Episode 682: The Murder of David Harris (Part 1)

Summary

Episode 682: The Murder of David Harris (Part 1) - Detailed Summary

Podcast Information:

• Title: Morbid
• Hosts: Elena and Ash
• Description: Morbid is a true crime, creepy history, and all things spooky podcast hosted by an autopsy technician and a hairstylist. Expect a heavy dose of research mixed with a dash of comedy.
• Episode: 682: The Murder of David Harris (Part 1)
• Release Date: June 19, 2025

---

1. Introduction to the Case

The episode delves into the tragic and shocking murder of David Harris, orchestrated by his stepmother, Clara Harris. Elena and Ash set the stage by highlighting the complexity of personal relationships and the devastating consequences when emotions spiral out of control.

2. The Harris Family Background

Clara Harris, originally from Colombia, built a successful life in Houston, Texas. She met David Harris in 1991 while both were working at Castle Dental Center. Their relationship blossomed quickly, leading to their marriage on February 14, 1992, at the Windmere Yacht Club, followed by a lavish reception at the Nassau Bay Hilton—a location that would later become central to the tragedy.

Notable Quote:

Ash [45:28]: "Clara was a talented, smart, and beautiful dentist, crowned Miss Columbia Houston shortly after her dental residency."

3. Building a Picture-Perfect Life

David and Clara combined their professional successes by opening Space Center Orthodontics, expanding to multiple offices and serving hundreds of clients daily. Their marriage seemed idyllic, with a strong emphasis on family values. Clara was dedicated to both her career and her family, ensuring she balanced her professional commitments with home life.

Notable Quote:

Elena [49:53]: "It seems so perfect with her being like, 'I have to get home to have dinner with my family.'"

4. The Onset of Trouble: David's Affair

In 2001, Gail Bridges joined their practice as a secretary. Over time, David's behavior began to change—he became more distant and less attentive, both at work and at home. His relationship with Gail evolved beyond professional boundaries, sparking jealousy and suspicion in Clara.

Notable Quote:

Ash [52:16]: "Clara said, 'He told me there was no intimacy between them, that he'd just been lonely.'"

5. Discovery and Emotional Turmoil

Clara hired a private investigator to uncover the truth about David's fidelity. Upon discovering the affair, Clara's world unraveled. The betrayal was not just personal but also deeply affected their 16-year-old daughter, Lindsay, who had grown close to her stepmother. The strain of the revelation led Clara to take drastic actions to confront David and Gail.

Notable Quote:

Elena [11:10]: "I also hate the, like, grossness of, like, you're having an affair with your secretary."

6. The Tragic Confrontation at Nassau Bay Hilton

On July 24, 2002, Clara invited Lindsay for a drive, ostensibly to enjoy the summer weather. However, it was a pretext to locate David and Gail. Their visit to the Hilton was fraught with tension. Clara's increasing rage culminated in her driving over David's car, resulting in his immediate and tragic death.

Notable Quote:

Ash [35:22]: "Clara basically just killed David."

7. The Aftermath and Emotional Impact

The incident left Lindsay traumatized, witnessing her stepmother's uncontrollable rage and the loss of her father. Clara's actions were met with a mix of horror and disbelief by onlookers and family members alike. The emotional fallout extended beyond the immediate tragedy, affecting the entire family dynamic.

Notable Quote:

Elena [30:31]: "What a horrible tragic turn on another level."

8. Character Analysis and Motivations

Clara Harris emerges as a complex character driven by a blend of love, betrayal, and overwhelming emotion. Her transformation from a devoted wife and mother to someone capable of extreme violence raises questions about the limits of human resilience and the effects of profound personal betrayal.

Notable Quote:

Ash [42:24]: "That's the thing. There's a lot of argument over what her state of mind was when this all happened for me."

9. Ethical and Emotional Reflections

Elena and Ash reflect on the moral implications of Clara's actions, emphasizing that no matter the betrayal, violence is never an acceptable response. They discuss the importance of handling emotional turmoil constructively, especially when children are involved.

Notable Quotes:

Elena [24:16]: "You can't be destroying property. You can't be killing people when you're a mom."

Ash [28:03]: "We are animals. It's a thing. It's a primal instinct."

10. Conclusion and Tease for Part 2

The episode concludes with the immediate consequences of Clara's actions and sets the stage for deeper exploration in Part 2. Elena and Ash express their shock and sadness over the unfolding events, leaving listeners eager to hear the continuation of this harrowing story.

Notable Quote:

Ash [70:05]: "And I would say that was a lot of information for you guys to digest. So that is where we're gonna wrap for part one."

Elena [71:22]: "So interesting."

---

Closing Thoughts: Part 1 of "The Murder of David Harris" paints a vivid picture of a family torn apart by infidelity and unchecked emotions. Clara's tragic decision leads to irreversible consequences, highlighting the fragility of human relationships and the dire outcomes of unresolved turmoil. Listeners are left contemplating the moral lessons embedded in this case, eagerly anticipating the continuation in the next episode.

---

Notable Quotes Summary:

• Ash [45:28]: "Clara was a talented, smart, and beautiful dentist, crowned Miss Columbia Houston shortly after her dental residency."
• Elena [49:53]: "It seems so perfect with her being like, 'I have to get home to have dinner with my family.'"
• Ash [52:16]: "Clara said, 'He told me there was no intimacy between them, that he'd just been lonely.'"
• Elena [11:10]: "I also hate the, like, grossness of, like, you're having an affair with your secretary."
• Ash [35:22]: "Clara basically just killed David."
• Elena [30:31]: "What a horrible tragic turn on another level."
• Ash [42:24]: "That's the thing. There's a lot of argument over what her state of mind was when this all happened for me."
• Elena [24:16]: "You can't be destroying property. You can't be killing people when you're a mom."
• Ash [28:03]: "We are animals. It's a thing. It's a primal instinct."
• Ash [70:05]: "And I would say that was a lot of information for you guys to digest. So that is where we're gonna wrap for part one."
• Elena [71:22]: "So interesting."

---

Stay tuned for Part 2 of this gripping episode, where Elena and Ash will delve deeper into the repercussions of the Harris family's unraveling and uncover the layers behind Clara's tragic actions.

Transcript

[Elena]

Hey, weirdos. Before we dive into today's twisted tale, let me tell you about a place where the darkness never ends. Wondery. It's like stepping into a haunted mansion where the floorboards creak. With ad free episodes and early access to new episodes lurks around every corner. So come join us if you dare. Morbid is available one week early and ad free only on Wondery. You can join Wondery in the Wondery app or in Apple podcasts or Spotify.

[Ash]

You're listening to a morbid network podcast from the creator of Think Twice, Michael Jackson. Listen to the new Audible original Final thoughts Jerry Springer. Once known as the king of trash tv, Springer was the notorious talk show host whose wild daytime program transfixed audiences everywhere. Join Springer's personal and professional life as the ratings soared and the reviews soured. He here revealing interviews about the choices we make and the regrets we may have. Listen to the new trashy and true Audible original Final thoughts Jerry Springer by going to audible.com Springer hey weirdos.

[Elena]

I'm Elena.

[Ash]

I'm Ash.

[Elena]

And this is morbid.

[Ash]

It's morbid with no technic.

[Elena]

We were just talking. I didn't know what technic was.

[Ash]

If you don't know what technic is, listener, it's when your cousin takes a picture of you and you realize that you have a whole ass hump in the back of your neck because you've been slouching over your computer for years.

[Elena]

That's so scary.

[Ash]

Like, if you work like a desk job or something and you're like really slouched over your computer, it can result in like a straight up curvature of your spine so you end up getting like a hump in your neck. That's so cool. So now I am trying to sit up straight and shoulders back, baby, shoulders back. Cause you. The good news is it is reversible. I did a lot of that picture was taken of me. I looked at it and we did research immediately. We said, how do we reverse research? Tech neck out.

[Elena]

Technology is not, it's not killing it.

[Ash]

It's not good for the body. It's not good for us. I think it's good for us some.

[Elena]

Ways, but it's very good for us in some ways. But man, I think we're, I think it's, I think it's going too far. I think that's the problem is we can, we can never just do things right as a species. We always have to take it way too far.

[Ash]

I know the, the thing that sucks is that like sitting like this is so Uncomfortable.

[Elena]

Yeah, it is.

[Ash]

Like, I feel so weird right now.

[Elena]

She's a straight up.

[Ash]

I'm just so. I'm so straight right now.

[Elena]

Straight right now. Look at that.

[Ash]

Happy Pride month. Happy Pride Month. I'm just straight now.

[Elena]

She's decided she's gonna be straight.

[Ash]

She's gonna sit still in body language.

[Elena]

Just kidding. But speaking of technology, that went too far. Go, go, girl.

[Ash]

Oh, look at that motherfucking segue. We might have tech neck, but we got quick brains.

[Elena]

We do not have tech brains.

[Ash]

Melina doesn't have tech neck because she's a bitch.

[Elena]

It's because I am always rigid.

[Ash]

That's why I know I'm too loosey goosey.

[Elena]

I'm always rigid in my posture. Cause I sit and I'll catch myself sometimes sitting too rigidly. Like those things where people are like, hey, relax your shoulders and like, unclench your jaw. I'm always like, who? Like, I'm always like, I need to. Because I. I'm always like, my jaw.

[Ash]

Is super tense, as we know. But anyway, speaking of, that was a good segue. I don't want to. I don't want to get too far away from it.

[Elena]

Speaking of technology, that's gone too far. This is just a little, like, documentary recommendation kind of thing. Recommendation. That's the word. Coffee. Wow.

[Ash]

I said our brains are quick too early on.

[Elena]

So I got super hyper fixated on the tit submersible thing when it was happening.

[Ash]

I think a lot of us did.

[Elena]

Very hyper fixated. I learned so much about submersibles. I would be sitting next to John on the couch and just be like, can I just tell you how carbon fiber is made? Like, he was just like, sure. And so it went away after I was like, you know, I've always been, like, fixated on it, but onto the next.

[Ash]

Hyper fix.

[Elena]

Exactly. Onto the next. And now HBO did a documentary implosion. The Titanic sub disaster.

[Ash]

I gotta see this.

[Elena]

I haven't finished it yet because it's long and I'm old and I fell asleep. Not because it's not good, but because I'm just old and I fell asleep. It is so good so far. And also horrifying to watch the amount of. We're gonna cover this in an episode, full episode. Because this is. It is incredible how much was ignored in the making and in the, like, this whole trip. It was so avoidable. It is. I mean, we all knew it was avoidable because, like, you choose to get in a sub to go down to the Titanic. But I Don't even mean in that way. I mean he ignored every single Stockton Rush ignored experts. He would fire people around him that told him this thing is gonna break. This thing needs a new hull. Like the hull is cracked, you need to scrap it. He would just fire people. He's just that guy who like surrounded himself. Like it's like he surrounded himself with yes. People. Well, that's it.

[Ash]

I'm taking an astrology class right now. As you know I'm big into like woo woo classes, right?

[Elena]

I love the woo woo class. My thing version of you.

[Ash]

But I love if you've been listening to the show. I've like always really been interested in astrology but I've only really known like the tip of the iceberg.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So I'm like, let's fucking go deeper and like we're going to learn how to read charts in this.

[Elena]

That's exciting.

[Ash]

I only had like the first one. So we learned about like the planets and what they mean and the different signs and like what they all represent. And so I got a text from my teacher this morning basically being like, I guess so Pluto went into. Yeah, that's right. Pluto went into Aquarius. Because the planets move this past November and Pluto is all about like use and abuse and misuse of power, beginnings and endings, transformation, like technological shit. And then Aquarius is like unpredictability, rapid changes like information, science, mathematics, like that kind of thing. So she had sent a news article this morning and was like, you know, like send us anything that represents Pluto and Aquarius energy. And Elena and I were talking about this whole thing and I was like, I'm really interested in this guy's chart, like what his fucking chart is. Because he's just a very interesting, fascinating man in a dark way.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

He has his Pluto in Aquarius.

[Elena]

Yeah. Which is crazy because it was literally.

[Ash]

Like an hour after I had got that text. So I sent it to my weird and my teacher was like, great example, look at that. And then she asked me a lot of in depth questions about the chart and I said I don't know yet. I don't know, I don't know yet. But I will look.

[Elena]

But now I'm excited to see what Stockton Rush's chart is because I mean I would love like when Aliza Kelly told us like, you know what like Stars over Salem. Like I'm like, tell me about this guy.

[Ash]

That's my goal is to get to Ala Kelly's like fucking level. Level. Yeah, I was gonna say era.

[Elena]

I mean get to her era as well.

[Ash]

But that's. That will take me years. But I can only hope to be as good as her.

[Elena]

Oh, you will.

[Ash]

Thank you.

[Elena]

You'll get there.

[Ash]

Thank you so much.

[Elena]

And then the two of you will just be charting all over the place.

[Ash]

Thank God. Well, you could come chart with us.

[Elena]

And I'll just be like, tell me things.

[Ash]

It's fascinating. It really is. And like, people can say that astrology is like, woo, woo, it's not real, blah, blah, blah.

[Elena]

There's something to it, man.

[Ash]

Ancient civilizations, I found out, used to use astrology and look at the planets to figure out when kings were gonna die, when great famine would hit. Like all these different things. So fuck you, it's real.

[Elena]

So fuck you, it's real.

[Ash]

That's how I feel about astrology.

[Elena]

That's the motive today.

[Ash]

And it's just fascinating.

[Elena]

Well, go watch that documentary implosion, because I'm telling you it'll fascinate you.

[Ash]

And then we'll do. We'll cover it once we get all the research together. And then maybe by that time I'll have gone a little further in my class and I can tell you a little bit more about this guy's chart. I love that because that's. That's kind of fun.

[Elena]

That's really fun.

[Ash]

Yeah. She actually said we're going to look at some like, serial killers charts and stuff like that, which I do feel like will be fascinating.

[Elena]

Oh, for sure.

[Ash]

Because obviously a lot of it is. You know, I think certain things in your life are kind of predetermined, but then I think some are like free will.

[Elena]

Oh, for sure.

[Ash]

So it'll be interesting.

[Elena]

Nature versus nurture of it all.

[Ash]

Yeah, it'll be interesting to look up. And I can't wait to watch that documentary.

[Elena]

Yes, it's really good.

[Ash]

It's on hbo.

[Elena]

Yeah, this one's on hbo. I think there's gonna be another one too, on like, Netflix.

[Ash]

Oh, I think there is one on Netflix.

[Elena]

Because it's like two years, which. Which is like crazy or. No, one. One year. It's one year. Okay. Right.

[Ash]

I think it's only one.

[Elena]

It's only one year that this happened. I think it was 2024.

[Ash]

I think you're right. No, it was 2023.

[Elena]

Okay, so I was right. I need to go with my gut more.

[Ash]

No, you should. I'm sorry for doubting you.

[Elena]

Holy.

[Ash]

That was two years ago.

[Elena]

Two years. Because I remember being shocked. I was like, wait, what?

[Ash]

Yeah. And on June 18th, it'll. It'll be two. Two years?

[Elena]

Yeah. Isn't that nuts?

[Ash]

Yes. I'm actually, like, a little bit shocked.

[Elena]

Like, how is time a real thing?

[Ash]

No, it's a flat circle. It really is. Well, speaking of, like, time being a real thing, actually, we have a case today, and I was thinking about it this morning because I, like, got this together, like, a few days ago, and then I was thinking about it, I was like. I remember watching some of this, like, play out on the news. Like, I feel like I watched, like, a snapped episode of this when I was far too young.

[Elena]

I mean, probably because as I was.

[Ash]

Going through this the other day, I was like, I know that, like, this is a very well known case. It's the murder of David Harris, and Clara Harris runs him over with her car.

[Elena]

Yeah, I definitely remember this.

[Ash]

Horrible. I remember it, but I had this, like, epiphany this morning where I was like. I think I knew, like, a lot more about this when I was, like, much younger, because.

[Elena]

What were you. What. When was this?

[Ash]

2002. I was.

[Elena]

You're six. Six.

[Ash]

But I think, like, later on, like, when I was, like, eight or nine, I saw, like, some special about it. Yeah.

[Elena]

Because I was like, damn.

[Ash]

Yeah. No, not when I was six. I mean, watching the news when you were six again. I used to fall asleep to, like, Forensic Files as a child, so. But let's get into it. So on the afternoon of July 24, 2002, Clara Harris just casually asked her stepdaughter Lindsay, if she wanted to go for a drive. Get out, enjoy the beautiful summer weather. Lindsay was 16 at the time, so one. She was like, hell, yeah. Let's go joy riding in your Mercedes Benz. She loved her stepmom. They got along great.

[Elena]

Oh, that's nice.

[Ash]

And this didn't seem unusual at all. Clara loved showing off her Mercedes. She loved driving. It just was, like, their thing to do.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

For her, the car was a symbol of the success that she and her husband David had achieved in their 10 years of marriage, including a thriving dental practice in the suburbs of Houston, Texas.

[Elena]

Look at that.

[Ash]

They're very well to do people. Because Lindsay lived with her mom during the school year and she spent summers with Claire and her father, she welcomed the opportunity to hang out with her stepmom and happily accepted the offer. They had actually gotten really close in the last couple of months, having bonded over the recent revelation that David Harris, Clara's husband and Lindsay's father, was having an affair with his secretary, Gail Bridges.

[Elena]

Oh, yes. What a thing to bond over.

[Ash]

Uh, Huh. I think they both felt hurt in different ways.

[Elena]

Of course they did.

[Ash]

You know?

[Elena]

Yeah. It's just like, wow, what a trauma bond.

[Ash]

Yeah. I think a lot of times, like, we don't realize that, like, affairs affect kids as much as they do.

[Elena]

Oh, yeah.

[Ash]

And, like, when kids find out about them, they also feel duped.

[Elena]

Well, they feel betrayed. Yeah. It's a level of betrayal that's similar to what the spouse feels.

[Ash]

Yeah. Which is interesting. But just a few weeks earlier, Clara had confronted David, her husband, about the affair, and he agreed to end it. But the damage had been done, and he was going to have to work very hard to earn back not only his wife's trust, but his daughter's as well.

[Elena]

Ew. I also hate the, like, grossness of, like, you're having an affair with your secretary.

[Ash]

It's very cliche. Like, it's very cliche.

[Elena]

Get it together.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Both of you.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Gail and David agreed.

[Ash]

Well, Clara was very upset that afternoon, and Lindsay knew that much. As far as Lindsay could tell, it had something to do with her dad and his mistress, Gale Bridges. Lindsay also knew that in the weeks leading up to her father's affair being exposed, that Clara had hired a private investigator to follow David and Gail.

[Elena]

Oh, ma' am.

[Ash]

And it was that private investigator who had just called the house before Clara asked Lindsay to go for a drive. So she was like, obviously, these two things are connected.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

At first, it seemed like Clara was just driving aimlessly, but soon it became clear to Lindsay that this was not a casual afternoon drive. It was very much an excuse to hunt around town looking for David and Gail.

[Elena]

Oh, no, don't do that.

[Ash]

Don't.

[Elena]

Don't do that with his kids.

[Ash]

Don't do that with his kids.

[Elena]

Yeah, don't do that. Don't do that with any kid.

[Ash]

Don't do. Yeah, don't do that with kids. That's a solo.

[Elena]

Don't involve.

[Ash]

Yeah, that's a solo activity. And even then, like, don't hurt your own feelings.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Well, this didn't come as much as a of a surprise to Lindsay. She knew that her father actually had plans with Gail that evening, and the plans were supposed to be to formally end their relationship. So it made sense to Lindsay that they would be out with each other. But what didn't make sense was Clara's emotional state as they drove. Like Lindsay, Clara also knew that David was planning to meet Gail that evening to end things. So it really shouldn't have come as much of a surprise when the PI Called and Said that they were meeting.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

And Lindsay remembered years later, she was just on a mission to find out where he was. And she was crying, which is really sad.

[Elena]

That's really sad.

[Ash]

That afternoon, Clara drove to all of the places she knew that David and Gail liked to go to together, including to Gail's home. But there was no sign of David's car anywhere. So eventually Clara pulled over and asked Lindsay to. To take over driving so that she could place a call to Blue Moon, which was the private investigation firm that she had hired. At Clara's instruction, Lindsay just drove from one location to another. But no matter where they went, it didn't seem that Gail and David were there. Lindsay said later she was so confused. We were just going to forget about it and go shopping, which came as a relief. But then Clara's phone rang, which is so sad, knowing that detail that, like, this almost went away.

[Elena]

Yeah, like we were just gonna go shopping and forget about, like, just go shop. Retail therapy, girl. Spend his money.

[Ash]

Spend his money.

[Elena]

Spend his fucking money.

[Ash]

Yes.

[Elena]

Make him pay that way. Make him literally pay with that.

[Ash]

Yes, exactly.

[Elena]

You know, like, nobody deserves to pay with their life. So it's like, make them pay with actual money.

[Ash]

It's like that, ladies, when your man's trying to get fucked.

[Elena]

Literally like that. And it's like, damn, you just wish, like, that that had gone that way. I know for many of the people involved. You know what I mean?

[Ash]

When you find out like, this next bit that I'm gonna say, it's like this wasn't even supposed to happen. Because despite a company rule about not returning clients requests for updates until the following day, a policy put in place to prevent messy or even potentially dangerous situations. Private investigator Lucas Baca told Clara he had picked up David's trailer and that he and Gale had checked into a local hotel and were either on the fourth or sixth floor, but said that he couldn't provide any more details until the following day.

[Elena]

Oh, man.

[Ash]

But it's like, first of all, you already provided enough details for this to get messy and dangerous.

[Elena]

Yes, absolutely, you did.

[Ash]

And then, not one to be denied something that she thought she was entitled to, Clara eventually just pried the remaining details out of him. And it was worse than she ever could have imagined.

[Elena]

Well, and imagine, I can't fathom one finding out that your husband is having an affair with his secretary.

[Ash]

I can't fathom that's why our husbands don't have secretaries.

[Elena]

Yeah, no, you can't have secretaries. But also, it's just like, that must. I can't imagine the feeling of that. I really can't. Like, that's an awful. I've been cheated on by, like, ex boyfriends. I know that that sucks. I just can't imagine going through with like, marriage and having it happen. Marriage just be a whole different kind of vibe.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And then also to then know that, like, they're meeting to end it would be also fucked up of a feeling because you know they're meeting and when they're breaking up and you're not there, like, he's breaking up with the woman that he's having an affair with. Like, it's just like, what.

[Ash]

It's a wild.

[Elena]

And then to then be hearing they just checked into a hotel and you're sitting here with his daughter.

[Ash]

Yeah. Because you're. Why are you breaking it off at a hotel?

[Elena]

And it's. Well, and that's the thing. What are the implications? And it's like, you just know, like. And again, this is what I mean. Like, nobody should pay with their life for these kind of indiscretions.

[Ash]

No way.

[Elena]

But like, Bart, hands down, like, that's it. But it's like you just wonder, like, you're just like, oh, my God, that was like shot after shot for her.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Like, and you just.

[Ash]

She was supposed to have that information.

[Elena]

Like, she just shouldn't have had that information.

[Ash]

There's literally a cut. There was a company policy put into place because that.

[Elena]

This kind of information can set somebody into a tailspin.

[Ash]

And the fact that like, the company policy already was in place tells you there had been situations in the past where they had to then put that.

[Elena]

Policy or they've at least seen enough evidence to know, like, this could go. This could go gnarly if we, if we really, you know, because you just don't. You don't need to give all that information.

[Ash]

Yeah. People in heightened emotional states do. Crazy, terrible.

[Elena]

Human species is very flawed that way. I'm sure you need to be aware of it. But it's just like there's those two sides of that coin where it's like, he. He did not deserve to pay with his life.

[Ash]

No.

[C]

Inspired by the Hit Wondery podcast, Against the Odds comes the gripping guidebook, how to Survive against the Odds Tales and tips for animal attacks and natural Disasters. This might just be the most important book you'll ever read. Go inside life or death situations where everyday people survived nature's most extreme scenarios and learn how you can too. In these tales, you'll hear about the grit, willpower, and know how needed to endure shipwrecks, alligator attacks, earthquakes and more. You'll learn from experts, including top doctors, about what happens to your body and mind in life threatening situations. Plus important tips on what to do and equally important, what not to do when faced with a situation that is truly against the odds. Go to www.survivalguidebook.com to get your copy of how to Survive against the Odds today or visit your favorite bookstore.

[Elena]

Last year, law and crime brought you the trial that captivated the nation. She's accused of hitting her boyfriend, Boston police officer John o' Keefe, with her car. Karen Reed is arrested and charged with second degree murder. The six week trial resulted in anything but resolution.

[Ash]

We continue to find ourselves at an impasse.

[Elena]

I'm declaring a mistrial in this case. But now the case is back in the spotlight and one question still lingers. Did Karen Reed kill John o' Keefe?

[Ash]

The evidence is overwhelming that Karen Reed is innocent.

[Elena]

How does it feel to be a cop killer?

[Ash]

Karen?

[Elena]

I'm Kristen Thorne, investigative reporter with Law and Crime and host of the podcast the Retrial. This isn't just a retrial. It's a second chance at the truth. I have nothing to hide. My life is in the balance and it shouldn't be.

[Ash]

I just want people to go back to who the victim is in this. It's not her.

[Elena]

Listen to episodes of Karen the Retrial exclusively and ad free on Wondery plus.

[Ash]

Well, so as far as Clara and Lindsay knew. Like I said, David's plan was to meet Gail, but at a local restaurant, a public place. Yeah, where it was much less likely that there would be a scene. But according to the PI the couple had checked into the Nassau Bay Hilton in Houston, which, to add insult to injury, was the same hotel where David and Clara had their wedding reception a decade earlier.

[Elena]

Wow.

[Ash]

Let that sink in for a second.

[Elena]

Yeah, that's fucked up.

[Ash]

And then when you know how this all ends, it's like you walked out that door as newlyweds. And then like, he ends his. Like he doesn't end his own life, but his life ends there.

[Elena]

Like, what a horrible tragic.

[Ash]

Yeah, what a tragic Turner on another level.

[Elena]

And also like Gale. Does Gale know that? Gale must know that he has a. The entire family.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Honestly, Gil, go.

[Ash]

She might have been told some interesting details that we'll get to, but still, please. So when she heard the news, Clara's attitude and demeanor apparently changed immediately. Where she had previously been very determined, irritated, confused even. Now she was silent, humorless, just Affectless, like in another world entirely.

[Elena]

That's. That must have been so scary for Lindsay. For Lindsay, Absolutely.

[Ash]

She's 16 years old and to see.

[Elena]

Someone just live, like, to go numb like that, like, affect list is like, whoa. Like we've crossed over into dangerous territory. Dangerous territory.

[Ash]

And she's 16. She knows. Yeah. You know, of course. So Clara dialed the phone again, this time calling the house to speak with the nanny who was taking care of the couple's two other children.

[Elena]

Oh, man.

[Ash]

Yeah. When Maria Gonzalez answered the phone, Clara told her in a flat, even tone to, quote, pack her husband's best clothes in the couple's oldest suitcase and place it out outside the door in the garage. And the rest of his clothes, she told Gonzalez, could just be thrown in the trash.

[Elena]

Damn.

[Ash]

Which I think was really nice of her to let him keep his oldest clothes.

[Elena]

And honestly, I wish.

[Ash]

Yeah, that's it.

[Elena]

Just kick that out. Yeah, yeah. Like have your. And then go spend the money. Yeah, that's it.

[Ash]

That's the recipe.

[Elena]

No one gets hurt physically. No.

[Ash]

When she hung up the phone, though, Clara, in the same flat tone as she had used with the nanny, instructed her stepdaughter to go to the Nassau Bay Hilton.

[Elena]

Oh, no.

[Ash]

It was about 8:30pm When Lindsay pulled the Mercedes into the Hilton lot and parked in one of the guest spaces and then followed Clara into the lobby.

[Elena]

Oh, no. She should not be part of this. I didn't even realize that she was, like, such a big part of.

[Ash]

I always knew that she was there. Like, that's such a big part of the story. But I didn't realize how there she was. That she was, like, brought into the.

[Elena]

Lobby and shit like that. She should not be witnessing this kind of shit.

[Ash]

No. This poor girl. Lots and lots of trauma.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So at the front desk, Clara asked for her husband's room name or number. Excuse me. But she was told that nobody was registered under that name. So she asked for the room number of Gail Bridges, but received the same response. She's getting nowhere. So she lied to the clerk and she was like, listen, my son is sick. I need to get in touch with my husband immediately. Like, I know he's here. But the clerk only repeated that there wasn't anybody registered under those names, so he just couldn't help her. Later, after detectives went through the hotel security footage and records, they learned that the clerk had been telling the truth. David Harris had paid cash in advance for the room, so the clerk hadn't bothered with the usual check in procedures like getting his Guests like the guest names or their license numbers. So, feeling frustrated and defeated, Clara did a slow walk around the lobby one final time, Lindsay just reluctantly in tow.

[Elena]

Oh, God.

[Ash]

And as they were heading back to the car, Clara spotted what she thought was Gail Bridges car in one of the spaces in the employee parking lot. When she got closer, she saw some of the identifying details and confirmed that it was indeed Gil's car. And she turned back in the direction of the hotel lobby, but not before ripping off the rear windshield wiper and dragging her keys along the side of the vehicle.

[Elena]

Damn.

[Ash]

Yeah. Carrie Underwood style.

[Elena]

Oof.

[Ash]

So the explosive attack on Gale's car seemed to have exhausted Clara briefly. I've never keyed a car personally, but I feel like.

[Elena]

No, I feel like that would exhaust.

[Ash]

You, though, in ripping the windshield wipers off that. I can't even get my windshield wipers off when I'm supposed to.

[Elena]

And here's the thing. It's like, this is. Like, this is wrong. I know you're angry. You have every right to be angry. She has every right to feel whatever feeling she is feeling right now. Yeah, you gotta. You gotta. You gotta hold some of that stuff. You know what I mean? You gotta do it in a better way. It's like, you can't be destroying property. You can't be killing people when you're a mom.

[Ash]

Like, you're a mom in the scenario to Lindsey. Like a stepmom.

[Elena]

Yeah. You got. You gotta.

[Ash]

You're a parental figure and you have two other kids. Exactly.

[Elena]

Like, you gotta immediately think of them and say, this is gonna get me in trouble and this is bad. To show them as a way to get your anger out. You know what I mean? It's like, obviously, I've never been in this situation, so it's like. But you. It's just like, oh, no. And you can just see it, like, escalating. Really? Yeah.

[Ash]

Because I can't imagine being, like. I don't think I've ever been cheated on. Drew's, like, my only serious relationship, and he definitely never cheated on me. But being cheated on in, like, a relationship where there's no kids is one whole world and level of hurt. Being cheated on by your husband when you have multiple kids together is like a whole other level of betrayal.

[Elena]

Yeah. It's gotta be a. Because now you're thinking of them.

[Ash]

Yeah. Like, you cheated.

[Elena]

That's happening to them.

[Ash]

You didn't just cheat on your wife, you cheated on your family.

[Elena]

Exactly. And that's the hard part. And it's like, yeah.

[Ash]

So she's just not thinking clearly, but. So now she's consumed with rage, and she's determined to get David out into the opening of the hotel lobby. So she had Lindsay call her father's cell phone, and he answered right away. And Lindsay, as instructed, told him, you need to come home. Bradley is sick. That was one of their sons.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So he was like, okay, I'll be right there, and hung up. Clara and Lindsay watched the bank of elevators from outside the glass front doors of the hotel, just waiting for David and Gail to emerge. After a few minutes passed and they still hadn't appeared, Clara herself called David's phone and repeated the earlier message that their son was sick. And again, David said he was on his way immediately. By that point, Claire had gone back into the lobby and was waiting right by the elevators to confront him when he came out.

[Elena]

Which, honestly, you wish that that had happened. Well, that does, like, confront. But I mean, like. And that's it. And like, just confrontation in a public place.

[Ash]

Yeah. Because that's bad enough.

[Elena]

Like, that's bad enough. But it's like, you're not. Nobody's. Everybody hurt.

[Ash]

Everybody's alive.

[Elena]

Yeah. You're in a public place. Like, obviously you don't want that to happen at all, but it's like, if it's gonna happen that you wish that was the end of that. And then it's just like. And then divorce.

[Ash]

Yes.

[Elena]

The end. Like, get out of there. Yeah.

[Ash]

Well, so anticipating the confrontation, Lindsay convinced her stepmother to go back outside and wait. She's like, we shouldn't wait right here. And this 16 year old trying to diffuse this situation. You feel so hard for her.

[Elena]

Oh, I feel. Lindsay. I want to, like, gather up and.

[Ash]

Hug and just go take her shopping.

[Elena]

Like, I know she's a grown adult now because this was 2002.

[Ash]

Yeah. But still want to hug. Still lives in her.

[Elena]

Still want to give you a hug. Because this was a lot, a lot. An unimaginable thing to go through when.

[Ash]

She'S being the adult here. She's saying to Clara, like, we don't want to cause a scene.

[Elena]

She's trying to deescalate.

[Ash]

She's exactly. She's trying to de. Escalate. So she does try to. But unfortunately, that didn't do a lot of good. Lindsay said she was calm until she saw dad and Gail come out. Then because she. Lindsay was able to get her inside or outside, but then she said she ran inside. She was ready to go inside and fight as soon as she saw David and Gail, come out of those elevators. Clara rushed into the lobby and just started hitting Gale.

[Elena]

Oh, see?

[Ash]

Tearing her shirt open. Just starting a brawl with this woman. And as far as Clara was concerned, this was the woman who had stolen her husband and destroyed her family.

[Elena]

And it's like, yeah, like. Like, you know, she's. She's the other woman.

[Ash]

She's.

[Elena]

That's not good. That's not a good person to be.

[Ash]

At the same time, you don't know what he's told her. Well, also. And like, let's put your name.

[Elena]

If she's. If she's, like, full on. Doesn't give a shit that she has a whole. It doesn't even matter. It's like you can't physically attack someone and you can't. And what is it getting you, right? That's the thing.

[Ash]

A charge.

[Elena]

Many times I have wanted to physically hurt someone. Same for sure. Same.

[Ash]

Like, that's just. We're animals.

[Elena]

We are animals. It's a thing. It's a primal instinct. Anger can in fight or flight. Fight is part of it.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And it's like, that is. It's going to happen. But you have to fight against that instinct. Because again, especially as a parent, as a human, but especially as a parent, when you have even more under your responsibility, not just yourself and more to lose. Like, you know what I mean? Like, especially as a parent, you have to sit there and go, is this worth it? This momentary second of getting all my rage out on this woman and feeling like, hell, yeah, I just punched her in the face?

[Ash]

Probably not.

[Elena]

Is that gonna. How long is that gonna last? It's gonna last a split second of, like, that felt good. And then, boom, Reality's gonna hit you like a fucking A 747 jet. It's like, that is not gonna be good.

[Ash]

Because then you're gonna catch a charge. You're gonna have to.

[Elena]

Kids are gonna have to see how you reacted to a situation.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

They might take cues from how you reacted to a situation and think that's how they should act.

[Ash]

Or could be embarrassed by the situation, depending on how old they are. Like, there's a lot of layers. Bad.

[Elena]

And you are now walking around, you know, so even this is like, oh, girl. And it shows you that she was just out of her mind.

[Ash]

Blind out of her mind.

[Elena]

Because this is such an overreaction, you know?

[Ash]

It is. It is. So she yelled in Gale's face, you bitch. He's my husband. And just knocked her to the floor. She was just repeatedly striking Gale in the face. And in the head. And she looked up at all the guests who were just, you know, crowding around watching in a mix of horror and curiosity. Because we're all terrible people.

[Elena]

We are.

[Ash]

And told them, this is David Harris and he's fucking this woman right here.

[Elena]

Damn.

[Ash]

Huh. Like, oh, you just don't even look so wild.

[Elena]

You look so wild. And it's like you get the, you get the emotion behind it. Absolutely. That's the thing. We can. I cannot stress enough that like this, the emotions that would come with this would be horrific and it's. And I can't imagine you would want to embarrass this man in this. That's the thing. You're really not just embarrassing them.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And again, there's a child here.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

There's a child not only involved, there's children involved, but there's a child literally, physically, physically present. And it's like this is just. That's gonna affect her forever witnessing just that.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

You know, if that was where it ended, that was gonna fuck her up.

[Ash]

And again, she's taking, she's a child. She's taking cues from you. And she's very upset with her father. So now she's implicated in things and done things that she probably regrets.

[Elena]

Yeah. And it's pitting this Lindsay. Her emotions against her father.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

Which obviously he made a massive mistake. It's like was, you know, it's not like there was this like whole, you know, you know, she hated him because he was physically abusive kind of thing to her or anything like that. Like, I mean like Lindsay or like, you know, this is all purely emotion based and betrayal based, which is a very real thing.

[Ash]

Absolutely.

[Elena]

But to involve her in that kind of like emotional fight there like you're having with him is involving is like directly inviting her into the trauma with you.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

When she should be able to deal with it in a way that she. Because she's going to feel betrayed by him and she needs to.

[Ash]

But in a different way. That's the thing. In a different way. She needs to deal with her piece of it and not co opt yours.

[Elena]

Because your marriage does not equate to their relationship.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

Of course, again, like we said, she's going to feel a betrayal, but she's going to be feel a betrayal as a, as a daughter and not as a spouse.

[Ash]

Right.

[Elena]

And those are two different things that need to be worked out in two.

[Ash]

Very different ways and two very different therapies.

[Elena]

And this is very much involving her in the like romantic relationship of it all which is a messier way. Messier in a totally different way, you know, kind of situation. It just is very upsetting.

[Ash]

Well, so it didn't take long before several hotel employees rushed over to the scene and started trying to separate Gale and Clara. By then, Clara's anger had turned into uncontrollable rage. As one employee was pulling her away from Gail, she clung to the woman's blouse and nearly ripped it off. And then when she lost her grip on the shirt, she grabbed Gail's leg and bit down hard on her leg. She's like, animal level. Right.

[Elena]

I was just gonna say this is animalistic.

[Ash]

So when it was clear that hotel employees were having no luck separating the two women, David finally stepped in and put his hand on Clara's forehead and pushed her away to the floor, giving the desk clerk enough time to get Gale outside to her car and David walking a few feet behind after Gale.

[Elena]

This is just so bad in every way. No one is making a correct decision here in how to act.

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

Like, none of this was okay. No. Because he's not helping de. Escalate this situation in any way, shape, or form. And it's like, this is just not good.

[Ash]

It's horrible. So with Gale removed from the situation, things seem to calm for a moment as the clerk then walked Clara and Lindsay out to the car in the parking lot. But then, sitting behind the wheel of the Mercedes, Clara started crying as one of the guests, Evangelist Miros, helped her into the driver's seat. Just the fight having gone completely out of her, now she's sobbing, and this sweet man is helping her in her car, which I'm also like, don't let her drive right now.

[Elena]

I know he's.

[Ash]

He doesn't know her.

[Elena]

Nobody could have predicted this.

[Ash]

No, no, no. So he closed the door and started to walk away. And then he heard the tires of Clara's car screech as she threw it into gear. He said she was screaming again, crying, hysterical, out of control. And then he watched as Clara threw the car into drive and tore through the parking lot in the direction of the hotel's front entrance.

[Elena]

And Lindsay's in the car.

[Ash]

Lindsay's in the car.

[Elena]

See already.

[Ash]

Which is devastating.

[Elena]

Not only are you, like, you're out of control, you're endangering. No matter what is going to happen here, you're endangering this child. Yeah, that's up.

[Ash]

It is up, up.

[Elena]

Like, get your emotions in check. You are an adult.

[Ash]

You absolutely are.

[Elena]

This is a very emotional scene. I get it. I this is. This is up in every way. But you gotta check yourself, get yourself together. Like, become an adult.

[Ash]

And also, it's one thing to, like, try. Like you were just saying, like, when there's kids in the equation, like, you have to think of them first. Yeah. You have to do that. When they're not there, she's sitting there right next to you as a reminder that, like, you need to check yourself.

[Elena]

Every decision I make in my life, I think of my children and what that decision is going to do to affect them.

[Ash]

Of course you do.

[Elena]

Every single decision. Whether they are in the room with me, not in the room with me, whether I'm somewhere else, if they're in the fucking car with me.

[Ash]

It's a lot easier.

[Elena]

A lot easier to make that decision. Cause they're right there. And it's like, you gotta become an adult in this situation. And she just didn't.

[Ash]

No. So Samiro's tried to catch up to the car, yelling for her to stop, that she's gonna hurt someone, but she already. I know. He's just trying to stop it. He. All he could do at this point is watch as she drove away at the front entrance of the Hilton. The desk clerk, Garrett Clark, was standing on the curb watching David Harris walk back into the hotel after saying bye to Gail.

[Elena]

After saying bye to Gail.

[Ash]

I know.

[Elena]

Jesus Christ.

[Ash]

He could hear Evangelos Miros yelling just moments before he saw Claire's Mercedes swerve around Gail's car. He said, I saw her driving very fast around the corner and accelerating towards me. She clipped the rear bumper of Gale's car as she swerved around just as Clark turned to see her intended target. David Harris, he said, I saw bulging eyes, a terrified look in his eyes. I then saw the Mercedes hit David Harris and then come to a complete stop.

[Elena]

This must have been absolutely horrifying to watch.

[Ash]

Um. Yeah.

[Elena]

And all I'm thinking about in this moment is, obviously, David Harris did not deserve this at all and probably did not. Who can predict that this is gonna happen? You know what I mean? Like, obviously, people cheat on people all.

[Ash]

The time, and you don't always hear.

[Elena]

Of this outcome, but, you know, like, it's. Nobody's, like, hurting somebody physically or, like, killing anybody here. And it's like.

[Ash]

Until now.

[Elena]

Until now. And it's like this has been escalated to a point where it's no longer.

[Ash]

Lindsay is in the car. That just struck me.

[Elena]

I'm thinking of David Harris here, who made a mistake and is not, you know, the good guy in this situation up until this point, but he did not deserve this. And then Lindsay in this fucking out of control car with somebody who is so animalistic that they can't even see a second. Like, this poor child is probably like, what is gonna happen? Is she gonna, like, send us into the side of this building? Like, are we gonna die here?

[Ash]

Yeah. And the car has just hit her father and she watches as her father's body was thrown 25ft into the air and then landed on the other side of the parking lot median where obviously it came to a hard thud.

[Elena]

Nobody should have to witness this.

[Ash]

It only gets worse. Elena.

[C]

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[Ash]

Garrett Clark and other guests in the parking lot watched in absolute horror as Clara proceeded to drive in a loop around the parking lot and over the median, where she then drove over her husband's body not one more time, but two more.

[Elena]

I that's like so beyond when you.

[Ash]

Have time to stop.

[Elena]

That's beyond a snapped moment.

[Ash]

Yes. And you have time to stop and realize that what you're doing is wrong.

[Elena]

Like after the first. I mean, the first hit alone, watching.

[Ash]

Your husband's body go 25ft in the air should absolutely, like, it should never get to that point.

[Elena]

That should take you out of here.

[Ash]

That should take you out of it. Hearing the thud of your husband's body after it's been thrown across a parking lot median come down onto the ground should snap you out.

[Elena]

And hearing whatever poor Lindsay, she's probably doing in that car should be snapping you out of this situation.

[Ash]

And this is haunting. Later, Clark, who was the hotel employee who was just standing by watching all of this, he said, I heard her cackling and laughing as she drove the last two feet before she hit him.

[Elena]

I can't stop thinking of Lindsay in.

[Ash]

That car, inside the car.

[Elena]

I can't stop thinking of her. Seeing this woman laughing and cackling inside the car.

[Ash]

All they could hear was Lindsay screaming and at one point even trying to get out of the car while it's still moving but slowed down. And she was trying to get out just before her stepmother drove over her father.

[Elena]

Because you feel that? Yeah, like she's feeling every second of this. She knows she's driving over her father right now.

[Ash]

Like, yup. Like, this is just. It's on another level. It's on another level.

[Elena]

Human emotion. This is like, so beyond.

[Ash]

So. After hitting David for the final time, Clara finally put the car in park. And according to witnesses, once the car had stopped, Lindsay jumped out of the passenger seat, ran around the driver's side and punched Clara in the face, which warranted.

[Elena]

I know. I just said, like, you gotta think before you go violent with.

[Ash]

You run my dad over with a car. I'm punching you in the face.

[Elena]

I'm having human emotions. Right? Right now you, like, disagree.

[Ash]

No, no, no. We're all having human emotions. And if you disagree with this, you're stupid.

[Elena]

Yeah, it's like, whatever.

[Ash]

I'm in a car that some of my stepmom is driving and she runs like, I. I have a stepmom and a dad. If my stepmom put me in a car at 16 years old and drove over my dad multiple times, I would get out and punch her in the face.

[Elena]

Yeah, I can't.

[Ash]

That's my dad.

[Elena]

I cannot for one second blame Lindsay in any way, shape or form for punching her in the. And honestly, she's probably trying to get her out of her. Fucking stupid.

[Ash]

Snap out of it.

[Elena]

Snap the fuck out of it. Look what you just did.

[Ash]

Like, like, now it's all done.

[Elena]

Damn.

[Ash]

So then Clara got out of the car, seemingly in a daze, uncertain what to do next. And at this point, she just stood over David's body and started sobbing uncontrollably, then dropped to the ground and cradled him in her. His. Cradled him in her arms and started begging him to breathe. Witnesses heard her saying over and over again, I'm so sorry, David. I'm so sorry. I love you.

[Elena]

Wow. She was just gone.

[Ash]

Gone.

[Elena]

She was just in orbit.

[Ash]

Because that's the thing. Like, there's a lot of argument over what her state of mind was when this all happened for me. Like, I think what she did is wrong, and I think she deserved to spend time in prison for it. A hundred thousand gajillion percent. But I don't think she was all there when this happened.

[Elena]

Something.

[Ash]

And then I think when she realized what she did, she had a moment of.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Because she starts sobbing and begging him to breathe and telling him how sorry she is and how much she loves him. And I don't think that was for show. I think that was a. I just killed my husband.

[Elena]

Which also. That's a dangerous person.

[Ash]

Oh, my God.

[Elena]

Yeah, that's a really dangerous person.

[Ash]

Because that's an implacive, reckless. Well.

[Elena]

And that they just blink out like that. You can't just come back and go, oh, sorry.

[Ash]

That's the thing. Because I'm not saying. Just to be clear, I'm not saying she was insane at the time.

[Elena]

No, you're saying she blinked out. Like, that's the only phrase I can think of to describe how I'm seeing it. It's like she literally just was like.

[Ash]

I don't think she was criminally insane at all during this. I think she deserved to go to prison.

[Elena]

No. I think she was fully blinded by the most intense rage that I can. I don't think any of us can conceive of.

[Ash]

No. Hopefully not.

[Elena]

So I think. And I think she literally was gone.

[Ash]

And I think I came too.

[Elena]

Blinded by rage, I think, is apparently a real thing. It could be there.

[Ash]

Thankfully, I've never experienced it.

[Elena]

But moments later, dangerous.

[Ash]

So dangerous. Moments later, Houston police arrived at the scene and placed her under arrest for the murder of her husband, which everyone had just watched.

[Elena]

Holy.

[Ash]

So the news of Claire murdering Claire Harris, murdering her husband, that actually shocked everyone who knew them. I would assume Clara and David were, as far as anybody could tell, the perfect couple. In fact, people said they had the type of relationship that they wished they had with their husbands, but that's for sure.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Until it tells you nothing on the outside is real. And you don't know anyone's life unless you're in that house with them.

[Elena]

True.

[Ash]

You don't know anything. All these influencers that we all love online, all these housewives that we watch, we don't know.

[Elena]

Yeah, but everyone has an opinion. Everybody thinks they know exactly what's going on.

[Ash]

We don't know.

[Elena]

This is the kind of. That tells you you have no clue.

[Ash]

No. That's why I don't aspire for anybody's relationship. I focus on my relationship and making it the greatest I can.

[Elena]

You don't look at, this is the perfect couple. No one's the perfect couple.

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

And it's, like, not real. I'm concentrating on my own. My own relationship.

[Ash]

That's all I can control. So Clara going back a little ways. Clara had been born in Colombia and raised by a mother who was widowed very young. So she'd seen firsthand what it was like to struggle and to get by, and she vowed that she was going to work hard. She was determined to make a life for herself and support herself. Yeah, she was actually very successful. After finishing high school in the early 80s, she started studying to become a dentist in Colombia. And then she was accepted into the dental program at the University of Texas, Houston, where she finished her studies and started a dental residency at the school. By all accounts, she was beautiful. She was talented, she was smart. She had a very bright future ahead of her. In fact, just a few months after completing her dental residency at UT Houston, she was crowned Miss Columbia Houston in a local beauty contest.

[Elena]

Oh, wow.

[Ash]

So she, like, as far as everybody, everybody was concerned from the outside, she had it together in every way you possibly could. Had it all. David met Clara in 1991 when they were both working at Castle Dental center in Houston. And his father, Gerald, told a reporter, I remember David calling soon after he had met Clara and telling me he was completely smitten, which is so sad.

[Elena]

That is really sad.

[Ash]

Like Clara, he was a skilled dentist with a bright future. He was actually very gifted when it came to his personal studies and his chosen profession. But he also had a way with patients that just put them at ease when they sat down. He had. He had a great personality, it seems.

[Elena]

And honestly, that with dentists, you need that.

[Ash]

You do.

[Elena]

You need to be able to put people at ease.

[Ash]

According to author my guy, Skip Hollingsworth. He writes on, like, all the big Texas cases, which I just love. According to Skip Hollingsworth, David, quote, had a charming, folksy nature and used words like golly long after they had fallen out of fashion.

[Elena]

Okay, I love that.

[Ash]

I do, too.

[Elena]

I actually love that.

[Ash]

I love golly. David had been married once before to Lindsay's mother, but the marriage didn't last long. They separated after just a few years because Lindsay's mother felt like he was too driven, too career focused, Just didn't have enough time to spend with the family. As divorces go, it was pretty amicable. He got partial custody of Lindsay. He saw her on occasional weekends and holidays, and as we Know, she spent summers at his house.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So that's a great deal. Yeah. It was true that he was a man driven to succeed in his field, but by the time he met Clara, he was already what most people would consider to be successful. So that drive, you know, diminished a little bit because he's already.

[Elena]

So she probably got a little bit of a different version.

[Ash]

She did, yeah, exactly. I think that's a great way to say it. And for that matter, Clara was also career focused, so I think maybe they had that in common.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So she and David had a lot in common. They hit it off immediately, and within a year, they were engaged to be married. They got married at the Windmere Yacht Club in Houston on February 14, 1992, and, as we know, had a large, beautiful reception at the adjacent Nassau Bay Hilton. Which is just fucking chilling to me.

[Elena]

That is.

[Ash]

It is chilling to me that their wedding reception is where she, 10 years later, would kill him. There are wedding guests parked in that parking lot.

[Elena]

But it really all comes down to you gotta. You gotta be a human, Adult human about it. And you can't go off the handle like this.

[Ash]

Like, we.

[Elena]

There's ways to handle this.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And those ways are you choose to work through it or you divorce.

[Ash]

Or you divorce.

[Elena]

Your choices.

[Ash]

Take them to the cleaners.

[Elena]

Yeah, take them to the cleaners. Yeah, that's fine.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

You know, like, why not?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

But this just is so upsetting. It is. So.

[Ash]

Yeah. Before long, David's reputation as a skilled orthodontist had gotten around Houston, and he and Clara ended up opening their own practice. It was called Space Center Orthodontics.

[Elena]

Ooh.

[Ash]

In the years that followed, they would open several other offices. Basically, they had, like, a small chain of privately owned orthodontic offices in the Houston area. They were serving as many as 100, 120 clients per day.

[Elena]

Wow.

[Ash]

So they were, like, in business and probably making bank. Yeah, they definitely were making bank. I think they were among Houston's richest.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

In 19, maybe not richest, but they were rich. In 1993, Clara told a reporter, I found the best. I found the one God had reserved for me.

[Elena]

Oh, man. Yeah.

[Ash]

And the feeling was mutual at the time, like, Clara, David had photographs of him and Clara, photos of their family hanging. Hanging all over the various offices. Which tells you everything you need to know.

[Elena]

Exactly.

[Ash]

And if the photographs weren't enough of a reminder of their love, they spoke on the phone two or three times, all throughout the day, all before going home to each other in the evening.

[Elena]

Which they were like. It's like, great.

[Ash]

Yeah. They were in constant contact. After they were married, Clara welcomed Lindsay into her life with open arms. And Lindsay was actually smitten with her father's new wife.

[Elena]

That's even sadder because it's like, you love to hear that. You're like, yes.

[Ash]

Like, well, now it's also, like, not common.

[Elena]

No. Which is, like, really sad, you know?

[Ash]

Yeah. But, like, she got that and it up.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Like, beyond in a repair.

[Elena]

Massive way.

[Ash]

But before we got there, Clara also really wanted children of her own. And in 1993, that dream became reality when she gave birth to two twin to twin boys. So they had like. Like a big happy.

[Elena]

Yeah, everything's great.

[Ash]

Yeah. They have the sprawling suburban mansion, the Mercedes, the kids. But it was equally important to her that she showed the world that she was just as committed to her family as she was to her career. She wanted both. Skip Hollingsworth wrote, no matter how many patients Claire had to see, she always got home in time to cook dinner for her family and their palatial white brick home in the cheery suburb of Friendswood. Wow. Like, when I tell you. When I tell you. Quintessential, like, and, like, picture perfect.

[Elena]

It seems so perfect with her being like, I have to get home to have dinner with my family. Like, that's so. And that's telling me, like, she had that, like, that, like, parental, like, way of thinking where it's like, no, my family comes first.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And it's like, where did it go on this day?

[Ash]

She blinked out.

[Elena]

It just blinked out.

[Ash]

But she would always tell her patients, before this all happened, she had the perfect life. Life. And those who knew her, even just a little bit, would have been inclined to agree.

[Elena]

Absolutely.

[Ash]

A former co worker said, I used to tell people I wished I could be able to love my husband in the way that Clara loved David, which I was like, damn, I think you should do some internal work. That.

[Elena]

That's an unsettling statement. Yeah.

[Ash]

But she really loved her husband, I guess.

[Elena]

Like, holy shit.

[Ash]

She's like, damn, I wish I liked my husband.

[Elena]

Like, oh, okay, that's sad. You should talk to someone about that.

[Ash]

Yeah. Well, the birth of the twins obviously was a major milestone in Clara and David's lives, both of them, and one they absolutely relished. But it also seemed that they may have underestimated the way that priorities change once kids enter the picture.

[Elena]

Oh.

[Ash]

At first, David's attentiveness to Clara and his two son. His two sons was unwavering. Former Employee Susan Hansen said Clara was idolized by her husband. When she called, he would always run to the phone. But after a few years, things started to change, especially after one Gail Bridges joined the practice as a new secretary in 2001. With Clara at home or at work in another practice, David started paying attention to Gail in ways that he had not ever paid attention to other women in the office.

[Elena]

That's fucked up. Yeah.

[Ash]

And as far as anybody could tell, the feeling was mutual. They all agreed, quote, unquote. Gale went out of her way to gain David's attention as he flitted from exam room to exam room. So this is like Lifetime movie bullshit.

[Elena]

And it's literally like she has twins and suddenly eyes are wandering. Yeah, that's up.

[Ash]

That's super. Oh, it only gets more up.

[Elena]

I don't know.

[Ash]

Six months later, in February 2022, David invited Gail to lunch at Perry's, one of his favorite local restaurants. And their affair pretty much started then. Once Gail was hired, the change in David's behavior wasn't far behind. Susan Hansen said, I began to notice a difference in David around February. He was not making decisions as well as he had been in the past, and he was much less attentive to. To his patients.

[Elena]

Wow.

[Ash]

But remember, this is the guy who was, like, super attentive.

[Elena]

Yeah. 2.

[Ash]

Attentive.

[Elena]

In his first marriage. So much career focus that that didn't work out.

[Ash]

Yep. And now he's, like, not really as attentive at all. Hanson there also started to notice that David was different with Gail than he was with other employees. He definitely seemed more intimate and attentive. And now, she said when Clara would call, he was much less eager to rush to pick up the phone and sometimes would just put her on hold until he figured out and finished what he was doing.

[Elena]

That's yucky.

[Ash]

It wasn't long before David's relationship with Gail was obvious. Not just to everybody working in the office, but to even people who stopped by for a visit.

[Elena]

And that's humiliating.

[Ash]

Like his sis or like his daughter Lindsay.

[Elena]

Yeah, that's humiliating and gross.

[Ash]

Yeah, it's humiliating to Clara and to Lindsay. On one occasion, Lindsay came by the office to visit her dad, and she was very troubled by something she saw. According to Lindsay, she was sitting in the waiting area by the front desk, and she saw that her dad had dropped a patient vial on the floor. And before he could reach down to pick it up, she said Gayle had bent over to pick it up. Not bent at the knees like you would normally Expect. But bent over at the waist, making a point of bending right in front of him.

[Elena]

I'm gonna be honest. I don't like Gayle. No, let's get that out of the way.

[Ash]

Yeah, that's gross. And also, his daughter's there, so maybe, like, get a shit together.

[Elena]

Yeah. Maybe get yourself out of here. The heat for a minute.

[Ash]

Exactly.

[Elena]

Take a cold shower, Gill.

[Ash]

Maybe somebody spritz her down with some water. Susan Hansen said, I told Lindsay she should talk to him or to somebody about what she'd seen. Just so sad that she was obviously upset and went to another employee who she probably knew. Like, she's grown up in this practice.

[Elena]

She should not be having to see that kind of.

[Ash]

No, get it together now. It wasn't just the obvious tension that tipped others off to David and Gail's relationship, but also subtle changes happening around the office. This Gail was hired as a front desk receptionist. She was going to, you know, schedule appointments, say hey to patients, file paperwork.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Receptionist shit.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

But by winter of 2002, she seemed to take on a much larger role in the company, seemingly at David's insistence.

[Elena]

Huh.

[Ash]

By March, other employees were stunned to find her participating in management meetings, making staffing decisions, and even touring the new facility that David was having built by Interstate 45. Life.

[Elena]

Wow.

[Ash]

Making staffing decisions sent me.

[Elena]

Yeah, like, come on.

[Ash]

I'm sorry, but, like, come on.

[Elena]

That's. That's different.

[Ash]

That's inappropriate.

[Elena]

That's a different. That's a different job. Yeah, it just is.

[Ash]

Yeah. Diana Cheryl, who worked at the office, said when we went on a tour of the new offices, Dr. David and Gail slipped off. He had forgotten I was there. Oh, yeah. Even though most people who noticed that, you know, this change was for sure happening were disgusted with his behavior, a few women in the office considered it a, quote, unquote, natural part of aging.

[Elena]

And here's a problem. Women. Okay, ladies, let's do better. Okay, ladies, let's do a little better for ourselves and each other. And not just say, well, he's gonna try. To his secretary at some age.

[Ash]

One of them said, men go through the change of life.

[Elena]

No, get. Get the out of here.

[Ash]

And women don't.

[Elena]

Oh, get the out of here.

[Ash]

We'll go through changes in life. That doesn't mean I'm gonna hop on my secretary like, what the.

[Elena]

Take that and choke on it. Are you kidding me, woman?

[Ash]

Yeah, like, Mikey just mumbled in the corner. Mikey is marked as Mikey is. Mark's face. Happy pride, everybody.

[Elena]

Yeah, that's up I'm sorry, whoever said that?

[Ash]

Seek help.

[Elena]

Like, that's insane.

[Ash]

Yeah, that's in.

[Elena]

That's wild, wild work.

[Ash]

It's also just indicating that he's doing this because his. His needs aren't being met at home.

[Elena]

Well, it's just like. Oh, it's a boys will be boys mentality. Men will be mental. Well, then fuck the men, okay? Because, no, you can't. And not all men and not all boys.

[Ash]

So, of course.

[Elena]

Get out of here.

[Ash]

Just leave. Get out right now. Leave.

[Elena]

Just, like, blanket it over them. Like, this is what they all do. No.

[Ash]

What? It's a very 2002 way of thinking.

[Elena]

And again, does anyone deserve to die because of this?

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

Absolutely not.

[Ash]

But by that summer, Diana, their employee there, had grown very irritated and very tired of watching this affair play out in front of everybody. And I'm sure good for Diana wasn't being a great boss during this time. So she called Clara and asked if they could meet.

[Elena]

Well, because they probably. They know Clara.

[Ash]

She works there.

[Elena]

She calls. She works there.

[Ash]

She's a huge part of her.

[Elena]

And he's basically asking all of them to be a part of his.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

And they're probably getting really tired of it. And that's a girl's girl. Right there.

[Ash]

It is.

[Elena]

Diana's a girl's girl. And she's sitting there saying, you know what? I can't sit here and watch you do this and just pretend that it's fine.

[Ash]

Listen, that's what you got to do.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

So when they finally sat down together in early July, Diana told Claire, you need to protect your marriage. You need to pay attention to Dr. David.

[Elena]

I take it back. She's not a girl's girl. Diana is not a girl.

[Ash]

I was trying to look at you.

[Elena]

I take that back.

[Ash]

I try to look at you.

[Elena]

I also realized that Diana is the one that said they go through the change, too. Diana, you're not a girl's girl. Yeah, I don't like that at all.

[Ash]

I don't either.

[Elena]

I'm actually really angry because she was.

[Ash]

Basically being like, listen, he's stepping out on you, so you got a lot.

[Elena]

And it's your fault.

[Ash]

Shove your boobies in his face when he gets home or something.

[Elena]

I actually have beef with Diana right now. So that's where we are. Okay. That's Diana. We have beef.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Like, that's. That's fucked up.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

She said, and now you've totally put it on her.

[Ash]

Oh, yeah. It gets worse. As far as Diana saw it, ever since the Twins were born. They had become the center of Clara's world. As it should be. As it should be. They're infants. They need their mom and dad.

[Elena]

I'm sorry, are you telling me that a man is jealous of Bebes, of baby twins, of his own Bebes for getting more attention?

[Ash]

Fuck off. You got it the day. You got it the day a motherfucker says that to me, the day.

[Elena]

That doesn't even sound real. Like, that is.

[Ash]

And that left less time for David. He felt like he'd been pushed to the side. Diana said finally, she asked me if he was having an affair, and I said yes. And Diana went one step further. She told Clara exactly who David was having an affair with. His secretary. How cliche.

[Elena]

You made so many weird choices there, Diana. You really did.

[Ash]

Yeah, she really. She. She gave me whiplash. Well, anyway, the news obviously was a lot for Clara. I can't. That's a lot to swallow, though. But she, at this point, is like, oh, no. I've been so wrapped up in, you know, the boys and my practice, I didn't have any time to think about David in recent months. Like, how dare I? But also, she didn't want to believe that any of that was true, that he, like. She was like, maybe he's not having an affair. She said later, we were best friends. We were very much in love. We were a team.

[Elena]

That's so.

[Ash]

Which is really sad that she thought that. Because they weren't.

[Elena]

Because you weren't. And that's awful.

[Ash]

It was true that David had been, you know, seemed more stressed out lately. He even was seeming to snap at her and the kids more often than he had in the past. Not cool. But she said it hardly seemed like a reason to think he was having an affair. But the more she thought about it, the more things started to fall into place. He was more distant than usual, and he wasn't even just more busy with work. He was busy at home, too. He used to love to come home and sit down and play with the boys for a few hours, participate in bedtime, that whole thing. But now he seemed far more interested in coming home and locking himself in his music room, where he would just sit around playing piano. Grow up, grow up. It wasn't just that he was busy. It was like he was busying himself to avoid his family.

[Elena]

That's not cool.

[Ash]

So that night, after leaving her meeting with Diana, Clara actually called David's mother, Millie Harris, which, I think Millie is the cutest name.

[Elena]

It is a really cute name.

[Ash]

And she told Millie what she'd learned in the hope that maybe his mom would know what she could do to salvage their relationship and their marriage. So rather than really share any insider suggestions, though, Millie just succeeded in convincing Clara that her friend had no idea she was talking about. And there was no way David was having an affair. Which you can understand why his mom wouldn't think that.

[Elena]

That's his mom. She's probably like, no, yeah, like, not my kid.

[Ash]

No, never mind. She was like, it's natural for people, married or otherwise, to find others attractive, maybe even flirt a little bit. But she said David was not the kind of person who would have a straight up affair.

[Elena]

And, I mean, she's probably really hoping that that's the case. I think she's trying to probably convince herself of that as well.

[Ash]

Also, if you flirt with other people while we're married, you're cheating on me.

[Elena]

I'm gonna fight you.

[Ash]

Period. After 45 minutes on the phone with her mother in law, Sarah came away pretty relieved, reassured. But then she got home that night and she just couldn't shake the thought that maybe he was involved with another woman.

[Elena]

Yeah, her gut was telling her something.

[Ash]

So the next morning, she was getting into the shower when David came into the bathroom looking very troubled. And she's like, what's wrong? And after struggling to form his thoughts, he confessed that he had indeed been seeing another woman. He said, I think that you have to know there's somebody else. Obviously. Completely shattered by the confirmation that her husband was definitely having an affair, she ran downstairs to the kitchen where Lindsay was making breakfast. And it turned out Lindsay already knew her dad had told her, the relationships.

[Elena]

Here I am without words.

[Ash]

The relationships here are without borders.

[Elena]

This is wrong on every level. It can be wrong.

[Ash]

Yeah. Like, we need some boundaries in these relationships with our children. Yeah. The revelation that David not only was having an affair, but was having an affair with an employee at their shared practice was devastating. Clara said, he told me there was no intimacy between them, that he'd just been lonely.

[Elena]

Oh, there it is.

[Ash]

Fuck off.

[Elena]

Class classic.

[Ash]

He said, this is also. I'm like you. Oh, no. He said, gail grew up in the US and they shared a lot in common, and it was nice to share that with someone. So he looked at his Colombian wife and was like, you know, she's from the U.S. we have more in common. You.

[Elena]

You. I don't even know how to respond to that.

[Ash]

I would look at him and be like, we opened several practices together because I'm a successful ass and you have more in common with your secretary because she's from the US that is quite.

[Elena]

Possibly the stupidest thing I have ever heard someone say, especially in reference to, like, why they were having an affair.

[Ash]

I'm having an affair because she was born on American soil.

[Elena]

Because those colors don't run. Okay? That's why. Like, that's. He's essentially saying, america. What?

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

You're saying this to your Colombian wife.

[Ash]

Crazy.

[Elena]

Who has built things with you, created a family with you.

[Ash]

I'd be like, that's cool. Your children are Colombians. What?

[Elena]

That's the thing. I'm like, what?

[Ash]

That's cool. These two boys that you procreated with me, Colombian.

[Elena]

Like, damn cool.

[Ash]

Cool that you and Gail have the US in common.

[Elena]

It's really nice that you guys are from.

[Ash]

Can you imagine looking at anybody and just being like, we're both from the US So we have so much common. Weird reason, frankly. I don't want to have much in common with the US What a strange ass reason.

[Elena]

Holy.

[Ash]

So that afternoon, David and Clara drove to the office where Clara confronted Gail about the affair.

[Elena]

I mean, yeah.

[Ash]

Which, like, absolutely.

[Elena]

Oh, yeah.

[Ash]

If you're gonna do it without. Without being physical. Absolutely.

[Elena]

Yeah. And do it right away.

[Ash]

Gail denied the relationship, but Clara said, I know you're lying. My husband told me you're fired. Fired her on the spot and demanded that she hand over her keys to the office and get the. Out of there.

[Elena]

There.

[Ash]

Which, like, great.

[Elena]

So at this point, support.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Supporting what is happening.

[Ash]

Yeah. Then her initial reaction to David's confession was to start looking for a divorce lawyer, which, like, let's go, girl. Yes.

[Elena]

See, this is so frustrating because you're like, you're moving in the right direction. I wish you had kept moving in this direction.

[Ash]

But later that day, after the initial shock had worn off, she decided she didn't want to end her marriage, which I get. You have two fucking babies together. Like, I.

[Elena]

It's gotta be the worst kind of whiplash that you can imagine.

[Ash]

And I understand. I understand both sides.

[Elena]

I understand.

[Ash]

When you find out your husband leaves, like, has stepped out on you, you get the out of there. And I also understand wanting to fight for your marriage.

[Elena]

Yeah, I get. I get all of it. It's. It's a horrible, horrible situation that is unfathomable, really.

[Ash]

The next day, she started the process of making herself over to be more attractive to her husband, which is really sad.

[Elena]

Devastating.

[Ash]

She bought sexy clothes from Victoria's Secret. She scheduled breast augmentation surgery with a Local plastic surgeon. And she bought a book about saving a marriage written by the one and only Dr. Phil.

[Elena]

Oh, my goodness.

[Ash]

Yeah, that's.

[Elena]

That's just really sad.

[Ash]

It is. That night, she and David went to a restaurant to talk things over. And while they were there, she pushed her husband to make a list comparing the attributes of both women.

[Elena]

Oh, no.

[Ash]

So that, like, she could do better, I think.

[Elena]

Oh, no.

[Ash]

The lists were long and brutally honest, describing Gail as, quote, no fat, perfect body, and Clara as, quote, a large person, too big. She gave birth to your children at the same time she was pregnant with two human beings. I'm willing to bet, David, you might get a little fucking bigger.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

When you're growing to circulatory systems, Speaking.

[Elena]

As somebody who has grown circulatory systems in their body.

[Ash]

Two. Two at once, two at once, two at once. You get a little bigger, you.

[Elena]

It's going to be different after a little bit. And I literally. Here's the part where it's like, David should not have been killed.

[Ash]

Nope.

[Elena]

I'm going to keep saying. Because I want to make sure no one takes what I'm saying differently. That is what I'm saying and that is what I believe. But that doesn't mean that he was a good guy at this point. He wasn't.

[Ash]

That's a whole.

[Elena]

He was not being a good guy. This is not a good guy in this moment. He might have been a good guy his whole life. He really took a turn here. This is cruel to do to somebody.

[Ash]

Can you imagine?

[Elena]

Awful to do to somebody body shaming your life. If John had ever said to me, me, you were, you're bigger.

[Ash]

Like, it made any kind of bigger person too big.

[Elena]

Any kind of comment about what I looked like after I gave birth to our twins. Any kind of negative comment, it would have sent me into fucking orbit. Because also, yeah, she knows. Because that shit is very jarring. After you have kids and especially after you have multiples, you'll look different. And it's like you get out of that shower and you look in the mirror and you go, whoa, who's that?

[Ash]

And it's.

[Elena]

Even now. I look at them like, wow. You see, it's always different.

[Ash]

That's the thing. You look incredible. You have nine year old twins, though, like.

[Elena]

But you're always gonna look like you. I had twins, but I look like I had twins.

[Ash]

And the thing is, like, these were young boys.

[Elena]

Yeah. They're babies.

[Ash]

It takes a while to get your quote unquote body back. Yeah. If you ever Do My kids are.

[Elena]

We're almost a decade in, and. And it's different still. It just is. It's never going the way it was before.

[Ash]

There's a lot that goes into it. You have to maintain a certain weight. If you want to breastfeed, you have to, like, there's a whole bunch of reasons why you don't just snap on. And also, you should look. And it shouldn't matter.

[Elena]

You should look different.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

You did something crazy.

[Ash]

You did something life changing.

[Elena]

So you should look different, and you should have somebody that is in absolute awe of that is like, wow. Yeah, your body's amazing. It created two of my favorite people in the world and went through, like.

[Ash]

Easy trauma to do so.

[Elena]

Yeah. And I hate, because I know there's listeners that are listening right now who don't have somebody doing that.

[Ash]

And you should, because you're beautiful.

[Elena]

Don't kill anyone.

[Ash]

Don't kill anyone.

[Elena]

That's never the answer. But you should always have somebody who is saying, wow, your body's incredible. And especially after you give birth, your body just created one of my favorite people on planet Earth.

[Ash]

Your body just did a miracle. Yeah.

[Elena]

Your body created a circulatory system.

[Ash]

A miracle. Like, off large person, too big.

[Elena]

So sad.

[Ash]

And if anybody ever says that to you, you get up and you leave right then. You don't even think about it twice.

[Elena]

I don't have sympathy for the act that she committed by any means, but I have sympathy for sympathy for her in this moment, because I just can't imagine being torn down like that. That would kill me. In postpartum, you're already saying the worst.

[Ash]

Things to yourself, and it's like, that's.

[Elena]

So cruel to do.

[Ash]

It's mean.

[Elena]

I just wish that this had gone a different way.

[Ash]

Me too.

[Elena]

Because, like, damn, me too.

[Ash]

So despite the obvious cruelty of comparing his wife's looks to those of his mistress, among other things, David and Clara did agree to work on their marriage, with Clara taking most of the blame for him having an affair in the first place and also shouldering the responsibility of fixing things. A few days later, they went away to the beach for a long weekend. And everything seemed like it was back on track to getting normal. But just two weeks later, David Harris would be dead, crushed to death under the weight of his wife's Mercedes.

[Elena]

Oh, man.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

It just escalated so quickly.

[Ash]

Yeah. And I would say that was a lot of information for you guys to digest. So that is where we're gonna wrap setting. That's where we're gonna Wrap for part one.

[Elena]

Oh, Lord, this is just sad and.

[Ash]

Horrible in every way imaginable.

[Elena]

Yeah.

[Ash]

Every single way.

[Elena]

Because it's just like, none of this needed to happen.

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

None of it.

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

And again, it's also like, I'll state it again. It's not his fault that what happened to him.

[Ash]

No.

[Elena]

But if you don't want to be with your significant other, that's cool. Just don't be with them anymore. Divorce affairs never end well. I never understand why people go into them. It's like just. It's not gonna end well.

[Ash]

It never does. How many affairs have I talked about this fucking podcast?

[Elena]

Exactly. End it. There'll be sad hurt feelings. But that's much better than a murder charge and a dead person involved.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

Like, come on.

[Ash]

Yeah.

[Elena]

But emotions run so high and humans are wily creatures.

[Ash]

There's also a lot more to this story that we haven't even gotten into yet.

[Elena]

So interesting.

[Ash]

Stay tuned for part two. It gets wild.

[Elena]

Oh, man.

[Ash]

And with that being said, we hope you keep listening and we hope you keep it weird, but that's the way that you hit your husband with a car, even if he did cheat on you. No, you can't do that.

[Elena]

Don't do that.

[Ash]

It's really bad.

[Elena]

Sam.

[Ash]

If you like morbid, you can listen early and ad free right now by joining Wondery Play plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts. Prime. Members can listen ad free on Amazon Music. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a short [e-mail] survey.