Murder on Red River | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[music] Yep. >> What Riding for Justice has done is reached out to people that knew Jennifer
Harris. >> How often do you saddle up and ride? >> Once a month. >> We got a big crowd. Let's keep it safe.
[music] >> Something has touched the people of Fannic County about this case. [music]
>> Absolutely. Everybody in this county wants to see this case solved. >> To let something like this go on this
long is uncalled for. >> Jennifer Harris was well loved here. >> That's a Jennifer [music] Harris case.
Everything that's involved. >> This This is the whole investigation right here. >> This is it. Sheriff, I I hope you don't
mind me asking, but that doesn't seem like a whole lot for 15 years. >> Well, that's all we got to work with.
>> Doesn't get any easier. There's not one day that I don't wake up and think about
my sister. >> I wish I could only have a handful of the friends she had. She was
amazing. [music] She was the redhaired girl who was the goofball. adorable, lovable Lucille Ball type. She smothered
me with love. >> On Mother's Day, >> 2002, no different than any other day. You take the walk,
>> right? I saw a Jeep, but I didn't think anything about it. But then when it was
here the second day, you're like, why is that Jeep still here? [music] >> I get a phone call that her Jeep had
been found. What did she do leaving her Jeep on the side of the road? [music] There was a [music] fisherman who was
fishing on the Red River. He saw a body in the water. I remember going to the Red River to the bridge,
seeing the police officers, the sheriff. >> There more up here, y'all. >> And I remember [music] my dad
being right there with them. And I just Let me see her. Let me see her. Let me see. It's got Is it hers?
It can't be her. It [laughter] has to. Why? Is it her? Is it her? >> Whenever we move her, just move right
into a boat. >> Is it really her? And >> the body is completely naked. >> Not a stitch of clothing,
>> not a sock. >> The way she was disposed of like a piece of trash. [snorts] She didn't deserve
that. The medical examiner listed the cause of death as [music] homicidal violence.
>> What is that? Were they strangled? Were they shot? Those are the things you need
to know. >> Jennifer's murder impacted my wife and her family. You can't even put it
[music] in words. >> Cemeterial one. >> This is unlike anything that I've ever done as a filmmaker. But I thought he
said it first time we were with him. Finding the killer and actually being able to prove where's the physical
evidence who the killer is. Let's continue with the timeline. >> This is much more than a passion project
because this is family. >> We're going to follow through and [music] we're going to get this done.
>> You want to know who killed Jennifer Harris? >> Absolutely. I'm a Texas girl. I believe in justice.
Old school justice. >> [music] [music] >> 48 hours murder on Red River [music] in the northeast corner of Texas where
the banks of the Red [music] river touch Oklahoma, you'll find Fanning County and
the town of Bonham, one of the oldest cities in the Lonear State. And it's where Mark Johnson, who had
just wrapped up 32 years in law enforcement, decided to ditch retirement and run for sheriff in 2016.
I met Jerry Harris, the father of the young lady on the campaign trail, [music] >> and he made a promise from one father to
another to continue the investigation into the murder of Jerry's oldest daughter, 28-year-old Jennifer Harris, a
case unsolved for more than 15 years. >> When I came here January 1, >> you sure,
>> I demanded that case be brought to me. >> That was the first thing you did. >> Yes. I wanted a Jennifer Harris case.
>> Jennifer's father, a Marine and Vietnam veteran, finally has hope. >> I think he's serious about trying to
solve this case. >> This is my office. >> And he's not the only one. >> The week.
>> For the last 8 years, Daryl Parker has been working with Jerry Harris to solve
his daughter's murder. First as a lieutenant in the Fannon County Sheriff's Office and now as a private
investigator. A Marine never meets a stranger if he meets another Marine. >> He too was a Marine and Parker has never
charged Jerry a dime. >> I still have a lot of that Captain America justice kind of thing going on.
I want Jerry and his family to find justice. >> In high school, Jennifer Harris was
popular and athletic. >> Brilliant redhaired [music] girl, bright brown eyes, played tennis, and was a
cheerleader. Jennifer's younger sister, Alyssa. >> She was a dreamer. She was an idealist
and she knew that there was a bigger world outside of Bonum, Texas. >> Bonham is probably your prototypical
small town USA. Gossip is on an epic scale. >> When Jennifer Harris goes missing, how
does that news play in Bonum? It was a bombshell because this girl was not too far removed from high school. To
understand that she had been murdered, it disturbed a lot of people. >> She was only 28 years old. She was just
beginning to come into her own right when she was murdered. >> The day that I came in here and looked
at her cases and opening those boxes, I wanted to sit down on the floor and cry.
>> That's because after more than 15 years, this is all they have to work with. And what do we have in in each of these
boxes? >> These are all this is all documentation that's in there. You know, when she
first come up missing poster, they're looking for newspaper articles, business records, and this is just some case
reports. You can see that now this was wet. A lot of stuff got wet. They had some pods out back. They stored a lot of
evidence. They leaked and a lot of stuff got wet. >> Contaminated. >> Yes. and some of them got destroyed. The
>> file was very light. The duplicates of the same paperwork over and over and over again. It was a mess.
>> Although the original investigators have said they did their best, [music] Jennifer's laptop computer and clothing,
a shirt, bra, and jeans that might have been hers were booked into evidence, but
somehow mysteriously disappeared. >> It's just been mishandled. >> Why would it be mishandled? I I honestly
don't know. The only thing I can gather out of it is lack of lack of experience,
lack of training. >> It was Mother's Day 2002. Jennifer was visiting her friend Christy Far in the
early evening. >> It gets to be close to 8:00 and Jennifer is like, I got to go.
>> Correct. >> She [music] never told Christy where she was going, but Jennifer Harris never
returned home that night. The next day, Jennifer's Jeep was discovered, parked just down the road from a local music
spot. While she was still missing, authorities reached out to the two men in her life.
>> I know I'm guilty of anything. >> Her former boyfriend and [music] business partner, James Hamilton, and
her ex-husband, Rob Hullman. >> Rob, how you doing? >> Pretty good. >> Both agreed to speak with investigators
without a lawyer present. They had not been arrested, but both men were read their Miranda rights.
>> So, you have the right to be silent. Anything you say can will be against you, the court of law.
>> And both denied seeing Jennifer the night she disappeared. >> I would love to know that she's okay,
that she's happy. According to his police interview, Jennifer's former boyfriend, James Hamilton, was with a
friend more than an hour away from Bonum at this McDonald's around the time investigators believe Jennifer
disappeared. He even took and [music] passed a lie detector test. >> He had an alibi for that evening. Alibi
checked [music] out. >> But ex-husband Rob Homeman seemed concerned about his alibi. I'm just
worried and scared because I know that I don't have anybody to say where I was at
that night. >> Rob told investigators he had gone out that night to buy beer and visit
friends. But when they weren't home, he drove around alone for 5 hours on the roads of rural Fanning County.
>> Suddenly when you went riding around you saw her I didn't see somebody. I saw a
chief but I didn't see I don't know who it was. But when the investigator pushes
harder, it sounds like Rob is admitting he did see her Jeep that night. >> Where did you see her Jeep?
>> I was on 898 at the stop sign by the blinking light. Then I turned over. She was in front of me. She was coming from
town. >> By now, Jennifer had been [music] missing for 72 hours. The search would
continue for three more days. >> I was getting about 3 or 4 hours sleep a night. spent the rest of my time
searching, driving country roads, looking for buzzards. >> That's a hell of a [music] thing for a
father to have to do. >> That's what I did until they found her. Things seemed to go in slow motion. It
was very surreal. >> When we move, >> finding Jennifer's body 6 days after her disappearance devastated her father,
Jerry, but it did little to clear up the mystery of what had happened to her. She
was so badly decomposed, the medical examiner couldn't determine the cause of death.
>> Jennifer was in >> But Jennifer's [music] family believes they know the answer. Her sister Alyssa
and her filmmaker [music] husband Barry Wernernick are on a mission to prove who
killed Jennifer and why. In the time you've been looking [music] into this, have you gone from I want the
facts to shape my opinion to now having a sense of who killed Jennifer? >> Absolutely.
to think about how beautiful she was and her red hair and just how [sighs] and to think about how she was found.
That's what um that's what I just can't let go of until justice is done. >> Was the prom dress? There's that prom
dress. >> Filmmaker Barry Wernerick married Jennifer Harris's sister, Alyssa, eight
years after Jennifer's murder. >> When Alyssa first told me about her sister's murder, the first thing that
came to my mind was, "Who did it? Do you know who did it?" All these things started going through my mind.
>> Barry and Alyssa are determined to answer those questions by making a docu series.
>> Didn't transcribe that. >> Barry, an experienced filmmaker, was a consultant on [music] this broadcast.
I felt like I could use my film making ability to do our own investigating because it doesn't didn't seem like
anyone was doing it. >> He is working hand in hand with Daryl Parker and another private eye, Jim
Holloway, re-examining everything. >> We are in a place this is central to your theory of what happened.
>> Yes. The reason why Daryl Parker is so sure this is where Jennifer died is because of a clue that lies on the
river's floor a short way down this dirt [music] road. >> She had some blue mud on the front of
her. According to fishermen, [music] there are only two spots on the river within several miles that that mud is on
the bottom. >> And this is one of them. >> This is that blue marl mud that was on
the body. Not far from the riverbank, there used to be a cottage. >> This is where the original, you know,
caretaker cottage [music] was, >> and it just so happened to burn down the night that Jennifer Harris disappeared.
>> That is a piece of melted glass from the original fire. >> Parker suspects Jennifer left her friend
Christiey's house and met her killer here. >> He believes the cottage was burned to
hide the evidence. >> No godly earth reason for that shack to burn. At the same night, Jennifer comes
up missing. >> Parker hoped to find clues here. >> We came here with a crew and excavated
the whole thing [music] 15 ft that way to another 10 ft that way on either side of this foundation.
>> I see [music] a well. >> We drained the well and then we dug down in the muck probably a foot or two and
[music] we didn't come up with anything. >> But years of coming up empty hasn't deterred Daryl Parker or Barry and
Alyssa Wernerick. And it hasn't shaken their conviction of who killed Jennifer. >> When I think about Jennifer, I think
about Jennifer and Rob. >> Rob and Jennifer were together for as long as anyone can remember. She was a
sixth grader when she began dating Rob, a fifth grader. By high school, the teenagers were practically inseparable,
says Jennifer's cousin, Susan Bowen. He was just part of our family from the time we were growing up. Jennifer was
just in love [music] with him. She just adored everything about him. >> Jennifer had big dreams, bigger than
could take flight in small town Bonham. >> Jennifer had potential to explore greater horizons than just Fannon
County, [music] Texas. >> She moved 3 hours away to go to college. A few years later, Rob followed her
there and the couple married in 1996. >> It was gorgeous. It [music] was meticulously planned at a very beautiful
mansion out in the in the country. >> It landed us. >> It does. >> One year after the wedding, Jennifer's
mother died of cancer. >> You could tell she had learned a lot in the few years that we lost our mother.
She became an adult that [music] was very open-minded. >> In 1999, the couple bought a house in
suburban Dallas, but there was friction brewing. >> I think that my sister was growing and
evolving and moving [music] forward in her life and Rob was stuck and he just wasn't going to change. According to
Jennifer's family, Rob, who was working in landscaping, preferred the slower pace of rural bonum, while she enjoyed
living near a big city, Jennifer embraced a holistic lifestyle and enrolled in massage therapy school.
>> She transformed in front of my eyes. She said that she had met someone who was
like-minded and who wanted to start a business that was [music] a massage and wellness center. That someone was James
Hamilton, someone she'd met in that massage therapy school. >> He was different, but um
>> in what way? >> Well, he was new age and >> touchy feely >> a little bit. >> Their relationship was complicated.
James was living with the mother of his child and had another on the way. [music]
Jennifer was still married to Rob. I told her that it was not a good idea that I
>> What did she say? [music] >> She didn't tell me a lot after that. [laughter] She knew where I stood.
>> I went up there to see what was going on in their lives. >> When Jennifer's father got there, he was
shocked to see holes in the wall. While no one knows for sure how they got there, Jerry seemed certain [music]
Rob was responsible. He took his fist and knocked five holes in the living room wall
about as big as a softball. >> Jerry remembers the holes in the wall. Alyssa remembers something worse.
>> My sister called me one night and um was shaking in her voice. [music] >> She says Jennifer told her Rob came home
drunk and forced himself on her. Jennifer never reported the alleged attack, but Rob would later [music] tell
police after her disappearance that Jennifer was the violent one in the relationship.
>> She's not tempered. We're married. Generally her way or no way. Sometimes I would grab her, wrap her up, keep her
hidden. >> Rob moved back to Bonum and Jennifer's new love interest, James Hamilton, moved
in with her. They became partners in a massage therapy business in suburban Dallas. But Jennifer's infatuation with
James quickly faded. >> Well, James wanted to marry her and she refused to marry him and he was very
upset about that. >> The private investigators say Jennifer's relationship with Hamilton was rocky.
>> Real fiery, just uh fussing and fighting at each other all the time. By the spring of 2002,
>> your sister is leading one complicated life emotionally. >> Jennifer [music] had divorced Rob and
her relationship with James was on the skids. To add to the chaos, the [music] massage business had failed and Jennifer
was forced to file for bankruptcy. [music] >> I think that everything was catching up
to her and she'd ever really grieved my mom's death and I think she was exhausted. She said, "I'm not happy. I
don't care about the business anymore." >> With no job or income, Jennifer confided
in cousin Susan that she'd been back in touch with her former husband, Rob Holman, who now had a new girlfriend.
>> And she [music] said, "I still love him." And she said, "I want him back." And she said, "I even told him that." In
fact, Rob later admitted to police that even though he had a girlfriend, he and Jennifer were still having sex
>> four or five times his pregnancy. Yeah. >> So, Jennifer was living a little bit of
a split life >> to a certain extent, but James didn't know it. He knew nothing about it all.
>> Then one day, Susan saw Jennifer outside her apartment with a moving truck. >> I said, "What are you doing?" and she
said, "I'm moving to Bonham." I thought, "You're only going to Bonham because Rob's in Bonham." Okay. And with that, I
turned around and left. And that was the last time I ever saw her. >> About 6 weeks later, Jennifer
disappeared. On the very day she went missing, she called Rob. Rob says she asked to see him,
>> but he refused. >> I had plans for the girlfriend. She got real upset cuz it was Mother's Day and I
would come over. >> Rob agreed to take a polygraph to back up his story, but for some reason it was
never administered. Sheriff's investigators [music] allowed him to go home. They had a lot
more digging to do, and it centered around a [music] secret Jennifer had shared with her best friend Jill Wagner
just weeks before she died. >> You know, we started talking and she was kind of, "Well, you're not going to
believe, you know, the mess I'm in." And she told me how, you know, that and I pretty much guessed. I was like, you're
pregnant. >> If Jennifer was pregnant, who was the father? Was it Rob Homeman or someone
else? That question became even more important after the medical examiner's autopsy revealed a stunning piece of
information. >> Her uterus was gone. [music] When they examined Jennifer Harris's
body, investigators were shocked. >> There was a wound that affected some of the internal organs.
>> Her uterus was missing. >> Her [music] death was classified as a quote violent homicide. her uterus had
somehow been removed. >> The question was, what damaged her? >> What would have the motive been?
>> That she was possibly pregnant and that the person who killed her was trying to
destroy that evidence. >> In Bonum, where gossip is often taken for gospel, people couldn't stop
talking. >> The public grab a hold of that information and they started concocting
their own theories as to who did it and why. But according to the case file, there was no scientific evidence to
prove Jennifer was actually pregnant at the time of her death. Still, Jennifer's
best friend, Jill Wagner, told investigators she had talked to Jennifer about being pregnant. And that's not all
she said. >> You know, she told me that it was Robs, and I was kind of shocked. >> Rob Holman, Jennifer's [music]
ex-husband. He had revealed to detectives in his police interview that he'd met Jennifer a month before she
disappeared near a drive-in movie theater. >> She told me that she was pregnant and
it's mine. >> I definitely think that she brought it up with Rob. And in my mind, that's what
led to her death. >> Daryl Parker had long been familiar with the story of Jennifer [music] being
pregnant. 8 years after her murder, Parker, then a lieutenant for the sheriff's department, dropped by Rob
Holman's house. It was Sunday, Mother's Day. A calculated move by Parker. >> So, it was the anniversary of the crime.
I had picked out a number of photographs of her and Rob. One of those being Jennifer swimming in a muddy body of
water. And when I gave him [music] the the stack of photographs, the very first one he picked out was that one with the
muddy water. He stood there for about five or six seconds staring at that photograph. But that's the one that
caught his attention like that, you know. I said, "Well, if you want to talk, call me." And I gave him my card
and I left. >> A few hours later, to Parker's surprise, Holman called and wanted to talk. But
Parker had [music] wanted to record the interview, so he suggested they meet at the sheriff's office the next day.
>> That's where I screwed up. I should have gone right then and there. I think he
was ready to talk and say something and I should have just done it. This really has you still. Why so
emotional, Darl? You're really blaming yourself here. >> Well, the previous investigation had failed in
so many ways, but he was responding to me. He was responding to the pressure I was putting on him and I let it slip
away. >> When Holman arrived for the interview with Parker, >> he had a lawyer. >> Did you have anything to do with the
death of Jennifer Harris? >> No. >> Jennifer's pregnancy. Did you believe Did you believe she was pregnant?
>> No, I didn't think she was. >> Did you think that she believed she was pregnant?
>> No. Remember, there was no evidence Jennifer was pregnant. And in fact, forensic experts in Dallas would later
conclude Jennifer's missing uterus wasn't even cut out by the killer. Instead, her uterus and other body parts
were destroyed by turtles and fish in the river. But the rumors persisted, and they had
plenty of company in Bonum. A year after Jennifer's murder, this man found himself in the center of the
storm. >> They were saying that I had been arrested for this murder. >> I mean, you hear this and what's your
reaction? >> What are you talking about? Where did this come from? That's crazy.
>> Crazy because Miles Porter was also the district attorney at the time, overseeing the case.
>> For the record, did you know Jennifer Harris? >> No. >> Had you ever met Jennifer Harris?
>> No. Did you kill Jennifer Harris? >> Absolutely not. >> Porter says locals cooked up the story
because they had a grudge against him over an unrelated case he tried. >> Did this cost you your job?
>> Yeah, no doubt. >> Miles Porter blames losing his reelection on the Jennifer Harris
gossip. Now in private practice, [music] Porter still lives with the fallout from
the unfounded allegations. I've had on a number of occasions random people throughout the county say, "I can't be
fair in this case because [music] you're with the lawyer and I think you killed Jennifer Harris."
>> Crazy. >> 14, 15 [music] years later. >> Absolutely. Still happens >> in the court of public opinion. He was
definitely a suspect. >> Meanwhile, there's no shred of evidence that he was connected at all.
>> None. >> Daryl Parker [music] thinks he knows who's responsible. Not Miles Porter, not
James Hamilton, not a random stranger. In my view, the evidence [music] points directly at Rob Homeman.
>> If you believe this, >> filmmaker Barry Wernernick agrees. >> We were going to let the facts take us
where the facts took us. And we would and where it brought us was to one person that it had to be.
>> But they haven't been able to physically connect [music] Rob Hullman to Jennifer
Harris the night of her disappearance. They're both hoping this woman can. >> We need that [music] eyewitness, huh?
>> And in your view, Rhonda Fitzwater is that eyewitness. >> Yes. >> [music] >> On this rural road in Fannon County,
Texas, Ronda Fitzwater could hold the key to Daryl Parker and Barry Wernernick's theory that Rob Holman met
up with Jennifer Harris that night. >> So, what do you make of this idea that somehow you saw Jennifer Harris and Rob
Holman? >> I've not ever heard that until you tell me that. >> Rhonda has always insisted that all she
saw that night was Jennifer's parked Jeep. Did you see anybody following the Jeep?
>> No, it was already parked. >> Did you see Jennifer Harris? >> No, not at all.
>> But for years, Parker and Wernernick have believed there is more to Rhonda Fitzwater's story. Only she says they
are sorely mistaken. After 15 years of investigation by people closely connected to Bonum, maybe
the best thing anyone can hope for is a fresh set of eyes. I'm flying out to Dallas, Texas. My job
is really to look at the the facts of the case, study [snorts] the case. >> Could the questions about a murder in
Bonham be answered by someone 1700 miles away in Boston? >> Emergency. >> Meet Joe Mora, a private investigator
and CBS News consultant. >> Jennifer has been dead 15 years by the time you're looking at the file.
>> Absolutely. Yeah. >> What' you make of that collection of papers? I thought the file was very
weak, meaning that the investigation that went into it was extremely weak. >> 48 hours brought Mora to Texas to take a
closer look at the Jennifer Harris case. >> You got to speak to people, and that's
what I've done. >> So, you got a little time for me? >> I do. Come on back. >> His first stop, Fannon County Sheriff
Mark Johnson. >> I can see your frustration where, you know, you're in the job for one one
year. You got the public and you sure the family still wants to know what happened to their daughter.
>> There's no no physical evidence. That's the problem. >> In fact, today the sheriff won't call
either Rob Holman or James Hamilton suspects even though detectives did early in the investigation in these
documents. >> How come you can't call them suspects? You have things that lead up to them
that draw you your interest to them to make them a person of interest, but you don't have that connection to make them
a suspect where you can tie some physical evidence into them. >> Filmmaker Barry Wernerick took Mora to
the location of the cottage private eyes Parker and Holloway had come to believe
was [music] burned to hide the evidence of Jennifer's murder. >> So, this is the shed that burnt down
that night. >> Yeah, the stuff gem with the burning shed. There's all kinds of theories
about that. Now you just murdered somebody, but about 200 yds away from where you're disposing the body in the
river. Let's light up this shed and fire. Attract people. >> Makes no sense to you.
>> Absolutely not. It certainly can't tie to this case, but people are trying to
make it to tie in. >> Wernernick also brought him to the bank of the Red River where he believes his
sister-in-law's body was dumped. There's nothing on the records of this case or any eyewitnesses that'll tell you that
this is where her body was disposed, >> right? >> So, we're just here basically guessing.
>> Mora sat down with the private eyes who had been working the case for nearly [music] a decade.
>> To me, I think it boils down to who had the most to lose by killing her or not
killing her. But 18 years of child support, maybe, maybe not. She told me that she was pregnant and was mine.
>> Well, I don't think that we need to speculate about Rob Hullman's motive because he made it clear that she was
applying pressure to him. >> And there could be no more intense pressure than I'm about to have a baby
and you're the father. >> That's right. >> You have to consider it. >> However, he disbelieves her and he
admits that in the interviews. Yeah, she said it, but I don't believe it. I don't
think she is pregnant. >> Did you believe she was pregnant? No, I didn't think she was.
>> For his part, Mora was surprised authorities seemed to quickly disregard James Hamilton, the ex-boyfriend who
wanted to marry Jennifer before she left him when their business failed. >> She covered all the finances for the
business. She's the one that put her name on the loans. >> Jennifer's father, Jerry, made notes
that two months after Jennifer's death, Hamilton called him asking about her life insurance policy. And in my
experience, money, insuranceances, all that stuff is a big deal. Money creates a lot of motive for
a lot of people. >> What's more, he believes investigators [music] bought Hamilton's alibi, that he was
with a friend at that McDonald's more than 50 m away without thoroughly vetting it.
>> And I'm not so thrilled about the checking they did on that alibi. The one thing is you go check who the alibis and
the next thing you you look at are these alibis lying to me? So you got to go check that out. That was never done.
Why? >> To Joe Mora, the investigation was flawed from the outset. And had authorities approached it differently,
they may have gotten more from their interviews. >> Here's what bothers me about this
situation. It's a missing person. They're calling people and talking to people about a missing person. And the
first thing they do, they read your Miranda warnings, >> right? You have the right to someone.
Now, that is unheard of. >> You're saying that sure Rob said, "I don't have an alibi and that might be
incriminating." >> That was after you already signed the Miranda warning. So, he's already
nervous and he's already saying, "Oh, I'm being charged. God, I don't have an alibi." Of course, he was nervous. Most
people would. >> But at the end of the day, the men who've been working this case for years
see it very differently than the man with the fresh set of eyes. Circumstantially,
there is a lot of evidence in the case. It is all circumstantial. >> But Daryl, I think me and you are a
little confused in reference to circumstantial. I'm saying to you, and I submit to you, that there's very little
circumstantial evidence. >> Okay. >> We'll have to agree to disagree. >> Well, because I'm asking you to give me
the facts on what your circumstantial evidence is, and it's based on theory. Theory ain't going to cut it.
>> Like Daryl Parker's theory about Ronda Fitzwwater knowing more. Everybody's putting all the weight on
this woman and she has nothing to offer to the case. Only that yeah, that Jeep was there. Well, we know the Jeep was
there. But what Joe Mora does find interesting in the case file is one of the least examined parts of the story.
One year after Jennifer's murder, this woman, Deborah Lambert, who had seen a news report about the unsolved case,
told detectives she saw something when she was driving [music] across the Red River Bridge on Mother's Day.
>> There was three guys out there and a [music] girl. >> Two guys had the girl by her elbows, and
it was like she was trying to [music] get away from him, and they were restraining her. The girl she says she
saw had reddish brown hair and >> I made eye contact with her and she was [music] scared terrified look on her
face. My mom seen her too and she said that girl to get raped and killed. >> But Lambert never called police back
then. She said she was too afraid to get involved. What's more, her story didn't
fit with the investigator's [music] timeline. She put Jennifer near the bridge at 5:00 p.m. But detectives
believe Jennifer left her friend Christiey's house around 8:00 p.m. >> Deborah Lambert saying what she saw she
saw at 5:00. That's not a dealbreaker for you. >> Absolutely not. In the real world,
people are not looking at their watches and clocks all the time. She may be wrong on her time and not wrong on what
she witnessed. Could Deborah Lambert hold the answer to who killed Jennifer Harris?
A year and a half after Jennifer's murder, the Texas Rangers launched their own investigation into the case.
They reintered Deborah Lambert >> in the story was the same. She was very detailed, redhead, three guys. Two were
wearing jeans, one was wearing shorts. >> Lambert was asked to look at a photo lineup to see if she recognized any of
the men the woman was with. She did. She was very clear that one of the men she saw was Rob Holman.
>> Maybe Mrs. Lambert is believable. Now, the situation is is I worry about how was that lineup done? How many
photographs do they show? In other words, do they have a good old boy, Texan boy there with his uh baseball cap
on and then they had three Mexican photos next to him? Okay. Those are the things I worry about.
>> The way the the lineup was conducted, we don't know anything about. >> No. And that's that's crucial. But Mora
can't be confident because there are no details in the case file about how the [music] lineup was done. Still, Mora
considers Deborah Lambert a missed opportunity to potentially solve Jennifer's murder.
>> There's an open lead there that I feel was enclosed. Therefore, until that lead
is closed, it's problematic to say, I'm going to disregard what this woman saw, and I'm still going to focus on Rob and
James. [music] Rob Hullman, on the advice of his attorney back then, declined to speak with the Texas
Rangers. After working the case for a year, they suspended their investigation. We wanted to know why,
but they wouldn't comment on an unsolved case. The conclusion to their report, no
physical evidence, specific cause of death, or credible witnesses link any particular person as a suspect.
No one can actually follow up with Deborah Lambert. She and her mother have both passed away, but Alyssa and Barry
Wernick now cling to Lambert's story. >> In my mind, I always just believe that she got in the truck with Rob [music]
and it was just the two of them. This changes everything. Um, there are other people that know. There are other people
that could possibly speak up >> now knowing that there were two other people involved. Oh, yeah. There's
renewed hope. >> The problem here, I suppose, is that Deborah Lambert's dead. >> She's dead, but her her interview isn't.
She's alive. You can see what she said. >> Neither James Hamilton [music] nor Rob
Hullman have ever been arrested or charged with any crime related to Jennifer's murder.
During our reporting of this case, we made several attempts to contact both men. James, if this is your number, I'm
calling to follow up on a letter I sent you recently. We got no response. >> This is Rob. I can't take your call
right now. >> We sent you a letter a couple of weeks ago. So, on one of our trips to Texas,
we went to Rob Hullman's home. >> How are you, Mr. Homeman? Jim Axar with CBS News.
>> Turn that off. >> Will you talk to me if I turn that camera off? >> Yeah, I'll talk to you. Holman told us
off camera he never saw Jennifer that night and he's been advised by his attorney not to talk to anyone. His
attorney provided this statement to 48 Hours. Robert Holman has neither been arrested nor charged with any criminal
conduct as it relates to this investigation. This notwithstanding, Mr. Holman has from the inception of the
investigation been treated by law enforcement as a suspect. Mr. Holman has maintained his innocence from the very
beginning and his position has not wavered. With no resolution [music] in sight,
filmmaker Barry Wernernick has a new plan. >> Barry wants to raise $50,000 under the theory that reward money could
shake someone loose. >> No shot. You can't put money out there and thinking that that's going to create
evidence for you. >> Joe Moira said as much to the sheriff. >> This isn't a cold case. This is a frozen
case. It's done. It's over. If you have a prosecutor whose worth is weight, he would never bring this case to trial. He
has absolutely nothing on this case. >> But Sheriff Mark Johnson is not giving up.
>> I want to solve the case. I want it solved and I want it done right. >> Neither is private eye Daryl Parker.
>> When Mr. Harris came to the sheriff's office and he got me involved, I told him that I would get results and I can't
I can't put it down until I'm sure that either the person is held accountable or
I can't do anything more. I have to carry it. >> And if it takes another 15 years,
>> if it takes another 15 years, >> the sadness is we all have kids. We all have family members and I have a
daughter. It's devastating to not know. [music] >> I don't know how she was killed. I wish
I did. I want closure. >> I'm going to do everything I can [music] to bring justice for Jennifer
>> for my dad. He needs to see some justice done. [music] To have walked in my shoes for the last
15 and 1/2 years hadn't been easy. We miss her every day. We [music] miss Jennifer not being here.
I still have high hopes that justice will prevail. [music] [music] >> [music] [music]
[music] [music]

A filmmaker tries to solve a real-life murder -- the victim, his wife's sister. 17 years later, can they find her killer? CBS News correspondent Jim Axelrod reports in this episode from July 2019. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

The episode covers the unsolved murder of Jennifer Harris and the ongoing quest for justice by her family and investigators.

Key points

The Search for Justice. The community rallies to solve Jennifer Harris's murder after 15 years of silence.
A Father's Promise. Jerry Harris vows to continue the investigation into his daughter's murder.
Complicated Relationships. Jennifer's love life was tumultuous, involving her ex-husband and a new boyfriend.
A Shocking Discovery. The autopsy reveals that Jennifer's uterus was missing, raising questions about her death.
The Pregnancy Revelation. Daryl Parker believes Jennifer's pregnancy discussion with Rob led to her death.
The Emotional Interview. Daryl Parker reflects on his missed opportunity to get crucial information from Rob Holman.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

You want to know who killed Jennifer Harris? Absolutely.

A strong commitment to finding justice.

3:31WatchJan 27, 2026

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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