Robert Anthony Buell

The next two cases on my agenda to put together are very similar. They both pertain to the murders of young girls, but they also both show how easily an innocent person can be convicted when there are those out there determined they are the perpetrators.

I have spoken recently about cases in which from a legal standard are not necessarily “solved” because there has not been a conviction in a court of law. When it comes to the case of twelve year old Tina Harmon, two men actually were convicted and sentenced to life but those convictions were reversed and the two men were set free. The actual perpetrator was never officially charged with her death. Robert Anthony Buell was executed in September of 2002 for the murder of another young girl, eleven year old Krista Lee Harrison. And, while at the time of his death, despite not being charge, there was a universal belief that he was the murderer of Tina Harmon. Buell went to the execution chamber protesting his innocence. In 2010 he was conclusively linked as Tina Harmon's murderer.

On October 29, 1981 twelve year old Tina Harmon disappeared from the Lodi Ohio area. Some reports say she had been dropped off by her father's girlfriend although they do not say what Tina's plans were but other reports simply say that she was walking home after buying ice cream when she disappeared. Five days later her body was found. She had been sexually assaulted and then strangled to death. Investigators found dog hairs as well as carpet fibers on her body.

In 1982 two men, Ernest Holbrook Jr. and Henry Ray (have also seen his name as being Herman) Rucker were convicted in separate trials and both were given life sentences. The men had passed lie detectors tests given to them and there was no physical evidence that linked them to the crime but the prosecution had two witnesses who claimed that Rucker had confessed to them and implicated Holbrook. The witnesses were Curtis Maynard, Holbrook's cousin, and a woman described only as his acquaintance, Susan Sigler. Not long after the convictions Susan Sigler was convicted herself for filing a false rape claim against someone in another county. Investigators also learned that on a recent marriage license Susan had claimed to only have one former spouse and alleged he was deceased. They learned that she had four former spouses and they were all living. To investigators this brought into question pretty much anything Susan had ever stated.

Rucker was able to have his conviction overturned and by the time he faced a re-trial in June of 1983 Curtis Maynard had recanted his statements saying that detectives had pressured him into saying Rucker and Holbrook were guilty by using the fact that he was on probation for a prior felony. At Ruckers second trial he was acquitted and released. Ernest Holbrook kept trying to get a new trial himself but the requests were denied. Maynard would eventually be convicted of perjury and given a sentence of thirteen months.

In the meantime on July 17, 1982 eleven year old Krista Lee Harrison disappeared from Marshallville Ohio. Her body would be found six days later and like Tina she had been sexually assaulted and strangled. Just as had been the case with Tina carpet fibers were found on Krista's body and they appeared to be the same. While some reports stated there were no eye witnesses, others say they saw her collecting aluminum cans at a park across the street from her home when a man was seen dragging her away while she screamed, placed her in a van and drove off. Krista's body had also been wrapped in plastic, which would be important later.

Almost all reports say that there were no suspects in Krista's murder until Robert Anthony Buell was arrested. But, this is where I get confused. Several reports claim that Buell was arrested in October of 1982 after abducting and raping a woman. But, accounts also say that there were no leads in Krista's case for over a year. Both of these scenarios cannot be true then. To add to this it was said several times that Buell is also suspected of murdering ten year old Debra Kay Smith in September of 1983. It has been alleged that the same fibers found on the other two victims were found on Debra. So, Buell could not have killed Debra if he was caught and in jail before her murder. The same could be said about Holbrook and Rucker. It appears that investigators, and later prosecutors were so sure that who ever killed Krista Harrison had also murdered Tina Harmon. Holbrook and Rucker were in jail when Krista was murdered so it could not have been them.

In 1984 Buell was put on trial for the murder of Krista Harrison. It was said that the prosecutor stated that the evidence was so strong between the two cases that ethically he could not use it to convict Buell and not at the same time use it to free Holbrook who had remained in jail. In April of that year Buell was convicted and sentenced to death for the murder of Krista Harrison. It was said that the carpet fibers found on her body matched those inside Buell's van. Prosecutors had also discovered that less than a week prior to Krista's murder Buell had received custom made seats for his van and that the packaging was the same type of material used to dispose of her body. Prosecutors claimed that the seats were rare and few had been ordered and packaged this way. The jury convicted Buell and sentenced him to death. In addition to the death sentence, Buell would be sentenced to 121 years in prison for two crimes related to the abduction and rapes of two women in two other cases. In one Buell pleaded no contest and in the other he pleaded guilty.

Throughout the years Buell's appeals failed so despite the fact that he was never charged in the murders of Tina Harmon or Debra Kay Smith it was said that investigators, as well as prosecutors considered their cases to be closed and Buell to be their murderer. On September 24, 2002 the state of Ohio put Robert Anthony Buell to death using lethal injection. Krista's father and brothers were present and watched as Buell continued to proclaim his innocence to them.

Throughout his time on death row Buell had a “spiritual adviser” who basically was simply a minister in which he allegedly confessed his sins to. After the execution had been carried out, the spiritual adviser told the media that Buell had told him to tell reporters that he had taken “secrets” to his grave including the names of three men he suspected had killed Krista and seven other children. If this was not such a sad case it would have been funny because while the spiritual adviser allegedly knew the names of these people he was directed by Buell not to tell authorities. I find this “funny” for two reasons. For one, the man would not have gone to the death chamber without naming those he allegedly suspected of committing the crime in which he was being put to death. Serial killers are notorious in the fact that they start naming names of alternate suspects and confessing to unsolved crimes. Secondly, why would a “spiritual adviser” not tell authorities the names of these people that allegedly had murdered several children, including several that were not attributed to Buell and allow them to continue to roam the streets? None of that made any sense.

Despite the fact that authorities had told Tina Harmon's family they were certain that Buell was her murderer the family wanted her case re-opened so they could know for sure. It appears that authorities were very resistant in doing so and attempted to explain to the family why they believed Buell was guilty. It was said that they had no plans to re-open the case unless new evidence was discovered that did not point to Buell. However, it does appear that finally some testing was done. In 2010 authorities say they conclusively linked Buell through DNA to Tina Harmon. Whether that DNA was through Buell himself, possibly through the sexual assault that Tina suffered, or through DNA testing of dog hairs found is unclear. Some reports say that dog hair found on her body was linked to a dog buried in Buell's backyard. Regardless it appears Tina's family needed more than the word of investigators to know Buell was guilty.