Tracy Harkness /// Part 1 /// 628 | Forensic Files

thank you [Music] [Music] foreign foreign garage wherever you are whatever you are
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follow us there at True Crime garage Colonel that's enough of the business all right everybody gather round grab a
chair grab a beer let's talk some true crime foreign [Music] 30 years have passed since the murder of
24 year old Tracy Renee Harkness Tracy was found having been attacked and beaten to death inside her apartment
that she shared with her 18 month old daughter Tracy and her ex-husband shared custody
of the little girl the apartment was located in an otherwise safe neighborhood and one of
Columbus Ohio's many suburbs Friday November 6 1992 was a horrifying day that forever changed the lives of
everyone who knew and loved Tracy there were no signs of forced entry into the apartment and police ruled out
burglary as a motive investigators said the attack on Tracy was a crime of passion detective Cindy Atkinson with
Grove City police is quoted as saying it was a very brutal crime a very personal
crime she had over 36 wounds over half of those were fatal wounds Tammy bowling Tracy's mother said I
remember just lying on the couch and saying to God I have no reason to live anymore
the bowling family wants the killer to be caught for the sake of Tracy's now grown daughter
Tracy's family and the Grove City Police Department are hoping that new technology and DNA testing will lead to
an arrest in the meantime Tracy's family has something to say to the Killer if you did this
get it off your conscience and go tell Tracy's family once this killer brought to Justice
if you know who killed Tracy Renee Harkness call The Grove City police department at
614-277-1710 or to submit a tip and remain anonymous you can call it in at 614-645-tips that's
614-645-8477 or you can email our show by going to our website truecrime garage.com
this is the still unsolved homicide case of Tracy Harkness 30 years later and this is true crime garage
[Music] Grove City Ohio today the population is about 42 000 people 30 years ago when
this case took place it was about half of that 20 000 people Grove City is a suburb of Columbus Ohio and back then it
was very much your standard blue and white collar area a lot of hard-working folks many who worked in the Greater
Columbus area and after work they would retire to their three and four bedroom homes in the not quite what you would
call a sleepy town as Grove City was kind of hustle and bustle especially during the daylight hours but after the
sun goes down if we are talking about 9 or 10 o'clock at night it turns to a ghost town rather quickly pretty
standard Midwestern Town late at night you're going to get a few people out really hardly any cars out on the street
and as you said Captain Grove City was very much your typical middle class suburb with some of its citizens living
on the fringes of both ends of that middle class Spectrum now as we said in the trailer
our victim Tracy Harkness was found deceased in her apartment she lived in the Regency Arms apartment complex Tracy
had only lived in the apartment that she was killed in for about two and a half months before the attack the apartment
complex occupied Three Square city blocks and was made up of several buildings most of them like Tracy's
building which was a four family brick unit Tracy's unit was a two-story unit the apartments were moderately priced
and occupied by a wide range of tenants her two-bedroom place had a front door and a back door with parking for her
vehicle by the rear entrance to the apartment Tracy still had unpacked boxes of various personal items around the place
when she was killed one of the things that made these apartments unique was they had a main floor you had your
bedrooms on the second floor and you also had a basement neighbors told the media that Tracy was quiet friendly and
respectable she kept to herself and didn't make any waves on November 6 1992 at 2 37 PM police officers were
dispatched to the Regency Arms apartment complex at 3474 Richard Avenue in Grove
City on an unknown emergency call some people called 9-1-1 and reported that a woman was badly injured we have
Steve hutter and Lori short they were the ones to sound the alarm Lori was Tracy's cousin
she and Steve stayed with Tracy a few weeks earlier but they had left behind some keys
on Friday November 6 they stopped by Tracy's to pick them up Steve told investigators that Laurie
knocked on the back door of the apartment but got no answer they went to the back door because that was the door
Tracy and pretty much everyone else used this portion of the apartment complex was built in a u-shape around a rear
parking lot where the residents had spaces to park their cars as a result most residents didn't use their front
doors other than to get their mail or the newspaper Tracy was no exception and Lori and Steve noted that her car
was indeed in the parking lot right behind her unit when they pulled up Tracy was known to keep the back door
unlocked when she was at home when they got no answer at the rear door Steve walked around to the front door
and noted with surprise that the door was open about six to eight inches so he went inside and yelled for Tracy
when he got no response he looked in the dining area and he saw some socked feet
there he found Tracy Harkness lying on the floor he hastily went outside and knocked on
doors to get help he yelled to Laurie telling her to get back in the car and stay there
no one answered his knocks so when he saw a pickup truck pulling up across the street he ran across the street and told
the occupants to call 9-1-1 the driver called police and the other guy went with Steve back
into the residence to check the victim Unfortunately they were unable to find any vital signs the Regency Arms
Apartments located in Grove City are probably less than five miles from the police department Grove City police
detective Stephen Robinette was in the area and responded to the scene when he arrived the detective found the
apartment resident identified as Tracy Harkness lying face up in the dining area of the apartment she was pronounced
dead by Medics at 2 44 pm detective Robinette secured the scene and commenced what would then become a
three decades-long investigation neighbors started to gather outside the Regency Arms apartment
additional detectives arrived on scene and started interviewing some of the witnesses
detectives quickly noted the following Tracy's car was found parked in her usual spot located near the rear
entrance to the apartment the rear door deadbolt was locked but the front door deadbolt was unlocked and
remember when Steve Tracy's friend saw the front door it was already open about six to eight inches so according to
detective's notes there was no sign of force entry and quickly it was learned that there was a duplicate key to the
apartment but that key was missing Steve and the man who assisted Steve were laid to detectives that he noticed
that Tracy suffered severe head wounds and cuts to her forehead and cheeks Steve said she was hard to the touch
they both said she was blue detectives already knew this The woman Inside the apartment was quickly identified as
Tracy Harkness and had clearly been dead for quite some time there was no emergency as far as the
victim was concerned she was beyond help unfortunately at this point but there was an emergency when detectives learned
that the victim had an almost two-year-old daughter Megan who lived with her in the apartment other than
clothing and some kid related toys and items in the residence there was no sign of little Megan so detectives fanned out
through the neighborhood scoured it for Megan meanwhile Tracy's mother Tammy bowling arrived on the scene and was
quickly taken to Police Headquarters to be interviewed she was able to tell detectives that Megan was likely with
her father Mike Harkness Tracy's ex a visit to Mike's home address located his fiancee Sherry who related that Megan
was with her paternal grandmother and Mike was out of town for the day on a hunting trip
a phone call to Megan's grandmother confirmed that the little girl was there safe and sound the investigation shifted
from a potential kidnapping in progress to a homicide investigation but it's strange because we see this in so many
cases where the victim's partner or ex-partner is out of town that day I could see how
that would lead law enforcement to be suspicious of that individual let's learn more about Tracy Harkness Tracy
Renee Harkness was born on September 23rd 1968. her mother was Tammy bowling who
used to be married to Tracy's father Rick both were now remarried Tracy had two brothers she graduated from Heritage
Christian in Columbus in 1987. she attended the Columbus para professional Institute from 1987 to 1988.
in November of 1992 Tracy was a 24 year old single mother it's fair to say that Tracy's life was in flux at this time
she had been having a hard time holding down a job and maintaining a residence as of late her recent employer said she
was friendly and easy to work with but she spent a lot of time on the phone on personal calls
when she died she was working at a new job as a secretary she also had a part-time job a few nights a week
helping out at a friend's jewelry business so she definitely had a full plate Tracy was a long time member of
the grace Memorial Church on Christ and Christian union she attended church sporadically she
tended to go to church for a while when things weren't going so well in her life
or she was feeling guilty but that would last short term she had been attending church at the time of her death and had
recently spent an hour at the altar vowing to stay out of bars spend more time with Megan and be a better mother
her pastor told police that he thought that Tracy seemed unhappy Tracy also attended Jazzercise classes on Tuesdays
and Thursdays Tracy's friends and family said she drank socially but not to excess and she wasn't known to do drugs
well like we said before Tracy's ex-partner or ex-husband was on a hunting trip that day what's fascinating
about their relationship was they were actually married to each other twice his name as we said earlier Captain is
Michael Harkness the first time around the marriage was dissolved in April of 1990 but shortly after the breakup Tracy
discovered that she was pregnant and she and Mike remarried for the sake of the child Megan was born in January of 1991
and Mike and Tracy divorce again in April of 1992. Mike would later say that they were really only married for one
month the second time around from August to September in 1991. so the divorce the
second time around ended in April of 1992 but we all know that paperwork and things like that take place so
and can take some time he's just stating look we were really only together and trying to be together for a much shorter
period of time than what it looks like on paper according to Tracy's friends she and her
ex-husband got along very well and spoke almost daily this because they shared custody of little Megan well in a
perfect world all people that shared kids together would have a healthy relationship for their kids detective
Robinette who would be the lead on this case noted that many people describe Tracy as a very outgoing yet lonely
person who always seemed to be searching for happiness well there's probably many
of us out there that can relate to Tracy detectives noted that Tracy went to local bars in the evening when she was
not at home with her child when she didn't have to watch or care for Megan a few people said that she would sometimes
pick up men and she tended to fall for men much faster than they were comfortable with and sometimes she had
become confrontational there was at least one report that she would show up at the place of these guys employment or
at their home unexpectedly now in more than one case a man she was seeing was already in a relationship yeah that's
what we had defined as a stage five Clinger detectives learned very quickly from talking to Tracy's friends that
Tracy recently had a boyfriend and that they had broken up just two weeks earlier this boyfriend per her friends
was a young man named David celock cielock would quickly become a very interesting person to detectives when it
was learned that David celock may have been in possession of the missing duplicate key to Tracy's apartment
remember we have no signs of forced entry into the home now that doesn't mean that a key was used to gain access
to the apartment we could have a situation where Tracy let her killer or killers in to the apartment yeah or just
didn't lock the door behind her when she entered her apartment let's get into this investigation a little bit further
here Captain the Franklin County coroner's office sent forensic pathologist Keith Norton out to the
crime scene he took note of multiple lacerations of the scalp an abrasion on the left chest and a compound fracture
of the left little finger on Tracy Harkness Tracy when she was found she was fully
clothed she was found wearing jeans a shirt and a green black and white sweater and autopsy was performed the
following day after she was found Tracy had defensive wounds on both hands and her little finger was fractured
abrasions were noted on the right side of her neck the left chest and back a laceration was on her right forehead
a linear cut was seen on her right cheek examination of the victim's head led to
the discovery of 30 plus 3-0 plus injuries to the scalp and numerous skull fractures that's a vicious attack some
injuries were completely through the skull and into the brain on the left side and back of the head
the wounds tended to be long linear single wounds that were 1.1 to 1.2 centimeters long and half a centimeter
wide this is a lot of injuries this is a pretty severe attack where it looks to me Captain the the lay guy here that we
got somebody that's probably has attacked her and then we're seeing rapid fire blows once the attack
commences and normally when a victim has that many wounds it's it's more likely that they knew
the killer the lacerations to the right side of the scalp and the top of the head tended to be Too Short wounds side
by side that's per the documentation here two short wounds side by side the distance between the twin marks and each
of these wounds was 3 8 of an inch so it's one of these situations where you look at this and and say okay what
kind of weapon would have been used to leave these marks right on our victim or do we have a situation where
Tracy was attacked by two different people on different sides of of her right that would make some sense a lot
of wounds to the victim is there any evidence that she put up a fight that maybe she left wounds on her attacker
it's hard to say if she would have left any wounds on her attacker but she definitely put up a fight there was
significant defensive wounds and even some other indications that she put up a fight beyond the defensive wounds that
were found so the autopsy concluded that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the Head basically
she was bludgeoned to death Tracy had what is recorded as 36 different wounds with the majority of
the trauma to the back of the head note that she had defensive wounds to both hands
and people told detectives look Tracy could take care of herself if if she was attacked she would have
fought like a banshee and everything in the autopsy indicates that that was exactly the situation I'm going to ask
you a question and don't don't look at me like I'm a [ __ ] so she has a bunch of defensive wounds to her hands that
would make me think that the attacker was in front of her but like you just stated most of her
head injuries seem like it was coming from behind her that's correct so my speculation would
be one of two possibilities and both seem likely unfortunately so we we can't really deduce much from from this
speculation or from the wounds I believe because I think I I think what we're seeing here based off of these wounds in
the autopsy is that yes there is some argument that she could have been attacked by two people one on each side
of her however think about how it would play out if it was just a one-on-one attack and her
defensive wounds being to her hands both of her hands right if somebody were to raise a weapon and come at you
your natural reaction is going to be to put up your hands to defend your face or
your body well that's where you're wrong Colonel because my natural reaction would be to kick him in the nards and
she Pro she likely did this and at some point started to lose the fight and if she Struck from the front
and Falls forward now we could have a situation where she is on all fours or she's on the floor attempting to get up
to continue to defend herself and now the attacker is striking what is right in front of him or her which would be
the back of her head what's difficult for us to sit here and try to decipher is without being able to see the wounds
or or a diagram of the wounds themselves just reading the report as it is on paper
does not give us any indication of what direction this weapon would have been coming from now we have to compound that
problem with we don't know 100 percent what weapon was used to attack Tracy Harkness right and also just to be clear
she was found face up which could mean that after the attack that she actually moved herself into that position to
possibly get help correct she could have been moved by the attacker she could have moved herself she could have
actually successfully got up at some point during this attack it's we're not saying this is how it went down exactly
we're just saying when you try to play this thing out the scenario out based off of the information that is available
you could see it kind of working out that way if it was in fact the one-on-one attack I wouldn't be so quick
to lock myself into it being a one-on-one attack or a two on one or three on one attack yeah it's just we
live in a sad cold world evidence collected at the autopsy included but was not limited to the following
fingernail clippings and scrapings finger and palm prints blood samples Tracy's clothing was collected and
examined for trace evidence no sexual assault occurred during the attack a ring missing a stone was removed from
her left finger a mark on her right finger indicated that a ring was typically worn there and it was the
approximate size of a ring found on the floor near her foot so what I had talked about earlier there
Captain goes along with this portion of the autopsy report right not only do we have the wounds to her hands the
defensive wounds to her hands but what you're seeing is the items that she was wearing these Rings right
suffer damage as well because they were probably blocking some of the attack detective Robinette wrote in his report
that the weapon used to commit the murder had not been recovered but it was believed to be some type of clawed
instrument as most of the wounds were in pairs and spaced the same distance apart
the weapon is believed to be some type of small possible flat pry tool blunt instrument marks were found on the
surface of the north wall in the dining area and then rumors flew around town the Tracy had been attacked with a
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like you did cheers cheers to you Captain tall cans in the air now before we get too far
into the weeds of this investigation I want to point out something that I noticed time and time again in this
investigation and you The Listener will notice this throughout as well this whole investigation was incredibly
Complicated by the fact that most of the people in Tracy's Social Circles they all seem to know each other and a
lot of them seem to have been in some type of relationship with each other at one time or to be related to each other
this can help an investigation this also can hinder an investigation and the interview process for detectives must
have been a major headache because on one hand some of these people that we are going to discuss did not tell the
whole truth to police some of them were covering for each other then on the other hand rumors and
speculation were rampant at the time everyone knew everyone else's business in this case or at least they thought
they did this is because a lot of the people that we will discuss were in their early to mid 20s and they were in
bars a lot together and there was a lot of gum flapping and chewing the fat going on at these bars in these Social
Circles well it also makes it difficult for law enforcement you have we've seen over and over with cases the husband did
it or the ex-husband so if I'm law enforcement the first thing I'm doing is you get this vicious scene this vicious
murder scene I'm looking at the X to see if he has any wounds on him I'm looking
at the current boyfriend another thing that makes it difficult for law enforcement is when her friends say look
she's she was quick to fall in love with people showing up at their work now the
amount of people of Interest it gets multiplied that's exactly right their Captain Ohio BCI along with Grove City
police were assigned to the crime scene the scene was photographed and videotaped now here are a few things of
note as the captain pointed out Tracy was found lying on her back on the carpet with a pool of blood under her head her
legs were straight her left arm bent and her hand on her chest her right arm was
extended out Tracy was fully clothed with the exception of shoes there was a lot of dried blood stains near the body
location there was dried blood found on a rug the plastic baby gate leaning on the wall the kitchen floor
various items like stuffed animals and shoes lying near the body and on the countertop
south of the body so a lot of blood in this dining room area is found near our body well when you have these pools of
blood were there any Footprints left behind there was one partial footprint found at the scene that was determined
not to belong to Tracy I believe it was determined not to belong to Tracy because
it's not stated as fact in the reports that it was not Tracy's footprint but keep in mind
it this was a shoe print a partial shoe print that was found every indication that we have is that once the attack
took place our victims not wearing any shoes at that time well then on top of that you
have to rule out her friends that found her or anybody else that was at that scene yeah by the time that she was
found by these you know these friends and then the random person that the friend pulled
in with him to to go into the apartment the second time the blood had already dried at the scene
so we'll we'll get into her timeline and I think without 100 certainty we're not
going to be able to narrow down the time of death to one hour but it looks like investigators strongly believe that they
know about what time she was killed and we can base that off of a lot of other evidence that we will get into also
found at the scene Captain we and near the body we had a dish towel and pieces of paper towel that were left near her
feet type notes say that a three inch and one half inch patch of blood was smeared on the Walls by the towels a
kitchen chair was on its side and blood spatter was nearby indicating perhaps that Tracy was initially struck closer
to the table the remaining three chairs and dining table were not Disturbed clumps and cut
sections of hair were noted in various places on the dining room floor what you can gather very quickly is that this is
a was a vicious attack and there's obvious signs of a struggle here especially near the the body location
what's interesting to me though and and I think the listeners will note this as well when we go through our our brief
description of what else is found in the apartment or the state of the apartment
it looks to me like this attack started and ended in this dining room area it also makes sense too because let's say
the attacker attacks her from behind so then you'd have these wounds on the back
of her head she turns around to defend herself and then that's how she gets the other defensive wounds detective
Robinette said that nothing obvious was missing from the apartment and Tracy's purse and jewelry were in
plain sight so a robbery seemed unlikely here Tracy's purse and car keys were on a
large footstool in the living room area a pair of women's black shoes were on the floor next to the stool
the TV in the apartment in the living room area was on flowers on the TV stand appear to be a few days old a toilet
seat was up and urine samples were taken from the bowl some moving boxes as we said were still
packed up and still found by detectives in the apartment detectives notes indicate that the attack was believed to
have solely gone down in that dining area can you imagine though if it was that simple that Tracy was attacked the
person used the bathroom beforehand or they use the bathroom afterwards and just didn't flush
and that's how we end up catching this person and to rewind back to what the friends were saying about how easily she
was to fall in love with somebody this opens up so many more possibilities because like you said one of the the
guys that she was seeing for a time period was married so now you got this larger poll of people that you have to
pull from not just a partner or ex-partner but possibly a partner of a partner right and what we will see once
we get into these Persons of Interest is that unfortunately you could easily see
a motive for a handful of people here in this case and as we pointed out earlier some of these Persons of
Interest are in a relationship with another person of interest well on top of that there was no sexual assault so
if there was sexual assault at least we would know if there was semen then at least one of the attackers
would have been male the toilet seat being up we've seen this in multiple cases and the first suspicion then goes
to Well there must have been a man in that apartment or in that home shortly before the attack or or maybe even after
the attack right look I I don't I'm not going to sit here and pretend to know everybody's bathroom habits and don't
really want to know them either but if you did I'd have to quit the show I will say this like I don't my mind does not
jump to a male perpetrator immediately because the toilet seat was left up it's I've I
in my lifetime I believe that for every one woman that insisted that the toilet seat be down or the the lid be down
constantly there's been another woman that insists that it'd be up all the time so I've never really looked at that
and said oh that 100 locks me in on a male perpetrator very fascinating set of circumstances so far in this case CSI
techs collected some items that appeared to be of evidentiary value we had latent
prints blood samples from the spray and smears and unspecified trace evidence a bed spread from Tracy's bed with Muddy
shoe prints on it was collected as well as an empty Marlboro cigarette pack yeah
it seems like somebody pulled a f your couch Rick James move on her bed the thing that's interesting about the
cigarette pack is note that we had said earlier that Tracy was known to drink socially I've
seen it reported that she would she may smoke on occasion when drinking but it seems like most people are in agreeance
that Tracy was not a smoker she was not a regular smoker and then we had this Marlboro cigarette pack that is found in
the apartment but there's no other smoking materials found in the home there's no ashtrays or a lighter that is
noted as well so could this have been left by the killer or is this the situation that it was left by somebody
else prior to the attack and for whatever reason had just not been discarded of yet law enforcement is
going to do a neighborhood canvas of the area went until November 8th that would
have been that Sunday and no eyewitness claims to have seen anything yeah no one
seemed to see anything unusual or hear anything of Interest or of added value to our investigation here this is really
interesting to me based off of how violent the attack appears to have been and you and I know that area fairly well
even right 30 years ago we knew it fairly well and I would think that the belief is that that the attack went down
late at night probably on November 5th sometime nearing the 11 o'clock hour on a Thursday
late at night in that area 30 years ago for an attack to be this violent it would be I think it's strange that
nobody heard anything now it's not impossible but I find that it that it to be strange and backing up that idea is
detective deskins who went on record and said based on the overturned furniture and the scattered items near the body it
appeared there was a struggle adding quote it's difficult to believe based on the struggle that no one heard anything
end quote well like you said this is a apartment complex these are apartments that share walls so you would think in
some of the cases we've covered when somebody is attacked in a single family home we have maybe not eyewitnesses but
ear Witnesses so it's very very strange to me that we have nobody that thinks they heard anything
but also I wonder because they didn't initially have a great idea of when the attack happened
that maybe when they were questioning these people if you're questioning somebody
on Sunday about something that happened Thursday might just not remember a little bang
against the wall or oh maybe I did hear a somebody scream or a muffled screen right and there's plenty of evidence to
suggest that Tracy was killed late on Thursday evening and now we know that the body's not found
until Friday afternoon so you already have some delay there I want to paint a little bit of a better picture though
because one thing that I think is interesting in this case first let me address one thing that you you just
brought up sharing walls exactly right and these apartments I'm always fascinated when we have these types of
attacks and struggles when somebody hears something or didn't hear anything because you are sharing walls with your
neighbors now in Tracy's case that four family unit building that she lived in I
mapped it out it looks to me like she was on the end so she would have only shared a wall with one neighbor
again we're I'm basing that off of the idea that the apartment next to her was occupied
uh it may not have been her apartment the building she was in if you picture a u there's three
buildings that make this you shape and in the center of that U of those three apartment buildings you have a parking
lot that is shared by all of the occupants of those three buildings so what's interesting to me here is you
have a situation where my car is in in the line with your car your car is in the same area as our
other neighbor's cars so as far as the parking lot goes I think that that's where you're going to have the the space
where the most eyes are on the comings and goings of everybody be it the occupants or visitors of the of your
neighbors in that parking lot so I think people are going to have a good idea of
the activity there just because you're frequently in and out of your car and you have the rear entrance to your home
your apartment as said almost all of the people in that apartment the that apartment area or at least this space of
Regency arms because it's not laid out the exact same everywhere throughout Regency arms but in this space these
people are using their back door as their main in and out to their home simply because of where their vehicle
would be located so one thing that was of note I I want to make sure that I underline this and and really Echo this
and and be clear here on on not to read too much into this but one thing of note
is that neighbors did point out when asked if they saw anything strange or unusual or if there's anything of note
that should be reported to detectives about who may be coming and going from Tracy's apartment the neighbors told
several neighbors told the police about a white man with a white vehicle that had a large Dragon decal
on the vehicle who had been seen at the apartment several times but that is key to hone in on but we should also point
out the fact that they followed that up with had not been seen in a couple of weeks so it could be connected to our
murder but it doesn't have to be because we have a knight in question that we really need to focus in on now you might
not know this answer I'm sure law enforcement does but like you said she has an ex husband and she had a current
boyfriend at the time that boyfriend had the extra set of keys she was only in that apartment for a few months when was
he gifted those set of keys well I actually I think we need to kind of clean that up a little bit because
there's a couple things going on it's that she has an ex-husband she has an ex-boyfriend and the
ex-boyfriend from my understanding only stayed there for between about 10 days to possibly two weeks that relationship
was over with before she was killed so no current boyfriend there's no current boyfriend that we have listed here and
it sounds like she was pretty vocal in talking with a lot of family and friends about her life so nobody reported a
current boyfriend everybody reported this ex-boyfriend and we'll get into him we talked about him briefly uh David
celock that was the ex-boyfriend but I'm guessing he doesn't own that vehicle no
he does match the description that very vague description he's he's a Caucasian male he owns a white car with a large
Dragon decal on the vehicle now it makes sense though that you would see his vehicle right at that apartment several
times a few weeks ago a couple of weeks ago as stated by neighbors because he was staying there briefly now as far as
the duplicate key goes he tells police he gave the key back they don't find it at the scene but that
doesn't mean that he didn't give it back he claims that he gave the key back Tracy harkness's ex-husband Michael
Harkness said that he was told that David celock had a duplicate key to the apartment which again makes sense
because David celock's not denying that he ever had the key he was staying there we don't know the
the thing that we we really want to find out is one why didn't they find the duplicate key and since they did not
find the duplicate key who the hell had it well and what makes this case even more difficult for law enforcement is
you have eyewitnesses that saw this ex-boyfriend at the apartment at some point but because
everybody's using their back entrance because that's where the parking lot is well the parking lot is not small
it's and so if you said to me oh did have you seen this white vehicle that had this Dragon
decal on it yeah when's the last time you saw it I don't know I wouldn't you wouldn't be
it'd be very hard for eyewitnesses to pinpoint the last time they saw that vehicle at that apartment well and the
other thing that's difficult too is remember the back door the the door that was used as the main in and out for
Tracy and her friends and visitors was found locked it was the front door that nobody used regularly that was found
unlocked and open when her body was discovered right the other thing that makes this
difficult and like you said we know this area is not only are there several parking
Lots around those apartment complexes but there are side roads that are not that far from the apartment
so if this was premeditated it wouldn't be that hard to park down the street it's also not
it's also not that far of a distance for somebody to park there's a I'd say within a half of a
mile was a large Shopping Center or a strip mall and it wouldn't be that hard to park in that parking lot and then
walk over to the apartment complex yeah no again this is a rather safe area and police went out of their way to
inform the public that the they believed the attack on Tracy was personal this is based off of the fact given the
low rate of violent crime in the area that fact is going to further bolster that idea
and what eventually would be the detective's theory is that this was a crime of passion now
before Tracy was killed there were had been no homicides in Grove City in the year of 1992. Tracy was killed in early
November so that tells you that points out just how low the rate of violent crime would be in that area
she's not murdered until November and she's the first murder victim of that year
now let's see if we can fill out a thorough timeline for Tracy as that's going to be key to this case as it
always is so detectives spoke with a lot of people during the first days of the investigation and then we pieced
together a timeline for Tracy based off of these interviews and notes made by the actual investigators
so Tracy Harkness was last seen alive at a lingerie sales party in the Stone Ridge Subdivision this around 10 30 p.m
on November 5th this was at the home of a woman who Tracy was friends with detectives interviewed everybody at this
party Tracy's daughter was in daycare on the day of the fifth and then was picked up by Sherry
remember Sherry is Tracy's ex-husband Mike Harkness that's Mike's fiance I'm assuming that Tracy had a a good
relationship with Sherry because Sherry's helping them raise their daughter but she also has a good
relationship or reportedly good relationship with her accent yeah I I didn't see any reports about the
relationship between Sherry and Tracy but you can make some inferences right I mean
Michael Harkness it's reported by everybody that that I could find that they had a good relationship Michael's
words and everybody else's words were that he and Tracy spoke almost daily and it wasn't just about hey
can you pick up Megan in 10 minutes or hey can you can you cover for me this day they they spoke about what was going
on in their lives too and so it sounds to me like they remain friendly and then based off of the fact
that we know that Sherry is picking up Megan from daycare and that there's a good relationship between Mike and Tracy
I think the inference that we can make here is that yes the the relationship between Sherry and Tracy was probably a
good one on our timeline here we should note that Megan was at home with Sherry and her father Mike the rest
of the evening this is according to Michael and Sherry so this is the evening of Thursday the 5th
now remember we're going to fast forward to after that lingerie sales party Tracy
left that party around 10 30. it would be a 10 minute drive for her to get from The Party location
to her apartment when she was found when Tracy was found remember she was wearing clothing she
was fully clothed she was wearing the same clothes that she wore to the party but she's not wearing shoes when she's
found and remember that we found shoes her purse and her keys in the living room
near that footstool so her friends reported that Tracy usually changed into sweatpants and a
sweatshirt almost as soon as she would get home again her person keys and shoes were
found on the stool or near the stool and the TV was on so to me Captain I'm looking at this
situation I'm going okay she leaves at 10 30. everybody at the party is saying that Tracy said that she
was going home after the party and there's indication at her apartment that she probably came home kicked off
her shoes sit down her purse and keys flipped on the TV and before she could change into these
sweatpants as reported by all of her friends that she would usually change into sweats as soon as she got home
either somebody knocks on the door she invites somebody in or whatever happens and then she's attacked
well this makes it difficult too for law enforcement because did somebody follow
her home from the party or did somebody lay in wait and once you see movement and you see lights turn on
that that's when you make your move and you go knocking on that front door so the detective notes are as follows
they say that either a Tracy let her assailant in the front door or I guess the back door and and he or
she or they locked the back door and then left through the front door B the assailant was already in the house
when she walked in this would make sense if either she left the door unlocked somebody had a key or somebody had
access or gained access in some form or fashion to the apartment or C her and her attacker or attackers
came in together when Tracy arrived back at her home that night the other thing too that's interesting to me here
Captain is that the note of friends saying that Tracy sometimes would leave the back
door unlocked when she was home could it be possible like you pointed out that she arrives home goes through
the back door and just didn't lock it behind her when she arrived [Music] I want to thank you guys so much for
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Tracy Harkness /// Part 1 /// 628

Part 1 of 4

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Friday, November 6, 1992 was a horrifying day that forever changed the lives of everyone who knew and loved 24 year old Tracy Renee Harkness. Tracy was found beaten to death in her apartment that she shared with her 18 month old daughter. There were no signs of forced entry and police ruled out burglary as a motive. Investigators said the attack on Tracy was a crime a passion. Thirty years have passed since the murder and now Tracy’s family and the Grove City Police Department are hoping that new technology and DNA testing will lead to an arrest. If you know who killed Tracy Renee Harkness call the Grove City Police department at 614.277.1710 OR to submit a tip and remain anonymous call 614.645-TIPS OR you can Email our show by going to our website www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

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Brief Summary

The episode discusses the unsolved murder of Tracy Harkness, detailing the investigation and potential suspects 30 years later.

Key points

A Crime of Passion. Detectives believe Tracy's murder was personal, with over 36 wounds inflicted.
A Mother's Heartbreak. Tammy Bowling recalls the moment she felt she had no reason to live after losing her daughter.
The Murder of Tracy Harkness. 30 years after her murder, Tracy's case remains unsolved, leaving a family in anguish.
The Complicated Investigation. Tracy's social circles complicate the investigation, as many knew each other and had relationships.
Evidence Collected at the Scene. Detectives collected various evidence, including blood samples and a partial footprint.
The Mystery of the Cigarette Pack. A Marlboro cigarette pack found at the scene raises questions about its origin.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

If you did this, get it off your conscience.

Tracy's family urging the killer to confess.

4:57WatchNov 16, 2022

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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