Friend of CHP captain found dead had called police 1 year ago to request welfare check
SACRAMENTO -- New developments are coming to light in a bizarre murder mystery that sources say police are investigating as a possible murder-for-hire plot after a California Highway Patrol commander and her husband are both dead.
Captain Julie Harding of CHP's Yuba-Sutter division was found dead by a single gunshot wound outside she and her estranged husband's second home in Tennessee on Saturday, Dec. 10. Sources tell CBS13 her death is being investigated as a suicide.
Her husband, Michael Harding, was found murdered, dead by multiple gunshot wounds, on Sept. 26 in Burkesville, Kentucky after being reported missing a week prior. His body was found by a realtor in a house for sale.
Some friends who knew the Hardings well are now saying that, in the final year, the relationship turned sour. They described it as toxic and -- at times -- troubling.
Court documents show that Julie filed for divorce from Michael in May, just four months before Michael went missing.
As CBS13 learned Thursday, one friend was concerned enough about Julie and Michael's relationship to get the police involved last year.
In early October 2021, around a year before Michael and Julie Harding were both separately found dead, police reports from the Clay County, Tennessee Sheriff's Office show a welfare check was called in by a friend of Julie's who was concerned for Julie's safety.
The police report reads the friend, "was down visiting and was heading back home and hadn't heard from Julie in a while" and that "Julie was finding out a lot of things about her husband Michael Harding and she needed her lawyer's number."
Police responded and spoke with a frustrated Michael Harding outside the Celina, Tennessee home, an encounter defined by strange behaviors.
The responding officer writes in the report, "When I got out of my unit, I observed a green laser on my chest. I immediately assumed it was a laser-sighted firearm. I got in a prone position and was able to get in my unit, hitting my emergency equipment lights in my unit letting them know I was law enforcement and requested backup."
"Michael Harding then started walking down the driveway with his hands up stating he did not know who I was and he has had a lot of people sneaking around on his property and uses the laser on his firearm to scare people off."
He cooperated with police without further incident and the officer checked on Julie, writing in the report, "she is okay, and everything is fine."
"He spoke with Julie that night and everything seemed to be okay with her," Clay County Sheriff Brandon Boone told CBS13 Thursday.
Boon says the Hardings had no other run-ins with their department, that is, until Michael went missing.
"Unfortunately it turned out to be the worst-case scenario," said Boone.
CBS13 spoke with the friend, Kathleen Rourke, who called in the welfare check. The Sacramento woman says she noticed concerning behavior on her trip to visit the Hardings in Tennessee that made her fear for Julie's safety and led her to call in the welfare check when Julie did not answer several phone calls.
Rourke says this made Julie angry and put a strain on their relationship for months.
"I told her, 'what else was I supposed to do?'" Rourke told CBS13.
Learning of both of their deaths, she now asks should she and others have done more.
"To be told by the sheriff's office I overreacted and one year later they are dead, it's frustrating, to say the least," Rourke said.
A year and two months later, Sheriff Boone took the call Saturday, Dec. 10th when a mail carrier found Julie dead in her yard.
"He just said there was a lady lying on the property there and he needed someone to come to him," said Boone.
While he responded to the scene, Boone says he can not give any further information on the manner in which they found Julie Harding's body as the investigation is being led by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
The department had spoken with Julie briefly when Michael was first reported missing around September 19, 2022, but they never identified her as a suspect in his disappearance.
"There wasn't a lot of discussion with Ms. Harding during the week...that he was missing," said Boone.
Julie Harding did have two other run-ins with Tennessee police in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. October 2022 police reports made by a girlfriend of Michael's detail that Julie trespassed onto her property to take back a dog named Charlie the couple shared prior to Michael's death.
RAW: Ring video shows CHP Captain Julie Harding taking dog from Tennessee home
A second report days later was made by the same girlfriend to police for alleged "stalking" and "harassing" behaviors by Julie.
Julie Harding was arrested and released on Dec. 8, 2022, for the criminal trespassing charge, just two days before she was found dead.
On the same day of her arrest, a suspect linked to the murder of Michael in Kentucky was also arrested more than 2,000 miles away in Sacramento by Kentucky State Police and the FBI.
The suspect, Thomas O'Donnell of Napa, remains in the Sacramento Main Jail awaiting extradition to Kentucky to face charges related to the disappearance and death of Michael. His arrest warrant is under seal until he is served in Kentucky.
O'Donnell's connection to the Hardings is unknown at this time. CBS13 has confirmed through multiple sources this case is being investigated by police as a possible murder-for-hire.
