A Pennsylvania man wanted for killing his wife — whose strangled body was found on Monday by a child coming home from school — was taken into custody at a hotel in Thursday after a brief standoff with police.
Matthew Harrison, 48, was wanted on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, strangulation, aggravated indecent assault without consent, and two counts of aggravated indecent assault-forcible compulsion in the death of 49-year-old Jami Harrison, as CrimeOnline reported.
Harrison was found in a hotel in Pittstown, about 115 miles from the Lancaster County home where Jami Harrison lived, according to the Northern Lancaster County Regional Police Department.
Court documents say an 11-year-old “member of the household” came home from school Monday afternoon, found the body, and called 911, WGAL reported. The child said that the victim was dead with bruises all over her body and that Matthew Harrison “is really mean and hurts” her.
Another part of the affidavit says that Jami Harrison’s daughter, who was not the person who called 911, told investigators that her mother and Matthew Harrison argued on Friday and that he left the home and was staying at a hotel. The daughter said that the couple’s relationship was “tumultuous” and that Harrison had pushed her mother into walls, poured beer over her head, and strangled her on several previous occasions.
According to the documents, detectives learned that Harrison had been staying at the Comfort Inn in Manheim but checked out early Monday afternoon.
Detectives spoke with Harrison’s mother, who told them that her grandson had called her and told her “dad snapped” and Jami Harrison was dead, the affidavit says. But when they spoke to the son, he denied saying his father had snapped and that he’d spoken with his father. He eventually said he had spoken with him by text but said he’d erased text messages between them, WPMT reported.
Investigators obtained a search warrant and found messages dated on Saturday in which Matthew Harrison tells his son, “If I kill her by now I’m cool son.”
“(The son) replies, ‘Come on now ol head lol’ and Matthew responds, ‘S*** you think kidding,’” the document says. “After being told to ‘be cool,’ Matthew replies, ‘Ever since what happened to you … I’ve been having murder on my brain.’”
The document details another text message exchange that took place at about 8 p.m. on Monday, although it redacts the name of the person Harrison was texting.
“After being asked to talk to [name redacted] Matthew indicates that he doesn’t want his phone to ‘ping,’” the affidavit says. “Matthew questions, ‘What did you hear?’ and [name redacted] replied, ‘She’s dead.’”
After Harrison failed to show for his job on Monday, a co-worker gave detectives messages they exchanged with him.
“Dude I’m in a world of sh**,” Harrison told the coworker, telling them he’s on the run from police and it will come out in the news. The “demon in me finally broke free,” he told the coworker.
According to the affidavit, Harrison sent more than 120 messages to his wife on Saturday and Sunday before she replied, many of them harassing and insulting, investigators said. According to WPMT, he alluded to having sexually assaulted her and told her she deserves “nothing but misery and much much much pain.”
He also allegedly told the victim he needed to return home Monday to collect his belongings.
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[Featured image: Matthew Harrison/Northern Lancaster County Regional Police Department]
