The Harris Family Murders

Some of the cases that often irritate me the most are the ones in which the victims are lost in mix. This happens for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the case is just so horrible or so outrageous that it becomes infamous on it's own. Sometimes the perpetrator brings so much attention to themselves no one seems to remember the victims names. Really, how many of us can remember the names of any of Bundy's or Gacy's victims? No, we just remember the killers name and the way they committed their crimes. Then there are the cases in which a innocent people have been convicted, sometimes with the help of overzealous and arrogant police officers. In those cases the victims again get lost because the focus is turned to something else. This case had many of the above attributes.

Almost immediately the Harris family murders was compared to the Clutter Family murders that took place in Kansas in 1959. Now, if you're reading this as a true crime reader then you know exactly what case I am talking about. The Clutter murders were the basis for Truman Capote's book (and movies) In Cold Blood, that while even Capote admitted was basically a “novel,” is considered to be the first true crime book. While everything in the book is not necessarily based on fact or the evidence, including dialogue, it did use the actual names of the victims and the perpetrators. But, let me ask you this, how many of you remember the first names of the victims? Then let me ask if you know the names of the men who committed and were later executed for the crime? Even as much as I proclaim to know about true crimes, especially infamous ones, I would have to look up the names of the victims and yet I can tell you that two men by the names of Perry and Hickock were the perpetrators.

It all began, at least from a crime scene perspective, a little after seven in the morning on December 23 1989 when a 911 dispatcher in Dryden New York received a call about a smoke alarm going off at a home on Ellis Hollow Road, an upscale housing community. The home belonged to Warren and Delores “Dodie” Harris. Warren was an executive in an electronics business and Dodie spent her time volunteering for events for her children and running a little “country gift and antique store” out of the barn on their property. Warren and Dodie had two children, fifteen year old Shelby and eleven year old Marc.

When the officer arrived at the home around 7:20 he could hear the alarm through the door but nothing seemed odd. When no one answered the door, the officer went in. Few people in the area locked their doors at that time. The officer would later say that when he entered the home he got the impression that someone had burnt something on the stove as it was very smoky inside and at first he likely assumed that maybe someone had gotten hurt in the process and the occupants had taken them to the hospital. The officer made his way into the kitchen and was going to use the phone in the kitchen to call things in. It was then that he realized that the cords to the phone were cut. Keep in mind this is a time long before standard cell phones, the Internet or many other technical things that we see as common place today. It was then that the officer thought something more sinister had occurred.

The officer made his way upstairs and to the master bedroom. It was here there he discovered a charred room and a body inside. Now the officer is certain something bad has happened and he made his way back outside to call for back up. Once other investigators arrived and the house was searched again, another charred room was found and there they found three more bodies. Eventually it was determined that the body in the master bedroom belonged to fifteen year old Shelby. While I could not determine (through confusing information) the exact condition of her body I can say that she had been shot in the head with a .22 caliber firearm and that she had been sexually assaulted. The bodies in the other room belonged to her parents, Warren and Dodie, and her younger brother, Marc. The other three had also been shot in the head but they were also bound at their hands and feet and they had pillowcases over their heads. It appears that while the bodies were charred they were not burnt enough to prevent the coroner from determining crucial things. It was suspected that the ordeal with the Harris' had began several hours before the burning of the bodies. A gas can was found inside one of the rooms intact. The things I found most interesting about this is that obviously the fire had never gotten very hot or spread and it had burnt out itself. If it had the fire department would have been on the scene hours before. If someone had not heard the smoke alarm going off (which is another thing I found a bit odd considering it was said not to be extremely loud and I was never able to determine who placed the 911 call) it could have been days before anyone found the bodies. Although Christmas Eve was just the next day and the family had plans with other family members. I guess the blessing in disguise is that they were found on the 23^rd and not the following day or even Christmas Day.

Aside from the gas can being found the only other thing that seemed odd was that investigators say they only saw one set of tire tracks in the freshly fallen snow and discovered the family van was missing. It would be found abandoned several hours later in a shopping center parking lot a few miles from the home. Nothing in the van seemed to yield any clues to who was involved.

Of course the neighbors were questioned as to if they saw anything odd. One stated they had seen a black man riding a bicycle early in the evening of the 22^nd which was odd with the snow coming down. Another stated that around 6:50 on the morning the bodies were found he had seen a “slow moving van” (although nothing I found said it matched the Harris' van) with a light skinned black man driving and an older black female passenger. It is unclear just when this neighbor made this statement and that could be significant as you will see later. Regardless it seems though that the neighbor recanted his/her statement later saying they could not identify what the occupants looked like.

Investigators learned really fast that on the same day that the bodies were found credit cards belonging to the Harris' were used at a local shopping mall. The cards were used to buy things like clothes, jewelry and electronics. Surveillance cameras were not everywhere like they are today so they had to find the clerks at the stores and have them describe the person or persons that had made the purchase. The clerks helped investigators make sketches of the young black man and the older black woman who they had witnessed use the cards. The sketches were all they had and their first big lead. Theory was that whoever had used the cards had committed the murders. It is a very good theory and likely plausible but in the law you have to have the evidence to back up those theories with proof.

Investigators got a tip that the woman from the sketch may have been Shirley Kinge. Shirley worked at a bed and breakfast. State Police Investigator, David Harding and another officer went undercover at the B&B on January 30, 1990. Keep in mind that up to this point it was believed that there was no evidence worth anything left at the scene. Sure, there had been the gas can but one of the officers was later quoted as saying he felt like the perpetrator(s) was a professional cleaner as aside from the area in which the bodies were things seemed cleaned, and even those rooms, despite the burning appeared to have been cleaned up. It was also said that despite finding the gas can there seemed to be nothing on it linking it to a perpetrator. So it seemed a surprise when on February 3^rd David Harding would tell other investigators there had been a fingerprint on the gas can and that he had obtained Shirley Kinge's fingerprint at the B&B and found a match.

Five days later (although I am unsure why it took so long), investigators went to the duplex in which Shirley Kinge lived. Shirley lived on one side with her mother while her son, Michael (who also went by the name Anthony Turner) lived on the other side with his girlfriend and their two year old son. I want to point out that the article I found in which the events of this day were recounted used the name Anthony Turner for Michael and yet it was the only place in which I heard this particular name. In a lawsuit Shirley would later file her name was listed as Shirley Turner Kinge so the name Turner did appear elsewhere but it became a bit confusing because the events of February 8, 1990 would be highly significant. According to investigators they had gone to the home looking for Shirley. According to them at the time they had all but identified her as the user of the Harris' credit cards and they had her fingerprint on the gas can found at the crime scene. It is also probably that in those five days that it took to go there they had investigated not just Shirley but her family and one can assume they knew of Michael Kinge and likely that he resembled the second person that had allegedly used the credit cards.

It was said that when the officers entered the home they would find Michael Kinge sitting on a bed with a shot gun to his chin. Officers would claim that Michael aimed his gun at them, and shot once. The officers returned fire and Michael would die as a result. Some information indicated that Michael may have used his two year old son as a “shield” of sorts but I cannot confirm this completely. Michael did have a record. He had several convictions for thinks such as burglary and theft with a deadly weapon. Michael had been arrest in 1982 and had allegedly claimed that he regretted not having a shoot out with police. Of course we all know this is often referenced as “suicide by cop.”

Once the literal dust settled Shirley Kinge was taken into custody. She was charged with 2^nd degree forgery (for use of the credit cards), 3^rd degree arson (for helping start the fire at the Harris home), 1^st degree burglary, 1^st degree charges of hindering a prosecution and criminal possession of stolen property. She would be convicted of all counts in November of 1990. In January of 1991 she sentenced to serve 18-47 years for the “role” that she played according to prosecutors.

Now, it seems that Shirley Kinge all but openly confessed that she used credit cards belonging to the Harris'. It also seems that she let investigators know that not only had her son, Michael, murdered the Harris family, but that she knew about it after the fact. Many wondered how she could go those six weeks knowing her son had committed this brutal act and never turn him in or tell anyone. I would like to think that I understood that part a little. I have always disagreed with the idea that a spouse is not required to testify against the other spouse but a parent is expected to cooperate fully. In my opinion it should be the other way around, but then again my opinion does not matter with the law. I applaud parents who turn their children in when they commit crimes but I also do not think they should be required to cooperate. Look at the case of Casey Anthony. Most people believe, and yes, I am one of them, that her mother, Cindy, lied on the witness stand that she herself had done some incriminating searches on the computer that was found in the home. Even the prosecutors believed she lied. One side of that says that by her lying she prevented justice for her granddaughter, while others see it as if she had told the truth she would be helping send her daughter to jail for the rest of her life. What parent, no matter how “evil” the child, wants to have that on their conscious? Not that I believe Cindy Anthony was right to lie on the stand, it is just that I understand it. There is a current situation out of Florida right now where a man has been arrested and charged with four murders. The county DA is threatening the parents with a court order as they are refusing to cooperate with the investigators in even answering simply (so they say) questions. It is one thing if you turn your child in for a crime they committed, but in my opinion it is another to help garner evidence against them. To be fair, I cannot say that I could do that. I say this from the perspective of someone who has had a family member commit a crime and have seen other family members attempt to not make excuses for the person but give explanations and from their side think they were helping the person by cooperating with the police. In the end nothing the family member said mattered and had the cooperation continued it would have felt like they built the case for the investigators. That all being said I am not condoning what Shirley Kinge did.

Now, as far as if investigators had any evidence against Michael Kinge proving he committed the murders aside from the word of his mother is unknown. Considering that he was dead and not on trial the prosecutors were not likely concerned with that. Shirley did admit using the credit cards but that was as far as she would go. So, having the fingerprint from the gas can, and having no evidence that Shirley was present during the actual murders the prosecution presented a theory that while Michael murdered the family he had then left, went and got his mother and the two of them together set the home on fire.

Lets look at this theory. First off, keep in mind there was a big deal about there only being one set of tracks in the snow. The theory was that Michael was the man that people saw on the bicycle earlier in the evening. I found no mention of any bicycle tracks, although they obviously could have been covered with snow, nor any mention that Michael had a bicycle, was known to ride it around, or even what happened to the alleged bicycle. The tire tracks found were presumed to be from the Harris' van. Now, also keep in mind that the prosecution theorized that the crime began prior to Warren coming home from work. Presumably we're left to believe that unless Michael took the vehicle Warren had driven home and drove directly in the same tracks he had made that the original tracks were covered with fresh snow. The same would stand to be argued in the theory that Michael the home at some point and went and got his mother and brought her back to set the fire with him. It was New York... in December and so theoretically enough snow could have fallen I suppose but I did not hear anything proving this. Keep in mind that this was a van, so a heavier vehicle and depending on the types of tires on the vehicle would depend how easily tracks could have been covered. Even still it would have had to consistently snow (and it is not impossible) for several hours to only leave one set of tire tracks when allegedly there should have been at least three sets from the Harris' vehicle as well as bicycle tracks (these would have likely been easily covered). For her part, as I said Shirley admitted to the use of the credit card but she continued to deny any part that had her inside the home.

So, not obviously believing her story the jury had convicted Shirley and off to prison she went. Several months later in 1991 State Police officer David Harding, the man who had gone to the B&B Shirley worked at, put in an application to work for the CIA. During the process he was apparently given a lie detector case. One of the questions asked was if he had ever fabricated evidence in a case to get charges or a guilty verdict (I do not know the exact wording) and Harding said “Yes.” It has been said that not only was he saying this because it was true, he said it because he thought the CIA would be impressed that he would do whatever it took to get a case solved. Well, the CIA did not look at it that way. He was apparently questioned some more either then or at a later time and it was discovered that at least one of those cases was the one involving Shirley Kinge.

There is some issue as to whether it really took the CIA nearly fourteen months to relay this information or if during that time they were conducting their own investigation. Harding would apparently admit that while visiting the B&B in January of 1990 that he had lifted Shirley's fingerprint from a glass and then placed it on the gas can that had been found inside the home. This evidence alone had convicted her of the arson charges.

An investigation revealed that several State Police Officers had been involved with falsifying evidence in approximately thirty-four different cases. In the end five officers, including Harding, were charged with crimes in what was called the Troop C Scandal. Harding received a sentence of 4-12 years and fined $20,000 for his role in at least four cases. Officer Craig Harvey, a sixteen year vet, pleaded guilty in the cases and received a sentence of 2.5 to 7 years. Officer Robert Lishansky, who was with Harding at the B&B was an eleven year vet. He received a sentence of 6-18 years for a whopping 21 cases. Officer David Beers was a fifteen year vet who pleaded not guilty in two cases and was acquitted in September of 1993 (I have no details). One other officer, Patrick O'Hara was a sixteen year vet with the department. Harding had implicated O'Hara and although prosecutors ultimately dropped the charges it was said he made some sort of agreement that required he serve one year in jail.

It took until August of 1992 for Shirley Kinge's conviction to be vacated. It is unclear if the entire conviction was thrown out, although it seems so, or if just the charges related to the arson were vacated. She had served 2.5 years and was ultimately released. Shirley Kinge filed a lawsuit asking for five million dollars. It went through the courts and was appealed. Finally it seems in 2007 she received approximately $250,000. This was said to be due to the fact that she admitted using the credit cards which was obviously part of the crime as well as part of her conviction.

I first heard about this case from a new docudrama television show on ID called “Village of the Damned.” It appears that this is a five episode series that is discussing several crimes over a period of time in the area of Dryden New York (although the Harris family murders is seemingly the only one directly in Dryden). It was said that the residents and public officials are by no means happy about the airing of the series and have attempted to move forward from the time period that included at least four other murders, a suicide and a tragic car accident. The first episode was about this case and while I stated in the beginning how in cases like this the victims are often lost in the shuffle, I also felt that the show glossed over the issue of the fact that Shirley Kinge was convicted on fabricated evidence. They mentioned it but very slightly.

Shirley Kinge apparently moved to Atlanta Georgia not long after her release and spent her remaining days there. She died in September of 2015. On the surface the Harris murders were solved. It is commonly believed that Michael Kinge was the perpetrator and while few believe that his mother, Shirley was involved in the murder or the fire set after, it is known she helped commit fraud in using the Harris' credit cards after their deaths. Common sense tells us that since she had access to the Harris' credit cards then her story that her son was involved and committed the murder is likely true but from a legal sense that is not proven.