A CHP captain wanted her husband dead. She paid a Napa man to kill him
SFGATE • • nation
Key Points:
- Thomas O’Donnell, hired by California Highway Patrol captain Julie Harding to kill her soon-to-be ex-husband Michael Harding, has been found guilty of murder after a jury deliberated for just two hours.
- Julie Harding, embroiled in a bitter divorce, allegedly orchestrated the murder by arranging a fake HVAC service call that lured Michael Harding to a vacant home in Kentucky, where he was fatally shot.
- Investigators traced the plot through phone records and financial transactions, discovering Julie had withdrawn over $100,000 from their joint account, believed to have been used to pay O’Donnell.
- Julie Harding was arrested for harassment related to her late husband’s girlfriend but later died by suicide after her release, while O’Donnell was arrested at Sacramento International Airport and now faces sentencing.
- The trial concluded swiftly, leaving Michael Harding’s family in shock but relieved, with sentencing for O’Donnell scheduled for the coming week.
 { path { fill: %23EEEFE9 } })