Man last seen at bar with Wash. mom charged with murder
PIERCE COUNTY, Wash. -- A Washington man has been charged with second-degree murder in the death of a mother discovered dead in a tarp Saturday, officials say.
Jonathan Daniel Harris, 29, was set to be arraigned Wednesday in the death of Nicole White, 28, according to the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Harris is believed to have beaten White to death after the two went to a bar June 6 in Spanaway, south of Tacoma, prosecutors say.
Police had earlier called Harris a person of interest and jailed him in Pierce County on unrelated federal weapons charges.
A spokeswoman for the Pierce County Prosecuting Attorney's Office couldn't comment on their relationship or a possible motive to 48 Hours' Crimesider. However, CBS affiliate KIRO has reported the two met after corresponding online.
Witnesses said they saw Harris and White leaving the Jeepers Country Bar and Grill June 6 in White's car, prosecutors say. White never made it home, and she was reported missing the following day.
Prosecutors believe the two drove back to Harris' house in Graham, where he beat the woman to death and wrapped her in a tarp. They say Harris loaded White's body into his car, drove to a wooded area near Kapowsin and rolled the body down a ravine. Then, prosecutors allege, he drove her car off the side of the road near his house and walked home.
Prosecutors believe Harris drove his car back to the site where he dumped White's body the following day, citing cell phone records and the ignition interlock device on Harris' car.
The Pierce County Sheriff's Department, the FBI and volunteers conducted an extensive search for the missing mother of two. Her car was found over an embankment on a remote road near Graham with the keys in the ignition shortly after she disappeared.
Then, June 20, a dog from a volunteer search and rescue team found her severely decomposed body at the bottom of the ravine south of Lake Kapowsin, about 20 miles southeast of Spanaway.
During a search of Harris' Graham home, prosecutors say they found sweatshirt he was wearing at the bar the night White disappeared. DNA from blood on the sweatshirt matched White, they say.
An autopsy is underway, but it could take an extended amount of time to determine the exact cause of death because of the severely decomposed state of the remains, a prosecutor's office spokeswoman told Crimesider.
Harris was due in court Wednesday afternoon.
