burglary, court records showed.

His lawyer in past cases, Assistant Public Defender Bill Miller of Ocala, declined to comment Tuesday. Midkiff, who also has admitted a drug problem, has been in and out of jail during the past few years. His record includes arrests on charges of battery, domestic violence, burglary, and grand theft. Court records did not indicate how Citrus County authorities identified Midkiff as a witness who might have relevant

information about the homicide. Several times during that interview, Midkiff said he gave Harris $30 that she used to buy crack cocaine May 19th. They smoked the cocaine together and he later paid her $20 for intercourse, according to a report that Citrus investigator Ken Perez prepared. When we confronted Sergeant Holloway with this information, he did confirm that Bruce Midkiff was one of the clients detectives spoke to back then. We tried pushing for more answers, but all he would say is that they were looking at

him back then and that today, he still can't be ruled out. What the article doesn't say is what time Bruce Midkiff and Renee were together on May 19. I mean, it does go on to say that Bruce denied involvement in Renee's murder, but it doesn't say if he provided any kind of alibi for later that night or in the early morning hours the next day. The article also mentions one other detail that I found relevant. It said that, "...the autopsy on Renee's remains showed that she had been dead less than 12 hours, which would put her time of death close to when she was likely with that last client.

Now, from what I can tell in newspaper archives, Bruce Midkiff served some time in jail, but not for anything related to Renee's murder. Now, what I'd love to know is if Bruce Midkiff or any of the other unnamed clients of Renee's who were interviewed had any ties to Citrus County, or if any of them liked to fish in their free time. Because in the year 2000, how else would you know about this canal that's like an hour away? Or is it possible they tossed Renee in elsewhere and then she drifted close to the canal bank? Unfortunately, any connection between a potential suspect and the canal still remains a mystery. It's a huge corridor. It's on 19. It could have been a random dump site. They could have been just driving around and it's a desolate, I guess you could call it desolate. It's so

in the middle of the night that place would be almost no traffic, on 19 it would be traffic, but if you go off to where they go fishing, almost probably nobody out there. So if you just want to go down there, it's a good place because there's very few people down there. Sergeant Holloway has a loose theory about what may have happened to Renee that night. Motos probably, my guess is either two of them, either got one who likes beating women, could be a COQ or whatever, or she owed somebody money. Sergeant Holloway wouldn't elaborate, but when our reporter Madison asked if he thought this crime may have been planned,

he did say yes. He also said there's a chance that a second person may have been involved, maybe at least with covering up the murder or getting rid of Renee's body. Anybody that knew who was with her the night of the 19th, anybody that may have threatened her, anybody she may have owed money to, anybody she was definitely scared of or would not get in a car with, even somebody she would have gotten a car with.

Obviously, she somehow got transported from Marion County to Citrus County. So anybody that would have information on that, whether if they told us a lie in the past, we'd still like to hear any new tips or if you want to recant what you said before and come up with what actually happened or what you recall because now you're no longer in fear. — Sergeant Holloway said he doesn't think anyone has been questioned in Renee's case, at least within the last five years or so.

But he's hoping that this time around, someone who knows something will be more willing to come forward and talk to law enforcement. — We're looking to solve the case for her, to find out who killed her, to put that person in jail. We're not looking to judge you for what you did in the past. We never judge anybody for what they do. Their lifestyles, their choices, they had.

There's a reason why they're where they're at, either by their choice or by circumstance. So we don't judge them for that. Everybody's got their bad choices they made in life. Even if you told a lie back then, come back and tell us what really happened. We're not gonna say, oh, we're gonna arrest you now for lying to us in the past. We're not about that.

We're looking at what caused the death of Renee Harris to get closure for her, get closure for her family. And the why is even second to that, because if they just knew who did it, they at least know who to forgive if they choose to forgive them, and then they can sleep a lot better at night because they know. It's not knowing is what usually causes people not to sleep.

We tried reaching out to Renee's mother for this episode, but we weren't able to track her down, and the numbers we found were all disconnected. So I'm not qualified to speak for her. But I will say this, Renee didn't deserve what happened to her. She was figuring out her life just like every 20-something-year-old woman does, and she was getting by the best way she knew how. And you know what's really sad? If you Google her name, only a few old articles pop up.

And most of them are just two-sentence briefs in those cold case roundup type stories. And it doesn't sound like any real investigative work had been done in Renee's case in years. Maybe detectives are waiting on the call that breaks the case open. So if you know anything about the murder of Renee Rosita Harris, you can call the Citrus County Sheriff's Office

at 352-249-2790 and ask for the Major Crimes Unit. Or you can call 1-800-ANYTIPS if you wish to remain anonymous. The Deck is an audio check production with theme music by Ryan Lewis. To learn more about The Deck and our advocacy work, visit thedeckpodcast.com. So what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve? Boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo