Yuba-Sutter CHP Commander found shot dead outside Tennessee home months after husband's death
YUBA CITY — An investigation is underway into the shooting death of Yuba-Sutter California Highway Patrol Commander Julie Harding in Tennessee whose husband was also found dead after being reported missing in September.
Brandon Boone, the sheriff of Clay County, Tennessee, said that Harding was found dead from a single gunshot wound outside her Clay County home on the morning of December 10.
Boone said a mail carrier and another man found Harding's body in the yard near the driveway of the home she and her husband purchased a couple of years ago. The home is on Lake View Drive in the small town of Celina, Tenn.
A spokesperson for the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which is spearheading the investigation into Harding's death, said her body was taken to a medical examiner in Nashville. It does not appear that her death was a result of foul play. however the agency would not confirm if she died by suicide.
On December 9, the day before she was found dead, Harding was arrested and released from jail in nearby Rutherford County, Tenn., south of Clay County, the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office confirmed Tuesday evening. She was arrested on one charge of criminal trespassing.
The Murfreesboro Police Department, which is located in Rutherford County, sent CBS Sacramento two incident reports pertaining to Harding. The reports are for criminal trespassing and stalking.
CBS Sacramento learned that on October 10, a woman reported Harding for trespassing to Murfreesboro police. The woman claims Harding came onto her property and took a dog that Harding had previously had custody of with her husband Michael Harding, though the two were divorcing. The woman told police she had taken custody of the dog when Michael Harding went missing in September 2022. On October 13, the same woman reported Harding for harassment and stalking.
A spokesperson for Murfreesboro police said the department obtained a warrant for Harding's arrest and Rutherford County deputies served the warrant and took her into custody on Dec. 9.
Clay and Rutherford counties are located just east of Nashville, Tenn.
Michael Harding, Julie Harding's husband, went missing back in September 2022.
Sheriff Boone confirmed to CBS Sacramento that Michael Harding went missing from Clay County, TN where he lived and worked and was found dead around a week later in nearby Cumberland County, Kentucky in a vacant house for sale. He had no known connection to that house.
Michael Harding's death is being investigated as a homicide and is being handled by Kentucky State Police. A suspect in his killing was arrested in California, Boone said.
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Office said it assisted in that arrest, which happened at Sacramento International Airport on Dec. 8, and identified the suspect as Thomas Francis O'Donnell, 60.
The sheriff's office confirmed O'Donnell remains in custody in the Sacramento County Main Jail and is awaiting extradition to Kentucky. He is being held without bail.
CBS Sacramento is working to confirm further details of the arrest and how O'Donnell may have been connected to the Hardings.
KPIX reported that a close source claims Michael Harding's death was part of a murder-for-hire plot involving Julie Harding.
Sgt. Jeremy Weyland of the CHP's Valley Division said Julie Harding, 49, had been on the force since 1999 and was a commander since 2018.
