How Far Would You Go to Solve Your Sister’s Murder?
Sister Sleuths Solve a Mystery and Get Justice for Someone They Love
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Forty-seven-year-old Jason Harris will have the rest of his life to think about how two women brought his life plans to a crashing halt. His thirty-six-year-old wife, Christina Ann Thompson Harris, died suddenly on September 29, 2014, just eight months after giving birth. Her death was initially ruled an accidental overdose after a lethal dose of heroin was found in her body.
None of this made sense to Christina’s sisters, Katrina Sharon and Patricia Hutchinson. Their sister didn’t use drugs. She was breastfeeding, for God’s sake; even if she had developed a secret opioid habit that no one in the world knew about, she would never endanger her baby girl.
There was frozen breastmilk in the freezer, they told police. Test it. If our sister was a closet junkie, there should be chemical evidence of it. For some still-inexplicable reason, their urgings fell on deaf ears.
Jason’s Side of the Story
Here’s how Jason explained the situation. “Christy” had been hungry the night (September 28, 2014) before she died, so he had fixed her a bowl of cereal. He noticed that she was having trouble holding the spoon about halfway through it and said she eventually dropped the bowl and passed out on the living room floor. He chalked all this up to fatigue; after all, she was taking care of a new baby and a five-year old. He helped his wife to bed.
Jason said that the next morning, his wife was still asleep when he went to work. He knew she was exhausted, so he didn’t disturb her. He also mentioned that she had recently had a cold and was being treated for asthma.
But after calling and texting his wife several times with no response, Jason said he started to get worried. So, he called a neighbor (who happened to be a nurse) and asked her to check in on her. Coincidentally (we both know better), the front door was unlocked. The neighbor discovered a cold and clearly deceased Christina still laying in the bed.
Now, here poor Jason was, a single dad left to raise his two daughters alone.