Latest / Shades of Murder / 72: Buried in the Backyard - The Diabolical Web of Kwaneta Harris

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72: Buried in the Backyard - The Diabolical Web of Kwaneta Harris · Shades of Murder

0:06
In the fall of 2007, when a Veteran Affairs agent contacted
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the Garland, TX Police Department about a suspicious
0:17
looking piece of concrete on a property, what lay beneath it
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would unfold into a roller coaster of an investigation.
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A missing person whose family didn't realize that they had
0:34
disappeared, a mysterious woman who claimed to be the home's new
0:42
owner, and the revealing of one of the most diabolical plots of
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murder. Who was this victim and who was
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the monster who had buried them in their own backyard?
1:19
Hello and welcome to Shades of Murder.
1:23
I am your host Alita Caldwell. In this podcast, I discuss cases
1:29
of murder from around the world and throughout history,
1:34
attempting to unravel the layers of darkness that help make
1:40
humans hint on monsters. Please be forewarned that each
1:46
episode contains specific and at times very graphic and
1:51
disturbing details of the case. This show is not intended for
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2:25
In October 2007, in a lovely, quiet suburb in Garland, a city
2:31
northeast of Dallas, TX, the Veteran Affairs office contacted
2:37
the local Police Department with a bazaar inquiry.
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It was in relation to a foreclosure on a home owned by
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48 year old Air Force veteran Michael Giles.
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He had purchased the residence with a veteran loan and had
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never missed a payment. It was a very nice brick laid
2:57
home with three bedrooms and a large backyard.
3:01
It was everything the former Airman had worked for and
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sacrificed to have. That is, until about a year
3:08
prior when his payments abruptly stopped.
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The VA sent multiple notices by mail and attempted to contact
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him directly several times, but they never heard back from Mr.
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Giles. On the day the Garland, TX
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police received the strange call, Ava agent had gone to the
3:30
house to serve Mr. Giles with foreclosure papers.
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When the agent entered the backyard, he observed A
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mysterious slab of concrete that looked out of place and didn't
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appear to serve any purpose. The first thought that entered
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the agent's mind was this is a grave.
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When the agent spoke with a man who is currently renting the
3:56
home about the owner, the man said he had never heard of
4:01
anyone named Michael Giles. The renter claimed that a woman
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named Quinetta Harris was the new owner.
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But who was Quinetta Harris and why had the mortgage company
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been informed of this change in ownership?
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Did this woman possibly know where Michael Giles was?
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the VA agent decided to contact the Garland Police Department
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about these weird circumstances and the suspicions he had about
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the random slab of concrete that was just slightly longer than
4:38
the size of a human body. When Garland, TX, Police Chief
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Gary Sweet came to the residence to check it out, something
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didn't seem right about the concrete area, and he decided
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that it was worth bringing out a cadaver dog.
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Later that evening, they brought the dog to the property and
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poked holes around the perimeter of the backyard.
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As the canine agent guided cadaver dog around the yard,
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only one spot held the dog's attention.
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The dog began pawing at the ground, focused around the
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concrete slab. But the police didn't have a
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homicide case or any case at all.
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They couldn't just excavate the cement block without any
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reasonable 'cause they needed a warrant.
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And for that to happen, they had to prove that something bad had
5:37
happened to Michael Giles. When Garland police detectives
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inquired with Michael Giles family regarding his unknown
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whereabouts, they said that the last time that any of them had
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spoken to him was a year and a half earlier.
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It was over the 4th of July weekend when Michael Giles's
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mother had called him to ask if he was coming over to the house,
6:01
as the family frequently got together for barbecues and such,
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especially over the holidays. However, Michael told his mother
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that he was cooking at home that day and wouldn't be able to make
6:13
it over. His sister, Cheryl Evans and
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brother-in-law found it a bit strange because Michael was
6:21
close to his family and it wasn't really in his character
6:25
to miss out on family events, but it wasn't any cause for
6:29
concern either. Over the next few weeks, his
6:33
cousins called and texted him multiple times without any
6:37
response. On July 19th, his mother and
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sister drove over to the residence.
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They knocked on the front door several times and called
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Michael's name, but no one ever came.
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When they walked over to the side of the house and looked
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inside the window, they observed that all of the furniture was
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gone. There was nothing inside the
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house. This was extremely bizarre, and
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although it made no sense why the place was suddenly empty,
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Michael Giles wasn't adult, so they didn't see any reason to be
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overly worried or concerned about him.
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A few weeks later, Michael's sister, Cheryl Evan finally
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received a text message from him, seeing that everything was
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OK, but he just needed some time away to figure things out in his
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life. Over the next several months,
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family members received texts and emails from Michael Giles
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informing them that he just needed some time away, he was
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travelling, and he just needed to clear his head.
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At the time, Michael Giles was in a place of transition in his
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life. He had recently been laid off
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from his good job at Southwestern Bell in Dallas.
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It wasn't out of the realm of possibility that he willingly
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just left town for a while. There was no reason for them to
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be suspicious or overly concerned that something other
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than what he told them had happened.
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However, when investigators inquired with Michael's family
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as to if they knew who the new owner of the house was, no one
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in his family had ever heard of a woman named Quinetta Harris.
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This still didn't raise alarm bells for them necessarily
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though, because Michael Giles was known for being a very
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private person, especially when it came to women he dated.
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In fact, no one had ever known or met any of the women he was
8:43
involved with over the years. With the news that Michael Giles
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had not spoken to anyone in his family for over a year, along
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with the realization that no one knew who this mysterious woman
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was, this new owner of the house, Michael's sister, decided
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to file a missing persons report and the investigators had enough
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to obtain a warrant for his finances.
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There were no signs of activity on his accounts that indicated
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he had been travelling at all, but they did notice something
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peculiar on all of his accounts. He wasn't the only one on them.
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Quinetta Harris was on his checking account, his military
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retirement and the registration of his vehicle.
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In fact, she was now the registered owner of his car,
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which she had driven back to her home in Detroit.
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When investigators began to look into the background of Gwinneta
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Harris, there was no immediate cause for concern.
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The woman had no history with the police or the system at all.
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She had never been arrested for anything.
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However, something bizarre grabbed their attention on the
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evening. Sometime in mid-july 2006, a
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call was made to 911 from Michael Giles's next door
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neighbor. The person claimed that two men
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were loading his furniture into a truck.
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When an officer arrived at the scene, the men swore they
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weren't stealing anything and that they had purchased these
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items from the home's owner. Suddenly, a woman appeared in
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the driveway. She claimed to be the owner of
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the house and was selling the furniture.
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Everything seemed legitimate and no complaint was ever filed.
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But now, with an odd timing of Michael Giles having disappeared
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shortly before this incident, officers decided to track down
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the owners of the truck. The truck belonged to a man
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named Juan Vacuna, who was a tree trimmer in the
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neighborhood. He told the police that a woman
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had approached him and his nephew and asked them if they
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wanted to buy some furniture from her, which she claimed her
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godfather was selling. When investigators show them a
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driver's license photo of Quinetta Harris, they confirmed
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that yes, she was the woman. They also mentioned how she sold
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them everything super cheaply. The men bought everything inside
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the residence, including the furniture and all of the
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electronics for less than $300. They happily took everything off
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of her hands. That is, except for a sofa one.
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Vaguna told the officers that he rejected it because it had a
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large red stain on the cushion. The woman claimed that it was
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just a wine stain, but that wasn't where their strange
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transaction ended. The woman asked them if they
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would be willing to dig a hole in the backyard for her to put
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in a pond. When they arrived at the
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residence, she initially requested a hole to be dug in a
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different area of the yard, but there were wires there, so she
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had them dig the hole for the supposed pond up against the
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back of the house, which they found to be strange.
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When the men asked her how large she needed the hole to be,
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Cornetta answered about as big as me.
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The men founded an odd request and an even stranger answer, but
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a job was a job, and so they didn't ask her any further
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questions, and they dug the hole.
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In private, though they joked around asking.
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I wonder whose grave we're digging now?
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A little more than a year after the hole was dug, the VA agent
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serving foreclosure papers on the House had stumbled upon this
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strange section of concrete that just didn't fit with the
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landscape in the yard. There didn't seem to be any
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logical purpose for its existence, and now investigators
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finally had enough evidence to obtain a search warrant and
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excavate the suspiciously placed cement section in the backyard.
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Meanwhile, Police Chief Gary Sweet and another officer flew
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to Detroit to speak with a woman named Quinetta Harris.
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At the time, investigators arrived at Michael Giles's
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former residence with a search warrant and a jackhammer.
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The woman was in the driveway at her house when Chief Sweet
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approached her. The woman acted genuinely
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surprised and concerned about the disappearance of Michael
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Giles. She openly shared with the
14:00
detectives everything she knew about him and had no qualms
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discussing anything, including their affair and ongoing
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relationship over the last decade.
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Cornetta Harris explained to the officers that Michael Giles was
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the father of her six year old daughter, which is why she was
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on all of his different accounts.
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According to Quinetta Harris, it was an agreed upon form of child
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support between the two of them. That way she could easily access
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funds for her child and herself whenever it was needed.
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Her answers and explanations all seemed logical and made sense
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giving their relationship. But that didn't mean
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investigators believed her. While they were chatting the
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woman up, they received a text message from officers at Michael
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Giles's former home. When they broke up the cement,
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officers were horrified to find something wrapped in a comforter
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beneath it. As they peeled open the blanket,
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there was a body inside. Along with the pillow.
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A brown robe had been wrapped around the victim's head.
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The person's legs have been bound with a telephone cord.
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Although the remains had now skeletonized, there was little
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doubt as to who the victim was or how he had died.
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The medical examiner at the scene confirmed that they were
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shot in the back of the head and the pillow had a matching bullet
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entry. This LED investigators to
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believe Michael Jaws had been lying on the sofa asleep when
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someone placed a pillow over his head and shot him.
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An autopsy later performed would reveal that the base of the
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victim's skull had been hit with a bullet.
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The victim was soon identified as 48 year old missing person
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Michael Giles. When Police Chief Sweet received
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the message that officers had discovered a body, he asked
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Quinetta Harris if she was willing to come to the station
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for some routine questions, and if she did, they would no longer
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have a reason to bother her. Poinetta Harris agreed.
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However, once inside the interview room, things quickly
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escalated. Police Chief Sweet told her that
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he had officers digging up her backyard as they spoke.
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He informed her that they know Michael Giles isn't missing, but
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that he was dead and they had found his remains on his
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property. Officers informed her that they
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knew she shot him in the head. The once very relaxed, talkative
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Quinetta Harris had now climbed up.
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She immediately asked for an attorney and was arrested for
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first degree murder. This was the state of Texas, and
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since this was now a capital murder case, the prosecution was
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actively seeking the death penalty.
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For those of you who are not familiar with this term, murder
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becomes capital murder when a homicide is committed under what
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are deemed to be special circumstances.
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These can include kidnapping, sexual assault, acts of
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brutality and torture, and of course and affairs of financial
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gain. Considering the felonious
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actions of Quinetta Harris that were taken to commit fraud and
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gain full control of the victims assets and estate solely for
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monetary gain and personal comfort, she was facing a
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possible death sentence. Who was this woman, Quinetta
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Harris, and what was her connection to the victim,
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Michael Giles, and the possible motivation for killing him?
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Born in 1972, Quinetta Powell grew up in a middle class suburb
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outside of Detroit, MI. She lived in a quiet,
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comfortable neighborhood. Raised by a hard working single
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mom, Quinetta was a smart and fiercely independent young woman
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who never got into trouble. In 1991, shortly after she
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graduated from high school, she married her childhood
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sweetheart. He ended up joining the Air
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Force and then moved to Europe. At some point the couple was
18:37
living in England. In 1993 the couple had a child.
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But the stress of Quonetta living in another country, so
18:45
far away from her family and friends and everything she knew,
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began to understandably place a major strain on their
18:53
relationship. Around 2001, Quonetta would
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cross paths with then 36 year old Michael Giles.
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Michael Giles had always dreamed of serving his country ever
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since he was a child. Growing up in Louisiana, all he
19:09
ever talked about was joining the military.
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In 1977, after graduating from high school, his dreams finally
19:16
came true. His job in the Air Force was
19:19
overseeing helicopter engines. Over the next decade, Michael
19:23
Giles toured all around the world.
19:25
He got to experience the beauty and culture of Japan, China and
19:30
the Far East. Then, in the early 1990s, he
19:33
found himself stationed in England. 13 years older than
19:37
Quinetta, Michael Giles was a high-ranking Air Force officer
19:42
who happened to be her husband's superior and his immediate
19:46
supervisor. When her marriage fell apart,
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Quinetta asked to move in with Michael.
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She and her child lived with him for several months.
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Initially it was only a friendship, but soon it became
19:59
more. According to Quinetta's former
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spouse, it wasn't an issue of conflict because their
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relationship had been in decline for some time.
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But things between Quinetta and Michael Giles didn't last very
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long either, and she decided to leave England and return home to
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Detroit. In 1996, Quinetta filed for
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divorce and returned to school to pursue her nursing degree.
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She became a registered nurse and was actively working in the
20:28
Detroit area. Cornetta had multiple
20:30
relationships over the years and even had a daughter in 2001.
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But as Cornetta became older, she grew more frustrated and
20:39
overwhelmed. She was working very long hours
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as a single mother of two small children.
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She felt like she had missed out on being young and going out and
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having fun and just enjoying life.
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When Quinnetta turned 30 in 2002, she decided that she had
20:57
just not had enough fun in her years as a young woman and she
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wanted something more for herself.
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Once again, Quinnetta's path would cross that of Michael
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Giles. During this time, 43 year old
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Michael Giles had retired from the Air Force after serving 20
21:16
years and was working for Southwestern Bell in Dallas.
21:20
Michael Giles had also been working on advancing his higher
21:23
education, taking online classes to earn a Master's degree.
21:27
Between his career at Southwestern Bell and his
21:30
military pension, Michael Giles could afford a very comfortable
21:35
lifestyle. During the period when Cornetta
21:38
Harris would reenter his orbit, Michael Giles was a bit
21:42
standoffish, even skeptical towards dating and women in
21:46
general. According to his family.
21:49
Michael was known for being frugal, even a little tight, and
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although he dated, it was only casually.
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According to Quinetta Harris, one day while she was in Dallas,
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Michael Giles reached out to her and they soon rekindled their
22:06
relationship. Michael regularly flew her out
22:09
to Dallas and would put her up in a nice hotel where they would
22:12
spend the weekend going out to dinner, seeing sights and
22:15
romancing one another. For Qunetta it was a much needed
22:20
escape from her days and nights of being a hard working single
22:25
mother and she didn't want to let it go.
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But at least for Qunetta, this relationship was not monogamous
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and she carried on a fling with a man named Deandra Knight back
22:40
at Detroit. Over the next five years,
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Qunetta and Michael Giles had an on again, off again romance.
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Well, he lived outside of Dallas and she resided in Detroit.
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Something happened in early July 2006, though, between the couple
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that would unravel into a series of premeditated acts that can
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only be fairly and accurately described as diabolical.
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The same day Quinetta Harris was arrested for the murder of
23:15
Michael Giles, police officers entered her mother's house in
23:19
Detroit with a search warrant. Inside, near her bed, they found
23:24
Michael's credit cards, his checkbook, his Social Security
23:29
card, his cell phone, and his computer information.
23:33
Google searches revealed the degree of Quinetta Harris's
23:38
involvement in his death and the depths of her depravity.
23:43
There were searches for how to clean blood off a couch, how to
23:48
bury a body, and how to use voice altering equipment.
23:54
Officers also located a book with all of Michael Giles's
23:58
passwords. Over the last year and a half,
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Quanetta Harris had begun to liquidate all of Michael Giles's
24:08
assets. This wasn't a small, trivial
24:11
amount of money to help herself and her family scrape by.
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She wasn't using the money to provide food and have a roof
24:20
over their heads. She had drained $200,000 from
24:27
his accounts, including his military retirement mind you, in
24:31
15 months. Law enforcement also located 9mm
24:37
bullets at the residence, the same type of bullets that have
24:41
been used to kill Michael Giles, but the murder weapon was never
24:47
found. Most of the financial
24:49
transactions were easily done, even effortlessly so, online or
24:54
over the phone with the help of her device that she had bought
24:59
to alter her voice. No further verification was
25:02
needed. However, something didn't add up
25:05
to the detective. For Quinetta Harris to have
25:08
legally been placed on the financial accounts of Michael
25:11
Giles, the bank would need to obtain authorization for Michael
25:16
Giles in person. It was learned that Quinetta
25:21
Harris informed the bank that Michael Giles wasn't able to
25:25
come into the bank to meet with his financial planner in person
25:29
because he had suffered a terrible accident.
25:33
She was in fact nursing Michael Giles back to health at her
25:38
mother's home in Detroit. The financial planner said he
25:41
was more than happy to come to her place to meet Michael Giles.
25:46
When he visited her home, A man was lying in a hospital bed in
25:50
the middle of the living room. The man was barely recognizable
25:54
from the accident. He had so many injuries.
25:57
His entire face was covered up with bandages which concealed
26:01
it. The man could barely speak or
26:04
communicate at all, but amazingly, he could still hold a
26:09
pen and approved Quinetta Harris to be on all of his accounts.
26:16
During their investigation, detectives had learned there was
26:20
another man in Quinetta Harris's life, Deandra Knight, a man whom
26:25
she had known since high school. When detectives thought about
26:29
who this mystery man could be, only one name sprang to mind.
26:35
On their second trip to Detroit, investigators interviewed Mr.
26:40
DeAndre Knight. He openly confessed to them that
26:43
he pulled off scams with Quinetta, multiple ones at that,
26:48
but he swore he had no involvement in or knowledge of
26:52
Michael Giles's murder. Before her murder trial,
26:55
Quinetta Harris was back in Dallas, but she was not behind
26:58
bars. She had been offered bail under
27:01
the restriction of remaining in Dallas County.
27:04
The bail company had even provided her with a nice
27:07
apartment to stay in. Over the next couple of months
27:10
while Quinetta Harris was out on bail, the Garland, TX Police
27:14
Department received several anonymous tips from individuals
27:19
who provided the detectives with very specific information
27:24
details around the homicide. All of these tips clearly
27:28
indicated that Quinetta Harris wasn't behind his murder. 1
27:33
called even claimed that two men named Juan and Victoria were
27:38
behind his death. Interestingly, these were the
27:41
same names of the men who had bought the furniture and dug the
27:46
hole. Then one day the investigation
27:49
took a surprising and baffling turn.
27:52
On April 24th, 2008, a young woman entered the Dallas County
27:57
courtroom and made a startling confession.
28:00
Judge Andy Chatham, who would be the presiding judge over
28:04
Quinetta Harris's trial, was in a hearing for another case when
28:08
the courtroom was disrupted by a young woman who approached one
28:12
of the bailiffs. Since the hearing had been
28:15
noticeably interrupted by this woman whispering inside the
28:19
bailiff's ear, Judge Chatham halted the process and asked
28:23
what was so important. The woman asked the judge if he
28:27
knew who Quinetta Harris was, and when he replied that he did,
28:31
she told him he had the wrong lady because she was the one who
28:35
did it, she killed Michael Giles.
28:38
The woman was identified as 19 year old Erica Flores.
28:43
With this shocking declaration of guilt, the young woman was
28:47
immediately ushered into an interrogation room.
28:51
She was faced with puzzled prosecutors and investigators.
28:55
They listened as this meek, very soft spoken lady told them how
29:02
she and these two guys named Juan and Victoria, we're all
29:07
hanging around together one day when they decided they wanted to
29:12
rob someone. So, according to Erica Flores,
29:16
the three of them went to a grocery store nearby to find
29:20
their target. There, they saw Michael Giles
29:24
alone, so they followed him back to his house.
29:28
They snuck behind him as he carried his bags of groceries
29:32
inside, and then Erica shot him. When the detectives asked her
29:37
how Michael Giles was killed, she stated that she shoved a
29:40
pillow over his face and shot him in the head.
29:43
Could they all have been wrong about Quinetta Harris and this
29:48
young woman was the real killer? When Detective Sweet asked Erica
29:54
Flores to describe her accomplice, Juan, she said he
29:59
was about 19 years old. But Juan was in his mid to late
30:04
50s. So the police chief knew she was
30:08
lying and her story wasn't adding up.
30:13
When the detective told her that she was done with her confession
30:18
because one was more than twice that old, the girl broke down
30:23
and sobbed and admitted that someone had paid her to tell
30:28
this story to the police. The detectives were shocked and
30:33
dumbfounded at the tale she revealed.
30:38
Erica Flora told officers how she had received a call from a
30:42
woman with a unique accent, possibly Jamaican.
30:46
Erica had recently applied for a private investigation job
30:49
online, and the woman told her that she looked at her resume
30:54
and wanted to meet her at the El Centro College library for an
30:59
interview. The woman there she met told her
31:02
that the job was an experiment of sorts, part of a secret
31:07
government investigation. She told Erica that it was part
31:12
of a probe into how different detectives treated white
31:16
offenders versus black offenders.
31:19
As part of this secret investigation, they were hiring
31:23
individuals to confess to different crimes.
31:27
Her interviewer went on to tell her how she will be arrested for
31:33
homicide, but after two to three days in jail, the organization
31:39
will come free her. Erica was told she would be paid
31:43
$1200 for participating in the experiment.
31:48
The woman handed her a printed out script of the confession and
31:52
even helped Erica practice it when investigators showed her a
31:57
photo array of various suspects. Even though the woman who had
32:01
interviewed her had been disguised, Erica pointed to
32:06
Quinetta Harris. Once again, the warm, charming
32:10
and highly manipulative powers of Quinetta Harris had found
32:16
prey. But this time her little scam
32:19
blew up in her face. And now Quinetta Harris, who had
32:24
been comfortably living out on bond, had her bail revoked and
32:29
she was thrown back into county jail to await her murder trial.
32:34
When officers searched her apartment, they found not only
32:38
the script Wynetta had given Erica, but the Crime Stoppers
32:43
phone numbers she had dialed into the police station, which
32:47
she had hoped would successfully steer the blame away from her.
32:52
On October 6th, 2009, Wynetta Harris's murder trial commenced.
32:59
Josh Healey was the main prosecutor for the state.
33:03
He presented the defendant as a master manipulator, A ruthless
33:08
con artist and a merciless killer.
33:12
A woman who had targeted and much older man, a respectable
33:17
veteran who had sacrificed 20 years for his country and she
33:23
murdered him in cold blood. Then Prosecutor Healey presented
33:27
to the court how Quinetta Harris choreographed A heartless ruse,
33:33
pretending she was her victim through emails and texts to his
33:38
family, reassuring them that he was fine and to not worry about
33:45
him, all with the sole purpose of draining him of his entire
33:51
estate. The state laid out in detail her
33:56
sinister plans to hide his corpse and erase his existence.
34:02
Francisco Vacuna testified for the prosecution.
34:06
Only 13 years old at the time of this incident, he first met
34:10
Quinetta Harris when she contacted him and his uncle
34:14
through a card that advertised their yard work.
34:16
He told the courtroom how they had been asked to dig a hole in
34:19
the backyard and then a contractor later testified how
34:24
she had hired him to pour concrete over the hole once it
34:28
was covered up. Her deplorable actions were done
34:32
with a primary goal of taking everything Michael Giles had,
34:39
everything he had sacrificed for, everything he had worked so
34:43
hard for. She wanted it to be hers.
34:48
The prosecution and the police had very strong circumstantial
34:53
evidence, but what they lacked was the murder weapon, any DNA
34:59
evidence, and they also didn't have an eyewitness to the crime.
35:04
Interestingly, both the prosecutors and her own
35:07
attorneys described her relationship with Michael Giles
35:11
as being secretive since his family had never even heard of
35:16
Cornetta Harris, much less met her.
35:19
Her defense counsel didn't steer away from her involvement in the
35:24
fraud and theft. There was indisputable evidence
35:27
of her involvement in the fraud and theft, but the defense did
35:32
their best to place suspicion around his murder having been
35:37
committed by her boyfriend, DeAndre Knight.
35:40
Unlike Quanetta Harris, DeAndre Knight had a criminal record.
35:44
He was the one who had traveled to Dallas and placed a pillow
35:48
over Michael Giles's head and shot him.
35:51
They presented how he hated Michael Giles because he was
35:55
jealous over his relationship with Quanetta and that DeAndre
36:01
was the real mastermind behind the entire scam.
36:05
The defense further suggested that it was him who forced
36:09
Gwinnetta to do all of it, including forcing her to dig the
36:12
hole because she was afraid of him.
36:15
Except their theory had major holes and weaknesses, since
36:20
DeAndre Knight had a solid alibi because he was at work over the
36:26
4th of July weekend in Detroit. Then something else unexpected
36:31
occurred. Facing the judgement of a jury
36:36
and a possible life in prison, Quinetta Harris decided that she
36:41
was willing to plead guilty to murder if the prosecution agreed
36:45
to a sentence less than life. They agreed and the judge gave
36:51
her 30 years for the homicide and 20 years for the charges of
36:55
fraud and theft to be served consecutively.
36:59
In Texas and most states, prisoners serve approximately
37:04
80% of their sentences before being able to apply for the
37:08
chance at parole. Cornetta Harris will be 61 years
37:12
old when she is first eligible for release.
37:15
In 2033, DeAndre Knight pled guilty to his role in fraud, and
37:21
with his help in the state's case against Cornetta Harris, he
37:26
served less than a month in jail.
37:29
But this is not the end of Quinetta Harris's story, and
37:34
perhaps it won't be for some time.
37:38
In September 2015, prison officials received a strange
37:42
document from the Dallas County Courthouse.
37:45
It's said that her prison sentence was to be reduced from
37:51
50 years to 8 years, which meant Quinetta Harris was immediately
37:59
eligible for release. It was signed by Judge Amber
38:05
Givens. When the prison contacted the
38:08
Dallas County court to confirm its legitimacy, they were
38:12
informed that the form was a forgery and due to security
38:17
concerns, no further details were provided.
38:21
That's right, either Quinetta Harris or most likely someone
38:26
within the prison walls she had managed to manipulate into
38:31
obtaining an official Dallas County document and forge a
38:39
judge's signature. If it weren't for the prison
38:42
officials being sceptical of such a radical change in her
38:47
punishment. Quinetta Harris would have been
38:52
a free woman Due to the security risk she had now proven herself
38:57
to be, Quinetta Harris was transferred to solitary
39:01
confinement. Now placed under administration
39:05
segregation, she's only allowed out of her prison cell for a few
39:10
hours a day. It is but one of the many things
39:15
she has found the time and energy to whine about.
39:19
Under other circumstances, I may have been an opponent of this
39:24
measure. Segregation can only lead to
39:27
anxiety, depression, and other physical and psychological
39:31
problems for inmates. But for Quinetta Harris, I will
39:36
make an exception and state that she is exactly where she
39:40
deserves to be. Quinetta Harris was a rare kind
39:44
of offender, being a female criminal, much less a woman who
39:49
killed. However, when women commit
39:53
crimes, they are overwhelmingly of a financial nature.
39:58
Also classified as property crimes, which include theft,
40:02
fraud, and embezzlement, These are the most common offences
40:08
females commit. Data shows that approximately
40:12
24% of female offenders in federal prison have been
40:15
sentenced for fraud. In state prisons, 18% of female
40:20
offenders have been incarcerated for property crimes.
40:24
In fact, for both male and female offenders convicted of
40:28
crimes involving embezzlement specifically, females comprised
40:33
57.2%. And in local jails, 32% of women
40:39
are there for property offenses. Now, research has supported that
40:44
females involved in these kinds of crimes are often involved in
40:48
a way to support their families due to lack of opportunities to
40:53
advance or earn a solid income with their gender or
40:57
marginalization in some other way being cited as an element.
41:02
It sounds like an excuse to me, a justification by female
41:06
offenders to commit financial crimes, when in reality this is
41:11
a reflection of their greed and poor moral character.
41:16
Women who commit financially motivated homicide are extremely
41:21
rare, and there is no known correlation between women who
41:26
kill for money and victims of domestic violence.
41:31
Now, ever since she was sentenced to 50 years in prison,
41:35
Quanena Harris has said that her defense counsel didn't want her
41:41
on the stand, so she never got to tell her truth.
41:46
According to Cornetta Harris, she acted in self-defense and
41:52
murdered Michael Giles because she had been a victim of
41:57
intimate partner violence over the years.
42:00
I would normally tend to default to believing people when they
42:06
claim to be victims of abuse and violence.
42:10
It's disgusting to me when I think that someone would accuse
42:14
someone of violence that never happened to them when there are
42:18
so many people, especially females, who suffer from
42:23
violence and abuse at the hands of the men and women in their
42:29
lives. But these lies happen more than
42:33
society wants to realize, and in the case of Quinetta Harris, her
42:39
actions and crimes don't equate to being a victim of domestic
42:45
abuse. Even hypothetically, if I did
42:49
believe that Michael Giles wasn't such a nice guy, that he
42:53
was abusive toward her in some way, whether physically or
42:56
psychologically, or maybe both, the sequence of events that led
43:01
up to her arrest and plea deal doesn't describe a woman who was
43:06
being victimized, living in fear, and had no other choice
43:11
but to fight back and end the abuse in a moment of terror and
43:17
desperation her actions exhibit. They personify the complete
43:22
opposite and her claims of being a victim of abuse harm women's
43:27
stories of survival and escape from their abuser, some of whom
43:33
have committed murder to end the cycle of violence.
43:38
There is an ongoing criminalization of survival
43:41
amongst women who have killed their abusers or have found
43:47
themselves incarcerated for other crimes.
43:51
The rate of females in American prisons in particular, who have
43:55
been victims of violence and abuse is astronomically high.
44:00
There are currently 190,000 women in jail or prison and
44:05
roughly 800,000 more on probation or parole.
44:10
Some data indicates that as high as 95% of females who are
44:15
incarcerated have been victims of domestic or sexual violence
44:20
at some period in their lives. For women who have committed
44:25
homicide, more than 23% of their victims were their abusers.
44:32
It is a challenging and Gray area of morality because on one
44:37
hand, you feel sympathy and compassion for the victim of
44:40
abuse, and there is a part of me that thinks they shouldn't do
44:44
even one day in prison for killing their abuser.
44:48
However, I also understand that our legal system has an
44:52
obligation to uphold justice, at least in some form.
44:57
Somewhere in between lies the answer to punishment when murder
45:02
is committed under circumstances of prolonged domestic abuse.
45:08
The issue, and thus the obstacle in criminal cases, is whether
45:13
the woman believed she was directly in danger at the time
45:18
of the murder or if it occurred at a time when she wasn't being
45:22
actively abused but wanted to prevent it from happening again.
45:28
This is why it is so difficult to prove cases of self-defense
45:31
at times versus what ends up being presented by prosecutors
45:35
as premeditated murders. But Quanetta Harris wasn't a
45:40
victim of domestic violence and abuse.
45:43
There is absolutely nothing that supports her claim.
45:48
Now, I acknowledge that countless victims suffer in
45:51
silence, but this woman was no one's victim.
45:56
She was a prophet predator who knew exactly how to use her
46:01
skills to get what she wanted. Quinetta Harris was a beautiful,
46:06
strong, independent and highly intelligent woman who was not
46:12
dependent on any man. She was involved with two men at
46:16
the time she killed her alleged abuser, neither of whom she
46:21
lived with. Quinetta and Michael lived in
46:24
different states at the time of the incident.
46:28
How does that make any sense to kill Michael Giles under these
46:32
circumstances if she had been a victim of intimate partner
46:36
violence? It has been documented that
46:39
Quinetta Harris is a renowned prison journalist.
46:43
How can anyone, much less reputable sources of journalism,
46:48
deny the degrees of depravity this woman sang to?
46:53
Do they even know the details of her crimes?
46:57
Have they even taken the time to research her case and the
47:02
diabolical steps she took to conceal this innocent man's
47:08
murder and take over his identity his entire life?
47:14
Nothing has stopped this woman from using her voice to spread
47:19
her story, which is full of nothing but reprehensible lies.
47:25
When I read about how she continues to use her voice from
47:29
bars to place into the spotlight the horrendous prison
47:34
conditions, lack of resources and support, and the
47:39
vilification of female victims, it makes me nauseated.
47:43
These issues are critical to discuss to help raise awareness
47:49
around their prevalence in the system and ignite real change
47:56
across the institutions, But Quinetta Harris is the last
48:01
person who deserves to use her voice to carry it and represent
48:08
victims. Should prisoners be allowed to
48:11
share their stories and be published?
48:13
Yes, of course, there are many women and men whose life
48:19
experiences are important to share, to spread as tales of
48:24
caution, and to raise awareness of the many disparities and
48:28
injustices that continue to exist within all of our societal
48:32
institutions and especially the criminal justice system.
48:37
It makes me sick. And how she has become a role
48:41
model for female prisoners. She is not a role model for
48:46
anyone but a fellow con artist. She is not a victim of the
48:51
system. She is not a victim of domestic
48:54
violence. She didn't murder Michael Giles
48:57
in self-defense. If she had, it wouldn't have
49:01
been her priority to then bleed him dry of all of his assets,
49:08
along with the help of her new boyfriend and viciously fool his
49:13
family into believing he was alive.
49:17
I will say this. There is one thing that
49:21
impresses me about Quinetta Harris.
49:24
Her brilliant skills of manipulation.
49:28
They know no bounds. She is relentlessly narcissistic
49:33
and extremely creative at spinning her web of lies.
49:40
She is a skilled psychotic that even from her prison cell she
49:47
continues to find ways to get people to listen to her and care
49:52
about what happens to her. Winnetta Hearst is not a
49:55
pushover. She is not a fragile, weak
49:59
victim. She's a skilled narcissistic
50:04
psychopath whom I have little doubt that if she were released
50:09
from prison she would find a newmark and kill again.
50:13
Nothing can change the facts of her story.
50:18
The way she spends it to illicit compassion and support for her
50:24
slate in life is nothing short of amazing.
50:29
Quinetta Harris is a cold blooded calculated profit
50:34
predator who chose her target and did everything she could to
50:40
bury his existence along with his body.
50:45
But the truth always finds a way to rise to the surface.
50:54
Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this wild web
50:59
of deceit spun by Quinetta Harris.
51:02
If you have any questions, comments, or ideas for future
51:05
episodes, I would love to hear from you.
51:07
Please reach out. You can find my contact
51:09
information in the episode description.
51:12
Until next time, stay safe and watch how Shades of Murder
51:19
happening in the streets next door, especially inside your own
51:25
home. Shades of Murder is created,
51:31
researched, written and edited by Alita Caldwell.
51:36
Original music stranger composed by Stereo code.