Starr Harris

0:00... Hello everyone and welcome to episode 530 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in True Crime might give us and give me how are you? I'm doing good man, how about you? I am having an excellent week. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shout outs. We had Lisa Nutt and Story. Thank you, Anne. Cooksy. Oh, love me some Cooksy. Tonya Dries. Hey, Tonya. Virginia Torres.

1:00What's Torres? Jenny. Hey, Jenny in the block. Boral H. Just. Boral H. I like that. Just. Just. Makes you wonder. It doesn't. Does it make me wonder at all? A-A-6-C-P. Oh, the good ol A-A-6-C-P. Which on Patreon you thought was something from Star Wars. I did. Yeah. Ellen Maudra. Hey Maudra. And last but not least, Joe Lane W. What's going on, Joe? And if we go back into the vault. This week, we selected Liz Daniel. Well, Liz, you know we love you. Yeah, we appreciate the new support, the continued support. Well, it's had a great PayPal donation from Christie Dairy. Like in the dairy from that movie It? Yeah, actually, it is spelled the same. Yeah. Like Dairy, is it Dairy Main? I think so. Yeah. I didn't know where you were going with that. I assumed it was going to be Dairy as in D-A-I-R-Y.

2:02Oh. But no, this is spelled like Dairy in the place in the it movie. I got to read the loan for you. Okay. We have an episode out right now on True Crime All Time and Saul. It's actually a two-parter. On 24-year-old Mytrees Richardson, she was arrested in September, 2010 at a Malibu restaurant after she couldn't pay the bill. And then hours later, she was released from custody in the middle of the night. No car, no cell phone, no ride waiting for her. And we talk about it all. There's some questions there. Yeah. Quite a few, to be honest with you. And then on next Thursday's T-Cat, we're talking about 17-year-old Janie Salazar Shabbat. Her boyfriend drove to her home for a surprise visit after he got a leave from his army base. She was pretty shocked to see him. And it's because, and her boyfriend discovered this, right?

3:06She had been texting another man. There was an altercation that ensued. And Janie and her boyfriend were hit by a hail of gunfire and she was killed. Yeah. It's a very strange story. It's a bizarre, but definitely check it out. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of True Crime all the time? I am. We're talking about Star Harris. Star Harris was a beloved mother and office manager in a small town in Tennessee after her body was found in the woods behind her home. DNA evidence revealed a surprising suspect. 36-year-old Star Harris was a mother of three, shed a daughter and two sons with her ex-husband. In 2005, she started dating Rick Harris, who owned a lawn care company in Drummond's Tennessee. It was said to be star second chance at love. And you know what they say, Gibbs? What they say? Everyone deserves a second chance at love.

4:07Now me personally, I don't need a second chance. You said that first one and it's been going on for 30 plus years. And it keeps on trucking. But some people do need a second chance and they deserve it or a third in your case. So, Star and Rick got married in 2007 and they established a happy, blended family with eight children. Rich had five children from his previous marriage. It's like more than the Brady Bunch. That's right. Yeah, that's a real Brady Bunch and then some. How many kids were in the Brady Bunch? Six. Is that what it was? Yeah, this is a Brady Bunch plus two. Well, they had Alice though too. You know what this is? This is like eight is enough. I mean, they haven't the partridge family because I know that was during your time. That's a little before my time. Yeah. They had a lot. Good answer. They had enough to make a ban. They did have enough to make a ban. Star worked as the office manager for Rick's lawn care company, which he co-owned with a woman named Kelly Phelps.

5:08They ran the business out of Rick and Star's home in Drummond's. You ever heard of Drummond's Tennessee? I have not. I haven't either. The Harris's treated their employees like family, often hosting barbecues and poker parties at the house. Kelly Phelps recalled that Star was a loving and giving person. You ever work at a small company where they do stuff like this, barbecues, where it really feels like family? Absolutely not. You know, I've been waiting for that barbecue invite, you know? You ain't going to get one at the job that you work at now or I work. That's for sure. But I have actually worked for very small companies in the past and there was some of this. That's cool. I remember one time, it was when my wife was pregnant with our oldest child who's now 26. They actually took us on a trip to Atlanta. Really? Yeah.

6:08That's cool. Like, 15 of us. That would have been expensive. It was expensive. Because we griped about how expensive the food was and they decided they were going to pay for that. They're like, okay, we're even though we brought you here for free. Yes. Amp paid for your, uh, broom, accommodation. But you guys are unhappy about the food prices. So we'll go ahead and pick that up as well. Well, we weren't making all that much money. Yeah. Let's just say. I bet they didn't take you back there the next year. No, never again. Yeah. The whole time I worked there. On June 1, 2010, the day after Memorial Day, several laborers showed up to get their pay and work assignments. Later that morning, Rick left the house with his son and coworker to begin his work day. Star called Rick around 1 p.m. to discuss an issue with one of their workers. Star had a brief text conversation with a friend between 1.22 p.m. and 1.25. Her friend replied again at 1.28, but Star stopped responding.

7:11Star talked to Kelly Phelps several times that day. They spoke for the last time shortly before 1 p.m. When Kelly called star at 2.30 p.m. She didn't answer. Kelly's ex-husband reported that he talked to star on the phone at 1.30. The call lasted less than a minute and it was a normal conversation. A FedEx delivery driver showed up around 2.00. But no one answered the door. I'm feeling like, obviously, there's a problem at this point. Well, but this is all very valuable information. You have all these people in contact with Star through different means. Right. Text, phone calls. You got a delivery driver. What it does is it starts to pinpoint the time of whatever happened to her that caused her to no longer be able to respond to people, pick up the phone, or answer the door.

8:13Kelly was worried when she couldn't get in touch with Star all afternoon, but she just wasn't sure what to think. I get that, right? When people are at work or they're working, they're not always the easiest persons to get a hold of. They're not going to be able to just pick up their phone at any time. Yeah, I can't just call you at any time of the day. Right? I usually have to text you and say, hey, when you get a break, give me a call because you could be on a video conference, which you probably have many of throughout the day. That's just kind of how we are as a society today. It's the same Friday and Saturday nights. Yeah, for different reasons. Yeah, it's hard to answer the phone when you're in the booth. Someone puts in a dollar, the slot opens, they can see you. And there's definitely nowhere for you to hold your cell phone on you. That's why they haven't even leave it at the door.

9:17Sometimes you're going to keystriid or put it in your prison pocket, which I would advise against the size of these new iPhones. They don't really lend themselves to being concealed. Let's put it that way. It didn't really work out well the first time I did that. So one had done. So we kind of talked about it. No one had seen or heard from Star since 130 around 8 p.m. Star stepson Nathan came home from work and called Kelly fell because he saw that Star's home office was in complete disarray. Her computer desk was toppled over and the back door of the house was open. And I think anyone, right, in the family who walked into that situation would immediately think something was wrong. First of all, you know my wife very well. Star is not a thing in this house out of place if she can help it. Well, that's for sure. So if any part of this house is in disarray, I just assume that something has gone catastrophically

10:21wrong. Oh, yeah. She's very particular. I mean, that's very euphemistic, but I like to say that. I mean, I'm just sitting there waiting for dinner and she's got the duster on me. Like why are you dusting me off? I've seen her clear your plate before you finish. She does that more than you realize that's happened. I've numerous times as Kelly rushed over Nathan took his four wheeler into the woods behind the house and found star's body 100 yards away. Rick Harris told the commercial appeal. My youngest son was searching on a four wheel. He flipped it and the light shown on her body in a ditch. It turned out that star had been raped and murdered. Kelly arrived at the house and recalled how Nathan ran out of the woods screaming and crying. He told Kelly, I found her and it's not good. One of Nathan's co-workers called 911 to report the murder around 830 p.m.

11:21I'll try to get his head. Yeah, tragic all the way around. All right. The youngest son finds star raped and murdered. That's not something you're ever going to get over. No. I've noted that star's shirt was ripped open and her bra was pulled down to her waist. Her underwear was pulled up above the waistline of her shorts. She was barefoot. She suffered extensive trauma to the neck and to the upper torso. According to court documents, she died from strangulation associated with blunt force injuries and some of those blunt force injuries were to the extent that they could have caused death in and of themselves. It's a pretty brutal. Hey, you know that they were brutal. If they in and of themselves could have been the cause of death, star had injuries that were consistent with a kick to the chin and injuries consistent with stomping.

12:22Her head wound was likely caused by bloody pieces of wood found near her body. She also had bruises on her body indicating she fought back. So I don't think there's any doubt. This was a brutal murder. There was a rape involved. But when you start to learn that she was a kicked in the chin. She was stomped. She was hit on the head with pieces of wood. Then it starts to paint a picture of just how brutal this attack actually was. But she didn't go easy. She fought. She fought back. She fought for her life because she had the bruises on her body to prove it. The medical examiner could not estimate the exact time of star's death. There were no signs of forced entry in the home leading investigators to believe star knew the killer and let them in. There was also a stack of money still sitting on a table in the office suggesting robbery

13:24was not the motive. And those types of facts are always interesting to me because I feel like Gibbs even if robbery wasn't the initial motive. If you're going to commit such a vicious crime and you saw a stack of money, who wouldn't take that? Yeah. Well, wouldn't you just take it even if you weren't there to do robbery? Why wouldn't you take it just to throw the scent off, right? Or just take it because it's free money. That's true. It's right there, right? Oh, you have to use a grab it. You're already a murderer. You have no qualms about being a thief as well, right? The main theory was that a struggle occurred in the house and the killer four star outside to the woods. This murder fueled suspicion throughout the community. I can only imagine. Yeah, I mean, I kind of have this thought that the smaller the community, the more

14:24suspicion the more rumors are going to fly around, right? In a small community like where you live, where I live, we don't have hundreds of thousands of people here. So if someone is murdered, it's not a 100% chance that we know the person, but we know a lot of people in the communities we live in. Yeah. Good chance we're going to know somebody to know somebody though. Of course, investigators had to look into Rick Harris. They were suspicious when they learned that he was having an affair with his ex-wife. Okay. See, this kind of stuff always, when you peel that on your back, you find things out that just doesn't sound good. No, it doesn't sound good at all. It's also one of those things, you know, if she's not murdered, does this ever come out? Maybe it does, but maybe it does. But when police start investigating a murder, this is not going to stay hidden.

15:27Yes, it's fair. It's coming out and people in the community are going to find out. Also why are you having an affair with your ex-wife? It's a good point. There's a reason that it didn't work out. And now maybe people just can't stay away from each other. Maybe the attraction is still strong, but they can't live with each other. He just like that one thing she always would do. Yeah, I don't want to know what you think that may or may not be, but I get what you're saying. After star's ex-husband Keith Callum heard of her death, he told deputies that he gave her $1,500 in January when she requested help leaving her husband. So this is getting more interesting, right? Sounds like maybe she wasn't happy in her current relationship. Yeah, Rick's having an affair with his ex-wife and according to Keith Callum, star was thinking about leaving Rick.

16:28And in the interview with the commercial appeal, Rick confirmed their marriage had been troubled recently, but denied that star planned to leave him saying that's ridiculous. Every marriage has issues and problems, but I loved her with all my heart. And she loved me. Can you love someone with all your heart while you're cheating on them with your ex-wife? It's just a question that I have. I would say logically that's a no. It's a no-goast writer. But he is right when he says every marriage has issues and has problems, right? There may be not to this level that we're talking about here, but I don't know anybody who's married, who if they were being brutally honest, could say we've never had one single issue or problem, right? Things just happen, they crop up, but there are degrees. Several different levels. So you're thinking three-ish?

17:29How many levels are there? Just several. Several. Defcon being the worst. Well, Defcon, what? Just Defcon in general or Defcon in general? We don't need to do one, two, three or four. Oh, it says, hey, it's a Defcon going on here. What about five? Isn't five the worst? I can never, I don't remember, is it five or one? No, I think it's five, because I've said one before and people have corrected. Okay. I think it's Defcon five is the worst. I would do it the opposite way. Thank you for that. I would have two. One seems like the worst. Yeah, like okay. Like if you say you're the one, you're it. Yeah. You don't say you're five. You're five in my heart. You're number five in my heart. Let's call it the Pentagon. Get this changed. Okay, folks, here's something my younger self definitely would have benefited from. And that's China. China is changing the way people bank. They're nothing like the old traditional banks, charging fees and gatekeeping perks and rewards.

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19:33He also appeared devastated by the loss of his wife. Rick told investigators about his last phone conversation with star around 1 p.m. Ricky Bell, one of their employees came to the house because he believed his paycheck was short. According to Rick's business partner, Kelly Phelps, they had 10 to 30 employees at any given time. And during the summer, their business took off. Laborers typically showed up each morning. It rick and stars house to get their assignments. They were paid weekly. So the one thing I would say is Rick couldn't have killed his wife himself. Right. Because he was nowhere near, couldn't have been there. The murder site doesn't mean he couldn't have planned it, paid for it, you know, instigated it. Rick and star were up late tonight before. So on the morning of June 1st, Rick remained in bed while his son, Ricky Harris, handed out the

20:33payments to their workers. He paid Ricky Bell $300. Ricky Bell didn't get a work assignment that morning so he went home. He lived less than a mile away with his mother, Belinda Bell and two brothers. And Vescares determined it took about seven and a half minutes to walk from Ricky's home to the Harris home. Not a lot of time. Yeah, that's a pretty quick walk. Ricky counted his pay and believed that he was shorted by $50 or more. So he returned to the house around 1 p.m. Star answered the door. He asked to speak to Rick. So Star called him. When Rick answered, star handed the phone to Ricky and they talked about his pay. Rick explained to Ricky that his pay was 300 instead of 350. Because he went to the doctor and missed the day at work. Ricky accepted this explanation and said there was no confrontation over the phone. That appeared to be the end of the matter. Well, I would say $50 is not something to get to worked up over.

21:38But we have done cases where less than $50 people lost their life. But I would say if you're only making $300 to $350 a week, I mean, that's not a ton of money. So in the grand scheme of things, does $50 become a bigger deal? Yeah, but is it big enough to kill somebody? No, I'm not saying that. It's just a it's a much bigger percentage. Right of your your overall pay. Police interviewed Ricky who said that after his phone call with Rick Harris, he went to another town. Ricky provided the DNA sample and showed investigators he had no scratches or injuries on his body to suggest he'd been in a violent struggle. And that's a big deal. It is. We just talked about how she fought for her life. You would expect her attacker to have, I think, at the very least gives some scratches. Rick Harris did have scratches on his left hand and fore.

22:41But a Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agent noted that these scratches were similar to ones he got when he did yard work, adding that the husband's injuries were not deemed significant. The next day, June 3rd, investigators were searching the crime scene and found a used condom hidden in the leaves. They hoped to recover usable DNA evidence from. I find it weird that somebody would sexually assault somebody and murder them. But yet try to have safe sex. No, see, I don't find that weird at all. Because by 2010, I feel like a lot of people would have known about DNA. So I don't think it would have been so much about safe sex as it would have been not leaving your seminal fluid behind so that they could identify you through your DNA. But here's the thing. If you're going to do that, then why would you leave the condom there?

23:42Why not tie it off and take it with you somewhere? Tying it off would be a good idea. I would if I put that in my pocket. But we know that didn't happen, right? They found it there at the crime scene. Now maybe they threw it and they thought, well, nobody's going to find it in the brush or in these weeds or whatever it was. But obviously they did. Also at the scene, police found an unusual lighter designed to look like a pistol. Investigators theorized that killer may have used the lighter to gain the upper hand during the confrontation. Perhaps believing star thought it was a real weapon. Some of those are pretty realistic. Well, I think some of the older ones for sure. I never understood the novelty of a pistol lighter. Have you ever had one? No, because I never understood the novelty of it. Maybe you would. So why would I buy one? Get one then to see if you can figure that out. First of all, I don't smoke. So I don't need a lighter. But I mean, can you imagine walking down the street, holding a pistol to your face and

24:49lighting a cigarette that doesn't seem like it. A few nine one one calls exactly. I see a guy holding a pistol to his face. Police question Ricky's mother who admitted to having a similar lighter. She said she kept it on top of the cabinet, but it was no longer there. Ricky's brother is Michael and Kevin accurately described the lighter and said they had seen Ricky with it prior to June 1st. Okay, so things are not starting to look good for Ricky. No, soon the DNA results were in. The use condom found in the woods had Rick Harris's DNA on the outside, but it had Ricky Bell's DNA on the inside. Okay, the little strange now. Very strange, right? Two different male contributors, but investigators learned that Rick's DNA was likely transferred to the outside of the condom because he and star had sex

25:50the night before. Ricky's DNA was left behind when he sexually assaulted. Star. Well, that makes sense. It does. Ricky Bell was arrested on June 8, 2010 and charged with first degree murder and sexual assault. He refused to confess during his interrogation. Detectives theorized that Ricky killed star because he was upset about his paycheck. $50. I find it crazy that someone is willing to go through that over $50. But it couldn't have just been about to $50. No, because if it was, why didn't he take that stack of money? And also why then did he sexually assaulted? Yeah. There's layers here. Action News 5 reported that Ricky's brothers Michael and Kevin Bell and a third man named Pierre Marta Richardson were charged with witness coercion.

26:52According to investigators, they used a car to block a section of the road on the night of the murder, forcing a possible witness to stop. The three men got out of their vehicle and charged the driver asking why he was talking to the police and snitching on his brother for killing that woman. They allegedly struck the witness in the face and head and even followed the victim home. Another altercation occurred between the victim, his mother and the suspects. They finally left when they were told the police had been called. You know what you don't want to do is try to rattle a witness about a murder. I just don't think that's the smartest thing you can do. To go around and threaten this guy, threaten his mom, threaten his other family members. I think that's so stupid. Yeah, I'm with you, but you know the mafia has used that technique for a long time

27:53and it worked pretty well, probably. That's the mafia in a big city. I get it, but sometimes when you threaten a person's family, it can force them to do things you want them to do or force them not to do things that you don't want them to do. But I'm with you. Obviously here it didn't work. We don't know how intimidating these guys really were. I feel like they could be some of those characters from, I can't remember what Fargo was, but you know, or they thought they were tough, but they were not tough. That's not a lot of information to go on. I'm going to be completely honest with you. Because there's a lot of Fargo's. There's Fargo the movie. There's however many seasons of Fargo the television show. Yeah, I'm going off the television show. It might have been season one or two, but yeah, these guys were definitely not as tough as they would hope they would be. Okay. No idea what you're talking about, but we'll just go past that. It's great podcasts though.

28:53It's great stuff, man. Great stuff. Stars, friends and family were shocked by the arrest. Kelly Phelps recalled wondering how someone they heard could do something so terrible. I think that's probably a feeling that a lot of people have, right? If you work with somebody, just think about the people you work with now. If you found out that they were a murderer, man, that's you're going to have some a lot of things to think about. Absolutely. It's going to drive me crazy. Like what? Especially if you hired them, which you do hire people. According to action news five, unspecified family members said they were aware of Ricky Bell's criminal record, which included a long stint in prison in Pennsylvania. In 1997, he was convicted of robbery of a motor vehicle and aggravated assault. He had only been back in Tennessee since he was released from prison in February 2010. So he ended him back long, right? By the time he committed this murder and sexual assault.

29:58In September of 2010, the state filed its notice of intent to seek the death penalty. The defense sought to dismiss the notice on the basis that Ricky was intellectually disabled, but the court denied the motion and his motion to dismiss the death penalty notice. The defense asserted that Ricky's IQ was 74 and therefore he was not eligible for the death penalty. Clinical psychologist Dr. John Hudson testified to pretrial hearing that he first encountered Ricky at a hospital in 1993 when he was inpatient at the adolescent unit. Dr. Hudson testified, I thought he was very polite, a well-behaved young man, but not high functioning intelligently. He was very depressed, but he wasn't psychotic, as I recall, and as the records also reflect, he wasn't touched with reality. He was able to communicate and converse, but he was limited in his intellectual understanding.

31:01At the time, Ricky took an IQ test in score 77. Hudson met with Ricky once in 2010 and once in 2011. He didn't administer an IQ test, but determined his verbal abilities and everything did seem consistent with that, his understanding, his comprehension. Hudson also said at a hearing on the defense's motion, I do think it's important for the court to know that I consider the defendant as competent to proceed. His strengths are he does have the ability to converse with you as long as the language isn't too of truce, or if you explain things in simple terms, he does get it. He does understand his charges. He understands the potential consequences that may result from a conviction of these charges. If he's impaired anywhere, it's his understanding of the judicial process, but you can explain the roles of the different players and he does grasp that.

32:06You know that word of truce? I love that. Do you remember what movie that was from? No. Shalshank, when Andy uses it and the wording gets really upset about it. Yeah, I think he used the word obtuse. You might be right. I think so. Good podcasting. But I appreciate that you're going down that path. I actually, to be honest with you, don't know what the word obstrus means. I'm not familiar with that word. Now obtuse, I do know what that means. But this was a quote. So Ricky Bell's trial began on March 26, 2012. A prosecutor read the charges to the jury and said, per action, five news, Ricky Alvis Bell, Jr. Did unlawfully kill Starlin Harris in perpetration of rape. Prosecutors described how stars final moments began with an argument with Ricky over his pay. He threatened her with a lighter that looked like a gun

33:09and forced her into the woods where he beat and raped her and left her to die. Now the defense argued that Ricky didn't kill Star and he didn't argue with her over his paycheck. According to state versus Bell, the defense noted that laborer James Arca was dating a woman that Ricky Bell was also dating. Arca was angry about this situation and he didn't like Ricky. Arca was seen at the house on June 1, collecting his pay. But his whereabouts in the afternoon were unknown. He lived in the same vicinity. So what are they saying, Gibbs, that this Arca guy had a beef with Ricky Bell because they were dating the same woman. So it was really Arca who killed Star and then framed it on Ricky Bell. But here's the problem I have with that. You have to explain how he got Ricky Bell's semen and put it inside that condo.

34:10And how are you going to do that? I don't know how the explanation though is probably going to be a rough one to hear if there was any validity to it. There's no easy way. I mean you've seen how they do it with horses, right? Oh yeah. I don't think that's what we're talking about here. So you just found a condom with Ricky Bell's semen in it. It just happened to? No, it doesn't happen that way. You'd have to I guess hope that he sleeps with somebody you know and you convinced them to get that condom from him. Well they are dating the same woman. So I guess the defense could make that argument. It's just so strange though. It would be strange. Are you going to walk around with a condom tied as you would do it, which I do think is a good idea. But filled with another man's semen, it seems strange. I mean you put that in a box. Do you put that in a paper bag? I mean

35:13if it is the girlfriend, it would be weird. Like hey babe, I told you I don't want you to see him. But one more time I like for you to go ahead and see him. I need you to sleep with him. Make sure he wears a condom and I need you to save that. Save that. Yeah. And make sure it doesn't leak out and give it to me when I see you. But don't ask me any questions about what I plan on doing with it. Yeah, but it's just so far, fast, right? Which let's face it, a lot of these defense theories are neighbors placed Ricky Bell near the crime scene. Neighbor Carol Reddit testified as quoted by action news five. I heard a lot of commotion down the street. A lot of screaming, hollering. Carol Reddit saw Ricky at stars home around 130 pm. Her husband Tommy Reddit recognized him as an employee of the Harrison's. He was milling about on the front porch as if he was waiting for someone.

36:15Tommy Sun Andrew testified that he was on the Harris's basketball court when Ricky approached and asked where little Josh was. He saw Ricky and star interacting shortly before 130 when Ricky walked into the house. So it's, you know, a number of people putting Ricky, you know, near the scene of the crime. They're not putting James Arcott near the scene of the crime. No. Rick Harris denied killing is what? He testified that he didn't have any insurance policies on star. He also testified that he and star had sex in the early morning hours of June 1st, which we know is to be true because of his DNA found on the outside of the condom. He acknowledged that he sent five texts to his ex wife on the afternoon of June 1st and those messages were not work related. During cross examination, the defense attempted to establish that Rick was engaged in an affair

37:18with his ex wife. The state objected and a hearing was held outside the jury's presence. The defense explained that the affair gave Rick motive to kill star. The court allowed the defense to conduct a voidier examination of Rick. He admitted he was having an affair with his ex during his marriage, which began in November 2009. He admitted he sent her texts on the afternoon of the murder, but denied that he wanted to get back together with his ex. He said he told police about the affair immediately after the murder, but his written statement did not include reference to the affair. Maybe he chose not to put it in the written statement. Yeah, maybe he didn't want like the actual written record of it, but he told them about it. I don't know. But ultimately, the court ruled to sustain the state's objection and the jury was not allowed to hear testimony about the affair. And let's face it, that that would be the only bit of possible motive that the

38:23defense could offer up. If there really was no life insurance policies, okay, you don't have that, what else could it be? He wants to be with someone else and he wants out of this marriage. And maybe he doesn't want to give up half his money, right? There's always that. But you still would have to answer why his rickies seem in an a condom out by where her body was. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's not it's not going to just magically get rid of that stuff, right? Ricky's mother, Belinda Bell, was the only defense witness. She testified at trial that she arrived home at 2 p.m. on June 1st and Ricky was sitting inside on March 30, 2012. Ricky Bell was convicted of two counts of first degree felony murder, one count of especially aggravated kidnapping, and one count of aggravated sexual battery. The jury deliberated just 30 minutes before sentencing Ricky to death. That's really quick. Did not

39:25take long at all that death sentence was based on four aggravating circumstances, which were listed in state versus Bell. The defendant was previously convicted of one or more felonies, who statutory elements involved the use of violence to the person. The murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel in that involved torture or serious physical abuse beyond that necessary to cause death. The murder was knowingly committed by the defendant while he had a substantial role in kidnapping the victim. And the murder was knowingly committed by the defendant while he had a substantial role in raping or attempting to rape the victim. They all apply. Yeah, would agree with that. This murder was especially heinous, atrocious or cruel. He did have a substantial role, maybe the soul role in kidnapping her and raping or attempting to rape her. And we know,

40:32because we talked about it, right? One or more felonies, the use of violence. So not just one aggravating circumstance before. Yeah, multiple. And maybe that kind of goes with the quick the 30 minute deliberation. After the verdict, stars sister Tanya Alliwia told action news five, I feel that my sister can finally rest in peace. And she can finally know that the person who took her away from all her family and everybody that was important to her can never hurt anybody else again. I think that is her final victory. Rick Harris said justice in the law. I think that justice has been served. You know, I feel sorry for my family and his family too. People say closure, there's no closure. We all miss her. And you hear that so often, right? People saying, stop using this word closure because it doesn't really exist. I don't know because I haven't been

41:36there. Don't write. I don't either. I mean, her sister called it a victory, right? Her final victory. Yeah. And Rick called it justice. I get those words. I do think closure. Some people might feel it. A lot of people say they don't. For the first time since her mother's death, stars daughter, Brenna Column spoke to the press saying she wouldn't see me go to high school, see me graduate, go to prom, get married, have children. Brenna was only 13 when she lost her mother. Yeah, she was robbed of all that. It's tragic, right? Everything about this murder is tragic, but that's heartbreaking. When you think about Brenna being only 13, losing her mother, and her never getting to experience all those milestones that you and I as parents have experienced.

42:37Right. This was not fair. There was no reason for start to be murdered. No, 50 bucks. You're mad. Again, is there more to it because we did have the rape involved? I feel like there had to be. I do too. I don't want to believe that all of this happened over 50 bucks. No matter what the reason was, it shouldn't have happened. But if 50 bucks was the sole reason, somehow I feel like it makes it even worse. It's like more insulting. If that's, yeah, if that's possible, I feel like maybe he's that type of guy that should never came out of prison in the first place. Well, that's true. We can't lose sight of that, right? He comes out in the early part of 2010. And in the same year, he commits this murder. So, you can't tell me it's a coincidence. The timing. It would be hard to say that he was

43:41rehabilitated during his time in prison. It doesn't seem like it. Brenna said about Ricky Bell, he's not a person at all. He's a monster. He had it coming. I agree. He is a monster. And I think if you're the daughter of this woman, the husband of this woman, yeah, he has it coming. Yeah. Now, unless you're staunchly against the death penalty, she also said there wasn't a minute that went by that she didn't fill her mom's presence and recall she used to sing me lullabies when I was little. Until the day she died, she was like, Oh, Brenna, you don't let me sing a lullaby anymore. And it makes me sad. You're growing up. It's funny how you remember all these things, you know, when they're no longer around you. Yeah, you remember them, but also they take on a different significant, right? And there's just no way around that, right? We do take things for granted.

44:45All of us. When people are here, they're around us. When we lose them, when they're gone, then we're like, why did we take it for granted? We should have spent more time or we should have done this. We should have done that. That's just human nature. On May 4, 2012, Ricky Bell received 220 years sentence for the kidnapping and rape charges. In 2015, the Supreme Court of Tennessee affirmed the convictions and descends and said his execution for October 18, 2016. On direct appeal, the Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed Ricky's convictions. The appeals court found that the record did not support two of the aggravating circumstances, but nonetheless affirmed the descends. And this is something we don't talk about enough, right? Why do you need to kind of go after all four of these aggravating circumstance?

45:52Right. Well, it's so that on appeal, if one, two, three possibly get thrown out, you know, I don't know how many aggravating circumstances maybe just want to get to death penalty. Maybe it's two. I don't know if that varies by state, but obviously two was enough because even though they threw out two of them, they affirmed the descends is based on the other two, which if they didn't go for all that, it would have been a problem. If they only went for those two and they both got thrown out, there's a good chance he would have been taken off death threat. According to information from a court document in the case of Christa Gale Pike versus state of Tennessee, Ricky Bell was sentenced in 2012 for a crime committed when he was 30 years old. He's no longer on death row after a negotiated disposition for life in prison without possibility of parole between

46:56the office of the post conviction defender and district attorney general for the 25th judicial district. And I know Gibbs, we covered Christa Pike, we covered the murder of Colleen Slammer. I don't remember how Ricky Bell factored in because it's been a while since we covered it. It's just strange that, you know, he comes up in this court document in Christa Pike's case. She was a nasty individual, for sure. If I remember correctly, she was like one of the only women on death row in Tennessee or one of those things I forget. Kind of rings a bell. Ultimately, stars loved ones are glad that she received justice and that Ricky Bell will spend the rest of his life in prison. I mean, there's no doubt, right? They were never the same after she was murdered. How could they be? Stars children went to live with their father and Rick Harris took an extended leave from his business. Rick died in January, 2023 at the age of 52.

48:04According to his former business partner, Kelly Phelps, he was never fully able to move past stars death. It'd be really difficult to do. Yeah, I think it would. And that's such a young age. 52, that's younger than both of us. Yeah. So again, I don't know what his health was like, but you also have to ask the question, did her death play a role in hits? Sounds like it might have. You know, just because you don't know how he changed, maybe he ate terrible, maybe he just didn't take care of himself. We don't know. It's going to change everybody. It does. There's no way around it. And I feel for the kids. Yeah, absolutely. No doubt about it. Impacted probably the most from this. And we only talked really about her kids. Let's not forget, Rick had a bunch of kids. She was their stepmom. And I'm sure they were affected greatly as well. Yeah. One of them found her. Oh, and I'm sure he was affected deeply just by that very fact.

49:06And probably we'll never get that out of his head. No, no, probably not. But as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, you know, we've touched on a couple times throughout this episode, but $50. Right? This guy thought he his paycheck was short, $50. It turned out, as Rick Harris said, well, he took a day off for you. He, you know, he didn't jump to work one day. And that's the reason why his check was $50. But that if that is the true reason and the only reason he killed this woman, oh my gosh, it's so senseless. They're all senseless. But like you said, is it even more senseless? Yeah. I mean, he shows up once his $50 decides to, I guess at one point, he must decide he wants to sexually assault her and thinks it's okay to do what he did. But I can't help but wonder if that was part of his reasoning all along. Well, you think maybe he went there, got the answer,

50:11but was attracted to her or whatever would call somebody to sexually assault somebody. And he acted on that and realized at that point, there was no turning back because if he didn't kill her, he would be going back to prison because he just came out. Yeah, I just, it's hard for me to believe that maybe that didn't play a factor into this as well. Maybe it's because I can't believe $50 was all of it. But you know, who knows? Um, cases like this, they're tough. I mean, for me, personally, I think he's right where he should be. Oh, yeah. Yeah. He's lucky that he was able to get away from the death penalty. Yeah. I think he, I think he is lucky. But that said for our episode on star Harris, we got a voicemail. You want to check that out? That's right. Hey, Mike Gibby, my name's Rose. I'm in live in Tennessee just outside of Clark's room.

51:16I listened to you guys a few years ago, like all the time, like every day I was listening. And then I had stopped because I found myself getting like depressed from just all the stories, not because of you guys just all the stories. And so I stopped listening, but I came back to it just a little bit ago. And I've been listening again and catching up on all the episodes I missed. But listen, the first time I started listening to you guys, I wanted to call Liam, but I never had the courage to do it because I wanted to tell Gibby how awesome it's been to hear him grow into his role. Because like at first, he was very shy and quiet. And you could tell he was like nervous. But after a while, he's like, vocal and joking and laughing and he's more comfortable. And it was just awesome to see him grow into that. And Mikey Riley's been there. So, you know, that's why this is in the back to you. But it was really neat to see Gibby grow into his role. And anyway,

52:22I love you guys. You guys are awesome. I love the way you tell the stories of the people. This is about your very respectful. And I like that. I'll keep listening. Keep your own time ticking. Thanks. All right. Thank you so much for the voicemail. What people can't tell because there's no video of this, but literally Gibby is sweating just profusely right now. Oh, yeah. He's got three different towels. He's mopping his brow by one unibrow. Yeah. This is unibrow. I figure it's just I can't grow the hair anymore. I'll just let that brow grow all the way across. Grow up, twirl up. Yeah. But no, I think you're right. And we both grown in different ways. And yeah, but she said, this is not about you, Mike. This is about Gibby. Well, let me have my moment as most things are. But that's all series are very sweet, very awesome. And I think she's right. You know, I like the way that you've changed over the years and kind of grown into your own

53:26and all that. Some of that has to do with the confidence brought on by Rex West, I think. Absolutely. You know, your alter ego has much more confidence, actually too much probably. In fact, he's cocky. Yeah. It's kind of known for being cocky. I will tell her this too that, hey, we appreciate you listening, but we understand sometimes it can be a bit much, you know, if it you need to step away sometimes and you know, take a little break. Yeah, I would echo that sentiment. I think everybody, you know, should be cognizant of their mental health. And you know, if it's too much, take a break. We have to work very hard to make sure that our mental health stays good. Right. Because researching these cases for 10 years, you know, you got to take breaks and watch stupid comedies and things like that. It's just part of what we have to do. So do it when you need to and you know, come back when you can. Yeah, absolutely. All right, buddy, that is it for another episode of True Kind

54:30all the time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking.