What Happened to the Harrisons? | 2. Tug of War

When Caleb Harrison meets Melissa Merritt, she gives him two kids who look like him and a fresh start. But their marriage burns to the ground…and what's left is a bitter, years-long battle waged through the courts, the police, and a string of accusations. Want the full story? Binge every episode of What Happened to the Harrisons? ad-free now by subscribing to The Binge+. You’ll unlock over 60 true crime series instantly, get early access to drops on the first of every month, and hear exclusive bonus episodes. Search for the channel on Apple Podcasts or head to GetTheBinge.com. For behind-the-scenes details, join our free newsletter at Patreon.com/TheBinge. What Happened to the Harrisons? is a production of Sony Music Entertainment. Follow @sonypodcasts and discover more at sonymusic.com/podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices at podcastchoices.com/adchoices. The Binge — feed your true crime obsession. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Hey, everyone. This is Jonathan Van Ness from Getting Better. You know what you believe. Maybe your faith is at the center of your life. Maybe you're still figuring it out. Maybe religion just isn't your thing. Those choices are personal, and in America, they should stay personal. That's why Americans United for Separation of Church and State is fighting for something that affects all of us. The freedom to live as yourself and believe as you choose, so long as you don't harm others. Because religious freedom isn't just about protecting your right to practice or not. And it surely isn't about having one forced, government-sanctioned religion. It's about protecting your right to say, "This is what I believe," while your neighbor

• 0:44Speaker 00

  says, "I believe something completely different." And honestly, that's the whole point. If that sounds like the kind of America you want, learn more at au.org/gettingbetter. Because your beliefs are yours, and theirs are theirs.

• 1:01Speaker 01

  Listen to every episode of What Happened to the Harrisons ad-free right now when you subscribe to The Binge. You'll hear the entire series before anyone else. Get exclusive bonus episodes and unlock more than 60 other true crime podcasts. Just head to The Binge channel on Apple Podcasts and tap Subscribe, or visit getthebinge.com to listen wherever you are.

• 1:28Speaker 01

  The Binge.

• 1:34Speaker 01

  Before we begin, just wanted to let you know, this episode contains descriptions of domestic violence.

• 1:51Speaker 01

  I'm looking at a grainy video of a police interview. Bridgette Harrison is sitting alone at a small, round table in a windowless room. She's at the police station near her home on Pitch Pine Crescent, waiting for a constable to join her. It's May 6, 2009, three weeks after Bridgette found her husband, Bill Harrison, dead of an apparent heart arrhythmia. And now, she's here to report a crime. She looks deeply distressed, but even now, she's carefully put together, in a tailored blazer and stylish glasses.

• 2:34Speaker 02

  It's working out there.

• 2:35Speaker 03

  It's okay.

• 2:36Speaker 01

  She lifts her head as a police officer enters and opens a spiral notebook. Bridgette is a meticulous note taker.

• 2:46Speaker 02

  Pass for Mike Young, the Regional Police Criminal Law Division's Bureau.

• 2:50Speaker 01

  He's a middle-aged man with thinning gray hair, and today, he's dressed in plain clothes, a shirt and tie.

• 2:57Speaker 02

  This room right now is being audio and videotaped, and you are...

• 3:00Speaker 03

  My name is Bridgette Harrison.

• 3:02Speaker 02

  Bridgette Harrison.

• 3:03Speaker 03

  Right, and I am the mother of Caleb Harrison and the grandmother of two grandchildren.

• 3:11Speaker 01

  Bridgette names the children here, a girl and a boy, five and seven years old.

• 3:17Speaker 03

  And these are the children who have been abducted by their mother.

• 3:21Speaker 01

  Abducted by their mother. Bridgette's son Caleb isn't here with her, and we'll get to why later.

• 3:30Speaker 02

  Um, all right. And so that's what we're here, that's what we're investigating right now.

• 3:35Speaker 01

  Bridgette reviews the events that have led her here. She explains that Caleb has been living in her home on Pitch Pine Crescent since his marriage ended in 2005, and his children had been living there, too, when Caleb had visitation, until recently.

• 3:51Speaker 03

  On April 16 of this year, which is just like three weeks ago, my husband died, completely unexpected and so suddenly, he's never been ill.

• 4:03Speaker 01

  Bridgette says she wanted to be the one to tell her grandchildren that their papa had died, but the kids were scheduled to be with their mom that weekend.

• 4:11Speaker 03

  But because of the death of my husband, went to school on Friday and found out they weren't in school.

• 4:21Speaker 01

  She thought their mom might have kept them home from school, so Bridgette drove to Melissa's house to check.

• 4:28Speaker 03

  We went by the house, 2651 Aquitaine, all dark, all locked up. Made me nervous. I called her dad.

• 4:39Speaker 01

  Melissa's father, Mike Merritt.

• 4:42Speaker 03

  Partly to tell him, well, first of all, to tell him about Bill's death, but also to ask him, please, to talk to Melissa and make sure that we were able to tell the children ourselves, so that we could be with them when we had to give them this information.

• 4:56Speaker 01

  The weekend passed, with Bridgette in mourning for her husband and worried for her grandkids. She heard nothing from Melissa. On the day the kids were supposed to return to Pitch Pine Crescent, Bridgette went back to the school.

• 5:11Speaker 03

  When they're not in school on Tuesday, that's, the flags really went up then.

• 5:19Speaker 01

  When I first learned about the abduction, I remember thinking, what would motivate a mother of little kids to just make a run for it? To walk away from her home, her life, to risk criminal charges and jail time, to risk losing her kids altogether?

• 5:40Speaker 01

  I wanted to understand what led to that moment, what had to happen, step by step, for that decision to feel like the only option. So one morning a few months ago, I dragged two boxes of family court records into my office. They were stuffed with custody orders, police reports, thousands of pages that were once kept at the Harrison residence. The records told the story of a marriage that fell apart and a relentless battle for control of the kids. A lot of custody battles get ugly. This one turned deadly.

• 6:25Speaker 01

  From Sony Music Entertainment, this is What Happened to the Harrisons. I'm Amy Dempsey-Raven, episode two, Tug of War.

• 6:41Speaker 01

  I'm going to take you back now to the year 2000, a time of landlines, frosted tips, internet chatrooms, CD burners, and everyone watching shows at the same time. This is when a 27-year-old Caleb Harrison met his future wife, Melissa Merritt, at a store that sold collector Barbies. Melissa was 20, with highlighted hair, a round face, and bright green eyes. She worked in the shop, and Caleb would come out from the warehouse to flirt with her. But when they met, she was actually engaged to someone else.

• 7:20Speaker 04

  The Melissa that I know was a very outgoing, popular, sociable person who seemed to love life, who really aspired to just settle down right away and live the family life.

• 7:35Speaker 01

  This is the guy Melissa was going to marry, her high school sweetheart, Matthew Groves.

• 7:44Speaker 01

  Melissa was a jeans-and-sneakers girl who loved animals, and she came from a middle-class family. Her father, Mike, was a Toronto police officer.

• 7:54Speaker 04

  A very intimidating, imposing guy, but a really good guy.

• 7:58Speaker 01

  And her mom worked at a flour mill near the family home. In high school, Melissa wasn't afraid to speak her mind.

• 8:06Speaker 04

  She was really good to her friends, and she was not good to any of her enemies. If you crossed her, you know, she would let you know she didn't like you.

• 8:17Speaker 05

  What were her, like, goals and her hopes for life?

• 8:22Speaker 04

  Make babies.

• 8:24Speaker 01

  Matthew had proposed on graduation night, but he wasn't ready to have kids. And Melissa, she didn't want to wait. She wanted kids straight out of high school.

• 8:36Speaker 04

  Everything looked like a match made in heaven until it wasn't.

• 8:41Speaker 01

  Melissa's attention turned toward her older coworker Caleb, who was ready to give her what she wanted. Before long, they were spending all their time together. When Caleb started bringing her to family events on Pitch Pine Crescent, everyone could tell he was into her. This is Pam Main, the family friend from last episode.

• 9:04Speaker 06

  Given some of the ladies that Caleb had dated, things were looking good.

• 9:10Speaker 01

  Only a few months in, Melissa became pregnant. When Caleb told his parents, he acknowledged that, yes, things were moving fast, but explained why.

• 9:23Speaker 06

  Melissa told Caleb that she had lost one ovary because of the detection of pre-cancerous cells, and that her doctor had told her she had a very small window of opportunity in which to become pregnant.

• 9:36Speaker 01

  This is an excerpt from Bridgette's notes, read by her friend Val McGivern. Bridgette kept a journal, and I have some of her writing about the family. According to Bridgette, Melissa told Caleb it was likely she'd lose the other ovary one day. Caleb said to his mother, "If you'd known that you couldn't have children by the time you were 25, wouldn't you have wanted to become pregnant early to have a child of your own with Dad?" So this was happening.

• 10:09Speaker 01

  Caleb was going to be a father. He had always struggled with being an adopted child who didn't resemble his parents. Now, he was going to have a tiny person who looked just like him. Early on, his parents were happy about the relationship. Melissa seemed like the best thing that had ever happened to Caleb. Melissa and Caleb borrowed money from her parents to put a down payment on a townhouse, and they started planning a wedding.

• 10:41Speaker 01

  Their son was born in the spring of 2001. He looked just like his dad. Fatherhood seemed to be the role Caleb was born for. He was the dad at the park who'd be entertaining all the kids while the other parents hung out.

• 10:57Speaker 06

  Nothing gave him more joy than his son, and he spent all his non-working time at home with his family.

• 11:04Speaker 01

  Melissa and Caleb got married the next year, when their son was a toddler. It was a big, white wedding on Lake Ontario. Caleb's grandmother gave them a honeymoon in Barbados, and soon after, Melissa announced she was pregnant again.

• 11:20Speaker 06

  This was a planned pregnancy, as both Caleb and Melissa wanted a second child.

• 11:26Speaker 01

  Hanging over them was the issue of Melissa's ovary. The time for conception was limited, even though she was just 22. They moved into a bigger home in Georgetown, a more affordable area half an hour from their families in Mississauga, with a proper yard. Melissa's dad helped Caleb build a deck. With the new house came a bigger mortgage. Finances were going to be tight, but...

• 11:53Speaker 06

  Because they had been such disciplined planners and savers, up to now, the view was optimistic.

• 11:59Speaker 01

  Their daughter was born in August 2003. She looked like her dad, too. Now Melissa and Caleb had the life they'd both wanted: two beautiful kids, a comfortable house. But they were also juggling sleepless nights with a new baby, chasing a toddler, doing home improvements, and struggling to pay for it all.

• 12:25Speaker 01

  It was during this time that cracks in the relationship started to form. They were in serious debt, and Caleb blamed Melissa for the overspending.

• 12:37Speaker 06

  She opened a number of credit card accounts and accumulated debt they had not planned for and could not afford.

• 12:44Speaker 01

  Three years into the marriage, Bridgette and Bill loaned them the money to pay off their debts, about $30,000. But there were conditions on this loan. Caleb and Melissa would have to start couples counseling, get advice from a financial planner, and destroy their credit cards.

• 13:06Speaker 01

  On top of the money issues, Caleb's drinking was becoming a problem. Melissa said alcohol turned Caleb into a different person. She said it made him aggressive. It all came to a head one night in June 2005. The children were in bed. Caleb didn't have to work in the morning, so he was having a couple of beers and watching the game. Melissa and Caleb gave police very different accounts of what happened next. Caleb said they were arguing about a marriage counseling session the next day. Melissa wanted to cancel, and he was angry.

• 13:49Speaker 01

  Melissa said they were arguing about finances, that he'd been drinking and became aggressive, so she went to bed. You won't hear from Melissa or Caleb directly in this episode, but my producer Cooper Mall and my friend John Hazmatalli will read from their affidavits and letters. Here's what Melissa said happened.

• 14:11Speaker 07

  He followed me to the bedroom, and when I refused to continue the discussion, he put me in a headlock and hit me repeatedly in the head.

• 14:19Speaker 01

  Caleb said it was Melissa who attacked him, and he was just defending himself.

• 14:25Speaker 02

  I remember her yelling at me and hitting me, scratching and gouging. I grabbed her hair to pull her away. I hit her on the head to slow her down or get her back to her senses. But she got angrier, so I left and went outside.

• 14:44Speaker 01

  Melissa called 911. Then she called her parents. Caleb ran outside and hid in some bushes. He also called his parents. He wanted his mom and dad there to witness his arrest. Caleb was taken away in handcuffs, and the four parents, the Merritts and the Harrisons, were left there, trying to make sense of what had happened. Despite claiming that Melissa started the fight, Caleb would eventually be convicted of domestic assault.

• 15:21Speaker 01

  After his arrest, Melissa told police about another assault she said had taken place several months earlier. She said Caleb had attacked her unprovoked in the middle of the night. Caleb said this never happened. He said that one morning, Melissa showed him some bruises on her stomach and told him a story.

• 15:45Speaker 02

  She said that I had beaten the crap out of her and gone back to sleep.

• 15:51Speaker 01

  Caleb called that incident a complete fabrication. But why would Melissa make something like that up? False reports of domestic abuse are rare. More often, violence against women is under-reported. This wasn't the first time Caleb had accused Melissa of lying. Over the past year, the Harrisons had started to question the stories she'd told and wonder whether the relationship itself had been built on lies.

• 16:34Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Hey, everyone, this is Jonathan Van Ness from Getting Better. You know what you believe. Maybe your faith is at the center of your life. Maybe you're still figuring it out. Maybe religion just isn't your thing. Those choices are personal, and in America, they should stay personal. That's why Americans United for Separation of Church and State is fighting for something that affects all of us: the freedom to live as yourself and believe as you choose, so long as you don't harm others. Because religious freedom isn't just about protecting your right to practice or not. And it surely isn't about having one forced, government-sanctioned religion. It's about protecting your right to say, "This is what I believe",

• 17:18Speaker 00

  while your neighbor says, "I believe something completely different", and honestly, that's the whole point. If that sounds like the kind of America you want, learn more at au.org/gettingbetter. Because your beliefs are yours, and theirs are theirs.

• 17:35Speaker 03

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• 18:07Speaker 01

  It started in the spring of 2004, a year before Melissa and Caleb split up, when they were still working on their marriage.

• 18:19Speaker 01

  One day in May, Melissa returned from the doctor and told Caleb about a devastating diagnosis. She had ovarian cancer. This was terrifying for their family. Bridgette went into fix-it mode. She arranged for Melissa and Caleb to visit a cancer support center.

• 18:41Speaker 06

  Bridgette and myself and her went together.

• 18:44Speaker 01

  This is Aunt Liz, the nurse, again.

• 18:47Speaker 06

  We went for some moral support. Bridgette was encouraging her to get some professional help. Bridgette and I left with feeling that we had helped her in some way.

• 18:57Speaker 01

  At the cancer center, Melissa was invited to join a group therapy program. But Melissa never ended up going to group therapy. Soon after the diagnosis, she told Caleb she was pregnant again and that she planned to proceed with the pregnancy. This struck Caleb and his family as alarming. Then, about a month after the diagnosis, Caleb found a note on the kitchen counter from his wife. He picked it up, and when he started reading, he was floored. I have a copy of Melissa's note here.

• 19:37Speaker 01

  It's handwritten on a piece of scrap paper in big, bubbly letters. It's just a few sentences. It says, "Caleb, I need to let you know something. I don't have cancer."

• 19:57Speaker 01

  I have cancer-like cells that could become cancer in the future. I am sorry for lying to you. I love you more than anything. Love always and forever. Melissa.

• 20:11Speaker 02

  When we found out, it was like, it was shocking. It was like, what do you mean, somebody can claim to have cancer and they don't actually?

• 20:22Speaker 01

  Melissa had lied, and she wasn't carrying a child. She told Caleb she'd had a molar pregnancy. He didn't know what to believe. There was talk of postpartum depression. Maybe Melissa needed mental health treatment. During the fallout from this lie, Caleb learned about another. Melissa was never missing an ovary. The story he said she told him about why she needed to have kids right away? It wasn't true. I admit to embellishing a health problem and causing concern for both my and Caleb's family.

• 21:04Speaker 01

  This is Melissa's response to these allegations from an affidavit she filed in family court. I was being treated for a cyst, and I embellished the situation which resulted in my and Caleb's fearing that I had cancer. But there was one thing Melissa denied. I have never claimed that I had an ovary removed. The Harrisons said she had spoken about her missing ovary not only with her husband, but with both of his parents and other family members, multiple times. Caleb also learned that Melissa had been engaged when they met, to Matthew, the guy you heard from earlier. Caleb never knew that.

• 21:47Speaker 01

  Bridgette wrote about the impact these revelations had on her son.

• 21:52Speaker 02

  He felt manipulated and used, never the last. Because of his firm commitment and belief that children need to be raised by both parents, he decided to stay and try and make it work.

• 22:07Speaker 01

  But Caleb stopped trying after he was arrested for domestic assault. His marriage was over. Caleb moved into his parents' house on Pitch Pine Crescent, and Melissa refused to let him see his children. So the Harrisons got a lawyer. But before Caleb could take Melissa to court, he would make a fatal error, one that would have far-reaching consequences for him and everyone he loved.

• 22:46Speaker 04

  You're never prepared for what you're going to see, no matter how many of these fatal or serious injury collisions you go to.

• 22:53Speaker 01

  This is Staff Sergeant Paul Davies, a police officer in Halton, west of Toronto.

• 22:58Speaker 04

  But I do recall this was a catastrophic type of collision.

• 23:03Speaker 01

  He's talking about a car crash he was called to in July 2005.

• 23:09Speaker 04

  I was the on-call collision reconstructionist for the region of Halton.

• 23:13Speaker 01

  It happened at 3:00 AM on a four-lane country road. It was pitch dark when Sergeant Davies arrived, and in the street, he saw two cars, both completely totaled.

• 23:26Speaker 04

  There was a lot of front-end damage. It was probably one of the worst physical scenes I've been at.

• 23:33Speaker 01

  The two vehicles had slammed together and burst into flames. The taxi had been carrying four passengers, all teenaged boys.

• 23:44Speaker 04

  The Mercedes was traveling at a high rate of speed and hit the tax cab head-on, coming the other direction. You're going to have some pretty serious injuries, if not deaths, with that kind of collision.

• 23:58Speaker 01

  Six people were taken to hospital. The Mercedes was registered to a Mississauga woman named Bridgette Harrison.

• 24:08Speaker 04

  For some reason, that name kind of stood out with me. At the time, I didn't know why.

• 24:15Speaker 01

  But Bridgette wasn't in the car that night. The 32-year-old driver was her son, Caleb.

• 24:24Speaker 04

  It was tragic. It was very, very tragic. In a nutshell, it was impaired driving.

• 24:30Speaker 01

  Caleb had been at a keg party that night, and his blood alcohol level would reveal that he'd been drinking three times the limit. He was supposed to be the designated driver for a group of friends, but when it was time to leave, they could see he was wasted. They refused to ride with him and left the party on foot.

• 24:52Speaker 04

  There are about 15, 20 minutes walking along the road when they see his car fly by them.

• 25:00Speaker 01

  They watched as their friend's Mercedes slammed into the taxi. They heard the explosive bang of the impact, the crunch of metal on metal. Then they started running toward the crash.

• 25:15Speaker 04

  They were the ones that pulled the boys out and burned a cab.

• 25:18Speaker 01

  They also pulled Caleb from the Mercedes before flames overtook it. But not everyone could be saved. The taxi driver, Michael Raymond, was dead.

• 25:31Speaker 04

  He never regained consciousness from the time of the crash. He was this hard-working guy, working a night shift for a local cab company. Here's this car full of innocents. Tragedy struck them through death. Some of them were lamed, some of them had life-altering injuries. And just for this other young guy, totally disregard friends and his own intuition not to drink and drive, there was some anger there.

• 26:07Speaker 01

  Bridgette and Bill were everything you'd expect parents in their position to be: angry, disappointed, full of guilt, and worried about what the criminal charges would mean for their son's future. How do you even go on after something like this?

• 26:23Speaker 02

  It was very, very sad, all of it.

• 26:27Speaker 01

  Caleb had a broken femur. His leg had been surgically repaired with a metal rod. He couldn't walk. His Aunt Liz became his nurse. She spent a lot of time at her brother's house in the weeks after the crash. She remembers that things were especially tense between Bridgette and Caleb.

• 26:46Speaker 02

  She was acting like a mother who was very disappointed in her child, which she would be.

• 26:52Speaker 01

  Caleb was charged with one count of impaired driving causing death and four counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm. He faced the possibility of prison time. But in the meantime, he was released on strict bail conditions and fell into a period of darkness.

• 27:12Speaker 02

  Anger, lots of anger.

• 27:17Speaker 02

  That's all I can remember, lots of anger.

• 27:23Speaker 01

  He had caused a man's death, and now he'd have to live with the consequences. Melissa saw the crash as further proof that Caleb was a dangerous person who couldn't be trusted with her children. But criminal charges don't necessarily limit custody. In Canada, custody decisions are based on the best interests of the child. Kids are supposed to have as much contact as possible with both parents, so long as courts decide it's safe. This would be the key tension in the custody battle that unfolded. Melissa's belief that the children weren't safe with Caleb and his family, and Caleb's

• 28:07Speaker 01

  belief that his ex was doing everything in her power to keep them from him.

• 28:20Speaker 02

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• 28:50Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Hey, everyone, this is Jonathan Van Ness from Getting Better. You know what you believe. Maybe your faith is at the center of your life. Maybe you're still figuring it out. Maybe religion just isn't your thing. Those choices are personal, and in America, they should stay personal. That's why Americans United for Separation of Church and State is fighting for something that affects all of us: the freedom to live as yourself and believe as you choose, so long as you don't harm others. Because religious freedom isn't just about protecting your right to practice or not, and it surely isn't about having one forced, government-sanctioned religion. It's about protecting your right to say, "This is what I believe," while your neighbor

• 29:34Speaker 00

  says, "I believe something completely different." And honestly, that's the whole point. If that sounds like the kind of America you want, learn more at au.org/gettingbetter. Because your beliefs are yours, and theirs are theirs.

• 29:52Speaker 01

  Over the next few years, they played tug-of-war in family court. Caleb pushed for more time with the kids and gradually got it, while Melissa fought to limit his access. Their arguments are documented in stacks of family court records.

• 30:10Speaker 02

  The children have been very happy to be reunited with me.

• 30:13Speaker 01

  I disagree with the applicant's assertion that the children have adjusted extremely well to the current access arrangement.

• 30:19Speaker 02

  I am ready, willing, and able to be part of our children's lives and not just a visiting father.

• 30:24Speaker 01

  The children have both told me that they do not wish to visit our applicant's house.

• 30:28Speaker 02

  The respondent has acted as if she has sole and complete control of our children and that they are her possessions.

• 30:40Speaker 01

  During the summer they separated, weird things started happening. Melissa called the cops to say that a masked intruder had attacked her in her home, kicking her in the head, then fleeing. Afterward, police officers raced to Pitch Pine Crescent, looking for Caleb. Four cruisers pulled up to the house at 2:45 a.m. The officers found Caleb on crutches and in a hip-to-foot cast from the crash, barely able to walk. He wasn't the assailant, so who could it have been? Melissa reported two more home break-ins that summer. Each time, police questioned Caleb,

• 31:24Speaker 01

  but determined he couldn't have been involved. The Harrisons believed she was making the whole thing up to cast suspicion on Caleb, to make him look bad in family court. She denied this allegation.

• 31:40Speaker 02

  Melissa has deliberately misled both Halton and Peel police officers in her continued attempts to implicate me in acts of abuse.

• 31:52Speaker 01

  Caleb wasn't allowed to communicate with his ex, so his mother called Melissa weekly to ask if she would please let them see the kids. Bridgette had started writing detailed accounts of every interaction they had with Melissa. In one call a few months after the separation, Bridgette said Melissa insinuated that police believed Caleb was responsible for the home invasions. Bridgette said Melissa told her, "You will never see the children," and hung up. But four months after the separation, Caleb finally got to hug his kids again. His son had turned four and his daughter two since he last saw them.

• 32:36Speaker 01

  The courts granted him visitation, two evenings a week and every other weekend. He wanted 50/50, but this was a start. While Caleb was living at his family home on Pitch Pine Crescent, his parents became very involved in the lives of their grandchildren. They did school drop-offs and pickups and took the kids to swimming lessons, appointments, and playdates. Caleb wasn't allowed near his ex, so his parents handled the custody exchanges. This role put them in direct conflict with Melissa. Soon, every interaction was turning into a scene. It wasn't just Melissa. She had a new boyfriend in the picture.

• 33:21Speaker 01

  His name was Chris Vittore. He was an enormous man, six foot four, built like a linebacker and soft around the middle. He had the physical presence of a grizzly bear, but he seemed sweet and eager to jump into family life. Chris was fiercely protective of Melissa. After one custody hearing, the pair drove by Bridgette and Caleb in the courthouse parking lot. The Harrisons said Chris rolled down his window and shouted, "You'll pay for this, you fucking bastard." Over time, the courts began to rule in Caleb's favor. One judge said Melissa seemed to be trying

• 34:04Speaker 01

  to limit his access as much as possible. Melissa upped the ante. She claimed the children came home from Pitch Pine Crescent dirty and hungry. She accused Caleb and his parents of assaulting the kids. None of the abuse claims held up. One officer even concluded the children had been coached to lie. But while the claims were being investigated, Melissa withheld custody for weeks at a time, in one case over Christmas. Each time, the children had to be interviewed by police and social workers.

• 34:43Speaker 02

  These false allegations have a serious effect on the children. The inference is that I have done something wrong.

• 34:51Speaker 01

  A judge warned that if Melissa withheld custody again, police should apprehend the children and deliver them to the Harrisons. The officers who interviewed the kids noticed they were calling their father Caleb and calling their mother's boyfriend Daddy. Melissa insisted the kids had started doing that on their own. Melissa pushed back hard against the narrative that she was inventing these allegations. I have never made any effort to alienate the children from their father. I am a good mom and provide an excellent life for my children. If I don't protect them, who will?

• 35:35Speaker 01

  Bridgette's brother Doug says she did not buy that.

• 35:40Speaker 04

  Melissa was doing everything within her control to separate Caleb from his own children. Bridgette maintained the high ground. She didn't lie. She didn't exaggerate. She just told what was going on and how it was occurring.

• 36:00Speaker 01

  Everyone I spoke with said the idea of Bridgette or Bill abusing the grandchildren was ridiculous.

• 36:08Speaker 07

  No mistreatment. None. Never. Never, never, never.

• 36:18Speaker 01

  In October 2008, Caleb Harrison was found guilty for his role in the drunk-driving crash that killed a taxi driver. Prosecutors wanted a two-year prison term. The defense asked for a conditional sentence with no jail time. They said Caleb had made a terrible decision when he was separated from his kids and depressed. Sergeant Davies was there in the courtroom for the proceedings, sitting on a bench behind the prosecutors. He'd finally realized why the name on the vehicle registration was familiar to him. He knew Bridgette Harrison.

• 36:55Speaker 04

  She was my vice principal at my high school for many years.

• 36:58Speaker 01

  Davies could tell Caleb regretted what he'd done.

• 37:02Speaker 04

  There's a lot of remorse there.

• 37:04Speaker 01

  As usual, there were people in the court to support both the victims and the accused. As the lead investigator on the crime, Sergeant Davies knew most of them. But also, a row or two behind him was a family he didn't initially recognize. A family that didn't appear to be there to support the victims or the perpetrator.

• 37:30Speaker 04

  The older gentleman was constantly saying, "This is a joke. This isn't a joke."

• 37:34Speaker 01

  They appeared to be heckling Caleb and his family.

• 37:38Speaker 04

  I would turn around and look at them like, "Hey, come on. Decor them here."

• 37:42Speaker 01

  Davies eventually figured out who they were: Caleb's ex-wife, her father, and her boyfriend.

• 37:50Speaker 04

  I was struck at the fact that they were there to begin with. They had no standing in this case. It was like intimidation and bullying. It was really, really bad.

• 37:59Speaker 01

  He even heard one of the men sitting with Melissa — he doesn't know which one — using the N-word to describe Caleb.

• 38:08Speaker 04

  They would just sit under their breath, just laughing.

• 38:11Speaker 01

  The harassment became so concerning that Sergeant Davies asked for extra security. Ahead of the court date, Melissa's new boyfriend Chris had started a Facebook page pushing for a tough sentence. One post included a doctored photo of Caleb with devil horns and a speech bubble that read, "Give me a beer and the key to mommy's Mercedes." The merits were banking on Caleb getting a harsh sentence, but that's not what happened.

• 38:45Speaker 04

  I felt it was flight, to be honest. I think it deserved a penitentiary term.

• 38:50Speaker 01

  In March 2009, Caleb was sentenced to a year and a half in provincial jail and two years probation. He'd be eligible for parole in six to nine months. His parents believed Melissa would use his incarceration as an opportunity to cut their family out of the children's lives for good. So they went to family court and asked a judge to give them Caleb's share of the 50/50 custody split while he was in jail. Melissa was outraged. It does not make any sense to name Bridgette and Bill Harrison "parents." She filed this affidavit without a lawyer, so it's written in her own words, and you can feel her exasperation.

• 39:35Speaker 01

  It can only be assumed that Caleb Harrison will not spend the rest of his adult life living with his parents. At some point, the grandparents have to be just that: grandparents. She said 50% is way too much time, and she proposed grandparent visitation instead: one night a week and one weekend a month. A judge ruled in the Harrisons' favor, saying Pitch Pine Crescent was the kid's second home and should remain so. The Harrisons had won. Bridgette and Bill would effectively become parents and share custody with the kid's mom 50/50. Melissa had been outplayed.

• 40:20Speaker 01

  Three weeks into the shared custody arrangement while Caleb was in jail, Melissa and Chris packed up their house and told the kids they were going on a road trip. When Caleb's children disappeared, Bridgette believed at first that his ex-wife had taken advantage of Bill's sudden passing and left town while the Harrison family was mourning and distracted. Bridgette opened her mailbox one day and found a letter, postmarked "The Day After Her Husband's Death." It was from Melissa, and it began, "Dear Bridgette and Bill, I have been getting threatening phone calls and letters for a week now, and I'm getting very worried

• 41:05Speaker 01

  for mine and all the children's safety. I am writing to let you know that we have gone away for a bit, hopefully only until things settle down." The morning of Bill's funeral, Bridgette called Melissa's father to ask again if he'd heard from her and to remind him how important it was for the children to attend the service. He missed the call but left her a voicemail that afternoon. Bridgette, this is Michael Merritt calling. Our deepest condolences to your situation and the passing of Bill. This is Mike Merritt's message, read by a friend of the show. Bridgette transcribed the voicemail and filed it with her family court records. I have a copy. We're as deeply distressed as you are as parents and as grandparents

• 41:50Speaker 01

  with regards to Melissa and the family. We spent most of the weekend confirming the fact that they have, in fact, moved very abruptly. The whereabouts are unknown to us, and I believe everybody at this point. I probably understand that you find it hard to believe that we don't know anything about this, but if you could grasp the idea, that we're as shocked as anybody. Bridgette had a feeling that Mike Merritt wasn't going to be very helpful. So she did what she always did when confronted with a problem. She made a plan. Whatever it took, Bridgette would find the children.

• 42:30Speaker 01

  But she had no way of knowing what it would cost her. Next time on What Happened to the Harrisons, police show up at Pitch Pine again.

• 42:42Speaker 07

  Bridgette started to see things. There were a lot of things there that ought to have raised serious flags. Her suspicions were very high of Christopher and Melissa involved in this.

• 43:01Speaker 01

  Unlock all episodes of What Happened to the Harrisons ad-free right now by subscribing to the Binge Podcast channel. And it doesn't stop at What Happened to the Harrisons. Subscribers get a binge drop of a brand-new series on the first of every month. That's all episodes, all at once, all ad-free. And between drops, you've got ad-free access to Crime Scene, the binge-est weekly series, plus instant access to over 60 true crime podcasts. Shows like Wild Boys, Blink, and Watching You, so you'll never be short on stories. Search for The Binge on Apple Podcasts and hit Subscribe. Not on Apple? Head to GetTheBinge.com to subscribe directly.

• 43:52Speaker 01

  What Happened to the Harrisons is an original production of Sony Music Entertainment. The show is hosted and reported by me, Amy Dempsey-Raven. The lead producer is Cooper Mall. The series is written by me and Cooper. From Sony Music Entertainment, our executive producers are Catherine St. Louis and Jonathan Hirsch. The series was sound designed and mixed by Scott Somerville. We used music from Epidemic Sound. Production managers are Tamika Balance-Kalasny and Ashley-Anne Craigbaum. Fact-checking by Fendel Fulton. Additional production support by Myron Kaplan. Our lawyer is Alison Sherry. Special thanks to The Toronto Star, where my reporting on this story began more than a decade ago.

• 44:34Speaker 01

  If you value local investigative journalism, subscribe to a newspaper where you live. Please rate and review What Happened to the Harrisons. It helps spread the word.

• 44:52Speaker 03

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