Pennsylvania man pleads guilty in 2005 disappearance, killing of 21-year-old Ashley Parlier
A Pennsylvania man has pleaded guilty to the June 2005 murder and disappearance of Ashley Marie Parlier.
Harold David Haulman III, 44, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Wednesday in connection with the disappearance of Parlier, 21, of Battle Creek. He will be sentenced in April and faces up to life in prison.
Haulman, who once lived in Battle Creek, became a suspect in Parlier's disappearance during an investigation in the deaths of two women in eastern Pennsylvania.
Haulman pleaded guilty to both Pennsylvania murders in 2021 and is currently serving life sentences without the possibility of parole in those cases. As part of a plea deal with Luzerne County District Attorney's Office, Haulman agreed to cooperate with Calhoun County detectives — including assisting in finding Parlier's body — in exchange for the state of Pennsylvania not seeking the death penalty.
"For 17 years her family and friends had no idea what happened to her. The emotional toll can only be imagined," Calhoun County Prosecutor David Gilbert said Thursday. "Her parents died without knowing what happened. I can’t speak for the family. A conviction won’t bring Ashley back and doesn’t really end the investigation. Finding the remains of Ashley will."
Parlier was killed in woods south of Battle Creek in Newton Township, Haulman told detectives. He said he argued with Parlier and killed her by hitting her several times with a piece of wood on the evening of June 13, 2005.
Officers have searched for her body and brought Haulman to the area in late June 2021 but he was unable to direct detectives to the place he said he killed Parlier. Detectives have said they will continue their search for information about the location of her remains.
"We have every intention of bringing Ashley Parlier home if we have the opportunity to," Calhoun County Sheriff's Department Detective Dave Homminga told the Enquirer in December.
Parlier, who had the mental capabilities of a 14-year-old, was pregnant and had been working at Taco Bell on Capital Avenue Northeast to save money for a car, her family said after her disappearance.
Her father said she left the house June 12, 2005, with $700 in cash and was never seen again.
At the time, police questioned friends and her boyfriend, but never found any evidence connecting Haulman to her disappearance. Battle Creek detectives, who had the case for years, presumed the woman was dead although several searches failed to locate her remains.
Calhoun County detectives were contacted by Pennsylvania law enforcement in 2021 after Haulman provided them with details regarding Parlier's disappearance and the possible location of her body in the north section of Newton Township.
"As well as being a very emotional case, this case was very labor intensive with a lot of investigators working it over the years," Gilbert said Thursday. "Our detectives traveled across the country locating potential witnesses and evidence."
Haulman is currently serving life sentences for two additional murders. One occurred on approximately June 13, 2018, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and the second occurred on Dec. 4, 2020, in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.
He also served jail time in reference to a 1999 homicide in Ramstein, Germany.
Contact reporter Greyson Steele at gsteele@battlecreekenquirer.com
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Pennsylvania man pleads guilty in 2005 disappearance, killing
