Northern California CHP commander found dead in Tennessee, weeks after husband’s death
A California Highway Patrol commander was found dead in Tennessee over the weekend, two months after her husband’s body was found after he had been reported missing, authorities said.
Capt. Julie Harding, 49, was a commander of the CHP’s Yuba-Sutter office in Northern California.
She was found dead Saturday morning with a gunshot wound at a residence in Clay County, Tennessee, according to the Clay County Sheriff’s Office.
“The manner and cause of death are currently under investigation by the Clay County Sheriff’s Office with assistance from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation,” CHP Valley Division spokesman Officer Ricardo Ortiz said in an emailed statement.
“Harding was a current member of the Yuba-Sutter Area Office, and was on leave at the time of her passing.”
The investigation was turned over from the Sheriff’s Office to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, according to the Appeal-Democrat newspaper in Marysville, which first reported Harding’s death. Sheriff’s officials have not determined whether the gunshot wound was self-inflicted, though a TBI spokesperson said the death does not appear to be the result of foul play, ABC 10 reported.
Harding’s husband, Michael Harding, 53, was reported missing Sept. 20 from Clay County, sheriff’s officials said at the time. He was found dead in adjoining Cumberland County, Kentucky, in early October, local news outlets including radio station WUCT reported at the time.
Julie Harding was arrested last Thursday in connection with two incidents in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, the Appeal-Democrat reported, one described by police as stalking and the other as criminal trespassing. She was released Friday, one day before she was found dead.
The Appeal-Democrat published a police report taken by the Murfreesboro Police Department, in which the victim – identified as a former girlfriend of Michael Harding – reported being stalked and harassed by Julie Harding, who allegedly broke into the woman’s home in October.
The Appeal-Democrat, citing anonymous sources, reported that authorities are investigating whether a man named Thomas Francis O’Donnell was involved in a murder-for-hire plot with Michael Harding as the target.
Law enforcement officers arrested O’Donnell, 60, last Thursday at Sacramento International Airport on an out-of-state warrant, jail records show.
Sgt. Amar Gandhi, a spokesman for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office, confirmed that O’Donnell was arrested on a murder warrant out of Cumberland County, Kentucky, and was taken into custody before boarding a flight at the airport. O’Donnell is awaiting extradition to Kentucky.
Harding joined the CHP in 1999 and became a commander in the Yuba-Sutter office in 2018, Ortiz said in an emailed statement. The Appeal-Democrat reported she had been on leave due to injury at the time of her death.
Brian Wittmer has been named acting commander for the CHP’s Yuba-Sutter office following Harding’s death.
