Michigan man accused of murdering wife by spiking her cereal with heroin so she would stop 'nagging'
A Michigan man has been accused of murdering his wife by spiking her cereal with heroin because she was nagged him.
Jason Harris, 44 allegedly tried to kill his wife Christina Ann-Thompson Harris, 36, multiple times but failed until he poisoned her food with the drug. He will be tried on counts of first-degree premeditated murder, solicitation of murder and delivery of a controlled substance causing death, Fox 66 reported.
In the incident that occurred on September 29, 2014, Christina had been found dead in their home by a neighbor after Harris had asked him to check on his wife. The medical examiner had ruled it as an accidental heroin overdose. However, her friends and family were convinced that she was not a drug user and couldn't have had an overdose. She was breastfeeding the couple's two-year-old child at the time and when the prosecution examined and tested the mother's frozen milk, they found no traces of substance abuse.
Harris' co-workers and his brother have testified that they had reason to believe he had killed Christina. David Groshong, a colleague at the plastic factory where Harris worked, said the accused had asked him if he had any drugs that would make Christina "go to sleep and quit nagging." Michigan Live reported him as testifying, "He said something about crushing them up so his wife would go to sleep and quit nagging,”
His brother Jeffrey also said he had mentioned wanting to "getting rid" of Christina. Another co-worker also said that he had asked for Xanax pills from him and had taken five, he told investigators. Harris had mixed it in water and tried to give it to his wife, but she didn't drink it, following which he had looked for something odorless and tasteless.
He had also asked colleague Zacariah Shustock if he would kill Christina for $10,000. Shustock said Harris had doubts about him being the father of the child. He had not told the police about it. “Complaining about his wife. There was a situation where he asked me if I would kill her for him," Shustock said, according to WNEM.
However, over the course of the investigation, investigators found that Harris was the one having an affair. They found 5,900 text messages between him and a woman in Providence, Rhode Island, among photos and emails sent to multiple women. He also visited the other woman in Providence after buying a plane ticket nine days after his wife's death.
Harris then went on to collect Christina's $120,000 life insurance payments. One of his colleagues also said he had not wanted to divorce her because he didn't want to lose his child or pay alimony to his wife.