Episode 682: The Murder of David Harris (Part 1)
01:08:28 Share

Hey weirdos, before we unleash today's macabre mystery, we were wondering, have you ever heard of Wondery Plus? It's like a secret passage to an ad-free lair with early access to episodes. You can join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or in Apple Podcasts or Spotify. You're listening to a Morbid Network podcast.

From the creator of Think Twice, Michael Jackson, listen to the new Audible original Final Thoughts, Jerry Springer. Once known as the king of trash TV, Springer was the notorious talk show host whose wild daytime program transfixed audiences everywhere.

Join Springer's personal and professional life as the ratings soared and the reviews soured. Hear revealing interviews about the choices we make and the regrets we may have. Listen to the new, trashy, and true Audible Original Final Thoughts, Jerry Springer, by going to audible.com slash Springer.

Life doesn't happen bi-weekly, so why should Payday? The money you earn can be in your hands today with Earnin'. Earnin' is an app that gives you access to your pay as you work, up to $150 per day with a max of $750 between paydays. Just download the Earnin' app and verify your paycheck, then access up to $150 a day as you work and leave an optional tip. Any money you access plus tips are automatically repaid from your next paycheck.

There are so many times in my life where something last minute has popped up, whether it's, you know, a last minute date, which is fun, or something not so fun, like a last minute trip to the vet, and you don't have the money to cover it. Well, that's why you should have Earnin. Download Earnin today, spelled E-A-R-N-I-N, in the Google Play or Apple App Store.

When you download the Earnin app, type in Morbid under podcast when you sign up because it will really help the show. Morbid under podcast. Earnin is a financial technology company, not a bank. Cashouts are based on your available earnings. Standard cashouts take one to two business days with no mandatory fees. Option to expedite your transfer for fee tips are voluntary and don't affect the service. See the cashout user agreement for details. Service not available in all states.

Hey weirdos, I'm Alayna. I'm Ash. And this is Morbid. 🎵

It's morbid with no tech neck. We were just talking. I didn't know what tech neck was. If you don't know what tech neck is, listener, it's when your cousin takes a picture of you and you realize that you have a whole ass hump in the back of your neck because you've been slouching over your computer for years. That's so scary. If you work like a desk job or something and you're like really slouched over your computer, it can result in like a straight up curvature of your spine. So you end up getting like a hump in your neck.

That's so crazy. So now I am trying to sit up straight and shoulders back, baby. Shoulders back. Because you... The good news is it is reversible. I did a lot of... That picture was taken of me. I looked at it and we did research immediately. We said, how do we reverse this? Tech neck research. Tech neck...

out. Technology is not killing it. It's not good for the human body. It's really not good for us, I think. It's good for us some ways. It's very good for us in some ways, but man, I think it's

I think it's going too far. I think that's the problem. We can never just do things right as a species. We always have to take it way too far. I know. The thing that sucks is that sitting like this is so uncomfortable. Yeah, it is. I feel so fucking weird right now. She's just straight up. I'm just so straight. I'm so straight right now. So straight right now. Happy Pride Month. Look at that.

Happy Pride Month. Happy Pride Month. I'm just straight now. She's decided she's going to be straight. She's going to sit straight. In body language. Just kidding. But speaking of technology that went too far. Oh, what about motherfucking Segway? We might have Tech Neck, but we got quick brains. We do not have tech brains. Melina doesn't have Tech Neck because she's a bitch.

It's because I am always rigid. I know, I'm too loosey-goosey. I'm always rigid in my posture because I sit very, and I'll catch myself sometimes sitting too rigidly. Like those things where people are like, hey, relax your shoulders and like unclench your jaw. I'm always like, who?

Don't because you'll get tech jaw. I need to because I'm always like... My jaw is super tense, as we know. But anyway, speaking of... That was a good segue. I don't want to get too far away from it. Speaking of technology that's gone too far...

This is just a little documentary recommendation. Recommendation, that's the word. I haven't had enough coffee. Wow, I said our brains are quick too early on. So I got super hyper fixated on the Titan submersible thing when it was happening. I think a lot of us did. Very hyper fixated. I learned so much about submersibles. I would be sitting next to John on the couch and just be like, can I just tell you how carbon fiber is made? He was just like, sure. Fascinating.

So it went away after. I was like, you know, I've always been like fixated on it. But on to the next hyperfix. Exactly, on to the next. And now HBO did a documentary, Implosion, the Titanic sub-disaster. I gotta see this.

I haven't finished it yet because it's long and I'm old and I fell asleep. Not because it's not good, but because I'm old and I fell asleep. It is so good so far and also horrifying to watch. The amount of... We're going to cover this in an episode. Like, that's a case. Full episode because this is... It is incredible how much was ignored. Oh.

In the making. It's so scary. And in the, like, this whole trip, it was so avoidable. It is, I mean, we all knew it was avoidable because, like, you choose to get in a sub. Yeah, of course. To go down to the Titanic, but I don't even mean in that way. I mean, he ignored every single Stockton Rush ignored.

He would fire people around him that told him this thing is going to break. This thing needs a new hull. Like the hull is cracked. You need to scrap it. He would just fire people. He's just that guy who like surrounded himself with,

Like, it seems like he surrounded himself with yes people. Well, that's it. I'm taking an astrology class right now, as you know. I'm big into like woo-woo classes right now. I love the woo-woo class version of you. But I love, if you've been listening to the show, I've like always really been interested in astrology, but I've only really known like the tip of the iceberg. Yeah. So I'm like, let's fucking go deeper. And like, we're going to learn how to read charts in this class. That's exciting. I only had like the first one. So we learned about like the planets and what they mean and the different signs and like what they all represent.

And so I got a text from my teacher this morning basically being like, I guess, so Pluto went into, yeah, that's right. Pluto went into Aquarius because the planets move this past November. And Pluto is all about like use and abuse and misuse of power, beginnings and endings, transformation, like technological shit. Whoa.

And then Aquarius is like unpredictability, rapid changes, like information science, mathematics, like that kind of thing. So she had sent a news article this morning and was like, you know, like send us anything that represents Pluto and Aquarius energy. And Elena and I were talking about this whole thing. And I was like, I'm really interested in this guy's chart, like what his fucking chart is. Because he's just wild.

a very interesting, fascinating man in a dark way. Yeah. He has his Pluto in Aquarius. Yeah, which is crazy. Because it was literally like an hour after I had got that text. So I sent it to my group chat. I know, it was weird. And my teacher was like, great example. Look at that. And then she asked me a lot of in-depth questions about the chart. And I said, I don't know yet. I don't know yet. I don't know yet, but I will look. But now I'm excited to see what Stockton Rush's chart is because...

I mean, I would love, like, when Elisa Kelly told us, like, you know, what, like, stars over Salem. Like, I'm like, tell me about this guy. That's my goal is to get to Elisa Kelly's, like, career.

Fucking level. Level. Oh, yeah. I was going to say era. I mean, sure. Get to her era as well. But that will take me years. But I can only hope to be as good as her. Oh, you will. Thank you. You'll get there. Thank you so much. And then the two of you will just be charting all over the place. Thank God. You could come chart with us. And I'll just be like, tell me things. It's fascinating. It really is. And like people can say that astrology is like, woo woo, it's not real, blah, blah.

There's something to it, man. Ancient civilizations, I found out, used to use astrology and like look at the planets to figure out when kings were going to die, when great famine would hit, like all these different things. So fuck you, it's real. So fuck you, it's real. That's how I feel about astrology. That's the mode of today. And it's just fascinating.

Well, go watch that documentary implosion because I'm telling you it'll fascinate you. And then we'll do, we'll cover it like once we get all the research together and then maybe by that time I'll have gone a little bit further in my class and I can tell you a little bit more about this guy's track. I love that. Because that's,

That's kind of fun. That's really fun. Yeah. She actually said we're going to look at some like serial killers charts and stuff like that, which I do feel like will be fascinating. Oh, for sure. Because obviously a lot of it is, you know, I think certain things in your life are kind of predetermined, but then I think some are like free will. Oh, for sure. So it'll be interesting. It's the nature versus nurture of it all. Yeah, it'll be interesting to look up. Mm.

And I can't wait to watch that documentary. Yes, it's really good. It's on HBO? Yeah, this one's on HBO. I think there's going to be another one too on like Netflix. Oh shit. I think there is one on Netflix right now. Because it's like two years. Which is like crazy. Or no, one year. It's one year. Okay. Right?

I think it's only one. It's only one year that this happened. I think it was 2024. I think you're right. No. Is it 2023? Okay, so I was right. I need to go with my gut more. No, you should. I'm sorry for doubting you. Holy shit, that was two years ago. Two years, because I remember being shocked. I was like, wait, what? Yeah, and on June 18th, it'll be two years. Yeah. Isn't that nuts?

Yes. I'm actually like a little bit shocked by that. Is time a real thing? No, it's a flat circle. It really is. Well, speaking of like time being a real thing, actually, we have a case today and I was thinking about it this morning because I like got this together like a few days ago and then I was thinking about it. I was like,

I remember watching some of this like play out on the news. Like I feel like I watched like a snapped episode of this when I was like far too young. I mean, probably. Because as I was going through this the other day, I was like, I know that like this is a very well-known case. It's the murder of David Harris and Clara Harris runs him over with her car. Yeah, I definitely remember this. Horrible. I remember it, but...

I had this like epiphany this morning where I was like, I think I knew like a lot more about this when I was like much younger. Because what were you? When was this? 2002. I was. You're six. Six. But I think like later on, like when I was like eight or nine, I saw like some special about it. Because I was like, damn. Yeah. No, not when I was six. Just watching the news when you were six. Again. I used to fall asleep to like forensic files as a child. But let's get into it.

So on the afternoon of July 24th, 2002, Clara Harris just casually asked her stepdaughter, Lindsay, if she wanted to go for a drive, get out, enjoy the beautiful summer weather.

Lindsay was 16 at the time, so one, she was like, hell yeah, let's go joyriding in your Mercedes-Benz. She loved her stepmom. They got along great. Oh, that's nice. And this didn't seem unusual at all. Clara loved showing off her Mercedes. She loved driving it. It just was like their thing to do. For her, the car was a symbol of the success that she and her husband David had achieved in their 10 years of marriage, including a thriving dental practice in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. Look at that. They're very well-to-do people. Mm-hmm.

Because Lindsay lived with her mom during the school year and she spent summers with Clara and her father, she welcomed the opportunity to hang out with her stepmom and happily accepted the offer. They had actually gotten really close in the last couple of months, having bonded over the recent revelation that David Harris, Clara's husband and Lindsay's father, was having an affair with his secretary, Gail Bridges. Oh. Yes. What a thing to bond over. Uh-huh.

I think they both felt hurt in different ways. Of course they do. You know? Yeah. It's just like, wow, what a trauma bond that is. Yeah, I think a lot of times, like, we don't realize that, like, affairs affect kids as much as they do. Oh, yeah. And, like, when kids find out about them, they also feel duped. Well, they feel betrayed, yeah. It's a level of betrayal that's similar to what the spouse feels. Yeah, which is interesting. Yeah.

But just a few weeks earlier, Clara had confronted David, her husband, about the affair and he agreed to end it. But the damage had been done and he was going to have to work very hard to earn back not only his wife's trust, but his daughter's as well. Ew, I also hate the like grossness of like you're having an affair with your secretary. It's very cliche. Like, it's very cliche. Get it together. Yeah. Both of you. Yeah. Gail and David. Agreed.

Well, Clara was very upset that afternoon and Lindsay knew that much. As far as Lindsay could tell, it had something to do with her dad and his mistress, Gail Bridges. Lindsay also knew that in the weeks leading up to her father's affair being exposed, that Clara had hired a private investigator to follow David and Gail. Oh, man. And it was that private investigator who had just called the house before Clara asked Lindsay to go for a drive. So she was like, obviously these two things are connected. Yeah. Yeah.

At first, it seemed like Clara was just driving aimlessly. But soon it became clear to Lindsay that this was not a casual afternoon drive. It was very much an excuse to hunt around town looking for David and Gail. Oh, no, don't do that. Don't do that with his kid. Don't do that with his kid. Yeah, don't do that. Don't do that with any kid. Yeah, don't do that with kids. That's a solo activity. Don't involve. That's a solo activity. And even then, like, don't hurt your own feelings. Yeah.

Well, this didn't come as much as a surprise to Lindsay. She knew that her father actually had plans with Gail that evening and the plans were supposed to be to formally end their relationship. So it made sense to Lindsay that they would be out with each other.

But what didn't make sense was Clara's emotional state as they drove. Like Lindsay, Clara also knew that David was planning to meet Gail that evening to end things. So it really shouldn't have come as much of a surprise when the PI called and said that they were meeting. Yeah. And Lindsay remembered years later, she was just on a mission to find out where he was and she was crying.

which is really sad that's really sad that afternoon clara drove to all of the places she knew that david and gail liked to go to together including to gail's home but there was no sign of david's car anywhere so eventually clara pulled over and asked lindsay to take over driving so that she could place a call to blue moon which was the private investigation firm that she had hired at clara's instruction lindsay just drove from one location to another but no matter where they went it didn't seem that gail and david were there

Lindsay said later she was so confused, we were just going to forget about it and go shopping, which came as a relief. But then Clara's phone rang.

Which is so sad knowing that detail that like this almost went away. Yeah, like we were just going to go shopping and just forget about it. Just go shop. Retail therapy, girl. Spend his money. Spend his money. Spend his fucking money. Yes. Make him pay that way. Make him literally pay with that. Yes, exactly. You know, like nobody deserves to pay with their life. Yeah. So it's like make him pay with actual money. It's like that, hey ladies. Yes. Literally. Like that. And it's like, damn, you just wish like that.

That had gone that way. I know. For many of the people involved. You know what I mean? When you find out like this next bit that I'm going to say, it's like this wasn't even supposed to happen. Because despite a company rule about not returning clients' requests for updates until the following day, a policy put in place to prevent messy or even potentially dangerous situations...

Private investigator Lucas Baca told Clara he had picked up David's trail and that he and Gail had checked into a local hotel and were either on the fourth or sixth floor, but said that he couldn't provide any more details until the following day. Oh, man. But it's like...

First of all, you already provided enough details for this to get messy and dangerous. Yes, absolutely you did. And then, not one to be denied, something that she thought she was entitled to, Clara eventually just pried the remaining details out of him, and it was worse than she ever could have imagined. Well, and imagine, I can't fathom, one, finding out that your husband is having an affair with his secretary. My God, no. One.

I can't fathom that. No, that's why our husbands don't have secretaries. Yeah, no, you can't have secretaries. I'm just kidding. But also it's just like that must – I can't imagine the feeling of that. I really can't. Like that's awful. I've been cheated on by like ex-boyfriends. I know that that sucks. I just can't imagine going through with like marriage and having it happen. Marriage, kids. That must be a whole different kind of vibe. Yeah. And then also to then know that like their meeting to end it would be –

also fucked up of a feeling because you know they're meeting and when they're breaking up and you're not there like he's breaking up with the woman that he's having an affair with like it's just like what it's a wild that and then to then be hearing they just checked into a hotel and you're sitting here with his daughter yeah because you're why are you breaking it off at a hotel and it's well and that's the thing it's like we're getting so messy and it's like

You just know, like, and again, this is what I mean, like, nobody should pay with their life for these kind of indiscretions. No way. Like, Bart, hands down. Like, that's it. But it's like, you just wonder, like, you're just like, oh my god, that was like shot after shot for her. Yeah.

And you just, ugh. She wasn't supposed to have that information that day. That's the thing, like she just shouldn't have had that information. You know what I mean? There's literally a, there was a company policy put into place. Because they know. Because. That this kind of information can set somebody into a tailspin. And the fact that like the company policy already was in place tells you there had been situations in the past where they had to then put that policy in place. Or they'd at least seen enough evidence to know like this could go wrong.

This could go gnarly if we really, you know, because you just don't need to give all that information. Yeah, people in heightened emotional states do crazy, terrible things. Because the human species is very flawed that way. We sure are. And we need to be aware of it. But it's just like there's those two sides of that coin where it's like he did not deserve to pay with his life. No.

You know what time it is? It's time for a fresh approach to dog food. And that's where the Farmer's Dog comes in. Developed by board-certified nutritionists, the Farmer's Dog is human-grade dog food that's made with real meat and veggies, and it's gently cooked to preserve those nutrients. Here's the thing. Sidney and Blanche, they were, you know, they were getting along.

on the thick side and we had to take control of their eating a little bit by getting them the farmer's dog. It was the perfect way to portion out their food. Not only are they loving it, but we're seeing the results at vet visits and they are healthier and we're going to be able to have them hopefully forever if that ever becomes a thing. But it's been such a game changer for them. It really has. We can finally feel better about where they're going in their health journey. Get 50% off of your first box of fresh, health

That's thefarmersdog.com slash morbid. Do it because you love your furry friends.

Rakuten is the smartest way to save money when you shop because you earn cash back at over 3,500 stores. Fashion, beauty, electronics, home essentials, travel, dining, concert tickets, and more. Your favorite stores like Lowe's, Levi's, and Nike pay Rakuten to send them shoppers. And Rakuten then passes on a part of that payment to its members as cash back. You're already shopping at your favorite stores. Why not save while you're doing it? It's a no-brainer. Membership is free and easy to sign up.

Get the Rakuten app now and join the 17 million members who are already saving. Cashback rates change daily. See Rakuten.com for details. That's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Your cashback really adds up. ♪

Well, so as far as Clara and Lindsay knew, like I said, David's plan was to meet Gail, but at a local restaurant, a public place. Yeah. Where it was much less likely that there would be a scene. But according to the PI, the couple had checked into the Nassau Bay Hilton in Houston, which to add insult to injury, was the same hotel where David and Clara had their wedding reception a decade earlier. Wow. Let that sink in for a second. Yeah. That's fucked up. And then when you know how this all ends, it's like...

You walked out that door as newlyweds and then, like, he ends his... Like, he doesn't end his own life, but his life ends there. Like, what a horrible... That is tragic. Yeah, what a tragic turn of events. On another level. And also, like, Gail, does Gail know? Gail must know that he has an entire family. Yeah. Honestly, Gail, go fuck yourself. She might have been told...

Some interesting details that we'll get to, but still, please. So when she heard the news, Clara's attitude and Demeter apparently changed immediately. Where she had previously been very determined, irritated, confused even, now she was silent, humorless, just affectless. Like...

Oh, no. In another world entirely. That must have been so scary. For Lindsay. For Lindsay. Absolutely. She's 16 years old. And to see someone just live, like, to go numb like that, like, affectless is like, whoa. Like, we've crossed over into dangerous territory. Really dangerous territory. And she's 16. She knows that. Yeah. Of course. So Clara dialed the phone again, this time calling the house to speak with the nanny who was taking care of the couple's two other children. Oh.

Oh, man. Yeah. Damn.

Damn. Which I think was really nice of her to let him keep his oldest clothes. And honestly, I wish it had just gone there. Yeah, that's it. Just kick that motherfucker out. Yeah. Yeah, like have your, and then go spend the money. Yeah. That's it. That's the recipe. No one gets hurt physically. No.

When she hung up the phone, though, Clara, in the same flat tone as she had used with the nanny, instructed her stepdaughter to go to the Nassau Bay Hilton. Oh, no. It was about 8.30 p.m. when Lindsay pulled the Mercedes into the Hilton lot and parked in one of the guest spaces and then followed Clara into the lobby. Oh, no. She should not be part of this. I didn't even realize that she was, like, such a big part of... I always knew that she was there, like, that's such a big part of the story, but I didn't realize how...

how there she was. That she was like brought into the lobby and shit like that. She should not be witnessing this kind of shit. No, this poor girl, lots and lots of trauma. Yeah. So at the front desk, Clara asked for her husband's room number, excuse me, but she was told that nobody was registered under that name. So she asked for the room number of Gail Bridges, but received the same response.

She's getting nowhere, so she lied to the clerk. And she was like, listen, my son is sick. I need to get in touch with my husband immediately. Like, I know he's here. But the clerk only repeated that there wasn't anybody registered under those names, so he just couldn't help her. Later, after detectives went through the hotel's security footage and records, they learned that the clerk had been telling the truth. David Harris had paid cash in advance for the room, so the clerk hadn't bothered with the usual check-in procedures, like getting his guests, like the guest names or their license numbers. Yeah.

Oh, God. Yeah.

And she turned back in the direction of the hotel lobby, but not before ripping off the rear windshield wiper and dragging her keys along the side of the vehicle. Damn. Yeah.

Carrie Underwood style. Oof. So the explosive attack on Gail's car seemed to have exhausted Clara briefly. I've never keyed a car personally, but I feel like... No, I feel like that would exhaust you. In ripping the windshield wipers off. I can't even get my windshield wipers off when I'm supposed to. And here's the thing. It's like, this is like... This is wrong. I know you're angry. You have every right to be angry. She has every right to feel whatever feeling she is feeling right now. Yeah. Yeah.

You got to hold some of that stuff. You know what I mean? You got to do it in a better way. It's like you can't be destroying property. You can't be killing people. When you're a mom, like you're a mom in this scenario to Lindsay, like a stepmom. Yeah, you got to... You're a parental figure to her. And you have two other kids. Exactly. Like you got to immediately think of them and say, this is going to get me in trouble. And this is bad to show them as a way to get your anger out. You know what I mean? It's like...

I've obviously I've never been in this situation. So it's like but you it's just like, oh, no. And you can just see it like escalating really quickly. I can't imagine being like I don't think I've ever been cheated on. Drew's like my only serious relationship and he definitely never cheated on me. But being cheated on in like a relationship where there's no kids is one whole world and level of hurt. Yeah.

Being cheated on by your husband when you have multiple kids together is like a whole other level of betrayal. Yeah, that's got to be a – because now you're thinking of them. Yeah. And the betrayal that's happening to them. You didn't just cheat on your wife. You cheated on your family. Exactly. And that's the hard part. And it's like – yeah. So she's just not thinking clearly. Yeah.

But so now she's consumed with rage and she's determined to get David out into the opening of the hotel lobby. So she had Lindsay call her father's cell phone and he answered right away. And Lindsay, as instructed, told him, you need to come home. Bradley is sick. That was one of their sons. Yeah. So he was like, OK, I'll be right there and hung up.

Clara and Lindsay watched the bank of elevators from outside the glass front doors of the hotel, just waiting for David and Gail to emerge. After a few minutes passed and they still hadn't appeared, Clara herself called David's phone and repeated the earlier message that their son was sick. And again, David said he was on his way immediately. By that point, Clara had gone back into the lobby and was waiting right by the elevators to confront him when he came out. Which, honestly, you wish that that had happened. Yeah.

Well, that does happen. Like, confront. But I mean, like, and that's it. And period. Like, just confrontation in a public place. Yeah. Because that's bad enough. Like, that's bad enough. Yeah. But it's like, you're not, nobody's getting hurt. Everybody leaves alive. Yeah. You're in a public place. Like, obviously, you don't want that to happen at all. But it's like, if it's going to happen, that, you wish that was the end of that. And then it's just like, and then divorce. Yes. The end. Like, get out of there. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, so anticipating the confrontation, Lindsay convinced her stepmother to go back outside and wait. She's like, we shouldn't wait right here. And this 16-year-old trying to defuse the situation, you feel so hard for her. Oh, I feel, Lindsay, I want to like gather up and hug. And just go take her shopping. Like, I know she's a grown adult now because this was 2002.

Yeah, but that trauma probably still lives in her. I still want to give you a hug because this was a lot, a lot, an unimaginable thing to go through. When she's being the adult here, she's saying to Clara, like, we don't want to cause a scene. She's trying to de-escalate. Let's go outside. Exactly. She's trying to de-escalate. So she does try to, but unfortunately that didn't do a lot of good.

Lindsay said she was calm until she saw dad and Gail come out. Then, because Lindsay was able to get her inside, or outside. But then she said she ran inside. She was ready to go inside and fight.

As soon as she saw David and Gail come out of those elevators, Clara rushed into the lobby and just started hitting Gail. Oh, see. Tearing her shirt open, just starting a brawl with this woman. And as far as Clara was concerned, this was the woman who had stolen her husband and destroyed her family. And it's like, yeah, like, like...

you know, she's the other woman. That's not good. That's not a good person to be. But at the same time, you don't know what he's told her. Well, also, it doesn't even matter if she's like full on doesn't give a shit that she has a whole, it doesn't even matter. It's like, you can't physically attack someone and you can't, and what is it getting you? Right.

Right. That's the thing. A charge. Many times I have wanted to physically hurt someone. Same. For sure. Same. Like, that's just, we're animals. We are animals. It's a thing. It's a primal instinct. Anger can, in fight or flight,

Fight is part of it. Yeah. And it's like that is it's going to happen. But you have to fight against that instinct. Because again, especially as a parent, as a human, but especially as a parent when you have even more under your responsibility, not just yourself. And more to lose. Like, you know what I mean? Like, especially as a parent, you have to sit there and go, is this worth it? This momentary struggle?

of getting all my rage out on this woman and feeling like, hell yeah, I just punched her in the face. Probably not. Is that going to be... How long is that going to last? It's going to last a split second of like, that felt good, and then boom. Reality's going to hit you like a fucking...

A 747 jet. It's like, that is not going to be good. Because then you're going to catch a charge. You're going to have to... Your kids are going to have to see how you reacted to a situation. Right. They might take cues from how you reacted to a situation and think that's how they should act. Or could be embarrassed by the situation depending on how old they are. Like, there's a lot of layers. It's bad. And you are now walking around. You know, like, it's like, so even this is like, oh, girl. It's bad. And it shows you that she was just...

Out of her mind. Out of her mind. Because this is such an overreaction, you know? It is. It is. So she yelled in Gail's face, you bitch, he's my husband, and just knocked her to the floor. She was just repeatedly striking Gail in the face and in the head. And she looked up at all the guests who were just...

you know crowding around watching in a mix of horror and curiosity because we're all terrible people we are and told them this is david harris and he's fucking this woman right here damn huh i mean like oh you hear this stuff and you look so wild you look so wild and it's like you get the you get the emotion behind absolutely that's the thing we can i cannot stress enough that like

The emotions that would come with this would be horrific. And I can't imagine you would want to embarrass this man and this woman in front of everyone. But you're also embarrassing yourself. That's the thing. You're really not just embarrassing them. Yeah. And again, there's a child here. Yeah. There's a child not only involved. There's children involved, but there's a child literally physically present. Here, present.

And it's like this is just, that's going to affect her forever, witnessing just that. Yeah. You know, if that was where it ended, that was going to fuck her up. And again, she's taking, she's a child. She's taking cues from you and she's very upset with her father. So now she's implicated in things and done things that she probably regrets. Yeah. And it's pitting, it's pitting this Lindsay, Lindsay.

her emotions against her father. Right. Which obviously he made a massive mistake. A great error. It's like, was, you know, it's not like there was this like whole, you know, you know, he, she hated him because he was physically abusive kind of thing to her or anything like that. Like, I mean, like Lindsay. To Lindsay. Like, you know, this is all purely emotion based and betrayal based, which is a very real thing. Absolutely. But to Lindsay,

involve her in that kind of like emotional fight there like you're having with him. Yeah.

is directly inviting her into the trauma with you when she should be able to deal with it in a way that she, because she's going to feel betrayed by him. And she needs to deal, that's the thing, in a different way. She needs to deal with her piece of it and not co-opt yours. Because your marriage does not equate to their relationship. Right. Of course, again, like we said, she's going to feel a betrayal, but she's going to feel a betrayal as a

As a daughter. And not as a spouse. Right. And those are two different things that need to be worked out in two very different ways. In two very different therapy rooms. And this is very much involving her in the like romantic relationship of it all, which is a messier. Way messier. In a totally different way, you know, kind of situation. It just is very upsetting. Yeah.

Well, so it didn't take long before several hotel employees rushed over to the scene and started trying to separate Gail and Clara. By then, Clara's anger had turned into uncontrollable rage. As one employee was pulling her away from Gail, she clung to the woman's blouse and nearly ripped it off.

And then when she lost her grip on the shirt, she grabbed Gail's leg and bit down hard on her leg. She's like animal level right at this point. I was just going to say this is animalistic. So when it was clear that hotel employees were having no luck separating the two women, David finally stepped in and put his hand on Clara's forehead and pushed her away to the floor, giving the desk clerk enough time to get Gail outside to her car and David walking a few feet behind after Gail left.

This is just so bad in every way. No one is making a correct decision here in how to act. No. Like, none of this was okay. Because he's not helping de-escalate this situation in any way, shape, or form.

And it's like, this is just not good. It's horrible. So with Gail removed from the situation, things seemed to calm for a moment as the clerk then walked Clara and Lindsay out to the car in the parking lot. But then sitting behind the wheel of the Mercedes, Clara started crying as one of the guests, Evangelos Smyros, helped her into the driver's seat.

just the fight having gone completely out of her. Now she's sobbing. And this sweet man is helping her in her car, which I'm also like, don't let her drive right now. I know. He doesn't know her. Nobody could have predicted this. No, no, no, no. So he closed the door and started to walk away. And then he heard the tires of Clara's car screech as she threw it into gear. He said she was screaming again, crying, hysterical, out of control.

And then he watched as Clara threw the car into drive and tore through the parking lot in the direction of the hotel's front entrance. And Lindsay's in the car. Lindsay's in the car. See, already. Which is devastating. Not only are you, like, you're out of control. You're reckless. You're endangering, no matter what is going to happen here, you're endangering this child. Yeah. That's fucked up. It is fucked up.

Like, get your emotions in check. You are an adult. You absolutely are. This is a very emotional scene. I get it. This is fucked up in every way. But you've got to check yourself. Get yourself together. Check yourself. Like, become an adult. And also, it's one thing to, like, try. Like, you were just saying, like, when there's kids in the equation, like, you have to think of them first. Yeah. You have to do that when they're not there. She's sitting there right next to you as a reminder that, like, you need to check yourself. She's right there. Every decision I make in my life. Yeah.

I think of my children and what that decision is going to do to affect them. Of course you do. Every single decision, whether they are in the room with me, not in the room with me, whether I'm somewhere else, if they're in the fucking car with me. It's a lot easier. A lot easier to make that decision because they're right there. And it's like, you got to become an adult in this situation. And she just didn't. So Smiro's tried to catch up to the car, yelling for her to stop that she's going to hurt someone. But she already picked up speed. Oh, and that poor man. I know. He's just trying to stop it. Yeah.

All he could do at this point is watch as she drove away. At the front entrance of the Hilton, the desk clerk, Garrett Clark, was standing on the curb watching David Harris walk back into the hotel after saying bye to Gail. After saying bye to Gail. I know. Jesus Christ. He could hear Evangelos Smyros yelling just moments before he saw Clara's Mercedes swerve around Gail's car. He said, I saw her driving very fast around the corner and accelerating towards me.

She clipped the rear bumper of Gail's car as she swerved around, just as Clark turned to see her intended target, David Harris. He said, I saw bulging eyes, a terrified look in his eyes. I then saw the Mercedes hit David Harris and then come to a complete stop. This must have been absolutely terrifying.

horrifying to watch. Um, yeah. And all I'm thinking about in this moment is obviously David Harris did not deserve this at all and probably did not. Who can predict that this is going to happen? You know what I mean? Like, obviously, People cheat on people all the time and you don't always hear of this outcome. But,

You know, like, nobody's, like, hurting somebody physically or, like, killing anybody here. And it's like... Until now. Until now. And it's like, this has been escalated to a point where it's no longer... Lindsay is in the car that just struck her father. I'm thinking of David Harris here, who, like, made a mistake and is not, you know, the good guy in this situation up until this point. But...

He did not deserve this. And then Lindsay, in this fucking out-of-control car with somebody who is so animalistic that they can't even see straight. Stop for a second.

Like, this poor child is probably like, what is going to happen? Is she going to, like, send us into the side of this building? Like, are we going to die here? Yeah, and the car has just hit her father. And she watches as her father's body was thrown 25 feet into the air and then landed on the other side of the parking lot median where, obviously, it came to a hard thud. Nobody should have to witness this. It only gets worse, Alina. ♪

Indeed is the all-in-one solution for your hiring needs. When it comes to finding amazing candidates quickly, Indeed's Sponsored Jobs feature is your secret weapon. Your job post jumps to the top of the page for relevant candidates, ensuring maximum visibility and faster results. In fact, Sponsored Jobs posted directly on Indeed receive 45% more applicants than non-sponsored jobs.

With Indeed, there are no monthly subscriptions or long-term contracts. You only pay for results. In the past minute alone, 23 hires were made on Indeed worldwide. There's no need to wait any longer. Speed up your hiring right now with Indeed. And listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit to get your jobs more visibility at indeed.com slash wonderyus.

Just go to Indeed.com slash WonderyUS right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash WonderyUS. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring? Indeed is all you need.

The perfect crime requires perfect communication. That's where Babbel, the number one language learning app, becomes your secret weapon. Created by over 200 language experts, Babbel's 10-minute lessons get you speaking a new language in just three weeks. Studies show that 15 hours with Babbel equals a full college semester of language learning. With speech recognition technology and over 16 million subscriptions sold,

It's your foolproof plan for mastering any of 14 languages. Let's get more of you talking in a new language. Babbel is gifting our listeners 60% off subscriptions at babbel.com slash truecrime. Get up to 60% off at babbel.com slash truecrime. Spelled B-A-B-B-E-L dot com slash truecrime. babbel.com slash truecrime. Rules and restrictions may apply. ♪

Garrett Clark and other guests in the parking lot watched in absolute horror as Clara proceeded to drive in a loop around the parking lot and over the median, where she then drove over her husband's body not one more time, but two more times.

I that's like so beyond when you have time to stop beyond a snapped moment yes and you have time to stop and realize that what you're doing is wrong like after the first I mean the first hit alone watching your husband's body go 25 feet in the air should absolutely like it should never get to that point that should take you out of that should take you out of it hearing the thud

of your husband's body after it's been thrown across a parking lot median, come down onto the ground, should snap you out of it. And hearing whatever poor Lindsay is probably doing in that car should be snapping you out of this situation. And this is haunting. Later, Clark, who was the hotel employee who was just standing by watching all of this, he said, I heard her cackling and laughing as she drove the last two feet before she hit him.

I can't stop thinking of Lindsay in that car. Inside the car. I can't stop thinking of her seeing this woman laughing and cackling. Inside the car, all they could hear was Lindsay screaming. And at one point even trying to get out of the car while it's still moving but slowed down. And she was trying to get out just before her stepmother drove over her father. Because you feel that. Yeah. Like she's feeling every second of this. She knows she's driving over her father right now. Like, yup. Yup.

This is just so beyond human emotion. This is like so beyond. So after hitting David for the final time, Clara finally put the car in park.

And according to witnesses, once the car had stopped, Lindsay jumped out of the passenger seat, ran around the driver's side, and punched Clara in the face, which warranted... I know I just said, like, you gotta think before you go violent with somebody. You run my dad over with a car, I'm punching you in the face. I'm having human emotions right now. You like to... No, no, no. We're all having human emotions, and if you disagree with this, you're stupid. Yeah, it's like, whatever. I'm in a car that my stepmom is driving, and she runs... Like, I

I have a stepmom and a dad. If my stepmom put me in a car at 16 years old and drove over my dad multiple times, I would get out and punch her in the face. Yeah, I can't. That's my fucking dad. I cannot for one second blame Lindsay in any way, shape, or form for punching her in the face. And honestly, she's probably trying to get her out of her fucking stupor. Yeah, like snap out of it. Snap the fuck out of it. Look what you just did. Exactly. Like now it's all done. God damn.

So then Clara got out of the car seemingly in a daze, uncertain what to do next. And at this point, she just stood over David's body and started sobbing uncontrollably, then dropped to the ground and cradled him in her arms and started begging him to breathe. Witnesses heard her saying over and over again, I'm so sorry, David. I'm so sorry. I love you.

Wow, she was just gone. Gone. She was just in fucking orbit. Because that's the thing, like there's a lot of argument over what her state of mind was when this all happened. For me, like I think what she did is wrong and I think she deserved to spend time in prison for it. Absolutely. A hundred thousand gajillion percent. But I don't think she was all there when this happened. Something snapped. And then I think when she realized what she did, she had a moment of...

Yeah. Because she starts sobbing and begging him to breathe and telling him how sorry she is and how much she loves him. And I don't think that was for show. I think that was a, I just fucking killed my husband. Which also, that's a dangerous person. Oh my God, yeah. That's a really dangerous person that can snap like that. Because that's an impulsive, reckless motherfucker. Well, and that they just blink out.

Like that? You can't just come back and go, oh shit, sorry? That's the thing. Because I'm not saying, just to be clear, I'm not saying she was insane at the time. No, you're saying she blinked out. Exactly. That's the only phrase I can think of to describe how I'm seeing it. It's like she literally just was insane.

Like, I don't think she was criminally insane at all during this. I think she deserved to go to prison for this. No, I think she was fully blinded by the most intense rage that I can, I don't think any of us can conceive of. No, hopefully not. So, and I think she literally was gone. And then came to. Blinded by rage, I think is apparently a real thing. I think she was just not there. Thankfully, I've never experienced it.

But that's so dangerous. So dangerous. Moments later, Houston police arrived at the scene and placed her under arrest for the murder of her husband, which everyone had just watched. Holy shit. So the news of Clara Harris murdering her husband actually fucking shocked everyone who knew them. I would assume. Clara and David were, as far as anybody could tell, the perfect couple. In fact, people said they had the type of relationship that they wished they had with their husbands. Yeah.

But that's her show. Yeah. It tells you that nothing on the outside is real and you don't know anyone's life unless you're in that house with them. It's true. You don't know anything. All these influencers that we all love online. All these fucking housewives that we watch. We don't know shit.

Yeah, we don't know shit. But everyone has an opinion. Everybody thinks they know exactly what's going on. We don't know shit. This is the kind of shit that tells you you have no fucking clue. No. That's why I don't aspire for anybody's relationship. I focus on my relationship and making it the greatest it can be. You don't look at this is the perfect couple. No, it's the perfect couple. No. It's not real. I'm concentrating on my own relationship. That's all I can control. Yeah.

Yeah.

After finishing high school in the early 80s, she started studying to become a dentist in Columbia, and then she was accepted into the dental program at the University of Texas Houston, where she finished her studies and started a dental residency at the school.

By all accounts, she was beautiful. She was talented. She was smart. She had a very bright future ahead of her. In fact, just a few months after completing her dental residency at UT Houston, she was crowned Miss Columbia Houston in a local beauty contest. Oh, wow. So she, like, as far as everybody was concerned from the outside, she had it together. Had it all. In every way you possibly could. Had it all.

David met Clara in 1991 when they were both working at Castle Dental Center in Houston. And his father, Gerald, told a reporter, I remember David calling soon after he had met Clara and telling me he was completely smitten. Which is so sad. That is really sad. Yeah.

Like Clara, he was a skilled dentist with a bright future. He was actually very gifted when it came to his personal studies and his chosen profession. But he also had a way with patients that just put them at ease when they sat down. He had a great personality, it seems. And honestly, with dentists, you need that. You do. You need to be able to put people at ease. According to author, my guy, Skip Hollinsworth, he writes on all the big Texas cases, which I just love. Yep.

According to Skip Hollinsworth, David, quote, had a charming folksy nature and used words like golly long after they had fallen out of fashion. Okay, I love that. I do too. I actually love that. I love golly.

David had been married once before to Lindsay's mother, but the marriage didn't last long. They separated after just a few years because Lindsay's mother felt like he was too driven, too career focused, just didn't have enough time to spend with the family. As divorces go, it was pretty amicable. He got partial custody of Lindsay. He saw her on occasional weekends and holidays. And as we know, she spent summers at his house. So that's a great custody deal. Yeah. Yeah.

It was true that he was a man driven to succeed in his field, but by the time he met Clara, he was already what most people would consider to be successful. So that drive, you know, diminished a little bit because he was already... So she probably got a little bit of a different version. She did. Yeah, exactly. I think that's a great way to say it. And for that matter, Clara was also career-focused, so I think maybe they had that in common. Yeah. So she and David had a lot in common. They hit it off immediately, and within a year, they were engaged to be married. Oh.

They got married at the Windmere Yacht Club in Houston on February 14th, 1992. And as we know, had a large, beautiful reception at the adjacent Nassau Bay Hilton, which is just fucking chilling to me. That is. It is chilling to me that their wedding reception is where she, 10 years later, would kill him. Their wedding guests parked in that parking lot. But it really all comes down to...

You gotta be a human, adult human about it. And you can't go off the handle like this. There's ways to handle this. And those ways are...

you choose to work through it or you divorce or you divorce like your choices cleaners yeah yeah that's fine yeah you know like why not yeah but this just is so upsetting it is so yeah before long david's reputation as a skilled orthodontist had gotten around houston and he and clara ended up opening their own practice it was called space center orthodontic

In the years that followed, they would open several other offices. Basically, they had like a small chain of privately owned orthodontic offices in the Houston area. And they were serving as many as 100 people.

120 clients per day. Wow. So they were like in business. Probably making bank. Yeah, they definitely were making bank. I think they were among Houston's richest. Yeah. Maybe not richest, but they were rich. In 1993, Clara told a reporter, I found the best. I found the one God had reserved for me. Oh, man. Yeah.

And the feeling was mutual at the time. Like Clara, David had photographs of him and Clara, photos of their family hanging all over the various offices, which tells you everything you need to know. Exactly. And if the photographs weren't enough of a reminder of their love, they spoke on the phone two or three times all throughout the day, all before going home to each other in the evening. Which seems like it's great. Yeah, they were in constant contact. Yeah.

After they were married, Clara welcomed Lindsay into her life with open arms. And Lindsay was actually smitten with her father's new wife. That's even sadder. I know. Because it's like, you love to hear that. You're like, yes. Well, that's also like not common. No, which is like really sad. You know? Yeah. But like she got that and fucked it up. Yeah. Like beyond repair. In a massive way. Mm-hmm.

But before we got there, Clara also really wanted children of her own. And in 1993, that dream became reality when she gave birth to twin boys. So they had like a big happy family. Yeah, everything's great. Yeah, they have the sprawling suburban mansion, the Mercedes, the kids. But it was equally important to her that she showed the world that she was just as committed to her family as she was to her career. She wanted both.

Skip Hollinsworth wrote, no matter how many patients Clara had to see, she always got home in time to cook dinner for her family and their palatial white brick home in the cheery suburb of Friendswood. Wow. That doesn't even seem real. When I tell you quintessential, like, and, like, picture perfect, it seems so perfect with her being like, I have to get home to have dinner with my family. Like, that's so, and that's telling me, like, she had that, like,

That, like, parental, like, way of thinking where it's like, no, my family comes first. Yeah. And it's like, where did it go on this day? She blinked out. It just blinked out. But she would always tell her patients before this all happened, she had the perfect life. And those who knew her even just a little bit would have been inclined to agree. A former co-worker said, I used to tell people I wished I could be able to love my husband in the way that Clara loved David. Which I was like, damn, I think you should do some internal work. Um...

that that's an unsettling statement yeah but she really loved her husband like holy shit she's like damn i wish i liked my husband like oh shit okay that's sad you should talk to someone about that yeah well the birth of the twins obviously was a major milestone in clara and david's lives both of them and one they absolutely relished but it also seemed that they may have underestimated the way that priorities change once kids enter the picture uh-oh at

Mm-hmm.

With Clara at home or at work in another practice, David started paying attention to Gail in ways that he had not ever paid attention to other women in the office. That's fucked up. Yeah. And as far as anybody could tell, the feeling was mutual. That's fucked up too. They all agreed, quote unquote, Gail went out of her way to gain David's attention as he flitted from exam room to exam room. So this is like...

lifetime movie bullshit. And it's literally like she has twins and suddenly eyes are wandering. Yeah. That's fucked up. That's super fucked up. Oh, it only gets more fucked up. I don't know. Six months later in February 2022, David invited Gail to lunch at Perry's, one of his favorite local restaurants, and their affair pretty much started then.

Once Gail was hired, the change in David's behavior wasn't far behind. Susan Hansen said, I began to notice a difference in David around February. He was not making decisions as well as he had been in the past, and he was much less attentive to his patients. Wow. Which, remember, this is the guy who was, like, super attentive. Yeah, two attentives in his first marriage. So much career focus that...

That didn't work out. Yup. And now he's like not really as attentive at all. Hanson there also started to notice that David was different with Gail than he was with other employees. He definitely seemed more intimate and attentive. And now she said when Clara would call, he was much less eager to rush to pick up the phone and sometimes would just put her on hold until he figured out and finished what he was doing. That's yucky. Mm-hmm.

It wasn't long before David's relationship with Gail was obvious, not just to everybody working in the office, but to even people who stopped by for a visit. And that's humiliating. Like his daughter, Lindsay. Yeah, that's humiliating. And gross. Yeah, it's humiliating to Clara. Yeah.

And to Lindsay. On one occasion, Lindsay came by the office to visit her dad and she was very troubled by something she saw. According to Lindsay, she was sitting in the waiting area by the front desk and she saw that her dad had dropped a patient file on the floor. And before he could reach down to pick it up, she said Gail had bent over to pick it up. Not bent at the knees like you would normally expect, but bent over at the waist, making a point of bending right in front of him.

I'm going to be honest. I don't like Gail. Let's get that out of the way. Yeah, that's gross. And also like his daughter's there. So maybe like get your fucking shit together. Yeah, like maybe like get yourself out of heat for a minute. Exactly. Take a cold shower, Gail. Maybe somebody spritz her down with some water.

Susan Hansen said, I told Lindsay she should talk to him or to somebody about what she'd seen. Which is so sad that she was obviously upset and went to another employee who she probably knew. Like, she's grown up in this practice. She should not be having to see that kind of shit. No. Get it together. Now, it wasn't just the obvious tension that tipped others off to David and Gail's relationship, but also subtle changes happening around the office. Gail was hired as a front desk receptionist. Hmm.

She was going to, you know, schedule appointments, say hey to patients, file paperwork. Yeah. Receptionist shit. Yeah. But by winter of 2002, she seemed to take on a much larger role in the company, seemingly at David's insistence. Huh. By March, other employees were stunned to find her participating in management meetings, making staffing decisions, and even touring the new facility that David was having built by Interstate 45. Wow.

Making staffing decisions sent me. Yeah. Like, come on. I'm sorry, but like, come on. That's different. That's inappropriate. That's a different job. Yeah. It just is. Yeah.

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile. With the price of just about everything going up, we thought we'd bring our prices down. So to help us, we brought in a reverse auctioneer, which is apparently a thing. Mint Mobile Unlimited Premium Wireless. How about you get 30, 30, how about you get 30, how about you get 20, 20, 20, how about you get 20, 20, how about you get 15, 15, 15, 15, just 15 bucks a month? Sold! Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch.

Upfront payment of $45 for three-month plan equivalent to $15 per month required. New customer offer for first three months only. Speed slow after 35 gigabytes if network's busy. Taxes and fees extra. See MintMobile.com. Diana Sherrill, who worked at the office, said, When we went on a tour of the new offices, Dr. David and Gail slipped off. He had forgotten I was there. Oh, yeah.

Even though most people who noticed that, you know, this change was for sure happening were disgusted with his behavior. A few women in the office considered it a quote unquote natural part of aging. And here's a problem, women. Okay, ladies, let's do better. Okay, ladies. Let's do a little fucking better for ourselves and each other.

And not just say, well... He's going to try to fuck his secretary at some age. One of them said, men go through the change of life. No. Get the fuck out of here. I'm also sorry. And women don't? Get the fuck out of here with that shit. We all go through changes in life. That doesn't mean I'm going to hop on my secretary. Like, what the fuck? Take that shit and choke on it. Are you fucking kidding me, woman? Yeah. Like...

Mikey just mumbled in the corner, Mikey is Mark's slave. Mikey is Mark's slave. Happy Pride, everybody. Yeah. That's fucked up. I'm sorry. Whoever said that.

Seek help. Yeah. Like, that's insane. Yeah. That's wild, wild work to say that. It's also just indicating that he's doing this because his needs aren't being met at home. Like, fuck off. It's a boys will be boys mentality. Men will be men. Well, then fuck the men. Okay? Because, no, you can't. And not all men. And not all boys. Of course. Get out of here. Just leave. Get out right now. Leave. Just, like, blanket it over them. Like, this is what they all do. No. No.

What? It's a very 2002 way of thinking. And again, does anyone deserve to die because of this? No. Absolutely not. But by that summer...

And Diana, their employee there, had grown very irritated and very tired of watching this affair play out in front of everybody. And I'm sure he wasn't being a great boss during this time. So she called Clara and asked if they could meet. Well, because they probably, they know Clara. She works there. She works there. She's a huge part of the practice. And he's basically asking all of them to be a part of his bullshit. Yeah. And they're probably getting really tired of it. And that's a girl's girl right there. It is. Diana's a girl's girl. And she's sitting there saying, you know what?

I can't sit here and watch you do this and just pretend that it's fine. Listen, that's what you got to do. Yeah. So when they finally sat down together in early July, Diana told Claire, you need to protect your marriage. You need to pay attention to Dr. David.

I take it back. She's not a girl's girl. Diana is not a girl's girl. I was trying to look at you. I take that back. I was trying to look at you. I also realized that Diana's the one that said they go through the change too. Diana, you're not a girl's girl. Yeah. I don't like that at all. I don't either. I'm actually really angry at that. Because she was basically being like, listen, he's stepping out on you, so you got to like- And it's your fault. Shove your boobies in his face when he gets home or something. Yeah, I actually have beef with Diana right now, so that's where we are. Okay, that's-

Diana, we have beef. Yeah. Like, that's fucked up. Yeah. She said... And now you've totally put it on her. Oh, yeah. It gets worse. As far as Diana saw it, ever since the twins were born, they had become the center of Clara's world. As it motherfucking should be. As it should be.

As it motherfucking should be. They're infants. They need their mom and dad. I'm sorry, are you telling me that a man is jealous of bebis? Of baby twins? Of his own bebis? For getting more attention? Fuck off. You gotta. The day. You gotta. The day a motherfucker says that to me. The day. That doesn't even sound real. No, it doesn't. Like, that is...

And that left less time for David. He felt like he'd been pushed to the side. Diana said, finally, she asked me if he was having an affair. And I said, yes. And Diana went one step further. She told Clara exactly who David was having an affair with, his secretary. How cliche. You made so many weird choices there, Diana. You really did. Yeah, she really, she, she gave me whiplash. I can't understand what happened. She gave me whiplash. Yeah.

Well, anyway, the news obviously was a lot for Clara. That's a lot to swallow. But she at this point is like, oh, no, I've been so wrapped up in, you know, the boys and my practice. I didn't have any time to think about David in recent months. Like, how dare I? But also she didn't want to believe that any of that was true, that he like she was like, maybe he's not having an affair. She said later, we were best friends. We were very much in love. We were a team.

That's so sad. Which is really sad that she thought that because they weren't. Because you weren't and that's awful. It was true that David had been, you know, seemed more stressed out lately. He even was seeming to snap at her and the kids more often than he had in the past. Not cool. But she said it hardly seemed like a reason to think he was having an affair. But...

The more she thought about it, the more things started to fall into place. He was more distant than usual, and he wasn't even just more busy with work, he was busy at home too. He used to love to come home and sit down and play with the boys for a few hours, participate in bedtime, that whole thing. But now he seemed far more interested in coming home and locking himself in his music room, where he would just sit around playing piano.

Grow up. Grow up. It wasn't just that he was busy. It was like he was busying himself to avoid his family. That's not cool. So that night after leaving her meeting with Diana, Clara actually called David's mother, Millie Harris, which I think Millie is the cutest name ever. It is a really cute name. And she told Millie what she'd learned in the hope that maybe his mom would know what she could do to salvage their relationship.

And their marriage. So rather than really share any insider suggestions, though, Millie just succeeded in convincing Clara that her friend had no idea what she was talking about and there was no way David was having an affair. Which you can understand why his mom wouldn't think that. That's his mom. She's probably like, no. Yeah. Not my kid. No, never mind. She was like, it's natural for people, married or otherwise, to find others attractive, maybe even flirt a little bit. But she said David was not the kind of person who would have a straight up affair.

And I mean, she's probably really hoping that that's the case. I think she's trying to probably convince herself of that as well. Also, if you flirt with other people while we're married, you're cheating on me. I'm going to fight you. Period. After 45 minutes on the phone with her mother-in-law, Clara came away pretty relieved, reassured. But then she got home that night and she just couldn't shake the thought that maybe he was involved with another woman. Yeah. Her gut was telling her something. So then next morning, she was getting into the shower when David came into the bathroom looking very troubled. And she's like, what's wrong?

And after struggling to form his thoughts, he confessed that he had indeed been seeing another woman. He said, I think that you have to know there is somebody else. Obviously completely shattered by the confirmation that her husband was definitely having an affair, she ran downstairs to the kitchen where Lindsay was making breakfast. And it turned out Lindsay already knew. Her dad had told her. The relationships here are without borders.

This is wrong on every level it can be wrong. Yeah. Like we need some boundaries in these relationships with our children. Holy shit. Yeah.

The revelation that David not only was having an affair, but was having an affair with an employee at their shared practice was devastating. Clara said, he told me there was no intimacy between them, that he'd just been lonely. Oh, there it is. Fuck off! Yeah, classic. Mm-hmm. He said, this is also, I'm like, fuck you. Oh, no. He said, Gail grew up in the U.S., and they shared a lot in common, and it was nice to share that with someone. Yeah.

So he looked at his Colombian wife and was like, you know, she's from the U.S., we have more in common. Fuck you. Fuck you. I don't even know how to respond to that. I would look at him and be like, we opened several practices together because I'm a successful-ass motherfucker and you have more in common with your secretary because she's from the U.S.? That is quite possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard someone say, especially...

In reference to, like, why they were having an affair. I'm having an affair because she was born on American soil. Because those colors don't run, okay? That's why. Like, that's essentially saying me. Oh, yeah. What? Yeah. You're saying this to your Colombian wife?

Who has built things with you, created a family with you. I'd be like, that's cool. Your children are Colombians. What? That's a thing? I'm like, what? That's cool. These two boys that you procreated with me, Colombian. Like, damn. Cool that you and Gail have the U.S. in common. But it's really nice that you guys are from the United States. Can you imagine looking at anybody and just being like...

We're both from the U.S., so we have so much in common. What a weird reason. Frankly, I don't want to have much in common with the U.S. What a strange-ass reason. Yeah. Holy shit. So that afternoon, David and Clara drove to the office where Clara confronted Gail about the affair. I mean, yeah. Which, like...

Absolutely. Oh, yeah. If you're going to do it without being physical, absolutely. Yeah, and do it right away. Gail denied the relationship, but Clara said, I know you're lying. My husband told me you're fired. Fired her on the spot and demanded that she hand over her keys to the office and get the fuck out of there. Yeah. Which, like, great. So, at this point, support.

Yeah. Supporting what is happening. Yeah. Then her initial reaction to David's confession was to start looking for a divorce lawyer, which like, let's go, girl. Okay. This is so frustrating because you're like, you're moving in the right direction. I wish you had kept moving in this direction. But later that day, after the initial shock had worn off, she decided she didn't want to end her marriage, which...

I get. You have two fucking babies together. It's got to be the worst kind of whiplash that you can imagine. And I understand both sides. I understand when you find out your husband has stepped out on you, you get the fuck out of there. And I also understand wanting to fight for your marriage. Yeah, I get all of it. It's a horrible, horrible situation that...

It's unfathomable. Yeah. Really. The next day, she started the process of making herself over to be more attractive to her husband, which is really sad. That's devastating. She bought sexy clothes from Victoria's Secret. She scheduled breast augmentation surgery with a local plastic surgeon. And she bought a book about saving a marriage written by the one and only Dr. Phil. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. That's just really sad. It is. It is.

That night, she and David went to a restaurant to talk things over, and while they were there, she pushed her husband to make a list comparing the attributes of both women. Oh, no. So that, like, she could do better, I think. Oh, no. The lists were long and brutally honest, describing Gail as, quote, no fat, perfect body, and Clara as, quote, a large person, too big.

She gave birth to your fucking children at the same time. She was pregnant with two human beings.

I'm willing to bet, David, you might get a little fucking bigger when you're growing two circulatory systems. Speaking of somebody who has grown two circulatory systems in their body. Two at once? Two at once. Two at once. You get a little bigger. It's going to be different after. A little bit. And I literally... Here's the part where it's like...

David should not have been killed. Nope. I'm going to keep saying that. We will reiterate that. Because I want to make sure no one takes what I'm saying differently. That is what I'm saying. And that is what I believe. Mm-hmm. But...

That doesn't mean that he was a good guy at this point. He wasn't. That's a horrible thing to do. He was not being a good guy. This is not a good guy in this moment. He might have been a good guy his whole life. He really took a turn here. This is cruel to do to somebody. Can you imagine body shaming your wife? If John had ever said to me...

You're bigger. Not only bigger, large person, too big. Any kind of comment about what I looked like after I gave birth to our twins, any kind of negative comment, it would have sent me into fucking orbit. Because also, yeah, she knows.

Because that shit is very jarring. After you have kids, and especially after you have multiples, you look different. And it's like you get out of that shower and you look in the mirror and you go, whoa, who's that? And even now I look at them like, wow, you see, it's always different. That's the thing. You look incredible. You have nine-year-old twins, though. But you're always going to look like you. I had twins.

I look like I had twins. And the thing is, like, these were young boys. Yeah, they're kids. It takes a while to get your quote-unquote body back. Yeah. If you ever do. My kids are... We're almost a decade in, and it's...

it's different still. It just is. It's never going the way it was before. There's a lot that goes into it. You have to maintain a certain weight if you want to breastfeed. Exactly. There's a whole bunch of reasons why you don't just snap right back. And it shouldn't matter. You should look different. Yeah. You did something crazy and incredible. You did something life-changing. So you should look different. And you should have somebody that is in absolute awe of

that. It's like, wow, yeah, your body's amazing. It created two of my favorite people in the world. And went through crazy trauma to do so. Yeah. And I hate, because I know there's listeners that are listening right now who don't have somebody doing that. Yeah.

And you should. Because you're beautiful. Don't kill anyone. Don't ever kill anybody. That's never the answer. But you should always have somebody who is saying, wow, your body's incredible. And especially after you give birth, your body just created one of my favorite people on planet Earth. Your body just did a miracle. Yeah. Your body just did a miracle. Created a circulatory system. Like, fuck off. Large person too big. That's just so sad.

And if anybody ever says that to you, you get up and you leave right then. You don't even think about it twice. I don't have sympathy for the act that she committed by any means. But I have sympathy for this. But I have sympathy for her in this moment because I just can't imagine being torn down like that. That would kill me. In postpartum, that would kill me. You're already saying the worst things to yourself. And it's like, that's so cruel to do. It's mean. I just wish that this had gone a different way. Me too. Because like, damn. Me too. Me too.

So despite the obvious fucking cruelty of comparing his wife's looks to those of his mistress, among other things, David and Clara did agree to work on their marriage, with Clara taking most of the blame for him having an affair in the first place and also shouldering the responsibility of fixing things.

A few days later, they went away to the beach for a long weekend, and everything seemed like it was back on track to getting normal. But just two weeks later, David Harris would be dead, crushed to death under the weight of his wife's Mercedes. Oh, man. Yeah. It just escalated so quickly. Yeah.

And I would say that was a lot of information for you guys to digest. So that is where we're going to wrap. That's where we're going to wrap for part one. Oh, Lord. This is just sad and horrible. In every way imaginable. Yeah. Every single way. Because it's just like none of this needed to happen. No. None of it. No.

And again, it's also like, and I'll state it again. It's not his fault. State it again. That what happened to him. No. But if you don't want to be with your significant other, that's cool. Don't be with them anymore. Divorce. Affairs never end well. I never understand why people go into them. It's like just, it's not going to end well. It never does. How many affairs have I talked about on this fucking podcast? End it. Exactly. End it.

There'll be sad, hurt feelings, but that's much better than a murder charge and a dead person involved. Yeah. Like, come on. Yeah. But emotions run so high and humans are wily creatures. There's also a lot more to this story that we haven't even gotten into yet. So stay tuned for part two. It gets wily. Oh, man. And with that being said, we hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it.

Weird, but that's a way that you hit your husband with a car even if he did cheat on you. No. You can't do that. Don't do that. It's really bad. If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.

If you're looking for new ways to get ahead, then you're our kind of person. We're Udemy, and we help learners like you upskill in AI, productivity, leadership and management, and more. Learn at your own pace from real-world experts. You can also prep for certifications that show employers what you know. Upskill for the career you want at udemy.com. Now, back to your regularly scheduled listening.