For seven years, Jerry Harris has hoped for regional media coverage to draw attention to his daughter's murder in 2002.

It finally happened Tuesday night, although it wasn't the type of story Mr. Harris wanted to hear.

WFAA-TV in Dallas broadcast a segment on their 10:00 p.m. news July 28 that indicated some of the evidence has turned up missing. 

What must be especially troubling for the slain girl's father is that it was evidence he had managed to find on his own and then turn over to the Fannin County Sheriff's Office shortly after a fisherman found the body of Jennifer Harris in Red River.

Red River

In a telephone interview July 28, Jerry Harris said he felt like there were two critical pieces of evidence, and now both are missing.

In the first days after the disappearance of Jennifer Harris, a Fannin County resident, Jack Atkinson, found a set of keys that he felt might be of interest to law enforcement regarding the case and he notified two deputies having lunch at a cafe just south of the Red River Bridge where the keys would be hanging on his porch.  Atkinson reported that the keys had been removed from where he placed them on his porch, yet they were never entered as evidence. 

Jerry Harris said the description of the keys seemed to match those carried by his daughter.  There were about a dozen keys in all and three keys had fresh dents.  County employees had been shredding along the road and Mr. Harris believes the killer tossed the keys in the ditch, only to have a shredder strike the keys and toss them onto the road where they were found.

Although the keys eventually vanished, Mr. Harris felt strongly that the place where the keys had originally been found might yield even more clues.  Harris searched the area and found clothes he feels belonged to his daughter.  In a creek along Red River, Harris found a blouse, jeans and a bra that he turned in to the sheriff's office.  According to the newscast on WFAA-TV, those items of clothing are missing.

The blouse, jeans and bra could possibly be located, however.  Fannin County Sheriff Kenneth Moore said in the newscast that he is confident the missing clothing can be found. 

It should be noted that any sheriff's office is responsible for retaining a very large volume of possible evidence, which makes a thorough search time consuming and very difficult.  Also, this murder occurred before Sheriff Kenneth Moore was elected and there has been a complete turnover in personnel since 2002.

Jerry Harris is quick to point out that until official documentation is obtained from Southwest Institute of Forensic Science (SWIFS) via the Freedom of Information Act, he won't be certain exactly when the clothing was picked up after initial DNA testing and by whom.  At this point, he can't even be positive the clothing was sent back to Fannin County.  Harris does say that it is his understanding that SWIFS has a strict policy of returning all possible evidence to the investigating agency.

Right now, Jerry Harris doesn't share Sheriff Kenneth Moore's confidence that the evidence will ever be located.  A private investigator wanted to run updated, more sophisticated DNA testing on the articles of clothing.

Mr. Harris says he has been impressed by the intense scrutiny this private investigator is now bringing to the only unsolved murder in Fannin County.

Harris is also very grateful to WFAA-TV for drawing attention to this case.

"I always felt she [Jennifer Harris] deserved regional coverage," the anguished father remarked.  "At least she's beginning to get regional coverage."   

Jennifer Harris

But the frustration over finding out that more evidence can’t be located has taken its toll.

"Apparently, my daughter was murdered in the wrong county," Harris says quietly. 

http://justice4jennifer.org/