After reconstructing Bonnies movements that morning, the search team was stumped. Shortly thereafter, I went to see him at the Byrd Unit, in Huntsville. For almost three years after her death, the house remained exactly as Bonnie left it. Though the couple had a daughter and a son, they ended up separating, and Carl started dating Lillian King, with whom he had another daughter, in 2008. It also uncovered a dark. Harkey was arrested and charged with solicitation of murder.. He was released in December 2007, and after a brief stint in an Austin halfway house,Bruce returned to San Saba for good. Investigators focus on one of Bonnies stepsons, Bruce Harkey, as the mastermind behind the plot to kill Bonnie Harkey. By 1884, the town had four churches, two schools, a sawmill and a gristmill, a bank, a paper, and a population of 800. Bruce pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, and at his sentencing, his lawyer tried to argue that he had simply been all talk. Bruce Harkey, 62, was convicted Tuesday of the murder-for-hire plot that led to the 2012 deaths of his stepmother, Bonnie Harkey, and her housekeeper, Karen Johnson. Bonnie Harkey was still living on the farm, and her guardian believed she deserved more than the $44,000 the brothers were offering from the sale of the land, McAfee said. . Over the years, he had started to wonder whether Eric might have lived if Bonnie hadnt been the one watching him. But he was bleeding her dry, said her niece Teresa Cook. Theyre either dead or in jail., Even before her killing on March 25, it was clear Bonnie Harkey was slowing down. San Saba, Texas known to many as the Pecan Capital of the World snuggles up to the banks of the San Saba River. 2:26. Im gonna be out of town. Thats when hed settled on Carl. Spinks, after looking over the deal, found that the terms were not beneficial to Bonnie and refused to sign off on it. John packed up in the fall of 1965 to attend Texas Tech University, in Lubbock; Connie enrolled there two years later after being named San Sabas homecoming queen. But her violent death in March shook the quiet Hill Country community about two hours northwest of Austin, both for its brutality and for the fact that members of her own family were charged in what authorities a far-reaching murder-for-hire scheme over the Harkey family fortune. Bonnie Harkey owned the walnut farm and had given 94 acres of it to a grandson, Carl Wade Pressley. And he paid another family member to do it. Scanner chatter is a rich source of gossip in this tiny Central Texas city of 3,099, and ears perked up that Sunday as paramedics and law enforcement officers rushed four miles west of town to Harkeyville, where a 1927 red-brick house sat among three hundred acres of pecan orchards. There would also, of course, be the payout from the estate. 4:12 Cold Justice An Exclusive Look Into the Case of Steven Phelps. How many years does it take for a pecan tree to produce pecans? Every time I went, she said, Please do not let them take my home away from me, Betty Ann, recalled her friend. Just after eight-thirty in the evening, a call came in. Today, the land and orchard are owned by the Millican family, and six generations have worked in the pecan business. Later that day, Bonnie Harkeys body was found covered in leaves in a creek bed nearly 200 miles east in Leon County. View the profiles of people named Bonnie Harkey. Bruce isdenying all allegations from prison although he does have a history of being accused of solicitation of murder. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. *With an incidental appearance by Tommy Lee Jones. By 1956, Leonard Bend Pecan Farm had 3,300 acres of orchards on the peninsula and had become the largest contiguous walnut orchard in Texas and the second largest in the United States. Bonnie let the baby die because he was a threat to her, because he was the firstborn male heir to Harkey Farms, he told me. Six months earlier, she had been diagnosed with an aortic aneurysm, and it was only a matter of time, everyone knew, before it claimed her. ), Bruce, Carl, and Lillian were sent away to separate county jails, where they remained until Bruces trial this past April. House in Roubaix, Hauts-de-France, France Contact. There, he hit her over the head with a dead tree branch and pushed her face into the ankle-deep water until she stopped struggling. They were mean, said close friend, Myrna Najar. They were so greedy.. Searchers tramped past a barn, an old metal shack, through the high grass of the riverbank, and along Tommy Lee Joness fence line, where horses grazed sedately on the other side. John and Bruce reached out, and after some negotiation through an intermediary, Jones put down a $541,822.50 offer on the orchard. And several years later, when their son planted 2,000 acres of walnuts in Australia, the Stahmanns became the world's largest walnut producing family. It was Riley, a man with a long, bushy goatee and square head, who purchased the initial 113.9-acre tract for a farm in Harkeyville in 1885, and it was on this farm that his grandson and eventual heir, Olga Bryan Harkey, was born, in 1898. The daughter of Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman and the late Beth Chapman told ET Thursday that she lost her home in a fire. What's the average lifespan of a pecan tree? There was drought and sudden freeze and poor soil drainage. When Bonnie Harkey, the 85-year-old matriarch of a prominent San Saba family, was brutally murdered in 2012, her death spelled the end of a legendary pecan dynasty. The Harkeys had long been one of San Sabas most prominent families, and their property sat next door to a stretch of pastureland owned by another notable native son, the actor Tommy Lee Jones. Family members have fought a long battle in court over who would inherit those lands after the death of Bonnie Harkey. Because of that, Bonnie did pretty much everything she could to alienate me. He was convinced she had caused Erics death. Copyright 2023 The Washington Times, LLC. Bonnies bedroom, decorated with her paintings of flowers. At least 1 dead, 5 injured in Massachusetts house party shooting, 2-year-old daughter of Tampa Bay Buccaneers player drowns after falling into pool, Tornado strikes Virginia coast, leaving behind trail of damage, AI-generated music growing exponentially, sparking debate. Preview. Her body was eventually discovered 200 miles east, in a rural area in Leon County. April 24, 2015 House in Marcq-en-Barul, Hauts-de-France, France Contact. He would choke her, pull her hair, and eventually even hold a gun to her head, threatening to kill her for a perceived slight such as not having dinner on the table by six oclock. He covered her lifeless body with fistfuls of leaves and mud. A contract was immediately drawn up. Investigators say the motive behind Bruce Harkeys solicitation of Bonnie Harkeys murder was greed. John joined with Bruce in court to try to remove Connie as guardian; they failed, but then Connie died suddenly, in March 2011 at age 62, after a bout with pneumonia. The Millicans, their lease having expired, were no longer caring for the orchards, and as I passed by the historic groves, the trees looked unkempt, thirsty from the drought and in need of a trim. Though Connie became her temporary guardian, more instability ensued. Then, in 2007, hed looked west, buying the 209-acre strip of farmland adjacent to Harkey Pecan Farms, where he grew wheat and grazed his horses. She also wrote large checks to foreign telephone scammers. Proper noun a rione in Rome, Italy, named after the local basilica. Authorities say Harkey had a deal to sell his stepmother's pecan ranch in San Saba County for more than $570,000, but couldn't agree with Johnson on how much to give Bonnie Harkey. What had been his fathers hobby became Rileys livelihood. Harkeyville is north of U.S. Highway 190 two miles west of San Saba in central San Saba County. Invisible to a farmer, the devastating fungus would stealthily invade through the roots, withering the leaves in an instant and killing the tree seemingly overnight. But that didnt mean he was responsible for her murder. The orchards were in such horrible condition, because Bonnie and Connie didnt know how to run a farm or what to do with pecan trees, Jennifer told me. Betty Ann had provided a long pink dress for Bonnie to be buried in. The entrance to the Harkey homestead off U.S. 190. 4d. In the meantime, if Riley died first, Bonnie would maintain a life estate over all the property. He would say stuff like, Well, they just need to die so that I can have the farm, recalled Kami. kxan.com 'Pecan Queen's' grandson gets life in prison for her death | KXAN.com (Jennifer was never arrested, and John escaped public scrutiny when he died of a heart attack three months after the murders.) I try to be careful when driving. SAN SABA, Texas (KXAN) At 85, Bonnie Harkey was loved by her neighbors in San Saba County and affectionately known as the Pecan Queen because of the sprawling and fertile farm of nut-bearing trees that had been in her family for years. San Saba County and his only child, 32-year-old Riley, together with Rileys two sonsten-year-old John and five-year-old Bruceplanted another 1,500 trees, in a grove that came to be known as the Harkeyville Orchard. House in Marcq-en-Barul, Hauts-de-France, France Contact. They would laugh at her and criticize her food, her sister continued. Left: The entrance to the Harkey homestead off U.S. 190. Wannabe web aficionado. Bonnie Harkey owned the walnut farm and had given 94 acres of it to a grandson, Carl Wade Pressley. While admitting to the kidnapping and murders, Pressley says he did it because his uncle, Bruce Harkey, paid him to do it. Lived in Riverdale IL | Milwaukee WI. Bonnie Harkey was reported missing on March 26, 2012, after the body of her housekeeper was found at Harkey's home in the farming community of Harkeyville, near San Saba, a town that hails. Investigators focus on one of Bonnie's stepsons, Bruce Harkey, as the mastermind behind the plot to kill Bonnie Harkey. Bonnie Harkey had left 94 acres in her will to Pressley, who then sold that interest to Bruce Harkey and his brother for about $70,000, prosecutor Sonny McAfee said. The Harkey brothers lined up the lucrative deal to sell the orchard to the movie stars agent. And I wont do that. I didnt have anything to do with the death of Bonnie Harkey or Ms. Johnson, he repeated. The matriarch of the family, Bonnie Harkey aka The Pecan Queen, was murdered. He wore a suit every day and furiously took notes, prompting one reporter to observe, If one did not know Harkey, he could be mistaken for one of the lawyers in the courtroom.. I still have the scar where my brother kicked me. Allen, I just got a phone call from my wife saying thatshejust got a phone call about you coming to arrest me, my brother, and her. Nothin. He got married and divorced two more timesa daughter was born in 1982and then returned to Texas, where in 1987 he snagged a plum position in the Texas attorney generals office investigating Medicaid fraud and nursing home abuse. The Johnsons and the Harkeys became great friends, going out to dinner and traveling to gospel concerts in Marble Falls and Burnet. I was in the backseat, and I leaned forward and said, So, do we call you Mom now or what? he said. Bonnie, her white puff of hair always freshly coiffed, was a fixture of San Sabas social scene, known for never missing a Sunday school class or a meeting of the garden club. Bruce moved into an upstairs bedroom, where he was joined by his ex-wife Jennifer Karnes, with whom hed renewed a relationship after divorcing Kami. Bruce Harkey, they say, felt pressure from years of past-due child support. A DPS helicopter dispatched from Waco made slow circles overhead, scanning the ground with heat-imaging cameras. She was a super sweet lady who would do anything for anybody, Boyd said. As he saw it, Bonnie was staying on his birthright, said Kami. When Bonnie Harkey, the 85-year-old matriarch of a prominent San Saba family, was brutally murdered in 2012, her death spelled the end of a legendary pecan dynasty. He willed it to Connie, while the other two groves were to go to John and Bruce, so that all three kids would have their own orchards someday. Bruce Harkey would not confess to anything hes done wrong, said Wilkerson. Our world has changed, and many people in it have become motivated by greed and grown up with a sense of entitlement, she wrote in theNews & Staron April 5. Though he appeared physically diminished since his sentencing, his self-regard was intact. Bonnie, a staunch Baptist, persuaded Riley, a lifelong member of the Church of Christ, to attend San Sabas First Baptist Church with her, where Betty Ann and her husband, Craigan, also attended. Bonnie Chapman, the 24-year-old daughter of Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman is going through another unbearable family tragedy.. Less than five years after the death of her mother and Dog's . John Wilkerson, an investigator with the San Saba County Sheriffs Office.He asked me to forgive him, made comments about burning in hell for the actions that he did.. Read our feature on the case from January. As Price would later put it, Carl has not been accused of being very intelligent.). She aint going to forgive me, Carl told Wilkerson through tears. The animals died from smoke inhalation. A change of venue brought the high-profile trial to Burnet County. Still, in 1957, O.B. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it. It became the county seat in 1856. I could get the money and go to Belize.) It was also evident that, based on his six years on the Reno police force, Bruce knew the importance of a solid alibi, and he appeared to have carefully crafted his. For almost three years after her death, the house remained exactly as Bonnie left it. Facebook gives people the power to share and makes the world more open and connected. He and Lillian were out in Normangee, four hours east of San Saba, staying at a campground. One of Bruce Harkeys attorneys, Richard Davis, said their testimony was not credible, and he said no evidence linked Bruce Harkey to the killings. As volunteers combed the property, chief deputy Bill Price returned to the sheriffs office to work the phones. This labor-intensive process takes time and costs money. His conviction carries an automatic life sentence without parole, the Austin American-Statesman reported (https://bit.ly/1iIE72W ). We must not let death steal the memories of her joy in life! Pastor Crosby exhorted the crowd. Since pecans are pollinated only by the wind, excessive rainfall during spring bloom prevents pollination, as noted above, and poorly pollinated flowers produce small nuts that later abort. Harkey was, recalled family friend Donna Bush, one of the sweetest ladies I ever knew.. Just before daybreak, Carl and Lillian arrived at the San Saba County jail, a compact limestone building that is the oldest continuously operating jail in the U.S. Walnuts intended for retail sale can be removed from their shells and baked before packing and shipping. (It was eating me alive, I just couldnt do it anymore, she said.) Certified twitter advocate. The more we tried to convince her to get away from him, the more she would say it was not the Christian thing to do. But when Brown arrived at the house, hefound a puzzling scene. All I wanna do is get this cleared up and go home. He remains hopeful that his case will be overturned on appeal. Bruce Harkey, who had been taking care of the orchard, was fired sometime during 2011, McAfee said. How many pecan trees do you need to produce pecans. Her reading glasses were resting on the floor beside her head, and she was cool to the touch. He considered the pecans a hobby, however; his primary interest was turkeys, which he bred by the thousands and shipped as far away as North Dakota and New Hampshire. Bonnie Harkey, 85 was reported missing on March 26, 2012, after the body of her housekeeper was found at the pecan matriarch's home. The jury took one hour to find him guilty. Eventually the home would reach 4,872 square feet, many of its corners filled with family mementos: award ribbons and plaques for Rileys pecans and Bonnies pies; framed photos from the couples trips to the Bahamas and San Antonio; Bonnies collection of Desert Rose dishes; her still-life paintings of roses and yuccas; the Harkey family Bible, set on a lace doily in the sitting room, Bonnies looped cursive marking big life events inside. Outdoorsy types can enjoy hunting, fishing, hiking, and swimming. I needed to shift the risk to the lessee.). One of Dwight's cousins moved to San Saba, attended The Father House, and went to the Christian Women's . Hed planned to smother Bonnie with a pillow at naptime and then sneak out, but when Karen spotted him as she answered the door, he panicked, tackling her in a bear hug and throwing her to the floor, where he suffocated her beneath his body weight. Also known as Bonnie Manus | Bonnie Harkey. Bonnie Harkey was. One afternoon, he showed up at Oliver Pecan Company an hour before closing time to ask for a job. . Bonnie, who grew up in a farming family during the Depressionher father planted cotton, corn, and wheathad always longed for a grander life. Who is the biggest pecan producer in the world? They have also lived in Caryville, TN and Statesville, NC. House District: 103 Senate District: 42 County District: Board Of Commissioners District 5 School Board District: School Board Dist 5. The fear was that Bonnie had tripped in the orchard or somehow fallen into the river. The two needed to get back immediately, the sheriff told him: Karen was dead and Bonnie was missing. (We dont have the budget of big cities, so we had to use the same thing we use to record traffic stops to record a capital homicide confession, explained Wilkerson.) Was I enamored with or happy about Bonnie Harkey? They were separated immediately for questioning, and it wasnt long before Carl admitted that they had taken Bonnie for a drive in his car. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy. According to one newspaper account, Riley and Israel Harkey, two brothers from Arkansas, drove the first wagon train into the county while serving as Indian scouts for the Republic of Texas; they became so enamored of the loamy soil in the San Saba River Valley that they returned in 1855 with their parents and six other siblings. I cant tell you how many hundreds of miles my grandfather and I walked in that Harkeyville Orchard, said Bruce recently. Davis said Bruce Harkey a former Reno police officer and investigator for the Texas Attorney Generals Office often went out of town on the weekends so it was not unusual that he was away when the killings happened. There was a payment made to Carl Pressley and of course there were some arrangements to be made that further payment would be made to Carl Pressley for killing Bonnie Harkey, said Wilkerson. What are the top 5 pecans producing states? But he dont care about anybody but himself.. Located in east central San Saba County, San Saba was settled in 1854 and named for its location on the San Saba River. Find contact info for Bonnie Sharkey - phone number, address, email. How many years will a pecan tree produce? I met Bonnie Harkey when our cars 'bumped into each other' at the Print Shop. Humans lose their hearts, their souls, and their ability to act like anything other than monsters., In August I went to visit Carl at the Telford Unit, in New Boston. Bonnie quit her job at the telephone company, and she and Connie moved into the Harkey house. Bruce, Carl said, had been talking constantly about getting rid of Bonnie. And, Im the only one left alive that knows the truth, he wrote, his ballpoint indenting the paper. Information from: Austin American-Statesman, https://www.statesman.com. Meanwhile, KXAN has found that it is not the first time Bruce Harkey has been accused of soliciting murder. We uncovered a 2003 case in which there is evidence he tried to have his ex-wife killed. KXAN located Harkeys ex-wife, whom we are identifying only as Kami. She has been in hiding with their child since before her marriage ended.. Sheriff Allen Brown was already out on patrol when the 911 call came in. How long does it take for a pecan tree to fully mature? Her pecan-based desserts were legendary, often earning her first place at the countys pecan food show and a front-page mention in theSan Saba News & Star. One time she wrote about sports. If I waste my time and energy hating the people that have claimed I did, Im takin away time from loving my wife and my children. What's the difference between praline pecan and butter pecan? His silver hair was closely shorn, per regulations, and he wore wire-frame glasses and flimsy terry-cloth slippers. In one anecdote he liked to tell, she made her feelings clear one afternoon when the family was in her new desert rose Thunderbird. These nuts have a praline-flavored coating, making them a crunchy, but no less sweet, alternative to the thick, chewy praline burger. Friendly beer nerd. But Bruce Harkey tells a different story. Bruce seethed. SAN SABA, Texas (KXAN) - At 85, Bonnie Harkey was loved by her neighbors in San Saba County and affectionately known as the Pecan Queen because of the sprawling and fertile farm of nut-bearing trees that had been in her family for years. When I reached out to Bruce for his side of things, he sent me a letter. An agent for Hollywood movie star Tommy Lee Jones made a tentative unsigned offer of $574,000 for the family-owned orchard back in May 2011, Burnet County District Attorney Sonny McAfee said. House in Roubaix, Hauts-de-France, France Contact. San Saba offers something for everyone. This was all Harkey before, the whole area, he told me, stretching his hand out. Bruce was Bonnies step-son. A century ago, the Harkey family learned how to make money grow on trees pecan trees. Riley had his own way of doing things, recalled Winston Millican, a great-great-grandson of Edmund Risiens who maintains his own pecan orchards in San Saba. That summer the couple left San Saba and moved to Lubbock,where, like his siblings, Bruce enrolled at Texas Tech. Except there was one wrinkle. The boys misbehavior got to be so unpalatable to Bonnies relatives that they stopped coming out to San Saba for holiday dinners.