Iset: Matthew S. Harrison (Lancaster County DA’s Office). Background: The home where Harrison killed his wife last year (WGAL).
A 49-year-old man in Pennsylvania will spend the remainder of his days behind bars for killing his wife, sexually assaulting the 49-year-old woman in their home before strangling her to death and confessing to the crime in a series of text messages to family and co-workers.
Lancaster County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Conrad on Wednesday ordered Matthew Scott Harrison to serve a sentence of life plus an additional five to 10 years in a state correctional facility for the Feb. 5, 2024, slaying of Jami Harrison.
Prior to being formally sentenced, Harrison pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder and one count of strangulation in his wife’s death. Charges of second-degree murder and aggravated indecent assault had been dismissed as a result of Harrison’s plea agreement.
As one of Jami Harrison’s daughters prepared to read a victim impact statement, she paused and “turned directly to Harrison,” calling him “a coward,” the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release. The daughter said she and her siblings had hoped Harrison could “be a father figure to them,” but instead revealed himself to be abusive and “not the best example of a man.”
Jami Harrison’s daughter also emphasized how little Matthew Harrison cared for his stepchildren in taking away their “only true parent” — even leaving their mother’s body in the bedroom for it to be discovered by Jami Harrison’s then-11-year-old daughter.
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The little girl called 911 on the afternoon of Feb. 5, and told the emergency dispatcher that Matthew Harrison was “really mean and hurts” her mom, police previously said. The family lived in the 2200 block of E. Mount Hope Road in Manheim, about 75 miles west of Philadelphia.
Assistant District Attorney Fritz Haverstick, who prosecuted the case alongside Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Ponessa, also addressed the court, reading off some of the most “vulgar and degrading” messages among the approximately 120 texts Harrison sent to his wife while staying at a nearby hotel in the days before he killed her.
“Your not getting away with this,” “If I’m going down your coming with me,” “How’s that for your marriage,” and “It’s till death do us apart,” were some of the messages he sent, according to a report from Lancaster NBC affiliate WGAL. He also referred to her as a “whore,” said he “hates her,” and that she deserves “nothing but misery and much much pain.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, in at least one message from the day of Jami Harrison’s murder, Matthew Harrison told her that he needed to return and “grab things from home.”
Other troubling messages from Matthew Harrison’s phone included on Feb. 7, when he sent a co-worker texts stating, “Dude I’m in a world of s—,” “I won’t be back,” and “the demon in me broke free.” Harrison also wrote that he “overheard her having an inappropriate conversation,” adding, “and that’s all I could take.”
Additionally, on Feb. 3, Matthew Harrison allegedly messaged his son about killing Jami Harrison.
“Matthew Harrison messages, ‘If I kill her by now I’m cool son.’ (The son) replies, ‘Come on now ol head lol’ and Matthew Harrison responds, ‘S— you think [I’m] kidding,'” the probable cause affidavit says. “After being told to ‘be cool,’ Matthew Harrison replies, ‘Ever since what happened to you…I’ve been having murder on my brain.'”
It was not immediately clear what Harris is referencing that “happened” to his son.
Prosecutors said that after he was arrested, Matthew Harrison told detectives he “believed Jami wanted him to kill her ‘so she could stop being a whore.'” He also said that in killing Jami Harris he “believed he had ‘set her free.'”
While handing down the sentence, Conrad reiterated the sentiment from the victim’s daughter, saying that killing his wife “one of the most cowardly acts a man can do.”
In addition to his incarceration, Harrison will also be required to pay $6,500 in restitution.
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