True Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Part VII

Clara Harris

Clara L. Suárez (born February 3, 1958), better known by her stage name Clara Harris, is a Colombian woman convicted in the state of Texas for the murder of her husband David Lynn Harris, 44, on July 24, 2002.1The case received a lot of media attention in the United States, mainly because the reason why Harris killed her husband was due to his infidelity. She was sentenced in 2003 to 20 years in prison for the murder.

Harris was released on parole on May 11, 2018, after serving 15 years in prison.2​3​

Marriage

Clara Suarez, a Colombian immigrant, was named "Miss Colombia Houston" and worked as a dentist. He married David Lynn Harris on February 14, 1992, and they were raising three children, twins born in 1998 and David's daughter, Lindsey, from a previous marriage.

During his marriage to Clara, David began having an affair with his former receptionist, Gail Bridges, who would later admit it. Clara, who suspected an extramarital affair, hired a private detective agency to spy on her husband. She had also spent more than $15,000 on gym, tanning sessions and was planning plastic surgery to augment her breasts in a desperate effort to keep her husband.4​

Assassination of David Lynn Harris

On July 24, 2002, the agency notified Clara that her husband was at a hotel with his mistress.5When Clara Harris went to the Hilton Hotel in Nassau Bay, Texas, to confront her husband; she allegedly attacked her husband's mistress, Gail Bridges. Hotel employees escorted Clara to her Mercedes-Benz. When David and Gail left the hotel, Clara ran over her husband in the parking lot while her teenage stepdaughter was sitting in the passenger seat. Clara, after running over her husband, got out of the vehicle, approached the body and said, "David, look what you made me do." According to the medical examiner's office, they could only be sure that there was a tire mark on the body, but Lindsey Harris, the stepdaughter, and eyewitnesses claim that Clara ran over and ran her car over David at least three times. David died at the scene and Clara was charged with first-degree murder.

Trial and conviction

The trial began in February of the following year. At trial, Lindsey Harris testified against her stepmother, alleging that she begged her to stop the vehicle. The prosecution claimed that it was more than a crime of passion, that Clara "wanted to hurt him," as she was heard saying in an interview with police. Also presented at Clara's trial was an actual videotape of the crime, recorded by the Blue Moon Investigations detective agency of Webster, Texas, which Clara had hired when she suspected David was continuing to see his lover. The video was especially damning, as it showed him doing three laps of his silver Mercedes around the parking lot, though David is not clearly seen in the video. Clara then parked her car next to the body.

Clara Harris was convicted of murdering her husband and on February 14, 2003, was sentenced to 20 years in prison with a minimum prison term of 10 years and a $10,000 fine. Ironically, Valentine's Day would have been Clara and David Harris' eleventh wedding anniversary.

Harris was incarcerated at the Mountain View Unit in Gatesville, Texas, where she converted school textbooks into Braille for blind students. Her children, who are in the custody of family friends, were said to visit her once a month. He was denied parole on his first attempt on April 11, 2013, by the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles.6His second request for parole was denied in September 2016. On November 3, 2017, her application for parole was approved, although Harris would only be released after spending a few more months in prison after completing a special program in prison.7​

Release

She was released on parole on 11 May 2018 after serving 15 years in prison.8He remained on parole until February 2023, after which he enjoys absolute freedom.9​

Depictions

Bibliography

A book titled Out of Control written by Steven Long about the case. Published in 2004 by St. Martin's Paperbacks (as part of their St. Martin's True Crime Library series), the book follows the story of the murder and the reasons behind it.

Film

The case was the subject of the 2004 film, Suburban Madness, starring Elizabeth Peña and Brett Cullen.

Programs

The story was the inspiration to complete an episode of the Mexican series Mujeres Asesinas, in its third season with the title of Luz, arrolladora.

The case is also recreated in the television series The Real Killer Women of ID in Episode 1 of Season 4 (2010).

This case is profiled in Oxygen Network's Snapped series in 2004.

Harris was profiled in the U.S. documentary series Most Evil by expert forensic psychiatrist Michael Stone, who cataloged her at level 7 of his scale, which consists of 22 levels.