December 23, 2004

Police continuing to investigate death of Timothy Harris

By Robert Mihalek

Yellow Springs police are investigating the murder of villager Timothy Harris, who was found in his home on Stafford Street last Thursday afternoon.

After performing an autopsy the following morning, the Greene County coroner’s office determined that Harris, who was 45, was killed as a result of blunt force trauma to the head, said Bill McCarthy, the administrator of the coroner’s office.

Neither McCarthy nor Yellow Springs Police Chief Carl Bush would discuss Harris’s injuries, the condition of his body or how Harris was killed. Bush did dismiss as false a rumor circulating last week that Harris had been shot.

Police have not yet located Harris’s missing car, a red 1987 Toyota Celica, with license plates DKC 9585 and a loud muffler. Bush said that police are not sure whether the fact that the car is missing is connected to Harris’s death. The chief noted that police have listed the car as a “wanted felony vehicle” in a national computer system.

Anyone with information about the car — or possibly about Harris — should call Yellow Springs police at 767-7206.

Investigators are still trying to determine the time of Harris’s death. Police believe that Harris died sometime last week, between Monday, Dec. 13, and Thursday, Dec. 16, the day his body was discovered, Bush said.

Several friends remembered Harris, who was known as Timmy, as a good man with a big heart. “He was probably one of the most loving, giving, colorful persons that walked the planet,” said Pam Davis, who estimated she had known Harris for at least 25 years.

“The world is a sadder place without him,” said another friend, Deborah Benning.

Police following several leads

Harris, who lived alone, was found in his kitchen last Thursday by two friends who had not seen him for several days and decided to check on him, Bush said. Yellow Springs police and Miami Township Fire-Rescue arrived at Harris’s house at 3:41 p.m., Bush said.

Police found Harris’s dog, Elvis, barking outside. The dog was taken to the Greene County Animal Shelter.

Yellow Springs police actually received a complaint on Dec. 15 that Harris’s dog had been barking outside two nights in a row. Police tried to serve Harris with a citation but could not contact him. Bush said he does not know if that situation is related to Harris’s death, noting that it “wasn’t extremely unusual” to find the dog barking outside.

During the late afternoon and early evening Thursday, police, the coroner’s office and investigators from the Miami Valley Regional Crime Lab collected evidence from the house, processed the scene and searched for clues about Harris’s death. Officer Al Pierce canvassed the neighborhood, talking to neighbors to determine if anyone had seen anything unusual. Police Sergeant Tom Jones is leading the investigation.

Noting that police are pursuing several leads, Bush said on Monday that the investigation is “going well at this point.” He also said that police are receiving help from people who are “coming forward with information.” He estimated that police have talked to more than 30 people and have identified numerous others they hope to speak with.

“We have several avenues we are exploring,” he said. He would not discuss the leads.

Bush said on Friday that investigators did not have a theory about why Harris was killed.

Investigators have submitted evidence to the Crime Lab, Bush said, and analysis of the evidence should be complete in a couple of weeks. He declined to comment on the evidence.

As the investigators worked into the evening, a steady stream of vehicles and pedestrians passed by the house, and television and newspaper reporters and photographers gathered outside.

Even on Thursday, police were calling Harris’s death suspicious. At the time, Bush said that there were “circumstances and things that just don’t appear proper.”

Though he would not discuss details of those circumstances, Bush did say that the condition of both Harris’s body and the kitchen led investigators to suspect his death might have been a homicide.

‘Everybody was his friend’

Harris was born in Springfield and grew up in the Yellow Springs area. He is survived by two daughters, Portia and Allison Vie Harris, who spent part of their childhood in the village before they moved out of state; his mother, Ople Harris; and four sisters, two brothers and a sister-in-law. Yellow Springs native Heidi Viemiester is the mother of his children.

Several friends said that they could not fathom that anyone would want to harm Harris, who was known for his friendly demeanor.

“He was a very kind and gentle kind of person,” Benning said, noting that if you needed a place to stay or something to eat, Harris was always willing to help. “He said everybody was his friend,” said Benning, who knew Harris since he was little.

Benning recalled that Harris loved to play the harmonica, the spoons and the guitar, and enjoyed listening to country western and the blues. “He was very musically inclined,” she said. He was also a “wonderful cook,” she said.

Davis said that Harris was “a gifted storyteller. Whether it was true or not true, he could just tell a story and have you in stitches.”