SERIALously - 16: The Mercedes Benz Killer: Couple’s Horrific Love Story Ends In Tragedy & is Caught on Tape

Episode Date: June 5, 2023

In this episode, we delve into the true story of Clara Harris, a successful dentist whose picture-perfect life in Houston's upscale suburbs took a chilling turn of passion, rage, and what some think is just straight-up revenge. Marked by success, betrayal, and ultimately a chilling crime of passion, this case is a stark reminder of how quickly love, when fueled by jealousy, can lead to devastating destruction. As we peel back the layers of this shocking suburban nightmare, we'll explore the chain of events that led this accomplished professional, wife, and mother to commit an unthinkable act that would forever ruin many lives, when she turned her 4000-pound vehicle into her own personal weapon. Your True Crime BFF, Annie Elise xx For Business Inquiries: [e-mail] About Me: https://annieelise.com/ Follow me on Social: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@annieelise Official SERIALously Facebook Page:https://www.facebook.com/SerialouslyAnnieElise Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_annieelise Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@_annieelise  Twitter: https://twitter.com/_10toLIFE Today's Sponsors: Zoc Doc: Go to Zocdoc.com/ANNIEELISE and download the Zocdoc app for FREE Betterhelp: Visit BetterHelp.com/AE today to get 10% off your first month Master Class: Get unlimited access to every class—and right now, as a serialously listener, you can get 15% off when you go to MASTERCLASS.com/ae

buckle up and crank up that volume this is serialously with annie elise hey everybody welcome back to an all-new episode of serialously it is me annie elise your true crime bff i'm here to break down another true crime case for you guys. Now here's my question for you. Are there ever cases that you hear about or that you wonder about where you're like what would I do if I were in that situation? How would I handle that? Would I lose my shit? Would I go batshit crazy? What would I do? Because that is what I found myself to be like questioning in my mind when I first heard about this case. I was like you know I don't know what the hell I would do in that situation. I would probably just see red. I would have like the red mist come over me and I

would come from like the depths of hell and go crazy. I don't know. It's it's a rough one so I gotta break it down for you guys because it is a crazy case that we are talking about today. But before we get into it, if you could just take a quick second and look in the top corner of your podcast app, whether you're listening on iHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, whatever app you're in, just take a quick second, look in the corner and see if you are following this podcast yet. And you're not give it a quick follow that way you will not miss any new episodes as I drop them and you know I am dropping them like wildfire. All right guys so let me talk to you about the case we're talking about today. It's about a guy named David Harris.

Now David was a very successful orthodontist and his wife Clara was a very successful dentist. And together, their marriage made them the ultimate power couple. They had money, they had luxury, they had success, a thriving business, a beautiful family, and what most people would consider hitting the lottery of the American dream, just absolute perfection. However, as we know, it happens a tale as old as time all too often. Beneath this facade of success and domestic bliss, there was an undercurrent of insecurity and suspicion. Despite the outward display of this thriving marriage, a secret confession and a secret discovery came to light, shattering the illusion of this happy, perfect marriage. And this confession and discovery set in motion a tragic sequence of events forever smearing the image of their

seemingly perfect union. This story has since been the subject of numerous media reports, documentaries, and books serving as a chilling reminder of how intense emotional distress can be and how it can ultimately lead to devastating consequences. Tires came around the corner in the parking lot and headed off that direction and maybe 30 seconds later we saw the crowd running, Sano. You know, there are legal alternatives. If he doesn't want you anymore, leave him. Get a divorce. Driving recklessly through the parking lot, Clara set her sights on Gail's car. What happened in that parking lot concerning whether or not... You run over somebody more than once, it's not an accident. You're doing what you mean to do.

And then I saw it back up up and tear out of the pa very fast turn. It was sq very comfortable that whe and when everybody knows lindsey herself, she's go what happened and how it was born and raised in Te. After graduating high school, he started a pre-med program in college. David's initial goal was to become a doctor, but he ended

up going into dentistry instead. After successfully completing his dentistry degree, David chose to specialize in orthodontics. After finishing his orthodontics program, he went on to work as an orthodontist and his career began to really take off. David was known for his charismatic personality and his knack for putting patients at ease, so it wasn't surprising that coupled with his dedication and his talent, David soon became the go-to orthodontist for all of the people in his community. And naturally, like many people do, he met a potential romantic suitor who also worked in his industry, and this woman was named Clara Suarez. Clara was born in Columbia, South America. She was the oldest of four children in a family that, while not wealthy, very much valued education and hard work. Clara was absolutely

stunning. Seriously, just gorgeous. She had thick red hair, a perfect smile, and a little mole on her left cheek. She looked like she had walked straight out of a beauty pageant, which, spoiler alert, she ended up entering a beauty pageant later in life and winning. She worked hard in school and eventually earned a scholarship to study dentistry at a prestigious university in Columbia. Clara had also always wanted to move to the United States, and when she was 20 years old, her dreams became a reality. She moved to the U.S. in the mid-1980s, where she again put herself through dentistry school for the second time, all to meet the U.S. college requirements. She attended the University of Texas Dental Branch in Houston, Texas, where she once again proved herself to be an exceptional student. She later started working at an office in Houston as a dentist, in the same area where David Harris was making his own

professional waves in orthodontics. So when Clara and David met, it truly was a match made in heaven. They both worked extremely hard to get where they were in their careers. They both had a passion for dentistry. They shared a ton of other interests with each other and shared the same ambitious qualities where they wanted their careers to go and what they wanted their lives to look like. So it wasn't long after they first met that their relationship turned into a full-blown romantic love story and both Clara and David were extremely happy, eventually leading to the two of them tying the knot barely a year after their first date had taken place.

So they ended up getting married on Valentine's Day in 1992, the most romantic day of the year that some believe you can get married. That's when they chose that they wanted to just seal their love for the world to see and tied the knot. Before marrying Clara, David had a daughter named Lindsay from a previous relationship, so he brought this daughter Lindsay in with him into this new marriage with Clara. However, despite the challenges that come with blending families, David and Clara managed to create a loving and very supportive environment for Lindsay. Clara and David Harris on the surface were what you would describe as couple goals back in the 90s.

Both had established successful careers in dentistry and they eventually established a very successful joint dental practice called Space Center Orthodontics. The practice was very, very lucrative and it catered to an upscale area right outside of Houston, Texas in a city called Clear Lake. The couple lived in a huge house in a very wealthy community called Friendswood, which is a suburb of Houston. They lived in a half a million dollar home, just living a very affluent lifestyle. And Clara and David's daughter Lindsay had a great relationship as well. Clara and Lindsay did everything together. After six years of wedded bliss, Clara and David

finally had children of their own together, two twin boys, and everyone that knew them thought that this was the picture-perfect family. Clara and David had struggled with fertility treatments for years, so the successful birth of their twin boys was a true testament to their all-American picture-perfect family. Together, they appeared to epitomize the American dream, having both come from such humble beginnings now to truly having made it, so to say. Clara absolutely worshipped her husband David and loved her family wholeheartedly. She would put photographs of the two of them in her office, replacing them with new ones every few months, and she talked to David two or three times a day on the phone and never hanging up before saying, I love you. Just completely intoxicated, infatuated with her

husband, her life, and so, so happy. However, under the surface, Clara's seemingly perfect life wasn't at all what it seemed and her loving husband David was hiding a very big secret and the ultimate betrayal. Gail Bridges, a 39 year old mother of three and a very petite former cheerleader and very fashionable woman had recently found herself looking for work. Two years earlier Gailail had divorced her husband, Stephen Bridges. It seemed like the two of them had a picture-perfect life as well, picture-perfect marriage. Just like David and Clara, they were living in a very exclusive gated community, and Stephen, her husband, had clients all over the Houston area, but the marriage did not work out. So after

divorcing in 2001, it left Gail looking for work. And that's when she came across a receptionist position at Clara and David's joint practice, Space Center Orthodontics. A situation that would weave all of these lives together and end in absolute turmoil and destruction. Alright, alright, alright guys, be honest. How many times have you been stewing about a health problem that you have looking in the group chat going on social media? Googling what's wrong only to go down this rabbit hole and self-diagnose yourself with like 15 different diseases I know I do it. I'm sure you do it. You've done it. We all do it Well lucky for all of us today's sponsor is going to help all of us because there are thousands of medical professionals on zocdoc to help They listen like a friend and give you the expert care that you need. No more rabbit holes. And let me just say,

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within just 24 hours. That's Z-O-C-D-O-C dot com slash Annie Elise. ZocDoc.com slash Annie Elise. Shortly after Gail started working at the dental practice, David started lingering around at the front desk where she was the receptionist. He would start to talk to Gail. He would start to just linger, kind of get a little bit too close. And in late February of 2002, he asked Gail if she wanted to have lunch with him at a local restaurant called Perry's Restaurant. She agreed, and the two of them started going out to secret lunches regularly. She agreed and the two of them started going out to secret lunches regularly. A couple of months later by April or May, they were intimate and a full-blown affair began. They began meeting up for secret rendezvous during the day and they would even meet up at the Nassau Bay Hilton, the very location that David and Clara had their wedding reception and wedding celebration. Just absolutely disgusting, tacky. It's like, David, get original. If you're going to have a mistress on the side, don't be lazy about it. Don't take her to where you had your fucking wedding reception. Like, go to a hotel.

Go to any hotel. Go to a motel. Go to Gail's apartment. Go to Gail's house. Go anywhere. Why do you have to go to the same hotel where you literally got married and had your wedding reception? It is just so, so tacky. Now, this isn't even the worst part. It gets even worse because the office now knew about this affair because good old David couldn't keep his hands off of Gail whenever they were in the office. He would get way too touchy-feely. The employees started realizing like something just doesn't smell right here. Something's going on and they learned about the affair. So this was in late spring early summer months. Over the 4th of July weekend roughly four

months into the affair David, Clara, and their kids took a vacation to Jamaica. Now some of David's colleagues had hoped that this family vacation would re-spark their marriage, that when they returned from Jamaica, David would be rededicated to his marriage, that he would want to save his marriage, and that he would end the affair with the receptionist Gail. So upon David's return, a couple of the employees who were close to David decided to confront him about his ongoing relationship with Gail to which he came clean. He was honest. He told them what had been happening but then one of the employees suggested that he fire Gail to which he paused and became silent. He said that

he still loved his wife Clara and he didn't want to end the marriage but that he had gotten emotionally involved with Gail and he was apologetic for it and said that he would fix everything. He would set everything straight. He wouldn't need to fire Gail. He didn't want to end his marriage and he would get things squared away. Meanwhile Clara still knew nothing about the affair. No one from David's office had said anything to her. She didn't suspect anything. This was all happening unbeknownst to her. Then, just a week after returning from vacation, on Wednesday morning, July 17, 2002, Clara and David were having one of their regular conversations

when Clara asked him, David, do you really love me? And David paused for a few moments before saying yes. But then Clara asked, why did you pause like that? You've never paused like that before when I've asked if you've loved me. So at this point, either David's guilty conscience was coming into play or his paranoia was starting to set in that maybe somebody from the office had told Clara what was going on and that word was getting out or had already gotten out and that she either was going to find out or already had found out about his affair. So David said to Clara, Clara, I have to tell you something. David proceeded to tell her

about the affair. He told her about the afternoon secret lunches and the nights at that same hotel where they held their wedding reception and Clara became hysterical and was absolutely devastated. Her whole life, she had worked so hard to get to America, to get into the right schools, to get the perfect job, to be the best mom, have the perfect family, have the big house, drive the fancy car, and she did it all. She did it all the right way. After all of her hard work and her determination, she finally had everything that she had always wanted but now the devastating reality of her husband having an affair made her feel completely shattered inside the two of them went to their shared practice at

the office where clara confronted gail telling her that she was fired and that she could never come back and a couple of days later, Clara repeatedly called Gail over and over, ranting about what kind of woman she was and how she ruined her life. But despite this heartbreaking revelation, Clara still wanted to make it work with David. So she really looked at their situation in a very pragmatic, problem-solving type of way instead of taking out her anger on him. She approached him by asking, Okay, well, can you tell me what do you love about me? And what are the things that I'm lacking?

What areas can I improve on? And David wanted to work on the marriage with her as well. So the two of them had dinner together and tried to sort things out. David said that he loved Clara's ambition and drive, but that lately it felt like so much of her focus was on their twin boys and not on him anymore, whereas Gail was giving him all of this attention that he felt that he was craving and that he needed. Which, I just have to say, that is a pretty bullshit thing for anyone to say because I'm a little confused as how you can hold it against your wife that she's busy working just like you are as a professional dentist while you also have twin boys that are three and a half,

four years old at this point. So you're holding it against her that she's holding down the career, raising the family and not giving you enough attention. Get real. I think that is such a bullshit cop-out excuse. But whatever. That's just me. David also had the freaking audacity and the balls to tell Clara that her body wasn't what it used to be before she had the children. He also told her that she was fat, that he used that word, fat and opinionated. Hi, no shit, asshole. She pushed two kids out of her body, your kids. And you expect her, while having this thriving business, thriving career, raising twin boys,

helping raise your teenage daughter, that she's going to bounce back in a matter of what, weeks? Give me a freaking break. And he said, straight up, you were more appealing to me before we had the kids. So you could afford to lose a little bit of weight. The nerve of this guy. And Clara wasn't even overweight at all. But in any event, Clara wasn't fazed by this cruelty, in my opinion, that her husband was showing. So she asked, okay, what's the next thing I can fix? You need attention. You need me to lose weight. What else? So the list went on.

And by the end of it, Clara said, okay, I'm going to change these things for you. I want to be the perfect wife for you. Because that was Clara's personality. That's who she was. For her whole life, she could get anything that she wanted by working hard and making changes. So why would that be any different here? In her mind, she thought, I can change all of these things. I can make my husband love me again, be attracted to me again. So that's what I'm going to do. So after that conversation, changing herself became Clara's new primary focus. Believing that David was attracted to Gail in part because of her blonde hair, Clara decided to color her hair blonde in an effort to resemble Gail and win back David's attention.

She also scheduled some surgeries. She quit her job. She joined a gym. She tried to lose the weight. And David noticed her effort and promised her that he was going to end that affair with Gail over dinner in the coming days. Which let me also just say this. End the affair over text. End the affair over a phone call.

Why on earth do you need to go to dinner with your mistress to end the affair? No, no, no. Be loyal to your wife and just end it. No freaking way. But Clara, being the saint that she was, agreed to this. She didn't want to lose David, so she agreed to changing essentially everything about herself and also agreeing to let him gallivant off to have dinner with his mistress to end the affair. I mean, again, just in my eyes, a saint type move. So David planned for this dinner to happen.

He planned for it to happen on the evening of July 24th, 2002. David told his wife Clara what restaurant he was going to with Gail and she agreed to it. But Clara was still suspicious of David despite all of this. So Clara called a local private investigation company to have David followed to see if he was still having an affair with Gail or if he was being truthful and was planning to end the affair. All right guys I'm gonna give you the life hack of all life hacks because this podcast and social media creator world is still so foreign and brand new to me. I came from a very corporate background. I'm not tech

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off an annual membership. Masterclass.com.ae. So when the day of the dinner finally came, just a week after learning about the affair, Clara took her stepdaughter Lindsay out shopping for the day. They were out and about having fun, doing their thing, shopping, and then Clara realized, oh, you know, it's such and such time. It's five o'clock or whatever time it was supposed to be scheduled for. David should be having dinner with gail to break things off at this restaurant that he had told her about and she decided that she was going to do a drive-by of that restaurant which let me just say she has way more willpower than i ever would have because i would probably drive my car straight through the building of that restaurant rather than just circling the parking lot waiting for him to end the affair which who am I kidding I wouldn't even allow my husband to go to that

restaurant to end the affair but you get what I'm saying like there's no way I'm casually and collectively just driving the restaurant parking lot to see if my husband's car is there and confirm that he's ending an affair no no no for it again it wouldn't even get to that point but I would have been like hauling ass through that building because, you know, I'm a little crazy when it comes to that. Anyways, I digress. Like I had mentioned earlier, Clara had hired a private investigator to make sure that David and Gail really were going to that restaurant that he said that they were going to. So because of this, there wasn't really even a reason for her to check herself and go to that restaurant. But her curiosity got the best of her.

When Clara arrived at the restaurant, she drove through the parking lot to see if David's car was there. She circled around the restaurant multiple times looking for David's car, looking for Gail's car, but she didn't see either of them. Nothing. So Clara was pissed. either of them. Nothing. So Clara was pissed. How could David betray her again when they had just had the conversation of making their marriage work? And she was going through the extended effort to make all of these changes about herself to make sure that he was happy. She was extremely insulted by all of this. He literally told her, yeah, I'm going to end things with my mistress. And then he can't even my mistress. And then he

can't even do that. And if he wasn't at the restaurant, like he promised he was going to be, where the hell was he? Now remember, as Clara is circling this restaurant parking lot, looking for David, looking for his car, looking for Gail's car, she still has her stepdaughter Lindsay with her, who is now 17 years old at the time. But despite that, Clara just could not keep herself in check anymore, and she became unhinged. Clara then called the private investigator company that she had hired. She demanded to know where David was because they were following him, but they told her they could not release that information to her. They said, look, we're following David.

He's not at the restaurant, but we can't tell you where he is. We'll provide you with video and with photos later, but that's as far as we can take it. We can't let you know where he's at right now, and we can't tell you where we're at right now. And the woman explained to Clara that the reason why is because in situations when there is infidelity taking place, it's against their policy to give the location of a cheating spouse in real time because things can escalate. Things can get dangerous very, very quickly. And when it's a heat of the moment type of thing, crimes of passion can of course happen. Well, Clara wasn't having this and she persisted, calling them over and over again. So finally, someone from the PI company said

okay look I'll tell you this he's at a hotel but I cannot tell you what hotel he is at. So Clara was clearly enraged by this. Not only did he lie about the dinner to end things with Gail in the first place but now he was out at a hotel with her most likely having sex with her and continuing this affair, not breaking it off like he had promised to do. Now, Clara didn't know what hotel he was at, of course, but she figured she knew her husband. She knew David, and David would only go to one hotel, the Nassau Bay Hilton Hotel. But this wasn't, again, just any hotel. This is the same place that David and Clara got married and had their wedding reception 10 years earlier.

Well, earlier that evening, he was back in that same exact hotel, this time using cash to purchase a room under a fake name, and together he and Gail walked into the elevator and headed upstairs. Clara drove straight to the hotel and drove through the parking lot and sure enough she found David's car and Gail's car parked in the parking lot. So Clara parked her car and she and Lindsay got out. Clara walked straight up to Gail's car and immediately keyed the side of it and then broke off her windshield wipers. Then they both went inside of the hotel. Clara asked the hotel lobby employee if there was a room under David's name, to which the employee said that there wasn't.

Then she asked if there was a room under Gail's name, to which the employee said there wasn't. But Clara knew that they were there, obviously, because both of their cars were parked in that parking lot outside. So she and Lindsay sat in the hotel lobby while Clara concocted a plan. A little bit later, Lindsay called her dad and told him that he needed to come home because there was something wrong with the twin boys, but she didn't tell him what was going on and just hung up the phone. So Clara and Lindsay waited near the elevators where hopefully they would see David coming out of the elevator to leave the hotel. And what do you know? A few minutes later, the elevator doors open,

and here comes David and Gail holding hands, walking through the hotel lobby together. Clara and Lindsay ran up to the two of them, and Lindsay, his 17-year-old daughter, was screaming, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you, while Clara lunged at Gail and was punching her and hitting her with her purse over and over again. She also ripped Gail's shirt during this scuffle. There were multiple witnesses in the lobby that immediately rushed over to help separate everyone and try to help calm the situation down. Hotel employees tried to intervene, but Clara kept grabbing at Gail. Finally, according to one witness, David put his hand on his wife's head, pushed her to the floor,

and along with a hotel employee, quickly escorted Gail out of the lobby doors and to her car. Which, let me just say, real nice. Protecting your mistress and not your wife or your daughter in that moment, but consoling your mistress, holding your wife to the floor, and then quickly escorting your mistress out of the hotel with a hotel employee. Real tacky and real classless. So now Clara and Lindsay are just enraged, and they stormed out of the hotel and got back into Clara's car. Clara sat there for a few minutes with her emotions spiraling out of control. She couldn't believe David and she was just completely dumbfounded and blind with rage. As her mind was erasing, trying to piece together what was happening, the reality of what just happened,

she looked up above the steering wheel and she saw her husband David standing next to Gail's car in the same parking lot just a few yards ahead. Clara saw red in that moment and instead of driving away, she stepped on the gas pedal, gunning her Mercedes straight at David and Gail. She hit Gail's car and David in the process, propelling his body over 25 feet across the parking lot. David's daughter, Lindsay, was inside the car with Clara still, and she was screaming, yelling at her to stop, and witnesses saw Lindsay open up her car door and stick her feet to the ground, attempting to either escape the car or stop the car from moving. But Clara wouldn't stop. She repositioned her steering wheel and took aim

back at her husband's body as it was lying on the floor in the parking lot. She ran him over again and then flipped a 180 and punched the gas once more, running him over for a third time, all in front of numerous witnesses who were standing in the parking lot, and still with his 17-year-old daughter, Lindsay, in the passenger side of the car. According to witnesses, when Clara finally stopped the car, Lindsay got out, rushed around to the driver's side, and punched Clara straight in the face. Then she fell to the ground and started sobbing hysterically. When Clara got out of the car, she didn't seem to know what to do. Looking around and digesting the situation as it was just unraveling right in front of her,

she walked over to her husband David, who was laying crumpled on the ground and just stared at him blankly. And then she began to cry. Before the police arrived, Clara cradled David in her arms and was begging him to breathe while crying over and over again and repeating, I love you, I'm so sorry, I love you. David unfortunately died from his injuries and Clara left the scene, but she was later arrested that night. Clara claimed that she didn't mean to kill David and that she was actually just trying to hit Gail's car. But Clara was in for another big surprise that night, because that private investigating company was at that hotel, and they got the entire thing on video camera.

This episode of Serialistly is brought to you by BetterHelp. I'm going to keep it real with you guys. I get stressed all the time. I try to balance work, kids, marriage, all of it, and more times than not, I put myself last on that list and then just internalize whatever my needs are or my feelings are, which is just a horrible habit. No self-care ever really happens. And something that has helped me tremendously is speaking regularly with a therapist, because sometimes we really don't

know why we react the way we do or why we are feeling a certain way until we talk things through. BetterHelp connects you with a licensed therapist who can take you on that journey of self-discovery from the comfort of wherever you are. It's helpful to not only talk with somebody in a judgment-free space, but it's great for learning positive coping skills and empowering you to be the best version of yourself. Therapy also isn't just for those who have experienced major trauma or feel like they need some sort of severe healing. I continue to go to therapy because it's helpful, even just using it as a maintenance tool to make sure that I'm checking in with myself and keeping things good. What I love about BetterHelp is it's entirely online, designed to be convenient, flexible, and suited to your schedule, which is perfect for me. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to get

matched with a licensed therapist, and if you aren't vibing with your therapist for any reason, it's totally okay, and you can switch at any time for no additional charge. Find more balance with BetterHelp. Visit betterhelp.com slash AE today and get 10% off your first month. That's betterhelp.com slash ae. In the video, you can see a clearly erratic driver circling around the parking lot multiple times and the vehicle looking like it's bouncing up and down. That's when witnesses say that Clara was continuing to drive in circles and run over David repeatedly. And the bouncing was from her front tires hitting David and then her back tires hitting David. People that knew Clara and David, their family, their neighbors, and their colleagues, were absolutely dumbfounded. They were all wondering

the same thing. What the hell happened? And how? And why? This couldn't possibly be true. And their shock and their disbelief was about to be magnified as the rest of the country heard about what happened. Clara was dubbed the Mercedes Killer, and the story of Clara's night and the murder of her husband became an absolute overnight media sensation and public interest for three main reasons. Number one, the manner in which David was killed was highly sensational. The idea of a betrayed wife running over her husband in a fit of rage was unbelievable. The fact that Clara repeatedly drove over David in the parking lot of a public hotel added to the shocking nature of the incident. Number two, David's 17-year-old daughter was in the car the entire time that this was happening and was present for the confrontation about the affair. And number three, that primary

reason, an affair, and the affluent background of the people involved in this, that compiled with the violent nature of this incident, made for a media sensation and an absolute media goldmine. The public interest and the media interest in this case was far from over because Clara's trial was about to begin and it was about to get very messy as well. Clara went to trial in February of 2003. The prosecution argued that Clara's decision to hire a private investigator suggested that she had been contemplating some form of action and retaliation against her husband for quite some time. Running over David multiple times was presented as evidence of a premeditated act rather than a crime of passion in the heat of the moment. They highlighted the accounts of multiple

witnesses who saw Clara run over David in that hotel parking lot. They focused on Clara's emotional state, arguing that her anger and her jealousy were motives for intentional murder. They pointed out that after the initial confrontation in the hotel lobby, Clara had enough time to calm down before getting into her car and also had time once sitting in her car to calm down and to get her thoughts together and drive away. But despite this, she still made the choice to run over David. They argued that Clara didn't merely hit David with the car, but that she ran him over multiple times, demonstrating a determination to cause serious harm or death. They even had Clara's stepdaughter, Lindsay, who was in the car when the incident occurred, testify.

She recalled screaming and crying and begging Clara to stop the car. Ultimately, the prosecution painted a picture of Clara as a woman who was consumed by rage and jealousy and deliberately and cruelly killed her husband. So what could possibly be Clara's defense in all of this? We know that she was on video and that there were multiple witnesses. I want you to reserve your judgment until all the evidence is in as to what happened in that parking lot concerning whether or not Clara Harris intentionally caused the death of David Harris. The defense's strategy during the trial was called, and I quote, sudden passion, and they really tried to present the incident as a tragic accident, not a premeditated act of murder. The defense argued that Clara acted

in the heat of the moment after seeing her husband with his mistress, saying that her actions were not premeditated, but resulted from a temporary loss of control due to emotional distress. They continually said that Clara never meant to kill David. Instead, they suggested that in her agitated state, Clara might have accidentally hit the accelerator instead of the brake. The defense also brought in witnesses who knew Clara personally, such as friends and colleagues, and they brought them in to portray her as a hardworking, loving mother and a loving wife who was deeply just gutted by this affair. Clara herself even took the stand.

She told jurors that she had tried to save her marriage after finding out about her husband's affair with his receptionist, Gail. She said she's scheduled to have a breast augmentation, she booked an appointment for liposuction. She joined a gym. She quit her job. She cooked her husband's favorite meals, and she had sex with him three times a night in the week leading up to his death. On the day that everything blew up and she ran over David, Clara described her emotional state as one of disbelief, anger, and profound sadness after finding out that David was with Gail and that he was still having the affair and not ending it. When she hit David with her Mercedes, Clara

doubled down that it was strictly just an accident. She claimed that she intended to hit Gail's car instead, and she testified that she lost control of the car and didn't mean to run over her husband. Throughout her testimony, Clara portrayed herself as a betrayed and heartbroken woman who made a devastating mistake in a moment of intense emotional turmoil. But despite the defense's best efforts to depict Clara's actions as an accident and a moment of a total emotional breakdown, the jury found her guilty of murder. And what happened next was actually pretty wild to me. Clara was only sentenced to 20 years in prison. Texas law at the time categorized her crime as a second-degree felony. In Texas, a

second-degree felony is punishable by a term of imprisonment of 2 to 20 years, along with a possible fine of up to $10,000. In Texas, some juries can decide your sentence, so Clara's defense team was hoping to get the least amount possible, but instead, they ended up giving her the maximum sentence of 20 years. After her conviction, many jurors have spoken out about what they thought about this case. And there were a surprising number of jurors who were actually initially hesitant during the deliberations because they could relate to how Clara felt after finding out about the

affair and finding out that it was continuing. There were some people who felt pretty adamantly that it wasn't sudden passion. And there were some who felt very adamantly that it was. Sure, it would hurt, would be devastating if I found out my husband was doing what David Harris was doing. And the thing that I kept coming back to was, you know, there are legal alternatives. If he doesn't want you anymore, leave him. Get a divorce. Also, as a side note, the day of Clara's sentencing would have been her wedding anniversary. So did Clara mean to kill David? Or was this something that could have been justified by intense emotions and a heat of the moment breakdown in your emotional thoughts? Was Clara evil? Was she spiraling as

she felt her life was going out of control and she didn't care what happened next, even if that meant David would be dead? Personally, I think that her sentence was a bit light considering there was video footage and evidence that she ran David over multiple times, but I don't know. What do you think? After Clara was in prison, she had interviews with Oprah and Diane Sawyer, and she did these to tell a little bit more about her story and why everything happened. When she talked to Diane Sawyer, Clara said, I pretty much consider my life over, but my kids have a lot to go through and haven't found anybody that could replace me or my husband. But Diane replied

and said, don't you think that some people would say that you should have thought about that before all of this happened? To which Clara replied and said, yes, that's right. It's a very difficult question to answer. As a parent, no shit. Like, unless you truly did have an emotional breakdown, you just saw red, you were blinded in rage, you couldn't think straight, and you truly did have an emotional breakdown, you just saw red, you were blinded in rage, you couldn't think straight, and you truly had a disconnect from reality, then I can understand not thinking about the repercussions, not only for yourself, not only for David, but also for your children. But as a parent, as a sane human being, in that moment, you do have a choice. Not only am I going to drive and hit this person once, but am I going to turn around and run this person over again? And then am I going to flip a 180 and press the gas pedal and run this person over a third time? You have moments throughout that entire chain of events to where you can actively make a choice and actively think about your children.

a choice and actively think about your children. Who are my four-year-old twin boys going to grow up with? They will no longer have a father if I kill him in this moment, but they also won't have a mother as I'm going to be in lockup for the rest of my life most likely. Their oldest sibling is only 17 years old. She can't take care of them. She's still a minor. Who's going to take care of her? Those are all things that you would think would go through somebody's mind before inflicting this kind of mass destruction. But for Clara, it didn't cross her mind because she saw red. And whether she had a true disconnect from reality in that moment or not, we don't know. She's the only one who has the answer to that. But in any event, it seems like a very selfish and very vengeful thing to do.

In any event, it seems like a very selfish and very vengeful thing to do. I think that she just had pure hatred in that moment for her husband and said, fuck this guy. I'm hitting the gas. I'm running his ass over. He lied to me. He embarrassed me. He made a fool of me.

Fuck him. Sorry for the explicit language, guys, but that's what I'm thinking was crossing her mind. And, you know, we can get a little more explicit here on the podcast. So I don't know. I'm not really sorry. You know, I think that's what I'm thinking was crossing her mind. And, you know, we can get a little more explicit here on the podcast. So, I don't know. I'm not really sorry. That's, you know, I think that's what she felt. So Clara ended up only serving 15 years before being released from prison. It's a smile that says I'm free.

Clara, what's it like to be out? Dr. Clara Harris is released from the Texas prison where she served 15 years for mowing down her husband with her car in a case that transfixed America. Now 60, her hair streaked with gray, the orthodontist was escorted to an SUV where she was given a long welcome home hug by a family friend. Reporter Jeff Ealing of KTRK-TV in Houston.

Throughout her release process, we could see her in the building. She had a giant smile on her face and as she finally came out to the very last gate, she showed her prison ID to the guard one final time. Her smile broadened and she went straight to a waiting car and left. In 2002, Clara Harris ran over her husband David

after she discovered him cheating with a receptionist at their dental practice. This grainy video of the murder was shot by a private eye documenting David Harris' infidelities. You can see his wife driving over him again and again. Private investigator, Bobbi Basha, watched it happen. She started proceeding to do donuts over the body, over and over.

There's a big, big parking lot over there. She could have gone a million different directions, but she did donuts right over the body over and over. It was a big, big parking lot over there. She could have gone a million different directions, but she did donuts right over the body. Confinement for 20 years. Clara was sentenced to the maximum 20 years on what would have been her 11th wedding anniversary. The mother of two small children collapsed in tears and had to be helped out of the courtroom in a daze

to begin her sentence. Her story of betrayal and revenge made the case unforgettable. I asked him if he loved her, and he said, I think so. And there was a Lifetime TV movie, Suburban Madness, starring Cilla Ward. Clara spent her time behind bars translating books into braille.

Now she begins rebuilding her life. The woman who worked at the private investigating company was also interviewed a few years ago, and she actually still had recordings from when everything went down and happened that night. And get this, guys. Clara actually had the balls to ask this company for a refund since she wouldn't need the services for the days that she had already paid for for David to be followed because she had paid for something like three days of them following him. They followed him once, caught him at the hotel,

and you know the rest is history so to say. So she actually had the balls to ask this company for a refund since they weren't going to be following him for the extra two days. I mean, she either has an incredibly high amount of nerve to ask that, or she is just like the ultimate Karen in that moment, asking for a refund. I mean, the absolute gall. Now, this video is extremely eerie because Clara's voice is just so calm after she just killed David. I honestly don't really know what I was expecting when I was listening, but it definitely wasn't this. So if you're listening to the podcast version, you can either hear the audio on this, or if you are watching the YouTube version, you can see the video version of this. A private investigator is sharing a taped phone conversation she had with Clara Harris two days after she killed her husband.

It is a recording few people have heard. She's just so calm that she was arrested. Never. Actually, you're probably the second people to listen to this ever. The phone call you're about to hear was taped 15 years ago by private investigator Bobby Basha and her client, Clara Harris, the day after Harris posted bond. We did tape record everything. As soon as we get that information, we can make that available to you and your attorney. Yes, ma'am. We have everything.

You know so, but we don't have it in our our possession because of you know, the incident that occurred. So if you were there through all the tragical part, the investigator did video everything. He hired us to video the subject. In the phone call, Harris is clearly surprised the events were caught on tape, and she tries to learn exactly what was recorded. There was a videotape, you know, they'd gone into the hotel, and there was a videotape, you know, when the tragedy developed.

Harris sounds calm and unemotional during the conversation, and she doesn't offer an explanation for what happened. Oh, my gosh, you know. She didn't say it was an accident. No, she didn't say it was an accident. My face looked. No, she didn't. She said, I went out there because I had to see for myself. Maybe I upset you enough to where, you know, you just lost it.

I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. Thank you. Thank you. This is a horrible. Oh, I know. Are your twins okay? They are okay, yeah, to this point. But once again, Harris goes back to the tape. You don't have the tape. The police took everything because it's a criminal case. And before the conversation is finished,

Harris has one final request, a refund for the time that PI wouldn't have to investigate because her husband is already dead. You know, I had paid obviously for the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. Yeah, and I didn't get to read into your contract agreement whether there was going to be a

cancellation refund or anything. Well, the way the contract reads is if the client shows up on the scene like you did, all retainers and monies are non-refunded. And I'll tell you why, as you found out the hard way. When there's a client on the scene, it jeopardizes our investigators, it jeopardizes the subject, and it jeopardizes the client. I don't know. There is something about that recording that is just extremely unsettling and eerie to me. Not only is she extremely calm, but there's also the conversation of, well, couldn't we just say that, you know, they're super upset and that that's what happened, almost as though you're kind of calculating the motions in your mind. I don't know. It does not sit right with me. The Clara Harris case, as surreal as it might seem, stands as a stark reminder of the depths to which passion and despair can send even the most accomplished of individuals into a full-on tailspin of destruction. Clara,

a woman who had worked so hard in her life to overcome the odds and reach the pinnacle of her profession, found her life unraveled in an unimaginable way. A thriving dental practice, a beautiful family, all was now lost in the blink of an eye, in the midst of jealousy and rage. And now, even after the verdict was read and Clara has paid her debt to society, a sense of mystery continues to circle this case. And the question has to be asked, with Clara being released, what does the future hold for Clara Harris? Will she have a happy rest of her life? Will she live with regret for the rest of her life? What's her relationship like with her two boys and her stepdaughter, Lindsay?

Is that relationship non-existent? Is there a path forward? Where does she go from here? And I'm just going to say, guys, as a quick little PSA look I know every marriage every relationship kind of has things happening behind the curtain and every situation is different please just do yourselves a favor do me a favor do everybody in the world a favor think twice before you ever decide to have an affair and think twice before you ever decide to take action if you catch somebody having an affair.

Because the danger and turmoil that can quickly unravel from your actions can be beyond anything that you would ever imagine. You may think it's all innocent fun. Oh, it's a drunken night out. Nobody will find out. Or, no, I'm really emotionally connected to this person. Or you can justify it in your mind. Like, I'm not getting what I need at home. We're only having sex once a quarter. Like, freaking Sandoval from Vanderpump used it as an excuse you can make any

any excuse up in the book but the fact is you are responsible for your actions and in turn and in part you are also responsible for whatever actions and reactions happen to you because of that not saying that Clara's movements and actions were justified and that David deserved to die or anything like that, but if you are somebody who is knowingly betraying someone you love, you don't know what that person is capable of. You don't know what kind of spiral and tailspin it may send that person into. So for your sake, for the sake of whoever you are diddling on the side take that into consideration before you stick your pee in somebody's vajee and think to yourself is it worth it just go in the

bathroom put on some websites and do your thing don't have an affair it's not worth it if you're not happy in your marriage and you're not happy in your relationship divorce or breakup period end of story sorry i will get off my soapbox but it's just like I see I've seen it too much I've covered too many cases where it just ends in like a heartbreak disaster and it's not even just heartbreak for the adults involved in this case think about those twin boys the four-year-old boys who now had to grow up with no parents it's so sad they didn't do anything wrong all because what and I'm gonna get a little vulgar here sorry guys but like all because what because you want to stick your dick in this hot little receptionist? So now your boys have to grow up without two parents? Don't be a selfish prick.

Don't have an affair. Break up if you're not happy in the marriage. Period. End of story. All right. That's my soapbox. That's my PSA for today. Sorry today sorry guys i just hate these freaking cases i really do all right let me know what you guys think should the punishment have been harsher did clara have a psychotic break from reality or was she fully aware of what she was doing what do you think let me know in the comments let me know in the comment section of spotify if you're listening to this on spotify i don't know it's a wild one I can't wrap my mind around it and it still is one that is very controversial which is kind of surprising but anyways it's not the first case we've heard of like this and I'm sure it won't be the last it's unfortunately a tale as old as time not to quote Beauty and the

Beast but you get what I'm saying all right guys thank you so much for listening to another episode of Serialistly. Please take a quick second and rate and leave a quick review on this podcast if you like it and if you want to be so nice and supportive just take a quick second to do that. I really appreciate it. I had a great time talking with you guys today about this case and breaking it down for you so I appreciate you guys checking it out as a reminder we also have an official serialously Facebook page which you're going to want to check out you're going to want to join because I give you guys a full behind the scenes look at all things relating to the podcast future guests who are going to be up on the episode an area for you to drop Q&A's so that your questions can get answered over here on the podcast or so that you can ask questions for my upcoming guests on those episodes. It's just kind of all of the things about the

podcast. So make sure you go and check that out. And as a reminder too, if you haven't subscribed to my YouTube page, Tend to Life, please do so. I am dropping new true crime cases there like literally every other day almost. And the video version of all of these podcast episodes will always be uploaded a few days later onto YouTube. So you can check out the video version over there. All right, guys. Thank you again for joining me today. I know I got a little heated, so I appreciate you hanging with me

and sticking with me through it. I just fucking hate cheaters. Sorry, but I do. All right. Until the next case, guys, stay safe. I will talk to you next week. It is your true crime bestie signing off. All right. Until the next case, guys, stay safe. I will talk to you next week. It is your true crime bestie signing off. All right. Bye, guys.