I still have the scar where my brother kicked me. It also uncovered a dark tale of family, greed, and hate. Prosecutors accused him of engineering the plot after Bonnie Harkeys guardian refused to go along with his plans to sell the Harkey Pecan Farm for $574,000, allegedly to an agent for actor Tommy Lee Jones, who was born in San Saba, about 100 miles northwest of Austin. Who is Sherlocks Sponsor Alfredo on Elementary? For almost three years after her death, the house remained exactly as Bonnie left it. Her pecan-based desserts were legendary, often earning her first place at the countys pecan food show and a front-page mention in theSan Saba News & Star. Proud of his planning, Riley trumpeted what he had done around town. Scanner chatter is a rich source of gossip in this tiny Central Texas city of 3,099, and ears perked up that Sunday as paramedics and law enforcement officers rushed four miles west of town to Harkeyville, where a 1927 red-brick house sat among three hundred acres of pecan orchards. In September 2011, Bonnie was diagnosed with an abdominal aortic aneurysm, which the doctor explained could take her life at any moment. Bonnie Harkey owned the pecan farm and had willed 94 acres of it to a grandson, Carl Wade Pressley. Because of that, Bonnie did pretty much everything she could to alienate me. He was convinced she had caused Erics death. Bonnie H Harkey is listed at 1340 Sardis Rd N Charlotte, Nc 28270 and is affiliated with the Republican Party. Brown wondered if Karen had died of natural causes and if Bonnie, confused upon discovering her body, had simply wandered off. Those close to Bonnie say she was afraid of Bruce and other family members. Karens eleven-year-old son, who had found her and called 911, stood on the front porch clutching a cordless phone. The Harkey brothers lined up the lucrative deal to sell the orchard to the movie stars agent. The town has recently focused its energies on tourism, redeveloping its downtown, but the pecan industry remains alive and well. The orchards were in such horrible condition, because Bonnie and Connie didnt know how to run a farm or what to do with pecan trees, Jennifer told me. 2023 National City and Regional Magazine Awards Finalists Announced, Texas Monthly Receives a Nod From the American Bar Association, HBO Max Releases Official Trailer for Love & Death, Step Aside, Perrys: This 30-Ounce Smoked Pork Chop Is Ready to Take the Crown, Willie Nelsons Son Lukas on Ancient Texts, Pearl Jam, and I Never Cared for You, Love and Death in Silicon Prairie, Part I: Candy Montgomerys Affair, I Biked the I-35 Hell Route From Austin to San Antonio So You Dont Have To, Texas-Style Pulled Pork Is Embarrassing, The Astrodomes Decline From Eighth Wonder to Eighth Blunder of the World, 15 Treasure-Filled Spots to Antique in Small-town Texas, Mosquito Hawks Are Flitting All Over Texas, Matthew McConaughey Is Monetizing His Whole Vibe, Love and Death in Silicon Prairie, Part II: The Killing of Betty Gore. With the deal falling apart, authorities said, Bruce Harkey made Pressley an offer: He would pay Pressley and his girlfriend, Lillian King, $500 to make her gone this weekend, with a follow-up payment of $55,000 after Bonnie Harkeys death, one affidavit said. John joined with Bruce in court to try to remove Connie as guardian; they failed, but then Connie died suddenly, in March 2011 at age 62, after a bout with pneumonia. Our world has changed, and many people in it have become motivated by greed and grown up with a sense of entitlement, she wrote in theNews & Staron April 5. View Details. One major source of tension was their blended family. But thats not all Carl Pressley told investigators. The foyer where Karen Johnson was found dead. Everywhere I turned, I encountered the Harkey name: on a marker next to the courthouse, in photographs at my hotel, on Harkey Street. Bonnie, with her hazel eyes and red-tinted hair,as well as her knowledge of motherhood, was instantly attractive to Riley. We report on vital issues from politics to education and are the indispensable authority on the Texas scene, covering everything from music to cultural events with insightful recommendations. Investigators focus on one of Bonnies stepsons, Bruce Harkey, as the mastermind behind the plot to kill Bonnie Harkey.April 24, 2015. The three got into Carls carhe insisted that Lillian drive because his license had been revokedand headed to the campground in Normangee, where a friend from his motorcycle club had loaned him an RV. A local lawyer by the name of Dick Miller stepped in on Bonnies behalf, asking his law partner, Darrel Spinks, to get involved. The famously craggy-faced movie star had been buying up property near his hometown since 1981, slowly amassing a 5,050-acre ranch in the eastern part of San Saba County. It was assumed by many that the ambulance was for Bonnie Harkey, the matriarch. The home that sits amidst a 300-acre pecan farm, alongside actor Tommy Lee Jones' colossal cattle ranch property. mostly concerned himself with fire ants, which can hamper the grafting process and damage expensive irrigation equipment. Rencontre avec Vincent Huguet (EDHEC Master 1998) co-fondateur et co-CEO de Malt. It didnt help that Bonnie was showing signs of dementia. He sensed her reluctance to embrace him and John, feeling her disdain as soon as the wedding was over. BURNET, Texas (AP) - A Central Texas man faces life in prison for plotting the death of his stepmother so he could sell her lucrative pecan farm and make hundreds of thousands of dollars. SAN SABA, Texas (KXAN) - At 85, Bonnie Harkey was loved by her neighbors in San Saba County and affectionately known as the Pecan Queen because of the sprawling and fertile farm of nut-bearing trees that had been in her family for years. View 10 photos $931,099 5 Beds 3 Baths 2153 sqft. Bonnie was ill, after all; they would have come into their inheritance soon enough. As a favor to their friends son,Betty Ann and Craigan Johnson hired him to clean out their barn, but the work was short-term. Bruce said he wanted me to get rid of her and take herhell put money in my bank account., According to Carl, Bruce had come to see him on Friday to propose a deal. Carl would show up with a pickup full of pecans, and we bought them. Wearing his thin, light-blue coveralls, Riley dispensed tips on everything from soil drainage and fertilization techniques to how many grazing sheep to allow in the groves and how to stave off pecan scab, a type of fungus that looks like a horticultural syphilis. How long does it take for a pecan tree to fully mature? They would laugh at her and criticize her food, her sister continued. She aint going to forgive me, Carl told Wilkerson through tears. Bonnies arrival, however, when Bruce was eleven, made the future uncertain. Bruce began to spend more time with his nephew Carl, who was now 24. After reconstructing Bonnies movements that morning, the search team was stumped. They were separated immediately for questioning, and it wasnt long before Carl admitted that they had taken Bonnie for a drive in his car. But Bruce, now a convicted felon, had trouble finding work. She agreed, and after sitting together at the foot of the bed, Carl lunged toward her with a pillow. In the meantime, if Riley died first, Bonnie would maintain a life estate over all the property. I drove to San Saba in late summer. Bruce called me in the mornings, in the evenings, on the weekends. John Spong writes primarily about popular culture. The sentencing hearings for Carl and Lillian took place a couple of weeks later at the San Saba County courthouse. He considered the pecans a hobby, however; his primary interest was turkeys, which he bred by the thousands and shipped as far away as North Dakota and New Hampshire. You get rid of that kid or Im going back to Waco, he claims she told Riley. He scowled as the judge read his sentence: life without parole. A devout reader ofBetter Homes and Gardensshe stored all her back issues neatly in the laundry roomBonnie also put her stamp on the house, turning a closet into a bathroom, adding on an extra bedroom, and building a sunporch that could comfortably seat up to 27 people. The animals died from smoke inhalation. If you fill out the first name, last name, or agree to terms fields, you will NOT be added to the newsletter list. The Harkey brothers founded Harkeyville, which in its heyday would boast a general store, a cotton gin, a blacksmith shop, a baseball diamond, a millinery, and a racetrack. It bothered Bonnie that we didnt have any money growing up, recalled her sister, Wilma Cook. This labor-intensive process takes time and costs money. Her ex-husband, a traveling salesman, had left her for another woman, and Bonnie had moved from Ocee to the city with their daughter, fourteen-year-old Connie. An agent for Hollywood movie star Tommy Lee Jones made a tentative unsigned offer of $574,000 for the family-owned orchard back in May 2011, Burnet County District Attorney Sonny McAfee said. Riley trained his sonshe told them that as Harkeys they were special.. Portraits of several generations of Harkeys, including white-haired matriarch Bonnie Harkey. If you want to enjoy the unmistakable flavor of chocolates but don't like candy, praline nuts are an excellent option. But both those possibilities were excluded when the bloodhound, using a scent swab from her pillow, followed her trail down the driveway almost to the road, indicating shed likely left in a vehicle. Bruce and Judi were devastated. The relationship devolved rather quickly, recalled Spinks. A portrait of Bonnie used in her obituary. Bruce and I just kind of confined ourselves upstairs and made it into a little apartment, recalled Jennifer. Bruce pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, and at his sentencing, his lawyer tried to argue that he had simply been all talk. (John by this time had settled outside Fort Worth and had three children of his own.) How many years does it take for a pecan tree to produce pecans? His silver hair was closely shorn, per regulations, and he wore wire-frame glasses and flimsy terry-cloth slippers. No detail in his orchards escaped him. How much money can you make with pecan trees? The sergeant did his best to reassure him: Your grandmothers forgiven you for everything else.. Bruce, upset about being left again, told a co-worker at the nursing home that he was contemplating Kamis murder. Autopsy reports indicate Bonnie Harkey may have been buried alive. The gravestone for Bruces firstborn, Eric Harkey, in the San Saba City Cemetery. Some of those secrets still haunt some of the people involved., Just outside of San Saba sits the small town of Harkeyville, named for the Harkey family and its generations of pecan farming. It also uncovered a dark. The jury took one hour to find him guilty. Who owns the largest pecan orchard in the world? Lillian had dropped him off at the house while Bonnie was at church; hed climbed in through a window and hidden downstairs, smoking meth while he awaited her return. And I wont do that. A contract was immediately drawn up. He knew the house well; since the early sixties, generations of San Sabans had attended the church suppers and cookouts hosted there by Bonnie Harkey, the familys matriarch. One time she wrote about sports. had ceded oversight to Riley in his thirties, moving out of the red-brick house and into town. How many acres do you need for a pecan orchard? Pressley and King have both pleaded guilty to murder charges and await sentencing, according to the San Saba County District Clerks office. The marker stood in front of a metal storage building and across the way, a donkey grazed in front of a newly built house. Bruce and John, however, with their inheritance in sight, had already begun some wrangling over the property. Not much damage and we enjoyed 'bumping into each other' at the Christian Women's monthly meetings. Bonnie Louise Harkey Birth 26 Aug 1947 - Iredell, North Carolina Death 2017 - Mocksville, Davie, North Carolina, USA Mother Lucille Virgina Thompson Father David Lee Harkey Quick access Family tree 314 New search Bonnie Louise Harkey family tree Family tree Explore more family trees Parents David Lee Harkey 1911 - 1990 Lucille Virgina Thompson At the trial, held in Burnet, Bonnies relatives and a handful of San Sabans watched as Bruce sat coolly through the proceedings, convinced there was nothing hed be found guilty of. There was no sign of a struggle, except for a broken fingernail on Karens right hand. Find contact info for Bonnie Sharkey - phone number, address, email. Bruce Harkey, 59, said in interviews with The Associated Press before his arrest that he had long ago reached an agreement to buy part of Pressley's estate. Bruce was Bonnies step-son. Davis said he plans to appeal the verdict. (The official cause of death was aspiration asphyxiation.) 2:26. Finally, when their daughter was four, Kami worked up the courage to walk out. He wore a suit every day and furiously took notes, prompting one reporter to observe, If one did not know Harkey, he could be mistaken for one of the lawyers in the courtroom.. That summer the couple left San Saba and moved to Lubbock,where, like his siblings, Bruce enrolled at Texas Tech. She was 85. 10,853 followers. Lillian, meanwhile, kept Bonnie occupied in the wood-paneled living room, their conversation and the TV muffling the sounds of Karens struggle. We support the Constitution, Smaller Govt, and Individual Liberty. Investigators focus on one of Bonnies stepsons, Bruce Harkey, as the mastermind behind the plot to kill Bonnie Harkey. Bonnie is related to Rodney Alan Harkey and Claire Woodslayer Heakins as well as 3 additional people. I do drive slowly more times than I should because I would not want to hurt anyone. And I said, Forwhat? Despite his protestations, he was arrested two days later, for criminal solicitation of capital murder, an allegation he pronounced absolutely and totally ludicrous. He vociferously contested Carls version of events. including 3 cats, a dog, a gecko and a pet snake. How is it, if Im the mastermind, that I established an alibi before I planned the crime? said Bruce. Several of the older ones had died. At her hearing, Lillian, her pale blond hair held back by a white scrunchie, sobbed uncontrollably. He willed it to Connie, while the other two groves were to go to John and Bruce, so that all three kids would have their own orchards someday. Bonnie, too, was grief-stricken. Riley, meanwhile, focused on the familys holdings outdoors, tending as always to his pecan trees. Are candied pecans the same as praline pecans? We didnt know he had stolen them, said Shawn Oliver. Bonnie was laidto rest next to Riley in the city cemetery on the afternoon of April 1exactly 42 years after Eric Harkeys birth. Then, in 2007, hed looked west, buying the 209-acre strip of farmland adjacent to Harkey Pecan Farms, where he grew wheat and grazed his horses. Bonnie, who grew up in a farming family during the Depressionher father planted cotton, corn, and wheathad always longed for a grander life. On April 1, 1970, a month before her due date, Judi gave birth to the next Harkey: a seven-pound, two-ounce boy named Eric. The late afternoon of March25, 2012, a voice crackled over the police scanners that perch on the coffee tables or hang on the belts of many residents in San Saba: an ambulance was headed out to Harkey Pecan Farms. She never responded. According to Bruce, Bonnie issued an ultimatum shortly thereafter. Dont tell anybody I had anything to do with it. Bruce gave him $100, with the promise of depositing $350 more in his bank account on Monday, once the deed was done. But Bruce Harkey tells a different story. Teenage flirtation gave way to sobering reality with an unexpected pregnancy, however, and the two were married in August 1969, on a Friday evening at the start of Bruces senior year. Trending on Oxygen. The Harkey family owns hundreds of acres of walnut farmland in Central Texas. San Saba County Top: The door to the Harkey familys historic house. She, like the three hundred other assembled mourners, was still reeling from the shock of her friends violent end. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. Carl, looking pudgy and sporting a large horseshoe mustache, nervously bounced his legs, his feet shackled, as he sat in his orange-and-white jumpsuit. Read More. Connie N Harkey (1948 - 1991) Born April 19, 1948 Death January 1991 Summary Connie N Harkey was born on April 19, 1948, and died at age 42 years old in January 1991. He often criticized her. He grew controlling in his marriage, abusing Kami verbally and then, after she gave birth to their daughter in 1998, physically. Bruce could con you into doing anything he wanted you to do, he said mournfully in his prison whites. Investigators say the motive behind Bruce Harkeys solicitation of Bonnie Harkeys murder was greed. Preview. Despite the chaos, Bonnie remained lucid about some things. (I just wish the old bitch was dead, he told Les Dawson, a justice of the peace, at the courthouse. FULL EPISODE: Queen of the County He called KXAN from behind bars in the Taylor County jail, where he awaits trial. (Many think Jones was less interested in pecans than in the excellent water rights that come with the property.) Professional coffee lover. According to Carl, he approached another potential hit man about killing Bonnie and Spinks but found the $10,000 asking price too steep. There were weevils and caterpillars and webworms. I was in the backseat, and I leaned forward and said, So, do we call you Mom now or what? he said. Mesa, Az. He gave the co-worker three gunstwo old Chinese military rifles and one semiautomatic .22asking him to obliterate the serial numbers; he also talked about rubbing poison on Kamis steering wheel. The way it looked, making sure it was well manicured. Yet while their life appeared to be in perfect order, Bonnie and Rileys marriage was not always a happy one. What's the difference between praline pecan and butter pecan? The Harkey brothers offered to give Bonnie Harkey $44,000, but her guardian thought she should receive $240,000, McAfee said. He sped down U.S. 190 in his white truck, passing neatly tended rows of pecan trees and the cattle auction barn, then crossed the San Saba River and rumbled down the caliche road to the two-story house. The investigation into the murder of Bonnie Harkey and her caretaker broadens as lawmen look for a motive in the familys history. Wild pecan trees, Carya illinoinensis, haveflourished throughout the South for millennia, and thousands grow along the rivers of Central Texas; when the explorer lvar Nez Cabeza de Vaca was held captive by Indians on the Guadalupe in 1532, he christened it the river of nuts. But human cultivation of pecans in Texas began in San Saba in 1874, with the arrival of Edmund E. Risien. She was the closest thing to a mother I ever had, he said, choking back tears. The best result we found for your search is Bonnie Heakins Harkey age 60s in Charlotte, NC in the Sardis Woods neighborhood. What had happened to Karen? Who owns the biggest pecan farm in the world? Why are pecans more expensive than other nuts? One of those girls was Judi Bishop, one year older and from Goldthwaite, a town 22 miles north. Pressley, 29, has confessed to capital murder and was sentenced to life in prison without parole. April 24, 2015 The autopsy reports she may have been buried alive. (Jennifer was never arrested, and John escaped public scrutiny when he died of a heart attack three months after the murders.) The Millicans, their lease having expired, were no longer caring for the orchards, and as I passed by the historic groves, the trees looked unkempt, thirsty from the drought and in need of a trim. As the farms two orchards matured, they began to yield a handsome profit. A DPS helicopter dispatched from Waco made slow circles overhead, scanning the ground with heat-imaging cameras. His conviction carries an automatic life sentence without parole, the Austin American-Statesman reported (https://bit.ly/1iIE72W ). How much money can you make off a pecan tree? Bonnie Harkey owned the walnut farm and had given 94 acres of it to a grandson, Carl Wade Pressley. Jun 1986 - Dec 200115 years 7 months. According to local news station KXAN, "One Sunday, while Bonnie was at church, her grandson Carl. There, he hit her over the head with a dead tree branch and pushed her face into the ankle-deep water until she stopped struggling. The Harkey family owns hundreds of acres of walnut farmland in Central Texas. There was a payment made to Carl Pressley and of course there were some arrangements to be made that further payment would be made to Carl Pressley for killing Bonnie Harkey, said Wilkerson. Though he appeared physically diminished since his sentencing, his self-regard was intact. Bruce Harkey is Bonnie Harkeys stepson. According to local news station KXAN, One Sunday, while Bonnie was at church, her grandson Carl Pressley broke into her home and waited for his grandmother to return. The investigation into the murder of Bonnie Harkey and her caretaker broadens as lawmen look for a motive in the family's history. Bonnie Harkey was reported missing on March 26, 2012, after the body of her housekeeper was found at Harkey's home in the farming community of Harkeyville, near San Saba, a town that hails. View the profiles of people named Bonnie Harkey. The entrance to the Harkey homestead off U.S. 190. Handsome, with sandy-brown hair, Bruce busied himself with a slate of extracurricular activitiesSpanish club, student council, Future Farmers of Americaand soon figured out how to charm girls with his mischievous smile. The two needed to get back immediately, the sheriff told him: Karen was dead and Bonnie was missing. The real story is of greed, corruption, love, hate, lies, and violence. I cant tell you how many hundreds of miles my grandfather and I walked in that Harkeyville Orchard, said Bruce recently. John Wilkerson, an investigator with the San Saba County Sheriffs Office.He asked me to forgive him, made comments about burning in hell for the actions that he did.. Carl then went to find Bonnie and asked if they could pray together in her bedroom. His son had built the house where the Harkey blacksmith shop once stood; you could still find racing horseshoes whenever you dug in the dirt. https://medium.com/crime-seen/tommy-lee-the-pecan-tree-405a00df9dbf, Tommy Lee Jones Owns a 3,000-Acre Cattle Ranch in Texas. The baby seemed healthy, but shortly after his delivery the couple learned that his epiglottis was not fully formed, which meant that after feedings Eric had to be held or laid on his stomach so that he wouldnt choke on spit-up. And when the jury read it out, his mouth dropped open and his shoulders dropped. Today, the land and orchard are owned by the Millican family, and six generations have worked in the pecan business. The fourteen-day-old infant was buried in the city cemetery the next day; two of Bruces wedding ushers were among the pallbearers, and Riley helped Bruce pick out the gray granite headstone. Where was Bonnie? ), Bruce, Carl, and Lillian were sent away to separate county jails, where they remained until Bruces trial this past April. He expected that his father would hand over the day-to-day operations of the farm in the same way O.B. The Harkey family was well known in their small Texas town. Left: Bonnies bedroom, decorated with her paintings of flowers. She is a white female registered to vote in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina. When shed tell a story, hed interrupt and say, No, thats not the way it goes, recalled Bonnies sister. Bruce Harkey in the visitors room at the Byrd Unit, in Huntsville, in September 2014. Their pecan farm became a multi-million dollar business. In San Saba 237 years later, March 25 dawned as an unremarkable Sunday. In the days before the murders, hed proclaimed to everyone he encounteredat the San Saba Printing Company, at the Corner Caf, at J&Js Tractor Companythat he planned to spend the weekend at Johns house, in Fort Worth, playing golf. Harkey was arrested and charged with solicitation of murder.. These nuts have a praline-flavored coating, making them a crunchy, but no less sweet, alternative to the thick, chewy praline burger. An English cabinetmaker who was captivated by the wrinkly nuts, Risien offered a $5 prize to whoever brought him the finest specimens. Afterward, one San Saban whod witnessed all the proceedings expressed his towns pleasure in the outcome. Though the civil side of Bonnies estate was still being hammered out, Carls legal wife, Melissa Pafford, and their two children were set to move into the Harkey house, and it appeared that the orchards would be divided among them and Johns heirs. How much can you make off one pecan tree? For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. But he didnt think she would survive the surgery to fix it, and Bonnie insisted on spending whatever days she had left in the house. Every time I went, she said, Please do not let them take my home away from me, Betty Ann, recalled her friend. Bonnie Chapman, the 24-year-old daughter of Duane "Dog the Bounty Hunter" Chapman is going through another unbearable family tragedy.. Less than five years after the death of her mother and Dog's . The entire county mourned Bonnie's death, killed by her stepson. He had been playing video games in another room, he said through tears, and hadnt heard any commotion.