Tracy Harkness /// Part 2 /// 629 | Forensic Files

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when we left off yesterday Captain we were trying to decipher and narrow down the time of death for Tracy Harkness
that is always key in any timeline and the timeline is always one of the most important parts of any investigation
especially a homicide investigation now in this investigation the detectives did
a lot of digging to try to figure out whether Tracy had gone straight home from that party or if she had maybe
stopped off somewhere maybe a bar as we mentioned yesterday she was known to do this in the past and was a regular at
several bars in the area like the VIP and rainies but remember in the past few weeks leading up to her death she had
rejoined her church and vowed to clean up her act and said no more bars no more drinking Etc detectives were never this
is key too to this timeline detectives tried very hard to find out if she stopped anywhere on her way home and
they were never never able to find any bar that Tracy was seen at on the night in question which is Thursday November
5th 1992 well and like we said this is a typical Midwestern suburb not a lot of bars so
it wasn't like law enforcement this is one of the advantages law enforcement have in this case is to go and question
people at these bars or to question the owners they would have known all these people and if she went out of the area
to visit people that she knew let's Circle back on the idea that of something we pointed out yesterday
everybody in her Social Circles seemed to know each other it was rather just one big Social Circle rather than these
different Social Circles they all kind of knew each other and they all kind of like to talk about everybody else's
business so had she been spotted anywhere I believe this would have been easy for detectives to discover in their
investigation obviously Tracy worked a normal day on that Thursday November 5th but did not show up on Friday the 6th to
her job her supervisor tried calling Tracy's apartment several times during the day but never received an answer
neighbors confirmed for detectives that Tracy's car was not in its parking spot at 10 p.m on Thursday the 5th but it was
there at 300 a.m. and then was spotted by another neighbor at 5:45 a.m. on the 6th so the party ends at 10:30 she
leaves the party roughly at 10:30 detectives have every indication no reason to think
otherwise that she likely drove home straight home from the party as she told several other people in attendance at
that party that she was going home afterwards right now we have neighbors confirming a couple things and narrowing
down the window of that time of death her car car was not in her parking spot at 10 p.m. makes sense we have people at
the party saying she didn't leave till 10:30 couldn't have been home any earlier than 10:40 if she did leave at
10:30 so this all this information is backing itself up here it's the checks and balances so the neighbors say no car
at 10 p.m. on the 5th but it was there at 3:00 a.m. on the 6th and again at 5:45 a. on the 6 and remember her body
was found on the afternoon of the 6th so really we've already narrowed it down to
roughly 10:40 p.m. on the 5th to 3:00 a.m. on the 6th and I don't think that anything happened in her car or along
the way home because we have detectives who process Tracy's vehicle and no blood was
detected there were prints lifted and submitted for processing it looks to me like they all came back to people that
they would have expected to have been in the car at some point that were people known to Tracy now detectives would go
on to say that they believed Tracy Harkness was killed overnight on the fifth leading into the sixth let's
compound that by the idea of Tracy's friends who said that she would always change her clothes upon arriving home to
wind down for the night so if her friends are correct the attack would have went down
very shortly after she arrived home that night on the 5th if she left the party and went straight home as she said she
would have been there right around 10:40 10:45 p.m. which again I think leads to
this idea that the murderer knew her possibly knew her schedule and was possibly waiting there for her not
necessarily inside the apartment but could have been waiting and and like I said once you once you see movement once
you see lights turning on in that apartment then that's when you make your attack and they did a lot of digging in
this case so investigators subpoena Tracy's phone records they checked her answering machine you remember those
things they pressed redial on her phone at the apartment and spoke to the person
that answered they collected her address book and contacted listed parties in her
address book and they even read her diary they also looked at the possibility that this may have they
didn't just rule out random attack right away or maybe targeted for other reasons
than what they would remember they land on the idea that this was a crime of passion that somebody was angry with
Tracy they had some kind of Confrontation and this was the result they didn't rule that out right away
they did their due diligence here they even looked at any potential repairmen or maintenance people that would have
had affiliation with the Regency Arms Apartments and they did note that in October there was a repair or
maintenance man in her apartment that man his name was Jim Brady and so they checked in on him as well and those all
of those items don't seem to go anywhere they're kind of stuck in the mud the detectives are of this idea of look this
was somebody that knew her this was somebody on her inner Social Circle and that's where we're going to find the
killer of Tracy Harin so eyebrows will be raised when it's learned that Tracy had a life insurance policy that was
going to be paid out to her ex-husband Mike yes Captain Mike Harkness was the beneficiary of a
$882,000 life insurance policy on Tracy Harkness now what's interesting here in this investigation is obviously Mike is
not going to try to sweep this under the rug or hide this fact from investigators
in fact he admitted that Tracy actually called him this is really bizarre called
him the Wednesday before her death so if she's attacked on a late Thursday night
or early Friday morning in the in the small hours of Friday morning we're talking about this conversation took
place probably within 36 hours of her murder and he says that hey she called me on this
Wednesday and asked who the beneficiary of his policy was so he has a life and life insurance policy on himself right
and she has a life insurance policy very responsible to do when you have a child
they have this conversation because she tells him hey I'm cons you are the beneficiary of my life insurance policy
I'm calling to see who's the beneficiary of yours because I'm considering changing it changing the person that is
listed as the beneficiary and so Mike tells the police look she got upset when I told Tracy that she's not the
beneficiary of my life insurance policy it's my mom and she says well why would you pick
your mother and he says I know you know no slight against Tracy but he says I know that my mom will use the money to
take care of our daughter Megan so he he's saying look this isn't a big deal to Tracy but no it it's either pure
coincidence or it's very weird that this conversation takes place where she's considering changing up the
beneficiary within 36 hours or so of her murder yeah this is one of the those things in the case where you go how
bizar how bizar because that gives you motive right there and the other thing that I don't you look
statistically the husband did it or the ex-husband right statistically that's that's what happens in these cases the
other thing that I don't like about Mike's story in general is that he went hunting on that Friday I would like to
know when was that trip planned well that's that's exactly right that's interesting that you say that so from we
have some details about that information well give me the details so detective robinet and Sergeant deskins went to
Mike's residence on that Friday this is November 6th they're there at 6 p.m this
is when they speak to his fiance Sherry Mike is not home he's still away for the
day hunting and remember remember we have Megan the daughter who is with Mike's mother being babysat that night
detectives verified that Megan was with Mike's mother they left a business card for Mike to contact them when he
returned from hunting so he actually returns a short time thereafter and calls the police as he
you know as they instructed he quickly sits down for an interview with them this is on the night of the 6th so we
don't have a whole lot of time that expires her she's found roughly around 300 p.m. that afternoon they go to his
house around 6 PM he's not there but he returns shortly afterwards and still that same evening he's sitting down with
the detectives and they are interviewing him now he tells them that he and Tracy
were close had always been close they stayed close they talked daily mostly about their daughter as they were
juggling taking care of her he told police that on the 5th Thursday he was in Alum Creek Hunting for the day with
his buddy John Ford okay so this this hunting trip wasn't just on that Friday it was
on that Thursday as well and this was just a daytime hunting trip for he and his friend so let me get this correct
they go out on Thursday they go hunting they come back home on Friday they go back out hunting yes and remember this
is early nov November and hunting seasons change throughout the year there would have been a there's a good amount
typically I couldn't find the actual hunting season schedule for 1992 but usually in the November months
and once November hits and it starts to get cold here in Ohio there are a significant number of animals that you
are allowed to hunt per the rules and regulations once that that time frame hits so so for people that don't live in
in Ohio or don't live in areas where hunting is a more common hobby it's not uncommon I I can count I have to go to
my second hand to count the number of people that I know that take a week off from work as soon as that sun their
their favorite hunting season opens up during that year and I don't know when his first day off was or when his last
day off was to be scheduled but from the information that we have Mike was on a week's
vacation and that that week's vacation was primarily based around the idea of hunting with his friends so it sounds to
me I don't have I can't put a definitive date on when all of this stuff was planned but usually when you have to
take off time from work you're doing that well in advance of the days that you are seeking to uh be away from work
right if I'm law enforcement I want to know when he planned that and when did the week start and when did it end
because some people will book in their weekends oh give me Wednesday off and then I'll come back the following
Wednesday or or was he off Monday through Friday I'd just like to know that I'm law enforcement the other thing
I want to know is when he goes out with his buddy Mr Ford H how long is he with that individual and if you're correct
and they went out Thursday and then they came back home and then went out again Friday that would still put him within
the area of those apartments and of the murder scene yeah so the area where he's
hunting is roughly a 30 minute or 45 minute drive at best from Tracy's apartment so we're not talking we're not
talking like he's states away he's he's with a a relatively short drive 45 minutes maybe 50 minutes at the most I
would be guessing here well but help me get clear on this did he go out Thursday
night and then come back home yes so we and we have that information so what we have here is that on let's go to that
Thursday because that's when the time in question starts on the 5th on Thursday he's at Alam Creek Hunting for the day
with his good friend John Ford on that same day Sherry picked Megan up from daycare around 5:30
and then Mike is home at 7:30 he and Megan and Sherry were all home that night Sherry backs this up and
then to further back that up we have John Ford that verifies that yes we came home at 7:30 on Thursday and then Mike
and I left to go back out hunting again on Friday morning and it is in the notes
that he had that Mike was on a week vacation a vacation the notes say that he was on vacation that week which makes
me believe that it was Monday through Friday that that very week but I I don't know I wouldn't say that with 100%
certainty it just looks like he took off a week from work but again what time do
they leave on Friday do we know that did they leave at 7 a.m. did they leave at 5:00 a.m. I don't have that in my notes
the only reason why I'd like to know that is because we see no movement in our car we have this time period like
you said did the attack happen pretty close when she came home possibly and what what evidence do we have of that oh
while she liked to change her clothes was it possible that she came home and she turned on the TV and she sat down
and she fell asleep and then somebody wakes her up at 1:00 a.m. or 2 a.m. or 3:00 a.m. you see what
I'm saying and then that person goes back home they take their shower they clean up and they they go hunting for
the day it's not out of the realm of possibility it's not but I think the problem with that theory is the
statements by the others that are backing up hey I came home at 7:30 and then I left the next morning to go
hunting no I agree and I disagree because if you go to if you went to sleep with your significant other and
that's all they know but you were planning to leave at 5 a.m. for a hunting trip but you decided to wake up
at 2:30 and go commit this crime and then come back there's a good chance that your significant other wouldn't
have any clue of what time you left the bed that night that's all I'm saying in the conversation with the detectives
Mike Harkness does tell them that he had met this other individual that we will get further into as we go and that is
David seock remember David is the most recent boyfriend of Tracy and the two broke up
shortly before she was killed Mike said that he met David once and Tracy told him that David had a record for assault
with a deadly weapon now this is a little bit of hearsay Captain I couldn't find any actual charges against David
seock for an arrest with a deadly you know for assault with a deadly weapon right I mean unless it took place when
he was a youth I I think that this might just be rumor and I think as we see as we go it
might be understandable why this was a rumor or maybe this is something that David seock made up and would tell other
people now he goes on to tell the detectives that Tracy told him that she had not slept with David even though
they had a some kind of a relationship for a brief period of time and that she was back going to church at this time of
her life and Mike also told Detectives that Tracy told him that she had to break up with David seock because David
seock kept hanging out with his ex girlfriend Janet now Mike said old Janet Mike said after hunting all day when he
got home that night Sherry told him about Tracy's death and that's when he called the detectives later Mike told
police that he paid Tracy's burial expenses detectives notes indicate that they found no inconsistencies in Mike
story well like I said statistically you're going to want to look at the boyfriend or the partner and I don't
like it when it seems like that individual is establishing an alibi but I don't think in this case Mike is
establishing an alibi I think those were the events that happened that week and to back that up we have Mike's partner
and on top of that we have this hunting friend friend that went with him two days in a row so I don't I feel like
those events are truthful and he's not establishing an alibi now we need to introduce someone named Christina
Dempsey who went by the name Tina to most of her friends she had known Tracy for six years I believe they met while
they were in high school she was the bridesmaid at Tracy and Mike's wedding she says that she last saw or tells
police that she last Saw Tracy about a week before the murder and she saw her at church at the grace Memorial Church
she says that she talked to Tracy multiple times a week again police are still trying to gather up information on
who their victim is and that will likely lead them to who the perpetrator is especially when you have this type of
crime where you believe you're talking about a crime of passion with the likely perpetrator or perpetrators being
somebody on the inner Social Circles of your victim Tina says that Tracy was a a
typical redhead she was opinionated had a temper Tina says their church was religiously conservative but Tracy
strayed a number of times from the church saying that Tracy went to bars and partied on occasion in the last
month of Tracy's life we have Tina who is confirming that Tracy made a promise at the altar to straighten out her life
and to stop going out to bars and to stop drinking and she's regularly attending church again Tracy called her
that Thursday afternoon the Thursday in question this was to ask Tina again if she would go to the lingerie party so it
sounds to me like Tina was invited to this party prior but she already had plans with her boyfriend that evening so
she would not be attending that same party Tina said Tracy told her that she met David seock when he was on the
rebound out she said he treated her really nice and they had a lot to talk about saying that Tracy liked him but
didn't but didn't sleep with him according to what Tracy told Tina the information that Tina provides to police
is that David had just broken up with his girlfriend Janet and they had two kids together and after they broke up he
and Tracy start this relationship and he's crashing at Tracy's apartment but it wasn't like this big romance as far
as Tina was concerned and eventually David seock goes back to or attempts to go back to his girlfriend Janet this
after Tracy and he broke up whether how official or unofficial the relationship was it was ended just seems like a lot
of wasted time and a lot of drama oh this part is really interesting here Captain because Tina and this this will
be be become even more interesting once we get into some of these Persons of Interest because when you start going
through these Persons of Interest in some of the relationships that that Tracy had in her life and the people in
her Social Circles you can see the potential for enemies now Tina tells police that she knew of no enemies male
or female of Tracy's but goes on to tell detectives that look Tracy and I lived somewhat different Lifestyles and
because of that Tracy would keep secrets from Tina because Tina was very religious and also openly admitted to
detectives that she was rather judgmental of her friends and so Tracy would keep secrets or maybe just not
tell Tina every single thing that's going on in her life yeah we all have friends like that there's times that
maybe I go to a party with friends or go to a bar with friends and I I had a little bit too much to drink there's
some people that I will tell that story to and there's other people that I keep that to myself a lot more to uncover in
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the walls cheers everybody and make sure you subscribe to the podcast if you're not subscribed already cheers to you
cheers to you Captain let's get into some Persons of Interest at least as far as the police were concerned in this
case and from what was reported in the news at the time and since then rather this tidbit comes from the Grove
City news from November of 1992 and it's a quote from one of the officers it says
quote for now at least the notion of a random killer has been ruled out police theorize the killer knew the victim this
is coming from Sergeant deskins who went on to explain quote at this point we don't think we have a random stalker to
deal with we also feel that robbery wasn't the motive in this case end quote the fact that Tracy wasn't sexually
assaulted either seemed to remove that as a motive as well it pointed to someone being angry with her and killing
her in a rage now we got a list of people that we need to go through here captain and
let's start with the ex-husband Michael harkes as we pointed out it seems on the surface at least that he
had an Alibi for the time in question he had returned from hunting with his buddy
John Ford and hung out at home with Megan and his fiance Sherry all night on the Thursday it looks like this Alibi
whether us or The Listener or whomever wants to believe it or not it appears based off of a lot of information that
this Alibi had enough backing it up that the police felt pretty firm about this Alibi
because we have Sergeant deskins on record saying quote if I had to go out on a limb and rule out anybody as a
suspect it would be him and quote talking about Michael Harkness well look I don't like when law enforcement does
that I think if you're law enforcement you keep it close to the the vest you you anytime they bring up
anybody you say we're not ruling anybody out and yes you have a alibi but you know where I stand on that
if the person is in a relationship with you whether that is your parents uh a sibling or or in this case
a romantic partner I don't I I don't buy those as aliis right and I am in in agreeance
with you my suspicions here Captain would be for someone like Sergeant deskins to say
that openly in the newspaper indicates to me that they have a lot backing up Michael harness's Alibi that they're not
just taking the word of his fiance well yeah right and what's not in our notes and and what we're not privy to or at
least what I'm not privy to is was his Vehicles parked outside and did did Neighbors of of Mike see his Vehicles
there all night long so his Alibi might not just be established by a romantic partner it could be established in
another way that we're just not and the reason why I'm putting a lot of weight on this statement by sergeant
deskins again he says quote if I had to go out on a limb and rule out anybody as
a suspect it would be him meaning Michael harkes the reason why I put a lot of weight to that and give a lot of
credit to to that statement is he's saying if I had to rule out anybody and what we will see is there's
other people in this story that they never officially rule out they don't officially rule out anybody we just have
that statement by sergeant deskins that if he had rule out anybody as a suspect that would be Mike Michael Harkness so
to me I feel like there's probably a lot pointing that he didn't do it again we don't no we are reviewing the case as
the detectives saw at the time based off of the evidence that they found and evidence that was presented to them now
let's continue on with our list of individuals so remember another person high percentage we talk about you want
to look at the ex-husband or the husband or the boyfriend or the ex-boyfriend high percentage of the likelihood of
finding the perpetrator nearest to our victim the other person you always have to consider is someone who finds the
body well that was Steven hutter and Steven hutter interestingly enough did have a record for felonius
assault he was interviewed at length he and Lori helped Tracy move into her place remember he and Lori were together
when her body was found based off of the information we have Steven hutter and his girlfriend Lor helped Tracy move
into her apartment they actually stayed there for one night after helping her move in but he has a verified Alibi he
was with Lori and at work on the night of the murder per police and then the thing about him too he is one of the few
people on this list that you can look at and go well I don't see a motive here several of these other individuals you
can you don't have to use your imagination too much to see a potential motive with which is a perfect segue to
our next individual named Mitchell wisman this was a former boyfriend of Tracy's but we got to go back a a lot of
years for this relationship he was Tracy's High School boyfriend they dated for about a year
when they were 16 now Mitch has an extensive criminal record a lot of the his criminal record is after 1992 after
Tracy was killed I do want to clarify though that most of his the charges against him it's pretty minor stuff it's
a lot of traffic violations a lot of being negligent with with his his vehicle with his license and some omv
stuff so I want to be clear that there's not a lot of violence in his criminal record right yeah so he's he's a he
shouldn't own a car and he's bad at he shouldn't own a vehicle is it right but that doesn't make you a murder correct
correct his wife Heather was interviewed at length as well now Heather tells police that Tracy our victim was
actually stalking her husband Mitch and says that she would catch Tracy sitting in her car outside of their house and
calling the house and hanging up if Heather answered the phone this is interesting because this
isn't the only person that we hear this type of behavior from remember we had other people that reported that if Tracy
was really into somebody she might show up at their place of work unexpectedly or if that man was already in a
relationship she might show up at their home unexpectedly that's very dangerous Behavior because in this scenario if
it's true that that Tracy was stalking this man this married man now you have two enemies you have this married man
that you are now causing conflicts for him happy wife half happy life not a happy wife so that would give him motive
to maybe confront her and then maybe the confrontation gets out of hand because like we also heard that that Tracy could
be physic physical so is there a possibility that this man tries to confront her to get her to stop whatever
she's doing and then then a confrontation breaks out or the other enemy becomes the
wife because and again it could be another situation where the wife decides to confront the individual and and it gets
out of hand and and murders the end result well and it gets a little more messy when we really hone in and zoom in
on this situation so Heather knew Tracy from not just this situation but but she knew Tracy fairly well because
they went to the same church and they ran in the same Social Circles when police are like hey can you bring us up
to speed on what's going on in Tracy's life at the time of the murder Heather reports to police that she had heard
that Tracy was dating a guy from it's it's somewhat of a gang I guess you would call it that was they
they call themselves The Fifth Street Wrecking Crew she doesn't offer up any names of who this individual is within
the Fifth Street Wrecking Crew but she says that and again this could just be a rumor that she's reporting but right as
she reports it to police she says Tracy was dating a guy from The Fifth Street Wrecking Crew it was known to her or
believed by Heather that Tracy was scared of this man whoever he was yeah guy sounds like a canoe full of dicks
she goes on to tell police that the rumor around the bars and such and in their Social Circles is that that is the
guy that killed Tracy now what that rumor is based off of who knows but that's what she's reporting to police
now this is where this whole situation with Mitch or Mitchell wisman and Heather and Tracy gets very bizarre to
me this is I I find this to be bizarre behavior but I want to I really want to I really want to point this out I really
want to point this out give it to us we're ready we have Heather reporting this information to the police right at
the time that she's reporting this information this is after Tracy has been killed so we don't have Tracy to answer
and present her side of this story we should be very clear on that we're only getting one side of this
story so Mitchell is interviewed on the 9th he admits to police that he and Tracy had a 6mon long Affair when Mitch
was married to his wife Heather and Heather was pregnant what a fart this was between Tracy's two marriages to her
ex-husband Mike we don't have an exact timeline on this but if you use the information that we've already delivered
you can put a little bit of a timeline to this we know that Tracy's marriage second marriage to Mike was over even as
far as the courts are concerned by April of 1992 right and according to this information this six-month long Affair
between Mitch and Tracy went down between the two marriages and remember we have Michael on record Mike Harkness
on record saying look we were really only actually together for about a month between August and September of
1991 So based off of all of that information I'm going to say that this affair whenever it took place was
probably over and done with before August of 1991 and I think it's important to point
all of that out because if there is beef or anything going on in this situation between Tracy Mitch and
Heather well all of the information we have all indicators say that that relationship would have been over with
14 15 months roughly before Tracy was killed so it's a bit while it's a big story it may be a nothing story but
still let's get into these details because this is really bizarre behavior so they have the six-month long fair
this takes place when Mitch's wife is pregnant right right how bizar how bizarre Mitch ends up breaking it off
with Tracy Tracy gets angry according to Heather and then went and told Mitch's wife Heather all about this affair yeah
her hope is if I tell your wife then that's going to cause a conflict she's going to leave you and then you're left
with me right and so this of course is going to cause all kinds of problems between Mitch and Heather but obviously
we know they were able to work it out work through it because they're still together uh in November of
1992 because of this situation Mitch says that he you know he had already broke it off with Tracy but would
distance himself from her and in fact very quickly lost touch with Tracy but this was until they happened to run into
each other at a New Year's Eve party and they may have started seeing each other again depending on who you
ask well let me just let me just throw out this this flag by the way because we don't have Tracy here to give us the
Deeds right correct correct but when normally when there is an affair or something bad happens people try to
minimize that so when he says well it was a six month month Affair it could have been longer
but it also shows the state of mind that if you're not above having a relationship with a
married man then you're probably not above having a relationship when you're in a
relationship if that makes any sense agreed I don't want to get into a victim blaming or shaming situation here I want
to really underline the fact that are talking about a whole bunch of people that are in their early 20s and I tell
you what this will surprise no one I was no angel myself in my early 20s so we we
all have a lot of growing up to do at that time and many of us I'm a firm believer in this many of us are not very
much fully developed not very much adults at that time even though our driver's license may say that we are
well and also she you know Tracy was in a tough situation again and I feel like a broken record when I say this is a
different time period the early 9s she has a child you know Society had expectations of women that are and they
still have expectations of women to this day that are just not fair or don't make
any sense so you have this young single mother and she seemed to become somewhat
desperate to fill that to fill that void yes and again I I think one thing I want
to point out is that the information we have is that when they had this affair this was before the second
marriage to Mike and there's other indicators in the reports that the the affair stopped that Tracy and he stopped
Tracy and Mitch stopped seeing each other before Megan was born and we reported that she was roughly about 18
months old at the time of Tracy's murder but here's the really weird thing Captain even after this affair is over
with likely over with for months and months and months Tracy moved in the reports say
across the street and it's not actually across the street but she moves into the
same neighborhood as Heather and Mitch yeah that's suspicious she moves in the place that she moved into that's in the
same neighborhood as Heather and Mitch is the Grove City Apartment that Tracy was later killed in if you look at this
thing again a lot of the times when it's reported it says moved in across the street it's not really across the street
it's not really the same street this was a a large apartment complex however Tracy is within and and you most of the
time too when you sign up and you and you apply to to these apartments not always do you get to pick your apartment
you're just taking whatever is unoccupied at the time right you're applying to be in the apartment complex
you're normally not applying for a certain a certain location and normally if they approve you they might give you
a few options but what makes this all weird so she's roughly a little more than a
football field away from from apartment to apartment Tracy's apartment to Mitch and Heather's apartment and the thing
that makes it weird is that Heather tells police that Tracy knew exactly where they lived so this didn't just
happen you know Heather doesn't seem to believe that it just happened well and the thing here is it doesn't we can't
just believe Mitch because he says the relationship's over because he is a liar and cheat to his wife so why are we
going to believe him and we have no proof that Mitch didn't say hey why don't you come move in close by me the
other weird thing here though again this is again this is according to Heather we
don't have Tracy here to confirm or deny this she's saying that she believed that
Tracy would follow them around and sit in her car and watch them now Heather is so upset about
Tracy living in such close proximity to them she says that they tried to get out
of their lease so that they could move but the apartment complex the only thing that they could offer them was well you
could switch apartments but you need to stay with us because you signed this lease there's so many things about this
because like I said it gives motive to both of them it gives motive to Mitch to get Tracy out of his life it gives
motive to the wife to try to get Tracy out of their life we can't move well heck I'm just going to have to kill her
so we don't have to deal with this anymore and then also you can't trust their Alibi because they could have been
in you know this could have been a plan they made and tell me if I'm crazy for having this thought but if I'm
law enforcement you you want to know what test I'm running I want to make sure that that Mike is the biological father
so let's get into a potential Alibi for these two individuals right because you can see a lot of reasons why they would
find themselves on a short list of Persons of Interest in this case Mitch tells police and this is later confirmed
by police that on that Thursday night his brother-in-law and sister came over to their apartment this to help him
install a ceiling fan they left and then at some point he and Heather go to bed they say that they're in bed around 11
the other thing we need to point out there's nothing wrong with your theory there or or maybe not your actual Theory
but a potential theory in this case the only thing about that though is I would really kind of circle in on the idea
that yes this could have been planned but there's a lot of indicators that this may not have been a planned attack
that that somehow things went bad there's a confrontation but it leads to this attack well right and that's what I'm
saying is what if Mitch and his wife go over just to have a confrontation maybe they they saw
her in the neighborhood and went oh she's following us again we got we got to go say something my other issue with
them is we don't have eyewitnesses and you think that again if somebody drove to the apartment and parked in the
apartment space then maybe you'd be more likely to have a eyewitness if the individual parked even
down the street maybe would be more likely to have a eyewitness we have no eyewitness but they could have just
walked right a football field that's the difference between these two Persons of
Interest and everybody else on this short list is that these two one or both of them were the only ones that had
the the ability to just simply walk to where the murder took place well Mitch and Heather again there's so many red
flags that are just going off but sometimes in these cases those are nothing Burgers let's get into a suspect
that might be even more in interesting in throwing up more red flags yes and this is an individual that we've
mentioned several times and this is straight from the reports here captain and it looks like police learned
very quickly from Tracy's family that remember she had recently broken up with a guy who some have said should be the
prime suspect in this murder case and I'm sure those who say that arrived at that conclusion for a multitude of
reasons this is David seock age 22 He's listed as a dock worker and former landscaper and a member of The
Fifth Street wrecking crew and from what I gather his Hobbies were hunting and fishing playing pool playing video games
drinking not working and being an [ __ ] well that's an impressive list of hobbies Grove City PD Sergeant Dennis
deskins said quote they didn't know if or where David went to school and his employment history is sketchy now the
detectives attended Tracy's well-attended funeral to see who would show up Tracy's most recently rumored to
be boyfriend or ex of approximately two weeks David seock did not show [Music] up
join us back here in the garage we like to let the cases dictate how many episodes we need to cover them and this
one's going to need more so you're in luck you get more True Crime garage this week for your
earballs and until part three be good be kind and don't let [Music] her [Music] [Applause]
[Music] is it possible to predict the unpredictable can 3D printed life-size organ models help to map out complex
surgeries ahead of time is it possible it already is right here Mayo Clinic you know where to go

Tracy Harkness /// Part 2 /// 629

Part 2 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 (http://www.truecrimegarage.com/)

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Brief Summary

The episode investigates the murder of Tracy Harkness, focusing on suspects and the timeline of her death.

Key points

The Mystery of Tracy Harkness. Detectives work to narrow down the timeline of Tracy Harkness's death, focusing on her last known movements.
Bizarre Phone Call Before Murder. Tracy called her ex-husband about life insurance just days before her death, raising suspicions.
Life Insurance Motive?. Tracy's life insurance policy names her ex-husband as the beneficiary, complicating the investigation.
Mike Harkness's Alibi. Mike claims he was hunting the day of Tracy's murder, but questions about his timeline arise.
Police Rule Out Random Killer. Police believe the killer knew Tracy, ruling out a random attack. 'We don't think we have a random stalker to deal with.'
Tracy's Dangerous Behavior. Tracy's alleged stalking of Mitch's wife raises questions about her relationships. 'That's very dangerous behavior.'

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

It's all lies, I tell you!

The captain humorously introduces the show.

1:41WatchNov 16, 2023

Tension

65/ 100Some tension

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