I'm Still Here: A Novel

by Jon Mills

  Sexual Assault Suspect Leaves Taekwondo Coaching Job

  Blackmore Taekwondo co-owner Jake Randal confirmed to the Peninsula Daily News that the former owner of Elite Taekwondo, Kyle Harris, is no longer teaching classes out of their facility. Harris, 29, of Blackmore faces charges of sexual assault and sexual interference involving a minor. The charges were brought after a recent investigation by Blackmore Police.

  According to Detective Tommy McGee, the offenses took place between February 1987 and March 1988 and involved a student of Elite Taekwondo under the age of 16. McGee said police will not disclose the name or exact age of the victim because of state laws protecting minors, nor will they say how many times it occurred or why it took the victim a year to come forward.

  Although the allegations have not been proven, Randal says that Harris felt it was right to step down to avoid any further damage to the business. “The way I see it, until he is proven guilty he is innocent,” he added.

  Harris declined to comment when contacted at his farm by the Peninsula Daily News. A court date has been set for May 4.

  Kara pulled up the next one, which was dated April 23, 1991, almost two years later.

  Taekwondo Coach Cleared of All Sexual Assault Charges

  “A deep sense of relief” was how Kyle Harris described the moment when Judge Hilary Carter found him not guilty of sexual assault. After almost two years of having his name marred, and having locals speak ill of him, the Superior Court finally found the charges to be unsubstantiated. Harris said he can now move forward, leave behind the past and finally clear his name.

  “I was born, raised and worked in Blackmore for many years as a taekwondo instructor, and I never once had anyone accuse me of sexual interference. When I learned about the allegations I was devastated. It destroyed me,” said Harris from his farm home in Blackmore.

  Harris co-owned Elite Taekwondo when he was accused of sexually assaulting one of his students who was under 16 at the time. He was charged with assault and interference with a minor related to the allegations.

  After being charged he was forced to step down from teaching taekwondo and his business as a farm owner suffered. Harris said the community shunned him from the moment the media released the news of the charges.

  “It has been the worst two years of my life. After I was charged, my vehicle was vandalized, I had people condemning me,” said Harris. “It didn’t matter that they hadn’t heard all the facts, people in the community assumed I was guilty.”

  When the verdict was announced, Harris broke down as did his sister Mary and brother Brian Harris. Among the supporters were some of his former taekwondo students.

  According to Harris’s lawyer, Harriet Wesley, the decision to clear him of all charges boiled down to “credibility of the accuser” and that his “version of the incidents could not have occurred.”

  She was asked if they knew why he was accused. “At this time we don’t,” said Wesley. She added that her job was to show the inconsistencies in the accuser’s allegations. It appeared to have worked as Judge Carter agreed.

  “We were able to establish without any doubt that Mr. Harris did not do it,” said Wesley. “The judge did not believe the boy’s version of events.”

  A key element in clearing his name involved presenting evidence that showed that the accuser continued to remain a student for over a year after the alleged sexual assault occurred. Blackmore police were able to provide the dates of the said offenses, stating they occurred between February 1987 and March 1988. The accuser didn’t come forward until 1989.

  “It seems pretty clear that you wouldn’t continue to place yourself in the situation if this was occurring,” Wesley said. “It’s not like he was living at his home.”

  Currently Harris is trying to pick up the pieces of his life. He is considering a civil lawsuit against the accuser and the Blackmore Police Department to reclaim money lost in clearing his name. Wesley has recommended that this would be the best course of action but would not comment on whether or not she would be involved.

  “The travesty in this is no one wins. An innocent man has been accused of a crime he did not commit, and he has faced the backlash of his community and suffered emotionally, physically and financially because of it,” added Wesley.

  Even though Harris has been traumatized by the experience, he is relieved at the outcome. He said that he owes a lot of thanks to those who believed in him, including his family, his friends and former students.

  Strangely enough, Kara had never heard about the previous accusations against Kyle. When she was between the ages of fourteen and twenty, her parents sheltered her from all matters related to Charlie’s case, and that included watching the news or reading newspapers. They tried to give her as best as they could a normal life, even if that was found spending a great deal of time at her uncle’s. Even in the year she left home for the university in New York, she didn’t follow the updates of the case against Kyle Harris prior to going to trial because she assumed it would be treated like all the suspects that police had already interviewed — nothing ever came of it. Of course when they pulled in people of interest, media whipped everyone into a frenzy — headlines plastered the front page informing the community that someone had been brought in, only to have them released a day later. When they finally felt they had a case against Kyle, and her mother phoned to let her know that he’d been arrested, she fully expected the case to be thrown out. The fact was hardly any “no body” homicide cases went to trial. Without a body it was very hard to charge someone, even though it did happen. However, out of the 480 that had occurred since 1819 in the USA, ninety percent were won and only seven of the accused ended up on death row. And even for those who wound up on death row, they would often get their conviction overturned on appeal or have a death sentence commuted for a lesser penalty. Yep, navigating the justice system was a long and slippery slope that didn’t always end up with justice being served.

  Kara took another sip of her wine and glanced at the clock. It was getting late. She took a seat on the floor surrounded by folders and photos, and mounds of paperwork. Her mother had certainly gone to a lot of effort. That’s what made her death seem so odd. Why? Why go to all the trouble of pursuing answers only to kill yourself? She glanced up at the wooden beams and felt a chill come over her.

  Kara fished out the next article dated three years after the abduction, and two years before his arrest. There was a snapshot of Kyle Harris, a few years older than his previous mug shot from the student accusation.

  Person of Interest Denies Involvement in Charlie Walker’s Abduction

  KIRO 7-NEWS recently learned that the person of interest in the Charlie Walker abduction was accused of sexual assault back in 1989 and cleared two years later. We recently spoke with that person, Kyle Harris, a resident and native of Blackmore, about the case.

  In October 1991, a masked man kidnapped 12-year-old Charlie Walker in Blackmore. He was taken by force from the Fairground Woods, a location that butts up against Harris’s farmland property. According to Blackmore Police, Harris is the only person who has been named a person of interest in the case even though he denies having anything to do with it.

  Harris was 29 years old at the time of the abduction. He had previously worked as a taekwondo coach at Elite Taekwondo until allegations were made about him sexually assaulting an under-16 student. It took two years for his lawyer to clear his name. He currently lives on the farm and was home alone at the time of the abduction.

  “Look, I understand why the police are looking at me. The previous case against me tainted my name in the community, the parents and locals want answers and I just so happen to live the closest to where the abduction occurred. But I’m innocent and I will fight this as I did the previous allegation.”

  Harris insists that the only reason police are targeting him is because he filed a civil lawsuit against them and won, and they are now under pressure to solve the case. Still, he vehemently denies being
involved.

  “My farm is not the only one that is close. There are two other farms. Did the police speak with those owners? No. That’s because they have already made up their minds about who they want to pin this on.”

  When asked what he heard or saw on Halloween in 1991, Harris had this to say.

  “I heard the sound of a vehicle, and I saw lights through the trees but that’s not uncommon to see. A number of residents are familiar with the farmland road that runs around the perimeter of my property. Teenagers used to use it as a place to make out. I just figured it was another group of kids or an adult taking a shortcut over to Craig Street. I told the police that I was relaxing that night in front of the TV.”

  Harris says that on the night in question, he answered the door to a few trick or treaters, then around 8:45 he turned out the light so that everyone else would know that he didn’t have any more candy to give out. Before he turned in for the night he saw headlights and watched them disappear at a high rate of speed down the road.

  Police arrived within eleven minutes.

  No calls were made to 911 by Harris that night.

  “Running a farm I have to be up at the crack of dawn so I retired just after nine. I was in the shower when a Blackmore police officer knocked on the door. They are saying that I took too long to get to the door and that when I answered I looked as if I’d been running. But that’s not accurate. I got out of a hot shower, threw some clothes on and my hair was still wet. The officer told me there had been an abduction, and I offered to help,” says Harris.

  According to Harris, officers searched his property.

  “At no point did I hide anything from them. I allowed them in my home, allowed them to go through the buildings with farm equipment — all without a warrant, mind you.”

  The Clallam County Sheriff Department says they don’t have the logs from the officers of all the buildings on his property being searched that night. One of which is no longer there. For some reason the officers’ notes were lost. However, the department stands behind what their officers said.

  “There were a lot of police on the scene. They had a chopper in the air, they had multiple vehicles in my driveway and officers inside my home. To say that they lost these logs and now blame me for it is outrageous. Their job is to document everything. I know I took them into every building, include the one that isn’t there. That’s no longer there because there was a fire. Now they are saying that I started that on purpose but you only have to go speak with the fire marshal to see that’s a lie.”

  Investigators say they also visited the two other farms that night and the owners, who didn’t wish to be named but gave a quote, say, “Two officers visited and asked if we had seen or heard anything but that was it. No one requested to view our property. If they did they did it without our permission.”

  Starting a fire on purpose wasn’t the only accusation thrown at Harris by the sheriff department. When they asked to enter his home on the night of the abduction, they say he asked about a warrant and acted suspicious. Harris had this to say, “Of course I was nervous. After dealing with the police and having accusations thrown at me from the previous case, you can bet I was nervous. Regarding the request for a warrant, that is bogus. I invited them in willingly. At no point in time did I request a warrant. This is just another attempt at using me as a scapegoat for a bungled investigation. The fact is evidence was not preserved in this case but Blackmore Police Department and the Clallam County Sheriff Department don’t want to admit fault.”

  Within a week of the abduction, Blackmore Police Department performed a search of his property, however, they are still suggesting that Harris had not been forthright and that was made clear when he failed one of three lie detector tests.

  “Think about it. If I had abducted this kid, would I really have offered to take a lie detector test? As for the failure, it was inconclusive. I passed two of their tests but because I didn’t pass the third with flying colors they think I’m lying to them. At every turn in this investigation they have attempted to put words in my mouth and get me to confess to something I didn’t do. Why are they trying to pin this on me? I’ll tell you why. It’s payback for the civil lawsuit, and it would certainly make for an easy way to close the case and gain favor in the public eye, would it not? Guy with shady past kidnaps young kid. The media is eating this up. That’s why I’m here speaking with you today. I did not take that kid and have no explanation for why the third test was inconclusive. Besides, I have even been asked to be hypnotized but I have refused because I’m nervous about how it would be conducted. I haven’t ruled it out but I want to make sure it’s performed by a non-biased third party and videoed.”

  For three years, investigators turned their attention to other leads but the case was broken in 1996 when an anonymous caller gave a tip that led investigators back to the farm of Harris. A search warrant was presented and Blackmore Police, Washington State Bureau of Investigation and FBI were on scene hauling out bags of evidence.

  Harris continues to deny involvement.

  Anyone with any tips about Charlie Walker’s kidnapping, please call the Clallam County Sheriff Department.

  Kara moved on to the next article, which was short and straight to the point:

  Person of Interest in Charlie Walker Kidnapping Arrested

  A 34-year-old Blackmore man, Kyle Harris, has been arrested on charges related to the abduction and homicide of Charlie Walker even though his body hasn’t been found. The arrest was announced on Tuesday at a press conference. The FBI confirmed WIRO7 reports that authorities found vital evidence including a shoe and a pair of jeans that Charlie Walker wore on the night he was taken.

  A search warrant was presented a week ago after authorities decided to search for human remains on Harris’s farm. The search was performed on August 2.

  Charlie Walker was abducted on October 31, 1991, in Fairground Woods close to Harris’s property. According to his sister and two friends, they were taking a shortcut home after a night of trick or treating in the neighborhood when they were approached by a masked man who took Charlie at knifepoint.

  His parents Anna and Matthew Walker have worked with the police to raise awareness and many people had been investigated and ruled out as suspects before Harris. The Walkers wish to thank the community for helping in the investigation.

  The search on the farm was performed one year before Clallam County Sheriff Robert Smith retired and Sheriff Vern Armstrong took over.

  She flipped through a few more of the articles that provided some smaller updates before turning her attention to some of the ones related to the trial of Kyle Harris.

  No Death Penalty for Charlie Walker Killer:

  Jury Gives Life Without Parole for Kyle Harris

  Six years after Charlie Walker was abducted on his way home on Halloween night, a jury on Friday determined that his killer will spend the remainder of his days behind bars without the possibility of parole. While the Walker family is pleased with the outcome, the result fell short of what prosecutors had wanted — the death penalty for now 35-year-old Kyle Harris.

  Although the same jury that had convicted him was involved in Friday’s decision, an expert for Washington State said that it’s not a surprise since Charlie’s body was never found. Harris was originally sentenced last July in Clallam County Superior Court by Judge Richard Davis who was involved in the six-month trial.

  It took the jury only four days to find Kyle Harris guilty. Without Charlie’s body or the murder weapon, the prosecution had a hard time proving their argument for the death penalty.

  When the verdict was announced, Charlie’s mother Anna Walker collapsed and had to be taken out. Outside the court, his father Matthew Walker thanked the jury and expressed his sense of disappointment in the outcome.

  “My boy doesn’t get to come home,” he said. “Kyle Harris will get to enjoy the privilege of three square meals a day, he will see his family and we will live with the grief for the res
t of our days.”

  After weeks of deliberation the jury finally convicted Kyle Harris of abducting and killing Charlie Walker.

  Harris was previously charged with a sexual assault and interference with a minor two years before Charlie’s abduction but was cleared by the Superior Court. Now a community is left wondering what they could have done. Many are outraged and feel the justice system made a mistake in letting him go.

  “If he had been convicted of the sexual assault back in 1989, my boy would still be alive,” Matthew Walker said. “It’s as simple as that. Yet the courts won’t take responsibility.”

  Defense attorneys for Harris said they plan to file a motion asking for a new trial as they believe in the innocence of Harris, who pleaded not guilty.

  Anna Walker pleaded with Harris to reveal the whereabouts of Charlie’s remains but he continues to remain steadfast and denies any involvement in the abduction.

  Chapter 9

  On Wednesday morning, one day after her arrival in Blackmore, Kara’s father woke her by shaking her shoulder. Her eyelids fluttered, and light stabbed her eyes. Her throat was dry, and her head throbbing from the alcohol.

  “You sleep down here last night?” he asked. She blinked a few times then realized where she was. She was still in the basement, lying on the floor, on top of the photos and paperwork. The computer was still on, a steady hum in the background.

  She sat up and pawed her eyes. “I must have passed out.”

  Her father lifted a half-drunk bottle of wine, and picked up an empty glass from the floor nearby. “Go take a shower. I’ll put on some breakfast.”

  “I’m probably going to go for a run.”