The 30-Year Secret: The Tracey Harris Murder | Full Episode | Forensic Files

I've thought about a thousand times the whatifs [music] and that's kind of nauseating that we
were that close. >> In my [music] time as district attorney, we have had some odd cases. This one was
a complete roller coaster ride towards the end. As far as an emotional situation, this
was by far um the toughest one. Tracy Harris was a hardworking young mother that disappeared March 7th, 1990.
She was a very sweet friend, a very shy person, and people really liked her and respected her. Her her daughter was a
toddler, a four-year-old named Carolyn who she had with Carl Harris. She [music] had been married for several
years. They had recently divorced, but had never really split. [music] >> They still lived in the same home. They
slept in the same bed. I did hear that Tracy was missing and was very concerned something had happened to her.
>> Carl came by our house. She'd been missing for a couple days. He was genuinely concerned and he said, "You
know, I can see her leaving me, but she would never leave this baby." >> Her body was discovered about 150 yards
further downstream about 7 days after she went missing. Based on the autopsy, the manner of
death was homicide. >> Tracy was a kind and loving person who did not deserve what happened to her.
Most people did think that Carl Harris had murdered Tracy. >> Prior to her going missing, there had
been a confrontation or two concerning a girlfriend that Carl had. Carl Harris did have a reputation for being very
violent, in particular towards Tracy Harris. There was several instances where the witnesses would say it didn't
take [music] anything for him to just go off on her. He was incredibly abusive to
her. >> I never put my hands on Tracy. Never. >> So, all those people were lying.
>> Yes, ma'am. I love Tracy. She was the love of my life. I think from the very get-go, there was
only one suspect in this case, Carl Harris. >> Everybody thought I killed him. Everywhere I turned, they they, you
know, you can hear him whispering in [music] the background, there's the man that killed Tracy.
>> A lot of people were were waiting for him to be arrested [music] and then surprised when he never was.
Ozark Police Department had created a cold case unit and in 2016 they [music] picked up the Tracy Harris, Carl Harris
case. >> They told me they was looking at me as as a suspect again after 27 years.
>> The evidence was circumstantially strong. The domestic violence, the circumstance with the girlfriend, and
comments he made that she wouldn't be back. Who else would want this sweet, innocent young lady murdered?
>> Jordan and her team had spent a lot of time building a case that I was about to
torpedo. I kept [music] the secret for 30 years. >> [music] >> Heat. Hey, Heat. [music]
>> [music] >> Tracy was alive when she came to this location and [music] traveled down this
access road to the beachy area. >> 22-year-old [music] Tracy Harris disappeared on March 7th, 1990.
A week later, her body was found in the Chattahatchee River, a few miles from her home in Ozark, Alabama.
The area around the river was a place Tracy and her friends would get together. >> It was certainly one of the first places
that investigators were looking for Tracy. >> Dale County District Attorney Kirk
Adams. Her body had come to rest upon a log after the water started to recede a bit.
>> The autopsy revealed that Tracy had drowned, but also noted [music] marks around her neck, likely indicating
strangulation. The missing person case became a homicide, and Ozark police started
interviewing those close to Tracy and her ex-husband Carl, [music] with whom she still lived.
>> Carl had let the police in his house a couple of times for them to look around.
Carl was believed to have been the last person [music] to see Tracy, picking her
up the night she disappeared from the restaurant where she worked as a waitress. He then dropped Tracy off at
their house and headed out to his job at a supermarket. >> There were not any clues at home. It
didn't appear that anybody had taken her by force. >> Police thought that location by the
river might provide more clues. They learned that while Tracy might have enjoyed spending time by the river, she
would never have gone in the river. >> Every witness we spoke [music] with, she could not swim. She was terrified of
water. >> She was so scared of the water. When she was baptized and she went under, she was
hysterical. >> Selena Dodson and Tracy were about 11 years old when baptized. They were
childhood friends spending a lot of time together at church. It was there she first saw Tracy with Carl.
>> Tracy and Carl started dating when we were probably 16, 17 years old. And I was happy for her that she, you know,
had a boyfriend and somebody that she really liked. >> In her senior year of high school, Tracy
became pregnant and she and Carl, who was 3 years older, married. When she had Carolyn, [music] she was adorable.
Everybody just loved her and she was like Tracy. She [music] looked like her and she had a personality like her.
Tracy's mother was taking care of Carolyn. You know, young parents, you could [music] tell that her and Carl,
you know, struggled some. >> Tell me about your your family. As a young family, you and Tracy and [music]
Carolyn, >> we was all happy and everything. We didn't have a problem with each other or
nothing like that. The picture Carl painted of a happy home, though, was not what police found when they started
questioning friends and family. Assistant Dale County District Attorney Jordan Davis.
>> There was about 14 different people that had come forward that [music] witnessed
some type of domestic violence between Tracy and Carl. >> One of those people was Dawn Beasley.
She and her soon-to-be husband Jeff, who worked construction with Carl, lived with the Harrises for about a month.
>> Tracy and I were a lot alike. >> Dawn, who was pregnant at the time, and Tracy, a young mother, quickly became
friends. [music] >> I think that she appreciated having someone, you know, Carl was uh real
controlling and, you know, he didn't want her to have a lot of friends. >> What did you see going on between Carl
and Tracy? So, one time we were uh sitting at the table and she told uh Carl, "Hey, listen. I'm going to need
some money for the water bill." And he flew into a rage. He's got her bent over backwards with his hands around her
throat. >> Did he verbally threaten her? >> He threatened to kill her in front of
me. I intervene. I I'm telling him, "Let her go." >> Did she talk to you about it at all?
>> Yes. She just wanted to be a family. She felt like if she could just get through
the rough stuff, you know, that it would be okay. >> Dawn told police about those
altercations [music] she said she saw and her feelings about Carl. >> Well, they asked me, "So, what do you
know about Carl Harris?" And I said, "Well, I know he's a rat bastard. [music] He was not good to
Tracy." He asked me about fights I'd seen. and I made a statement and I [music] signed it and every word of my
statement was true. >> There are quite a few people who said that they saw you being abusive to
Tracy. Were you abusive to Tracy? >> No, ma'am. I was not. >> We all saw it. Everyone in town was
[music] talking about it. I did my grocery shopping and I'm in the milk section and there's a couple standing
there talking about it. The husband says, "Well, looks like that boy done finally killed that girl."
>> Despite all the talk in town, Tracy never filed police reports about the alleged abuse.
>> Back then, the domestic violence law was much different. If the police arrived
and nobody wanted to make a report or there was just no reports done, >> it wasn't just stories about [music]
abuse that made law enforcement take a hard look at Carl. There was that young girlfriend. He did have a 17-year-old
girlfriend at the time who several people said he had had conversations [music] with about marrying her. Um, but that he
couldn't leave Tracy because [music] he'd have to pay child support. >> He also made comments prior to her going
missing and after, including, "Come back whenever. Tracy won't be home." >> Carl admits to having a girlfriend.
>> Honestly, it wasn't their business. and talking to her about Tracy, but says any
comments he made were misunderstood. You didn't tell anybody that she wasn't coming back.
>> No, ma'am. I'd never said that. >> It was just so many things, most of all which were circumstantial, but they all
pointed at Carl Harris. >> But no arrest was made and the case went cold. Carl claims that through the years
he occasionally called authorities to ask about the investigation, but they say otherwise. Has there ever been a
time [music] that Carl Harris said, "I want you to find out who killed Tracy." >> Never.
>> Does that strike you as odd? >> Strikes me as very odd. A lot of people, [music] you know, just
assumed Carl would be arrested, assumed that he did it, and were waiting for him
to be arrested. For years, Selena Dodson wondered if there would ever be justice for her
friend Tracy Harris, who in 1990 was found murdered in Alabama's Chhatche River.
Selena's thoughts would often wander to Tracy and Carl's daughter. >> So, I would wonder, you know, I wonder
what happened to Carolyn. I wonder what she looks like. I wonder what she's doing.
>> I was four years old when my mom was murdered. When I was four or five, I would cry
nonstop if I would get in trouble and say, "I want my mom. I want my mom." Carolyn was immediately adopted by
Tracy's mother. They soon left Ozark hoping to start over and moved to Texas. >> What did you grow up thinking happened
to your mom? I knew my mom was murdered and then as the years went on I found out that it it
had to do with my dad. >> What did people tell you about him? >> I've always heard that he was very
abusive towards my mom. That he was just a a bad individual. >> Carolyn had no interest in a
relationship with her father whom she did not see while growing up. [music] Her grandmother provided a loving home
and Carolyn says that was more than enough. >> She She was like the best. [music] Like
she did everything for me. >> When Carolyn was about 21, she says Carl did reach out and they met, but did not
talk about Tracy. >> Did you want to ask him about her? Yeah, I've always wanted to ask questions, but
the way that everybody portrays him to be, I didn't think that he would tell me the truth.
>> Still, Carolyn wondered about her mother, wanting to know what really happened.
>> I have tried to piece it together. That's what I do. I try to I try to piece everything together and make it
all make sense. >> This was definitely something Carolyn was passionate about. She wanted some
type of justice for her mom. >> When her grandmother died in 2015, Carolyn returned to Ozark to bury her
next to her mother. She started asking people in town what they knew about Tracy [music] and the investigation.
>> And there was one lady, she said that her son happened to be best friends with
the sheriff. >> Carolyn spoke with [music] the sheriff who put her in touch with the Ozark
Police Department. At the same time, the cold case unit was starting to reopen the investigation. As it turned out,
their number one suspect had not changed. >> There was nobody whose name had ever
come up that had any reason to kill Tracy Harris. And I think when they reopened the case, they were just trying
to prove Carl did it, not look for anybody else. And so they went back through all the witnesses that had
[music] given statements in 1990. All the ones that they could find, they got back in touch with.
>> Among those who police went back and interviewed, an acquaintance of Tracy and Carl's
>> said the police are so dumb. I could kill somebody and get away with it. >> Tracy's aunt
>> because it kind of shocked me because I mean he was saying that it was like he
was smart. Police, you know, >> I was a young naive teenager. Investigators also tracked down that
girlfriend of Carl's who was 17 when Tracy was murdered. >> Did Carl at any time tell you that you
didn't have to worry about Tracy showing up again into the house? >> He could have.
>> When do you think you said that? >> I don't know. >> Although she recalled little about her
time with Carl, she did remember learning Tracy was dead. >> I I just couldn't believe that she was
dead. and her realization that perhaps her boyfriend was a murderer. >> I just remember thinking that,
you know, people were talking and it it even took me being questioned to even think that maybe he could have done
it. But after it all happened, we just stopped seeing each other. And there was also several people that
they found [music] since then that he had made statements to that were incriminating.
>> While police were reinvestigating the case, Carl was trying to get on with his
life. Several years after Tracy's murder, he had left Ozark, feeling like the cloud of suspicion had destroyed his
life. >> I had to go out of town to get jobs where people don't know me. He worked as a bouncer in construction,
had a girlfriend and another daughter. By 2016, he had moved to South Carolina where investigators gave him a call.
>> I thought it was good news. I thought they found somebody they was looking at.
And when they told me they was looking at me as suspect again, they come up two weeks later arresting me.
More than 26 years after Tracy Harris's body was found, Carl Harris was arrested
on September 13th, 2016 for her murder. >> There's absolutely no evidence at all
that connects Carl Harris to this murder. None whatsoever. >> David Harrison is Carl's defense
attorney. He says Carl's arrest was motivated by politics and nothing more. In [music] 2016 in this area, they were
unsolved murders. They had a lot of political pressure to to charge somebody. The environment of Ozark,
Alabama was we need to do something. >> Were you worried that there was some new
piece of evidence that they had? >> No, I was never worried. Never. Cuz I was innocent.
>> Well, Carl may not have been worried. There was someone who for years was Dawn
Beasley. that friend of Tracy's who with her then fiance briefly lived with the Harrises.
>> Every time I would have a police [music] officer get behind me, I would wonder,
is this where we're all of a sudden they know what's happening? [music] This is the moment.
>> [music] >> I've always wondered what happened to my mom since I can remember.
>> For decades, Carolyn wanted to know more about the 1990 murder of her mother,
Tracy Harris. >> And in 2016, with the arrest of her aranged father, Carl, Carolyn thought
finally she would get some answers. How do you react when the thing you [music] want is justice for your mom, but it's
your dad who's been charged with her murder? >> It's a relief that we found somebody,
but then in the back of my mind, I'm like, was it really him? Could he have really done this? Why?
>> Motive was also a question prosecutors Kirk Adams and Jordan Davis thought about as they prepared their case
against Carl. I don't think there [music] was one particular motive. I think that the domestic violence was
definitely in the back of our heads, but also this 17-year-old [music] girlfriend
that he had based mostly on statements from the interviews originally done back in 1990. An investigator from the Ozark
police put together this scenario of what he thought happened the night Tracy went missing.
Quote, "It was determined that Carl Harris left his job at Superfood sometime around 900 p.m. and went to his
home. Carl Harris jumped on top of Tracy Harris and began choking her. Carl Harris then placed her seemingly dead
body into his vehicle and subsequently drove her to the Chuckahhatchee River and placed her body into the water."
Police say Carl then picked up her friend reportedly at 9:30. making all those stops, Carl would have traveled
about 20 miles. >> You can take all the statements of anybody you want to put together in this
investigation here. There is no evidence whatsoever that is true. When you put the timeline to this case, Marine,
unless he was on a le jet, that was impossible. >> Defense attorney David Harrison says the
entire investigation is not just flawed, but that the police narrative is fabricated.
This officer made this up to make this arrest. >> The defense also offered up an alternate
suspect, that friend police say Carl [music] picked up the night Tracy disappeared, named Bobby Herring.
>> Bobby Herring was convicted of raping a woman in a sister county. >> But prosecutors say Herring had an alibi
for the time Tracy was murdered, and they remained confident that Carl was their man. What's different in 2016 that
wasn't there or obvious in 1990? >> I think the major thing was getting these witnesses together, which is what
we did for the grand jury presentation. And once you heard those people, it was very clear that Carl was violent. He had
threatened Tracy. He had said, "One of these days, I'm gonna kill you." Those things just add up. As they prepared for
trial, Kirk and Jordan sifted through statements looking for more potential witnesses to testify. I was actually
three when this happened. So, from 1990 and we're trying to track down witnesses. We were dealing with people
that had moved all over the country. Several had passed away. There was a lot to go through. So, we just kind of
started with a long list and we just started trying to narrow it down. The prosecutors also visited the area
around the river where Tracy's body was found. >> Part of our job is to paint that picture
for a jury. And I just think it's always important to try to get a feel for the area.
>> They spent time on the bridge where police believed Carl threw Tracy into the river.
>> This location is approximately 7 miles from where Carl and Tracy Harris lived.
It's very quiet and very rural. They also went to the area under the bridge where people would sometimes
gather. >> There's a lot of graffiti under this bridge, a lot of names as well. >> Putting the case together was an arduous
process, one filled with continuences and delays. Carl was out on bail having spent two [music] and a half weeks in
jail after his arrest. As confident as the prosecution was, so was the defense. >> [music]
>> I've tried 140 criminal jury trials. I know a bad one from a good one. They never had a shot with this case.
>> But they maintain that the case was specifically built on the statements of all the people who said that they saw
Carl being abusive to his wife, his strange behavior afterwards. Was that a concern for you as you were preparing a
defense? >> Never. Never. because the credibility of the people that were going to testify,
they had no credibility. None whatsoever. >> But Carolyn, who traveled to Ozark for
[music] every single hearing, was convinced of her father's guilt. >> I was I was ready to put him behind
bars, ready to see it happen. >> Finally, more than 3 years after Carl's arrest, the [music] trial was scheduled
for January 13th, 2020. The week before trial, Jordan continued to scour over old witness reports, deciding who should
testify. That's when one statement from 1990, not followed up on, caught her attention. The one in particular that we
found that they hadn't talked to in 2016 was this Don Halbert, now Beasley, and she had witnessed domestic violence
while living in their home. What we thought was interesting was that she had witnessed it in the same manner as how
Tracy was actually killed. >> It took Jordan several calls to wrong phone numbers to find Dawn Beasley.
>> And she says, "My name is Jordan Davis. I'm with Dale County DA." This is about
Carl and Tracy Harris. >> Dawn, who had moved away from Ozark and was now divorced, [music] says she
didn't even know there was an arrest for the murder of her friend Tracy until that call. They asked me, "We need you
to testify." And I said, "No, I uh I can't possibly do that. My job is uh very stressful."
>> I texted her the next morning and said, "We really would like for you to come."
She texted me back and said that she was going to decline our invitation, that she couldn't help us.
>> So Jordan, for you, this wasn't an invitation. This is a murder trial. >> I was aggravated. I simply got a
subpoena ready and we gave it to our [music] investigators the next day. She made a scene. It was very dramatic.
>> I was very unhappy. I said, [music] "You're ruining my life and you don't understand why.
You guys don't want me to testify. It was unbelievable to me that [music] I should end up with this incredible
secret. >> Dawn Beasley's secret weighed on her when she was asked to testify in the
2020 murder trial of Carl Harris. [music] Dawn refused to come, saying she was too
busy. Then after being subpoenaed, she called prosecutor Jordan Davis again. I told Jordan, "I have given you
completely honest reasons why I don't [music] want to testify. But the most important reason I can't testify is
because you have an innocent man on trial." >> I thought, "Wow, she's coming up with
crazy story as to why she can't get here." And she said, "Well, how do you know he's innocent?" I know he's
innocent because the man that [music] did commit the crime confessed it to me the night he did it. That's my
ex-husband, Jeff Beasley. Dawn told Jordan about the night of March 7th, 1990, when Tracy went
missing. [music] Dawn, about to celebrate her 21st birthday the next day, was pregnant with
her first child. Her fianceé Jeff came home waking her in the middle of the night.
>> He said, "I I accidentally heard her and now she's dead." "Who?" Tracy, what happened? I went over to
Carl's to talk to Carl. [music] Carl wasn't there. I talked to Tracy. I tried to talk her into leaving him. She got
mad at me. We had a fight. We tussled and I accidentally hurt her and now she's dead.
He said he took her down to the river because he didn't want them to come home and find her body.
>> Dawn says she told Jeff they needed to go to the police, [music] but he insisted they keep quiet.
>> I had an impossible choice to [music] make and I really struggled. Tracy deserves
justice, but the cost was going to be so high. What was the cost going to be if you went to the police?
>> I [music] was going to have to throw my entire life away. I'm about to get married. I'm pregnant. This baby
deserves a chance [music] at a life with a loving family and a mom and a dad. >> And so Dawn made her decision. She would
stay quiet, she says, out of her desire to keep her life intact and also out of fear that police might not believe her.
They're going to ask him some questions. He's going to deny it. Then what happens
to me? >> Dawn says she was honest when police questioned her after Tracy's body was
found and described the abuse. Seeing Carl grabbed Tracy by the throat and threatened to kill her.
>> And every word of my statement was true. They just never asked me, "Who do you
think did it?" I walked out and I do remember the sense of relief because I hadn't actually had to lie.
>> Did it feel like you were lying though by not telling them? >> Sure. I've gone back, Moren, and
questioned that decision over and over and over and over and over again. >> Did you feel badly at all that he was
under such scrutiny and suspicion? I would like to say that I did, but I didn't. Carl made Tracy miserable.
While Ozark police questioned Dawn, they never got a statement from Jeff. Even though they both spent time [music]
together living with the Harrises, >> they had a statement from Dawn. And that was things that they had witnessed while
living in the home together. I'm sure they thought that Jeff's statement would be very similar to Dawn's. But Jeff
Beasley should have raised some red flags for police. [music] He had a criminal record. Dawn met Jeff shortly
after he was released from prison, having served four years for burglary and escape attempts. But Dawn was
willing to overlook his criminal past and the information about killing [music] Tracy. They married and started
their own family, keeping the secret to themselves. I never talked about it ever
to another living soul. Not even Jeff. >> You and Jeff never talked about it ever
again. >> Never. >> Never once. >> You just pulled the dark curtain over and that was it. It was done.
>> We just pretended it never happened. >> Were you ever concerned that you might
get into trouble having not gone to the police right from the beginning? >> Sure. Yeah, of course. Dawn says she
worried, yet life proceeded mostly as if nothing had happened. Dawn and Jeff would have another child. Her growing
family eventually made her think of Tracy's daughter, Carolyn. [music] I should have been sorry for Carolyn and
I was sorry for me. >> Even after Jeff was arrested again in 1991 for burglary and [music] spent 5
years in prison, Dawn kept the secret. wanting her family life to be normal when he got out. [music]
>> Jeff comes home from prison, but very quickly I realized that this is not going to be what I anticipated it was
going to be. >> Dawn claims Jeff became abusive. After 13 years of marriage and four children,
she and Jeff divorced. As time went on, she did think about ways to tell authorities what she knew.
Maybe I do it on my deathbed. [music] Maybe I make an anonymous phone call. Maybe I write a letter.
>> But she says the fear of upending her own children's lives always stopped her.
That however changed with Jordan's insistence [music] that she testify at Carl's murder trial. She dreaded what
she now had to do. tell her adult children that their father killed someone and that she kept it quiet for
30 years. >> The only thing I was ever afraid of was how they were going to respond.
And they responded with support and love and understanding. >> Meanwhile, the prosecutors on [music]
the Friday before the start of the trial were also processing what Dawn had just
[music] told them. I knew we couldn't have a trial Monday because we had to figure out what's going on here.
>> Jeff Beasley's name until [music] they spoke to Dawn was unfamiliar, but they
did remember something from that trip to the river where Tracy's body was found.
>> While we were here, we were looking under the bridge and in big huge spray painted letters was the last name
Beasley. But it doesn't mean anything at that time because on the statement Dawn's
name was Dawn Hbert. It didn't even say Beasley. >> Prosecutors do not know why or who spray
painted the name Beasley under the bridge. Carl Harris's trial was put on hold. Police tracked down his old friend
Jeff Beasley, who was living in Ozark, working as a trucker, and brought him in for questioning. I'm being accused of of
of murder, of of taking someone's life. I couldn't I wouldn't. Can we really do this? Can we really
solve this for Carolyn? Can we really give her the peace? >> Prosecutors Kirk Adams and Jordan Davis
spent more than three delayedfilled years putting together their case seeking justice for Tracy Harris. Now
with Dawn Beasley's revelation that her ex-husband Jeff told her that he killed Tracy.
>> I appreciate you coming in. >> They hope to learn the truth. Did you uh hurt Tracy in any way? No.
>> Did you? >> Jeff Beasley not only agreed to talk to investigators. >> Yeah. Just have a seat for me.
>> But also to take a lie detector test. >> Are you the person that caused the death
of Tracy Harris that night? >> He maintained his innocence even after being told
>> you did not pass. >> He failed the polygraph. >> I I didn't do this. I I did I didn't do
this. This was not me. For more than four hours, Beastley insisted he had nothing to do with Tracy's death.
>> Seems like you guys are wanting me to say I did something when I didn't. I'm not put I'm not going to put a word in
your mouth. Only you know, >> and that's what I need. I don't know. >> And then >> I want it done.
>> He confessed. We went down to the river >> claiming he and Tracy [music] were having an affair.
>> She said she was leaving call. [snorts] They wanted me to leave Dawn. You know
what I mean? Say she was telling Dawn. >> Jeff said he and Tracy had been waiting
in the river. >> And we got into an argument. We was in the river. >> Don't tell me what happened. She went
down >> and didn't come back up. >> But some things in Beasley's story were not adding up. Dawn said Jeff had told
her that Tracy and he fought at the Harris's home. And those who knew Tracy did not believe she was having an
affair. Not one witness we had ever mentioned that she was possibly seeing someone else because it was clear
from the witnesses that Carl wouldn't allow that. >> I cannot imagine that she was cheating
with with Jeff or anyone else. He told me it was an accident. You know, now sitting here, I think that maybe he hit
on her. Maybe she rebuffed his advances. Maybe she said, "I'm going to tell her."
And maybe he freaked out. And made sure she wasn't going to ruin his family. And there was the issue of why Tracy,
known to be terrified of water, would voluntarily go in the river. >> Everybody in [music] the case of knew
Tracy said she was scared of water. >> We went to the river a couple times. >> They also wanted Jeff to explain [music]
those bruises the autopsy noted on Tracy's neck. Mark's authorities felt were consistent with strangulation.
One of the uh pathologist reports uh said that she was possibly strangled. I didn't strangle her. I remember
taking her pushing her underwater. I mean, all tops she says it I guess. >> Was it an accident?
>> Yeah, I would hope. Yeah. >> But police and prosecutors did not believe it was an accident.
And Jeff Beasley was charged with the murder of Tracy Harris. >> He confessed in a way that matches the
evidence. I don't know how many times that happens when you get a confession from the real killer technically 17 18
hours before trial. >> The DA's broke the news to Carolyn. >> Jordan called me to come to the police
station that they had to tell me something and I broke. We finally did it. Like we finally found out who killed
my mom. You could just see so many emotions going through her. She'd been told all
her life, "Your dad did this." But to find out he didn't do it, you could tell not only was she relieved, but you could
tell she was so grateful that somebody had solved this case. On January 13th, 2020, the day prosecutors had planned to
be in court starting Carl Harris's trial. Instead, they held [music] a press conference.
>> I have dismissed the murder case against Carl Harris. An arrest has been made of
54year-old Jeff Beasley of Ozark with the murder of Tracy Harris. >> It hurt our pride that we had the wrong
person. You've got to, you know, check your ego at the door because what's important is the right person got
charged. Carl Harris heard the news that he was a free man from his attorney. [music]
>> It just blew my mind. I was happy that I was standing my ground and I was telling
the truth the whole time and they finally caught the boy did it. >> Beasley pleaded guilty and received a
30-year sentence. >> Did you ever consider filing charges against Don? >> No. >> There are a lot of people who are going
to say maybe she should be charged with something. I think it was extremely difficult for her to come forward, but
the fact is she could have kept that secret for forever. She could have come up here. She could have lied on the
stand. >> The goal was to find the truth and to seek justice for Tracy Harris. And
ultimately, Dawn did that. >> Was there any relief for you after all this time? >> It was extraordinary relief.
>> For Carl Harris, his relief is mixed with anger. along with his attorney, David Harrison. They held their own
press conference. >> I think it's negligent. I think it's incompetence. We're talking about an
innocent man. >> Alleging that police fabricated information like that investigator's
report describing how Carl killed Tracy. Carl filed notice that he plans to sue the city of Ozark for $6 million for
damages, [music] including false imprisonment and pain and suffering. We wanted to ask Ozark police about the
investigation, but they declined, citing the pending claim. >> We're mortified that we were that close
[music] to putting the wrong man on trial and we were very confident that we would be able to get a conviction in
this case. [music] I do think about that all the time and that's kind of nauseating to be honest um that we were
that close and I think we we definitely learned a lesson with this case. [music]
Tracy Harris's murder more than 30 years ago has left many wondering what might have been, especially [music] Carolyn.
She still has no relationship with Carl. Carl has not come forward and actually been truthful to me about the abuse.
And I can't forgive him if he can't be men enough to look at me and tell me what he did
and that he's sorry for it. Caroline's focus remains on the mother she never had a chance to get to know.
>> Everybody I've talked to said that she was so quiet. She was so modest. She was the sweetest person that they've
ever met. >> Do you wonder what your mom would be like today? [music] >> Every day. Every day.
48 hours. To miss it would be a crime. >> Were you at all prepared for what happened in this case?
>> [music] [music]

A little girl grows up wondering who murdered her mother. Decades later, prosecutors learn a secret that answers the question. "48 Hours" correspondent Maureen Maher reports in this episode from August 2021. 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

Tracy Harris's murder case shifts from Carl Harris to Jeff Beasley after a shocking confession reveals the truth 26 years later.

Key points

Tracy Harris Disappears. Tracy Harris, a hardworking young mother, vanished on March 7, 1990, leaving her loved ones in despair.
Cold Case Reopened. After 27 years, the Ozark Police Department reopened the case against Carl Harris in 2016.
Carl Harris's Alibi. Carl Harris, Tracy's ex-husband, was the last person to see her before she went missing.
Carolyn's Search for Answers. Carolyn, Tracy's daughter, sought justice and answers about her mother's murder after her grandmother's death.
Carl's Arrest. Carl Harris was arrested in 2016 for the murder of Tracy Harris, over 26 years after her death.
Dawn's Reluctance to Testify. Dawn Beasley initially declines to testify about her knowledge of the murder, citing stress and personal reasons.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She would never leave this baby.

Carl's concern about Tracy leaving their daughter.

1:30WatchMar 10, 2026

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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