Pod Insights True Crime All The Time Melissa Merritt About this episode In less than five years, Bill Harrison, his wife Bridget, and their son Caleb all died in the same home. The first death was ruled natural, the second suspicious, but the third was immediately declared a homicide. The police looked to Caleb’s ex-wife, Melissa Merritt, who was in the middle of a custody battle with Caleb and his parents.
Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Melissa Merritt. The police zeroed in not only on Melissa but also on her boyfriend, Christopher Fattore. As they untangled a web of deceit, one of the biggest questions that arose was how much culpability each person bore.
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1:47 Speaker 00 Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 444 of the True Crime All the Time Podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson, and with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. Gaby, how are you? Hey, I'm doing okay. How about you? I'm doing great. You're always doing great, man. You've got a big vacation coming up? I do. We're kind of on the fence as to whether we're gonna just tape one early or take a week off. Yeah.
2:13 Speaker 00 If you don't, if you don't see an episode coming out next Sunday, then you know we took the week off.
2:19 Speaker 01 Cause I'm on vacation.
2:21 Speaker 00 Going overseas, which is a big trip for you.
2:24 Speaker 01 Be in Greece.
2:25 Speaker 00 I'm happy for you.
2:26 Speaker 01 Yeah, I'm happy too.
2:27 Speaker 00 Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shout outs. We had Kenna Schoonover.
2:31 Speaker 01 What's going on Schoonover?
2:32 Speaker 00 Melissa Heinzel.
2:33 Speaker 01 Uh, thanks Heinzel.
2:34 Speaker 00 Rob, I don't even know what you said there. Rob B.
2:39 Speaker 01 What up, Rob?
2:40 Speaker 00 Mitzi Bertencini.
2:42 Speaker 01 Ah, Bertencini.
2:44 Speaker 00 Molly C.
2:45 Speaker 01 Hey Molly.
2:46 Speaker 00 Benjamin Jaffe.
2:48 Speaker 01 You know, there was a good orthopedic surgeon named Jaffe in this area when I was younger.
2:53 Speaker 00 Okay. That's a great pod story.
2:56 Speaker 01 I know, man. Hey, how you doing, Jaffe?
2:58 Speaker 00 Christine Salberg.
3:00 Speaker 01 What up, Salberg?
3:01 Speaker 00 Uh, Kevin Seaman.
3:02 Speaker 01 Hey, Seaman.
3:03 Speaker 00 And last but not least, Lori Papeski.
3:06 Speaker 01 Papeski.
3:07 Speaker 00 Yeah. Fun names to say they are. Then we go back into the vault. This week, we selected Lisa Rodriguez.
3:15 Speaker 01 Thanks, Lisa.
3:16 Speaker 00 Yeah. So we appreciate all the support. Gibbs, right now we have a brand new episode out on True Crime All The Time Unsolved, where we're talking about Heather Teague. She went sunbathing on the shore of the Ohio River and was attacked and abducted by an unknown man. And this was 29 years ago and her case still hasn't been solved.
3:38 Speaker 01 You a big sunbather?
3:39 Speaker 00 I am not.
3:40 Speaker 01 Ever? Back in your day?
3:42 Speaker 00 No.
3:42 Speaker 01 No? You look like you'd be a sunbather back in the day.
3:45 Speaker 00 No, I never was a lay out in the sun person. My wife is, my, my daughters are. Now I would get sun mowing the grass or playing baseball or whatever it was, but playing basketball, but not just laying there.
4:01 Speaker 01 You didn't lay out by the pool and take that baby oil and just rub it all over you?
4:05 Speaker 00 No.
4:08 Speaker 01 Crisco, you know, really.
4:10 Speaker 00 I don't think that's good for you.
4:13 Speaker 00 All right, buddy. You ready to get into this episode of True Crime All the Time?
4:16 Speaker 01 I'm ready.
4:17 Speaker 00 We're talking about Melissa Merritt. In less than a five-year span, Bill Harrison, his wife Bridget, and their son Caleb, all died in the same home. The first death was ruled natural, the second suspicious, but the third was immediately declared a homicide. And police began to look at Caleb's ex-wife, who was in the middle of a custody battle with Caleb and his parents. The Harrison family lived in the suburbs of Toronto, Ontario. Relatives said, "The Harrison household was a home of happiness." Bill and Bridget hosted countless get-togethers.
4:57 Speaker 01 Got to admire those people that do those get-togethers.
5:01 Speaker 00 Yeah, I'm not, my wife and I are not a big hoster, or hostess, hoster, hostess. We don't host a lot of parties.
5:10 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah, you're more of a hostie.
5:12 Speaker 00 Yeah, we go.
5:13 Speaker 01 Yeah.
5:14 Speaker 00 To places.
5:14 Speaker 01 That's the way to do it, though, right? Because you can leave when you want.
5:18 Speaker 00 Yeah.
5:18 Speaker 01 And there's no cleanup.
5:19 Speaker 00 There's no cleanup. You bring, if they tell you to bring something, you bring it.
5:22 Speaker 01 Yeah. And you bring it in a throwaway container so you don't have to wait around to get it back.
5:27 Speaker 00 Exactly. Bridget Harrison was born in London, Ontario, in 1946. She was an actress and appeared on the TV show Act Fast, and performed in plays at the annual Stratford Festival in Ontario. In the early 1960s, she met Bill Harrison, who worked in the costume department. They fell in love and got married in 1969. The couple settled in Mississauga, Ontario.
5:53 Speaker 01 That's weird. I was just there two weeks ago for a big soccer tournament.
5:57 Speaker 00 In Mississauga?
5:58 Speaker 01 Mississauga.
5:58 Speaker 00 How about that?
5:59 Speaker 01 Yeah.
6:00 Speaker 00 Bill worked as an executive for Sobes, one of the largest grocery store chains in Canada. In his free time, he volunteered as a little league baseball coach.
6:11 Speaker 01 It's actually a pretty good grocery store.
6:12 Speaker 00 I've never heard of Sobes.
6:14 Speaker 01 Yeah.
6:15 Speaker 00 But I also have not spent a lot of time in Canada.
6:18 Speaker 01 That is true.
6:20 Speaker 00 Bridget was a teacher and later became a principal. She also served on her district's school board. Bill and Bridget couldn't have children naturally. They adopted their son Caleb in 1973 when he was six months old. Bill said Caleb was his best friend.
6:38 Speaker 01 If you had to say one of your daughters was your best friend, which one would it be?
6:43 Speaker 00 That is a no win question. You know, I can't answer, but that is a pretty cool thing to say, right?
6:51 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
6:51 Speaker 00 Bill saying Caleb was his best friend. After graduating high school, Caleb started working in shipping and receiving. In the fall of 2000, he was working in the warehouse at a store called My Favorite Doll. Never heard of that.
7:06 Speaker 01 Never heard of that either.
7:07 Speaker 00 But it was there he met Melissa Merritt, a Toronto local. Caleb and Melissa immediately had a strong connection. Caleb was described as intelligent, sweet and a hard worker. He drove Melissa to and from work. Their coworkers often saw them kissing in his car before and after their shifts. They ate lunch together and had dinner at home together every night. And I think I've said it before, but you know, my wife and I met at work. I think a lot of people meet their spouses at work.
7:41 Speaker 01 Sure.
7:41 Speaker 00 You are spending a lot of time with them. You're getting to know them.
7:46 Speaker 01 I mean, you can say you probably spend more time with people at work than you do with family and friends outside of work.
7:53 Speaker 00 Yeah, I would agree with that. Caleb's childhood friend Stephanie Dunn told Dateline, she was lovely. She was very, very outgoing, so it just seemed like, where has this girl been? You know, it was a great match. So she's not mincing words. She really liked Melissa. Melissa met Caleb shortly after she ended her engagement with her high school boyfriend. Although she was only 19, she was ready to get married and have kids. In the winter of 2000, there was a death in Caleb's family. Melissa wanted to go to the funeral to support him and meet his family, but she would need the day off work.
8:35 Speaker 00 She was worried her manager would say no if she put in a request. So she left a last minute message on her manager's voicemail and said she was going to miss work for the funeral. Melissa was fired when she returned and Caleb quit in solidarity.
8:51 Speaker 01 She goes, I go.
8:53 Speaker 00 And I'm kind of wondering why she didn't do the old fake, you know, I'm sick one.
8:59 Speaker 01 Yeah.
8:59 Speaker 00 Which is what she used to do to me all the time.
9:02 Speaker 01 That was my go to.
9:04 Speaker 00 I can't come in, boss. I'm sick.
9:08 Speaker 01 It worked.
9:08 Speaker 00 But she may have thought that everybody knows Caleb and I are an item. They know he's leaving for this funeral. They're probably going to put it all together. Within months of meeting Melissa, Caleb told his family they were planning on having kids. Melissa said she lost one of her ovaries due to a medical condition and may need to have the other removed eventually. So they wanted to have kids while they could. Melissa and Caleb got married and had a son and daughter within a couple of years. Bill and Bridget were excited about being grandparents. Caleb loved being a father, but his marriage with Melissa had problems.
9:51 Speaker 00 They fought over money, family, Caleb's drinking and Melissa's lies. In the spring of 2004, Melissa told the family she had ovarian cancer. She later admitted to lying in an affidavit and said she was being treated for a cyst and she embellished the situation. She denied claiming she lost an ovary.
10:15 Speaker 01 Wow. There's a lot of things going on with them at that time.
10:19 Speaker 00 Not good things. No, I mean, but who doesn't fight occasionally over money, family? Now, if Caleb's drinking a lot, okay, that's going to cause some problems. But it sounds like Melissa was lying a lot and had been since the start of their relationship. That's going to cause some problems, too. And maybe that's why he was drinking. You never know. Caleb hit Melissa during an argument in 2005. She reported them to the police and he spent three nights in jail before he was released on personal recognizance. Okay, so, you know, like you said, there's a lot of stuff going on. But I think once it turns physical, once Caleb hits Melissa.
11:04 Speaker 00 Yeah. We're in a completely different realm. We are. There's really no reason why you should be hitting a woman. Exactly. Let alone your wife. Yeah. Caleb and Melissa split up and he moved back in with his parents. In July 2005, Caleb was invited to a keg party. He wasn't planning on drinking because one of the conditions of his release was that he couldn't have alcohol. He borrowed his mother's car and offered to be the designated driver. Good old keg parties, man. Yeah, I think back on that, that's Frank the Tank days for me. I have to be very careful.
11:46 Speaker 00 According to Toronto Life, Caleb typically went to the bar after work and drank beer before he went home to his parents' house. He didn't usually have a problem with beer, but liquor made him act differently. And I think a lot of people are like that. That's true. You can have some beers, you know, you're fine. Some people start to drink hard liquor and it can go sideways very quickly. Real quick. The thing for me and hard liquor is that you never know that you've passed that good buzz point. Yeah. Until it's too late. No turning back then. No, you've already passed it and you didn't even know.
12:27 Speaker 00 So he goes to this party and at the party Caleb had one drink, which led to multiple drinks until he was nearly three times over the legal limit. His friends realized he was too drunk to drive. They refused to get into the car with him and started walking home. Now, I understand that you don't want to be in the car with this guy who's drinking. No. But my feeling is like, you gotta step in and not let this guy drive. Try your best not to let him. Try, yeah, try your best. I don't know if they did that or not because Caleb was driving down the road when a cab carrying four men, driven by Michael Raymond, approached in his direction.
13:11 Speaker 00 Caleb crossed the center line and crashed into the taxi head on at 100 kilometers per hour, about 62 miles per hour. For those of us, you know, who don't really understand the metric system, Michael Raymond died in the accident. And this is why you don't drive drunk. Don't do it. Just don't do it. Call Uber. So this Michael Raymond died. One man suffered a broken arm, broken leg and fractured spine. Another lost part of his scalp from his eyebrow to his ear. Sounds painful. It does sound painful. Both cars caught on fire. Neighbors were able to help pull the victims from the taxi.
13:56 Speaker 00 Caleb's friends from the party were just up the street and saw the crash. They were able to pull him out of the car. Caleb had a broken leg, but his injuries were minor compared to the people in the other vehicle. And I just wonder, you know, how his friends felt about that? Did we do enough? Should we have done more? There probably was some guilt there.
14:20 Speaker 01 Probably.
14:21 Speaker 00 But Caleb was charged with impaired driving, causing death and bodily harm. He made bail and was ordered to stay on house arrest at his parents' home. That seems like a very serious charge. I mean, number one, who wants to get a DUI? That's not good on your record, but this is much more than that. Your actions have resulted in the death of one person and have injured a number of other people.
14:50 Speaker 01 Yeah, really severe.
14:52 Speaker 00 Caleb's trial was delayed because his defense attorney was unavailable to represent him for several months. And then the presiding judge got sick. After a year-long delay, his lawyer was still unavailable. The case was postponed again when the crown realized it hadn't sent out summons to some witnesses. All right, taking them a while to get things moving. After three years, Caleb's lawyer argued that his right to a speedy trial was violated and the case should be dropped, but a judge dismissed the motion. And I get it, right?
15:32 Speaker 00 There's a right to a speedy trial, but how are you gonna just dismiss this charge? When someone is dead?
15:41 Speaker 01 Yeah, I mean, you have to take care of dealing with that, not just push it to the side.
15:46 Speaker 00 Well, and it also sounds like a lot of the delays were on his part or his attorney's part. So I don't know, I think you have to factor that in as well. Meanwhile, Melissa argued that the crash was proof that Caleb was an unsuitable father, but a family court judge ruled that they would still share custody. What do you think about that? Does that surprise you?
16:10 Speaker 01 No, I'm not surprised by that.
16:12 Speaker 00 I, I kinda was.
16:13 Speaker 01 Were you?
16:14 Speaker 00 Yeah, to be honest with you. It seemed like such a, a heinous act, right? A driving drunk and, and killing someone. I could see where a family court might say, well, what, what if you had your child in the backseat or your kids in the backseat? So.
16:35 Speaker 01 Valid point.
16:36 Speaker 00 I was, I was a little surprised by that. By this time Caleb and Melissa were in relationships with people they met online. Caleb was seeing Corinda McEwen, who had two kids. The Harrisons welcomed her and she became close with Bridget. Melissa was dating Christopher Fattore, who worked part-time as a security guard. He was described as doting and protective of Melissa and the kids, and he hated Caleb. And that doesn't shock me one bit. I'm sure Melissa did not speak well of Caleb.
17:12 Speaker 01 I was thinking the same thing, right? I'm sure after everything he heard about Caleb from her, why would he like him?
17:21 Speaker 00 Yeah. I mean, he's going to be filled with nothing but probably comment, bad comments about this guy from Melissa. While awaiting trial, Chris created a Facebook page pushing for Caleb to get the maximum sense. He wrote in one post per Toronto Life, "This is Caleb Harrison, the dick that killed someone drinking and driving. He's unfortunately also my wife's ex-husband." Not, not really mincing his words.
17:52 Speaker 01 He's letting you know how he feels.
17:54 Speaker 00 But, okay, take out the dick part, but he's not wrong. He did kill someone while drinking and driving.
18:03 Speaker 01 Very true.
18:04 Speaker 00 Melissa filed multiple complaints to the Children's Aid Society and the police about Caleb's allegedly poor treatment of the kids, but few of her allegations could be substantiated. The judge presiding over the custody case suggested Melissa and Caleb only communicate in writing. Melissa complained that she had to accommodate Caleb and his parents' work schedule and said he dumped the kids on other caregivers when he couldn't care for them. It bothered Melissa that Bill and Bridget were involved in raising the kids and she accused them of neglecting her daughter. She also accused the Harrisons of slapping her son
18:46 Speaker 00 and withheld the children from the family because she claimed they were dangerous. All right, we often talk about contentious divorces, contentious custody situations. This one seems very contentious.
19:03 Speaker 01 Yeah, I don't think there's any love lost here.
19:05 Speaker 00 No, no, probably on either side, right? A judge upheld the shared custody ruling and added a clause that the police should be notified if the Harrisons were denied access to the kids again. At Caleb's drunk driving trial, Melissa and Chris came to court and spoke to the press. They also blocked the Harrisons in the parking lot. I mean, I said contentious. I mean, this is really kind of vitriolic.
19:35 Speaker 01 Nice, nice way to phrase that.
19:37 Speaker 00 If I'm using that word correctly, but you know, Melissa, and I think by extension, Chris hated not only Caleb, but his mom and dad as well. On March 9, 2009, Caleb was convicted of one count of impaired driving, causing death, and three counts of impaired driving, causing bodily harm. He was sentenced to 18 months in prison. And I gotta be honest with you. If it's my loved one who's killed by a drunk driver, I am not going to be happy with an 18-month prison sentence.
20:16 Speaker 01 No, it's like a slap on the wrist. I mean, we are in Canada, though. We know that sometimes they don't have the longest period of time that someone will spend in jail.
20:26 Speaker 00 Yeah, I mean, I think by and large, their sentences are a little shorter than than what ours here in the US, but you know, 18 months, he's probably not going to do the whole 18 months. I would be furious. Yeah. About that. Bill and Bridget filed the motion to transfer Caleb's custody rights to them while he was incarcerated. A judge granted the motion less than two weeks after sentence. And you know, Melissa couldn't been happy about that. She already was upset about the Harrisons, didn't think they were treating her kids right. And that's just when they got to see them.
21:09 Speaker 00 Now, they actually have the same custody rights that Caleb had. On April 16th, 2009, Bridget came home around 9:00 PM after a late school board meeting. Bill didn't answer when she called out to him. A few minutes later, she found Bill dead in the main floor bathroom. She told the dispatcher, he was wedged in against the wall between the toilet and the door. He's not breathing. I can tell. Bill appeared to have removed his wedding ring, his crucifix necklace, taken out his pocket knife, and brought his blood pressure and pain medication with him to the bathroom. One of the responding officers wrote in his
21:53 Speaker 00 notebook, sudden death, doesn't appear to be any foul play. Which, you know, kind of jumped out at me as a little strange. Also, what a horrific scene, right? To walk in on as a spouse. But, you know, what was said about Bill, he removed his wedding ring, took off his necklace. He had taken out his pocket knife, and he had his blood pressure and pain medication with him in the bathroom. I'm just trying to figure out in what scenario all of those together makes sense. Maybe if he was trying to hurt himself.
22:35 Speaker 00 Right. But sudden death doesn't appear to be any foul play. That's what the officer wrote. That, those different things that I just listed, they don't kind of scream out that. Like you said, maybe, you know, did he take a bunch of pills? But if it's sudden death, well, why did he take his wedding ring and his necklace off? Yeah, I'd go through all that. So I'm a little up in the air on that one. Every good true crime story has a twist. DraftKings Casino has a spin. Flex spins let you spin your way. Didn't see that coming? That's because flex spins are exclusive to DraftKings.
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25:40 Speaker 00 The police soon learned that in the days leading up to Bill's death, the children told their teachers they were going on a trip. The Harrisons were not aware of this. On the day Bill died, in violation of the custody order, Chris and Melissa packed up their things, dyed the kids' hair and disappeared.
26:01 Speaker 01 Okay.
26:01 Speaker 00 Is that suspicious that it happened on the day that Bill died?
26:07 Speaker 01 Well, it is suspicious. I mean, it's gonna be hard to prove to somebody why you did something like that.
26:14 Speaker 00 Well, and this whole idea of the children telling their teachers they were going to take a trip, but the Harrisons hadn't been made aware of this. According to the Toronto Star, Bill died at a critical time for death investigations in Ontario. He died just a few months after the Gouge inquiry. Justice Stephen Gouge released a damning report on pediatric forensic pathology, commissioned by the Ontario government in the wake of revelations about flawed child death investigations by Dr. Charles Smith. Smith was once considered a leading expert in pediatric forensic pathology,
26:58 Speaker 00 but his false or misleading testimony led to wrongful convictions. Before the Gouge report, non-forensic pathologists performed forensic autopsies. After the report, Ontario's chief forensic pathologist created a registry matching pathologists to cases appropriate to their level of experience and issued an order that all suspicious deaths should be sent to headquarters in Toronto. The problem is, no one flagged Bill's death as suspicious. And that probably goes back to, you know, the responding officer.
27:37 Speaker 01 Sure does.
27:38 Speaker 00 Doesn't appear to be foul play, sudden death. Well, he had no suspicions. But if I look at all the things that... Bill was said to have done before he died. It, you know, I have some suspicions about this being a sudden death. I mean, does it mean that, you know, he, he wasn't going to take a shower? So he took off his ring, his necklace, which most people don't do.
28:05 Speaker 01 No.
28:05 Speaker 00 When they take a shower. I'm just trying to figure out one possible explanation. Bill Harrison received a non forensic autopsy conducted by a community based pathologist with no specialty certification in postmortems. Although Bill had a fractured sternum and bruises on his head, face and neck. The pathologist concluded he died of acute cardiac arrhythmia. So what was the thought? That the bruises and the fractured sternum came from him falling possibly?
28:40 Speaker 01 I think it's a good possibility.
28:42 Speaker 00 Bill was cremated and his ashes were interred on April 22nd, 2009. Now Bridgette always thought Bill's death was suspicious and that Melissa's disappearance was not a coincidence. The day after the funeral, Bridgette went to court and was granted temporary sole custody of the children, although at that time they were still missing.
29:07 Speaker 01 Do you think this ruling was because they'd just taken off with the kids?
29:10 Speaker 00 Yeah, I, I think it probably had a lot to do with it. On June 15th, 2009, Caleb was paroled just three months into a sentence. Okay. So now if I'm a family member, I'm really ticked off.
29:24 Speaker 01 Sure you are.
29:25 Speaker 00 You were driving drunk, killed someone, and you did three months. I get it. It, it's not the same as shooting someone in the head, but it's also not the same as an accident when you're totally sober that results in somebody's death.
29:45 Speaker 01 Big difference.
29:46 Speaker 00 Yeah. Three months is, is too little for me. Authorities eventually learned that Melissa and Chris had moved to Londonderry, Nova Scotia. Melissa had her fourth child there, her second with Chris. Chris assumed a new identity and wasn't caught until he accidentally delivered a rent check in his own name. Melissa was arrested and charged with parental abduction on November 27th, 2009. As a condition of her bail, she was not allowed to have contact with Caleb or the two children she shared with him. On April 10th, 2010, Caleb and Bridget saw Melissa and Chris outside their house,
30:30 Speaker 00 which was a violation of their bail conditions. Melissa was rearrested and released on bail a second time.
30:37 Speaker 01 Just not learning, or just doesn't care.
30:40 Speaker 00 Yeah, and I think it goes back to, you know, what the court thought of them just up and leaving and taking the kids. Probably a big reason why Bridget was granted, you know, temporary sole custody and then Caleb probably would have gotten it right after he got out of jail because it was looked at as a crime, right? Parental abduction. Her parental abduction trial was scheduled for April 22nd, 2010. Bridget planned to testify and wrote a victim impact statement about how the death of her husband and the abduction of her grandkids affected her, saying, "Some people believe
31:24 Speaker 00 in coincidence, some do not." On April 21st, the day before the trial, Bridget dropped off her grandkids at school and Caleb at work. When her grandson returned home later that afternoon, he found Bridget's body at the bottom of the stairs. He ran across the street to a neighbor's house and called 911. A paramedic entered the house and found Bridget's body. Her head rested on the bottom step and she had visible abrasions on her chin and ear. She was fully dressed and had shoes on. Her glasses and purse were scattered around her. It looked like she was heading out the door.
32:06 Speaker 00 First of all, what a terrible sight, you know, for a young kid to see finding his grandmother this way.
32:15 Speaker 01 Things nightmares are made of.
32:16 Speaker 00 Yeah, but also let's look at the timing. The very day before Melissa's trial is set to start. And we know that Bridget is going to testify. She ends up dead. So talking about coincidences is that either the biggest coincidence in the world or not a coincidence at all.
32:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, not a coincidence at all.
32:43 Speaker 00 Bridget suffered a broken neck, several broken ribs and bruises around her throat was evidence of neck compression. And I think, you know, early on, right? You could look at it as maybe a trip and fall down the stairs. Could you suffer a broken neck, break some ribs? Yeah, absolutely.
33:05 Speaker 01 Yeah, possible.
33:07 Speaker 00 But when you start talking about neck compression, that doesn't seem to scream accident.
33:15 Speaker 01 No, screams something else, doesn't it?
33:18 Speaker 00 Yeah. Caleb asked the police to look into Melissa and Chris. The PO Regional Police investigated Bridget's death and called Melissa in for questioning. According to Dateline, she told the police that Caleb didn't have a good relationship with Bridget. She added that Caleb was physically violent with her when they were married and was later convicted of domestic assault. Melissa said, "He was like sneaky about the way he would assault me. So I know that he has in him a tendency to harm people if they piss him off." She added that she didn't want to make any assumptions about the case. I don't want to make any assumptions, but I'm just saying he didn't like his mom.
34:03 Speaker 00 They didn't have a good relationship and he could be physically violent. So you make the assumptions. The forensic pathologist who conducted Bridget's autopsy was still completing recommended training. Bridget's death was ruled suspicious, but not a homicide.
34:23 Speaker 01 Ah, suspicious.
34:25 Speaker 01 I mean, it probably still leaves the door open for investigators.
34:28 Speaker 00 Yes. I mean, that's better than accidental, right? Now, I think at the very least, it has to be suspicious. With, with the neck compression alone, that has to make it suspicious. If not, really kind of bordering into homicide.
34:46 Speaker 01 Yeah.
34:47 Speaker 00 Five days after Bridget died, Caleb was granted temporary sole custody. Melissa was only allowed supervised visits. Caleb fell into a depression after the death of his mother. He separated from his girlfriend and started drinking again.
35:04 Speaker 01 That alcohol is a bad thing, man.
35:06 Speaker 00 It can be, right? And when, when you abuse it. Some people drink alcohol recreationally and they have no problem with it.
35:16 Speaker 01 Yeah, it doesn't get out of control for them.
35:18 Speaker 00 But it's just like anything, right? Junk food, drugs, alcohol. Some people can use them sparingly. Some people lose control.
35:30 Speaker 01 Yeah.
35:31 Speaker 00 But I do want to talk about Caleb for a moment. Obviously, he did a really bad thing and I don't want to gloss over it. He was driving drunk. He killed someone, he injured some other people. I think he got off very lightly.
35:47 Speaker 01 Extremely late.
35:48 Speaker 00 Doing three months, but he comes out. His father is dead and now his mom dies. Okay, that's going to be tough to deal with. And I think the, his coping mechanism must have been alcohol.
36:06 Speaker 01 Seems like it, right? I mean, definitely had a issue with it.
36:10 Speaker 00 Bridget's brother Doug Blackwell was worried that something would happen to Caleb or the children. So he urged Caleb to create a will. Caleb never got around to it. He was too busy raising the kids and working. Melissa and Chris moved near London, Ontario. They rented a farm and Chris got a job at a poultry plant. They raised goats and pigs and they decided they wanted to be more self-sufficient and produce what they needed. Melissa also made taffy, candles, crochet bookmarks and apple cozies to protect apples from getting bruised.
36:48 Speaker 01 Apple cozies.
36:50 Speaker 00 Cause you know, apples get beat up a lot. She sold all this stuff on her Etsy store.
36:58 Speaker 01 Nobody wants a bruised apple, man.
37:01 Speaker 00 No, but my apples don't get bruised. Once they enter the home, it's not like we're abusing the apples. They, they come from the store brew sometimes. Also, do I have to have a cozy for every apple? That's a lot of cozies.
37:20 Speaker 01 I think so.
37:21 Speaker 00 Caleb eventually volunteered to give Melissa unsupervised access to the kids. They spent a week with Chris and Melissa and a week with Caleb. On March 1st, 2012, Melissa and Chris woke up to a house fire that started in their living room. They were able to escape out their bedroom window with the children, but they lost their house, their dogs, their guinea pig and their rabbit.
37:47 Speaker 01 Could be some sad kids there.
37:49 Speaker 00 Yeah, and that's tough, right? To lose your home, to lose your animals. Just bad all the way around. Now luckily they were able to get out. They were able to get the children out. They moved into a hotel and started a GoFundMe. They set a $50,000 goal and raised about 10%. By 2013, Caleb was back with his girlfriend Corinda and he was working full time. He wasn't allowed to drive, so he made arrangements with a neighbor to get the kids to school. He took them to the park and volunteered as their baseball coach. Caleb confided to a friend that he was depressed, but not suicidal.
38:33 Speaker 00 And those are two very different things. You know, I, I think a lot of people deal with depression. Sometimes depression can lead to, you know, suicidal thoughts.
38:46 Speaker 01 Could.
38:46 Speaker 00 Melissa and Chris eventually found a new home in Mississauga. But Caleb decided he no longer wanted Melissa to have unsupervised access to the kids.
38:58 Speaker 00 And I did think it was a little strange that he voluntarily agreed to that. Given all the animosity between the two parties. Now, maybe because he was struggling a little bit. He thought it would be easier if they took turns watching the kids. That would give him some time.
39:21 Speaker 01 I mean, it makes sense.
39:22 Speaker 00 Yeah, but something in him changed. And he said, you know what? I don't want her to have unsupervised visits anymore. August 22nd, 2013 was supposed to be their last night alone. That day Caleb took the kids to their baseball game and then dropped them off with Melissa. Caleb's girlfriend Corinda was supposed to stay the night with him, but she was behind on one of her online classes and didn't trust Caleb's internet. He called her around 11:00 PM. She thought he sounded drunk. They argued over the phone about money and the house. Caleb turned off his phone after they ended the conversation.
40:07 Speaker 00 He did this every night because he was a light sleeper. You know who is not a light sleeper?
40:13 Speaker 01 That would be you.
40:14 Speaker 00 This guy. My oldest was home the other morning and I set the alarm on my iPhone every morning.
40:22 Speaker 01 Yeah.
40:23 Speaker 00 And she comes in, wakes me up and says, Dad, this thing's been going off for 10 minutes. And when I woke up, this thing was really loud.
40:33 Speaker 01 Yeah.
40:33 Speaker 00 And it's about a foot from my head.
40:35 Speaker 01 It's the worst, man.
40:36 Speaker 00 And it never, it never woke me up the whole time.
40:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, you're one of those type of sleepers. But I hate that when you hear that alarm going off and off. Or when you set a bunch of alarms the night before, knowing that you, you attend, you, you know, you're going to sleep past it. Like you want it to wake you up just so you can hit the snooze. But you're not going to get up and you know, you're not going to get up after the next three go off.
41:03 Speaker 00 Sometimes you just need that process. I don't know.
41:07 Speaker 01 I don't know. Me, I'm like, what? Just get up, you know? It's time to get up, get up.
41:12 Speaker 00 A housekeeper arrived at the Harrisons on the morning of August 23rd. She had been working for several hours when Caleb's coworker showed up. He was worried because Caleb hadn't come to work. The housekeeper said that she hadn't seen Caleb and she never went into his room to clean because he didn't want her to. The housekeeper and Caleb's coworker entered his room to check on him and found him in bed. Caleb's coworker touched his neck to check for a pulse and felt that he was cold. And we talk about a lot of discoveries.
41:50 Speaker 01 Yeah.
41:51 Speaker 00 Normally of dead bodies. Imagine being worried about your coworker. You show up at the house. Somebody has to check for a pulse. And I think it would be very obvious, very quickly when you feel the person's skin, how cold they are.
42:10 Speaker 01 I would think so, yeah.
42:12 Speaker 00 Probably something you're not going to forget. One of the paramedics who arrived at the scene was Patrick Moore, who was one of the first responders when Bridget died. Caleb had been beaten and strangled. His death was immediately ruled a homicide by asphyxiation. This time, a fully trained and certified forensic pathologist performed the autopsy. And I know we've maybe glossed over it a little bit, but I don't think it can be understated. This whole thing they had going on at the time in Canada where not every death was looked at by a fully trained and certified forensic pathologist.
42:56 Speaker 00 I mean, we talked about Bridget's being suspicious. Right. And even that guy hadn't even completed all his classes.
43:05 Speaker 00 That is very true. But I think, you know, when you look at the way that Caleb was found, very easy, right? To rule this homicide, beaten and strangled. No way is this natural and, and no way is, is that an accident? The police then called into question Bill and Bridget's deaths. Investigators began surveilling Melissa and Chris. And neither of those two things surprises me one bit. You know, I wasn't sold on the fact that Bill's situation screamed out natural death. And Bridget's was again, at the very least suspicious, if not even more than that.
43:50 Speaker 00 So now that, so when Caleb turns up dead, it's three people in the same family. Yeah, this should be alarming. It has to be, right? To investigators and who are you going to look at first? Who would have the biggest motive to want not only Caleb gone, but his parents as well? Because all three of them are wrapped up in, in the custody situation or, or have been right? At, at one time or another. Undercover officers collected Chris's used coffee cup from the trash. Another officer posed as a waste collector and took the couple's trash. One of the garbage bags contained men's sneakers from Walmart.
44:35 Speaker 00 Investigators found video footage from August 22nd showing Melissa and Chris entering Walmart and purchasing sneakers. Additionally, the soles of the sneakers were covered in dog hair. Caleb owned a German shepherd. Latex gloves were also found that had Caleb's DNA on the outside and Chris's on the inside. And finally, Chris's DNA was found under Caleb's fingernails.
45:04 Speaker 01 A lot of evidence right there.
45:06 Speaker 00 It really is. Now, why do you go to Walmart to buy a pair of shoes? I know that's where you get yours normally, but my thought is you're going to Walmart because you're going to buy the cheapest pair of shoes you can find because you know you're going to have to throw them out.
45:21 Speaker 01 Absolutely. Why spend so much money on them if you know they're going to be tossed, right?
45:26 Speaker 00 That, that, that's my thinking. And I think that it was theirs as well. I know you buy your Nike's there.
45:34 Speaker 01 It's one of my best brands that I wear is the Nike's.
45:38 Speaker 00 Yeah.
45:39 Speaker 01 Yeah.
45:40 Speaker 00 They look a lot like Nike's, but.
45:42 Speaker 01 Also like the Adidas.
45:44 Speaker 00 What are they?
45:44 Speaker 01 The Adidas?
45:45 Speaker 00 The Adidas?
45:46 Speaker 01 Yeah.
45:47 Speaker 00 But you're right. This is a, a ton of evidence already. Investigators found correspondence between Melissa and the Harrisons about the custody battle, which provided a motive. After Caleb's death, Melissa got sole custody of the children. She and Chris moved back to Nova Scotia. In the meantime, investigators continued building their case against Melissa and Chris. According to Dateline, an undercover officer arranged a free trip to get them out of town. So authorities could bug their house. Always be wary of the you've won something or a free trip.
46:26 Speaker 00 You know, they used to have those sting operations where they would get all of these people who the police wanted to round up. And they would say that they won something. They'd get them to all come down to the same place and then they just arrest them.
46:40 Speaker 01 Really?
46:41 Speaker 00 Yeah. You never heard of that?
46:42 Speaker 01 Cause that's why I'm going on this trip.
46:44 Speaker 00 Oh, you got a free trip?
46:47 Speaker 01 Yeah, but I have to go to this location to pick up everything.
46:51 Speaker 00 Well, I'd be, uh, I'd be worried about that. Chris and Melissa were recorded talking about the deaths and the evidence they might've left behind. I mean, this is not a mountain. This is, uh, the Mount Everest.
47:07 Speaker 01 Yeah.
47:08 Speaker 00 Of evidence, right? That's building up against both of them. For example, Chris said, he did grab me by the neck, referring to the DNA under Caleb's fingernails. Melissa responded, even if by chance he did get you on the neck, that would be a miniscule amount.
47:30 Speaker 00 The couple were arrested on January 28th, 2014 and charged with first degree murder for the deaths of Bridget and Caleb Harrison. At a press conference, the police said they undertook what they called new avenues of investigation and determined both Caleb and Bridget were asphyxiated. And we did talk about it, right? When we discussed Bridget's death, the words neck compression, that hardly seemed accidental.
48:01 Speaker 01 Yeah, I got nothing accidental out of that one.
48:05 Speaker 00 After the arrests, Melissa and Chris were put in separate interrogation rooms. Melissa cried during her questioning. Chris remained calm and after 13 hours, he finally said, I didn't like Caleb Harrison. According to Toronto Life, he told the detective, I'm telling you right now that Melissa Merritt did not know anything until after it was done. Chris admitted, I killed Bridget Harrison and Caleb Harrison. However, he said, he knew nothing about Bill's death.
48:40 Speaker 01 He's attempting to sound like he's coming clean.
48:43 Speaker 00 Well, he's definitely admitting to two murders. Now, he's saying he doesn't know anything about Bill's death.
48:51 Speaker 01 And he's trying to protect her.
48:53 Speaker 00 And he is trying to protect her for sure. Chris confessed that on April 21st, 2010, he went to the Harrison residence pretending he had a message for the children. Bridget answered the door and he forced his way inside and attacked her. He said, I hit her a couple of times. I then proceeded to squeeze her neck until she stopped breathing and laid on the floor. He believed killing Bridget would level the playing field between Melissa and Caleb and give her a better chance at getting custody.
49:26 Speaker 01 Came up with that all by himself, did he?
49:28 Speaker 00 Well, according to him.
49:30 Speaker 01 Yeah.
49:30 Speaker 00 He's doing it for Bridget, but Bridget didn't know anything about it. Chris confessed that on the night of August 22nd, 2013, he entered the house using a key he stole from Melissa's oldest son. He entered Caleb's bedroom and hit him in the chest with a bat. Caleb jumped up and Chris threw him into a shelving unit and strangled him. Days after this confession, Chris and Melissa were extradited back to Ontario. They were put into a room together at the airport. They believed they were alone, but the room was bucked.
50:08 Speaker 01 Oh, that's always the best.
50:10 Speaker 00 Yeah, and I don't know why these people think that they're not being recorded, especially when they're at the police station. That's the one that really gets me. Melissa asked, what did you tell them? Chris said, I'm taking the rap for it to get you a lesser, to give you accessory after the fact. I told them I told you after. Melissa asked why he did it. Chris answered, because I want you to get our children. On January 30th, 2014, Chris and Melissa were both charged with the murder of Bill Harrison. I mean, things for them just go from bad to worse to terrible.
50:55 Speaker 00 In their rush to leave Mississauga, after Caleb's murder, Melissa and Chris left many of their belongings behind, including their shared computer that contained records of incriminating searches. Some of the searches were made during the time Melissa was awaiting trial for parental abduction. These searches included, what if a grandparent has legal custody and they die? There was one that was just legal custody and they die. There was one, if a grandparent has custody of the children and they die, which of the parents gets the kid? Always fascinating what people are searching for on the internet.
51:38 Speaker 01 Yours is probably more fascinating than mine.
51:41 Speaker 00 Mine would be.
51:44 Speaker 00 A good read. Let's, let's just put it that way.
51:47 Speaker 01 Is that what you call it now?
51:48 Speaker 00 Yeah, a good read. I, I do search for some strange things. There's no doubt about it. I've said it before, if you and I didn't do true crime podcasting and somebody just happened to find my search history, they would think I was Dexter or something. This is like, you know, how long does it take to manually strangle someone?
52:12 Speaker 01 Yeah.
52:12 Speaker 00 You know, it's, it's stuff like that, but it's in the context of a story that we're researching.
52:19 Speaker 01 So you're saying they're
52:20 Speaker 00 Allegedly.
52:21 Speaker 01 They realize you'd have a true crime addiction and a porn addiction at the same time?
52:27 Speaker 00 Allegedly. Every so often, they search for news about Bill and Bridget. One of them used the computer to Google, how to tell if your phone is tapped. Someone had also searched, how long it takes someone to die from being choked? Okay, that's like a search that, that I might do because as we found out, right? It's not like the movies. It takes quite a while and a good deal of pressure to manually strangle someone.
52:58 Speaker 01 Yeah, two minutes and 36 seconds.
53:01 Speaker 00 On average?
53:01 Speaker 01 Yeah.
53:02 Speaker 00 In the movies, it's like five seconds, right? And, and somebody's dead, but that's not real life. Because Chris and Melissa shared the computer, the searches couldn't be attributed to one person. The police attempted to match the searches with activity in each person's email. And in doing so, made unauthorized searches and seizures of evidence. A judge sided with the defense and had the computer evidence thrown out before trial. And that always stinks, right? When you have solid evidence that you would love to present to the jury.
53:40 Speaker 01 Sure, yeah.
53:41 Speaker 00 But because of a misstep or something done incorrectly, it has to be thrown out.
53:48 Speaker 01 And you're like, oh, it was so good. This could have really helped the case.
53:53 Speaker 00 Chris attempted to plead guilty to manslaughter for the death of Caleb Harrison, but was rejected by the prosecution. That doesn't surprise me at all. I mean, they had quite a bit of evidence. So why would they, you know, agree to
54:09 Speaker 01 Lesser?
54:10 Speaker 00 Allow him to take a lesser plea. The prosecution argued that Harrison family deaths were the result of the lengthy custody battle. Chris and Melissa grew increasingly frustrated with the involvement of Caleb's parents in their children's lives. The prosecution quoted, uh, one of Melissa's 2008 letters. She wrote, "Per the Toronto Sun, if Caleb is not caring for the children, no one other than myself should be. Bill and Bridget are not the children's parents." The Crown told the jury a neighbor would testify that Melissa was unhappy with the court's 2009 decision to grant Bill and Bridget shared custody.
54:54 Speaker 00 She packed up boxes that could be seen inside her home. The neighbor happened to be a colleague of Bill Harrison and warned him. The prosecution theorized that Bill was killed after confronting Chris about taking the kids away. And that answers, I think, one of the, the questions that many people might have, right? Why kill Bill and not Bridget at the same time? Because you're really not solving the problem you think you have. You still have one grandparent who is alive. But it makes much more sense if Bill is warned that, hey, they're about ready to skip town with the kids.
55:37 Speaker 00 He confronts Chris about it and Chris kills him.
55:41 Speaker 01 Yeah.
55:42 Speaker 00 The Crown also noted that Bridget died the day before Melissa was going to plead guilty to parental kidnapping. Her cause of death was neck injury. And both of those things jumped out at me right away. The timing of her death and then also, you know, the phrase neck compression.
56:02 Speaker 01 Yeah.
56:03 Speaker 00 I mean, I don't think you need to be a trained forensic pathologist to understand that, hey, this needs to be looked at a little bit more.
56:12 Speaker 01 Yeah, pretty severe here. Let's dive into this.
56:16 Speaker 00 By August 2013, Melissa and Caleb were fighting over the kids again. According to the prosecution, in the middle of the night, Chris Fattore entered Caleb's house using a stolen key. He went to Caleb's bedroom and hit him in the chest. Chris was described as a large, powerful man who could deliver, you know, a very serious blow. Caleb woke up and the two men got into a struggle. But Caleb was drunk and much smaller than Chris. Chris threw Caleb into the shelves beside his bed. Caleb pleaded for his life and offered the attacker money. Chris said nothing and strangled Caleb to death. And we mentioned it, right?
56:59 Speaker 00 Investigators had Chris's DNA under Caleb's nails and Caleb's DNA on a pair of gloves in the garbage. The court also heard about the Walmart sneakers found in the garbage outside Chris and Melissa's home. The dog hair on the soles of the shoes was linked to Caleb's German shepherd. And you said it earlier, Gibbs, but it really is a lot of evidence. And let's not forget, Chris is admitted to the murders.
57:29 Speaker 01 Right.
57:30 Speaker 00 At least when it comes to Caleb and Bridget. Chris's defense argued that Bill died of a sudden cardiac event and Bridget died from a fall down the stairs. They acknowledged that Chris killed Caleb, but said it was an accident. And I don't know how they, they could not acknowledge, given the evidence specifically related to Caleb's murder.
57:56 Speaker 01 Yeah, it only makes sense.
57:58 Speaker 00 Melissa's defense argued that she should be acquitted because there's no evidence she knew about the deaths before they happened. The prosecution played a video of Chris confessing to two murders in court. The jury also listened to the recording of Chris and Melissa at the airport, where he said he was taking the rap for her. Might be a little damning. Oh, I think so. To a jury. Let's also not forget the shopping for the shoes. Now, could that have been Chris saying, hey, let's go get some shoes at Walmart? Or is that the two of them together getting shoes because they know they're later gonna have to throw them away?
58:42 Speaker 00 They're probably gonna have crime scene evidence. Right. On them. I think it's the latter. Chris got on the stand and testified that he falsely confessed out of concern for his family. He believed he was making a deal so Melissa would be with the children. He denied killing Bill or Bridget and insisted he killed Caleb accidentally. He went to the house because he wanted to rough him up so they would have a few extra days with the kids. In her closing address, Chris's defense attorney said he was taking a dive to protect the woman he loved.
59:18 Speaker 00 He only confessed to the murders due to 15 hours of interrogation by a psychologically manipulative investigator. So what does she mean by that, Gibbs? He was taking a dive to protect the woman he loved? That he didn't really do it? But he said that he did it to protect her? I think so. I mean, I think that's the seed, at the very least, that she's trying to plant. Deliberation started on January 10th, 2018, and the jury reached a verdict on January 13th. Chris Vator was found guilty of first degree murder for the deaths of Bridget Harrison and Caleb Harrison,
1:00:01 Speaker 00 but he was acquitted of the murder of Bill Harrison. A pathologist reviewed Bill's autopsy notes and found that Bill had bruising on his chest and neck and concluded Bill was assaulted before he died. However, Bill was cremated and the jury didn't think there was enough evidence for a conviction. And I can understand that. First of all, you have somebody who said, hey, doesn't look like any foul play here. You know, that was the initial ruling. There's no body that they can go back and, and look at.
1:00:37 Speaker 01 No, since it was cremated.
1:00:39 Speaker 00 And you don't have Chris admitting to the murder.
1:00:44 Speaker 01 No.
1:00:45 Speaker 00 As you do with Bridget and Caleb. Melissa Merritt was found guilty of first degree murder for the death of Caleb Harrison, but jurors declared a hung jury on whether she killed Bridget. By the time of trial, Melissa was not charged with Bill's death. Melissa and Chris received life sentences with no chance of parole for 25 years. And then prosecutors announced their intention to retry her for the murder of Bridget Harrison. In 2020, it was reported that Chris was looking for a romantic partner from prison. He had a profile on Canadian Inmates Connect, a pen pal website.
1:01:27 Speaker 00 He described himself as a big teddy bear who was fun and caring.
1:01:32 Speaker 01 Aww.
1:01:33 Speaker 00 He wrote that he was looking for someone who shared his interests. He said, "They say opposites attract, but in my experience, they don't last. I'm not looking for anyone controlling. I've been there, done that, threw away the T-shirt."
1:01:48 Speaker 01 Just wasn't happy with his cellmate, huh?
1:01:51 Speaker 00 He was too controlling?
1:01:52 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:01:53 Speaker 00 "I'm a big teddy bear who's fun and caring, and that's why I got a life sentence with no possibility of parole for 25 years."
1:02:02 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:02:03 Speaker 00 But if you're okay with that, we can start something up.
1:02:06 Speaker 01 That's right.
1:02:07 Speaker 00 The Toronto Sun reported that Melissa had married a fellow inmate in prison. So I guess they both decided, hey, we gotta move on.
1:02:16 Speaker 01 Find some love.
1:02:18 Speaker 00 On January 5th, 2023, Melissa Merritt was granted a retrial. A three judge panel ruled the trial judge made errors when giving directions to the jury that could have swayed the decision towards Melissa's conviction for Caleb's murder. Chris's appeal was dismissed. The judge has found compelling evidence.
1:02:41 Speaker 00 Linking him to Caleb's death. And that makes sense, right? There was a ton of evidence against Chris. Not quite as much against Melissa. In Melissa's case, the court found that the judge made two critical errors when instructing the jury how they should handle an unintelligible statement from a recording and an omission Melissa made during her first interview about the Walmart shoot. In her first interview after Caleb's death, Melissa said she and Chris spent the night at a softball game and went to the mall to get dinner. She didn't mention that they stopped at Walmart to buy shoes.
1:03:23 Speaker 00 The Crown argued that she deliberately omitted this detail to hide the fact that she knew what Chris was buying the shoes for. There were inconsistencies in Chris's statements about when exactly he told Melissa about the murders. The judge essentially told the jury that if they rejected Chris's inconsistent evidence, they should also reject Melissa's without explaining the possibility that she had other evidence of her innocence not tied to Chris's testimony. Interesting. Yeah, I mean, it is interesting how judges make rulings. They also make mistakes, right? They're human. Sure, yeah.
1:04:07 Speaker 00 And we mentioned it earlier, the police planted recording devices in Chris and Melissa's home while they were under investigation. At one point detectives posed as a victim liaison officer and insurance investigator and told the couple that the police had linked Chris to Bridget's death through DNA evidence. The police's statements were not always factual. But at least here, they can do that. Yes, I don't know what it's like in Canada, but here in the United States, police don't have to tell the truth. Afterwards, Chris was recorded talking to Melissa and saying the DNA evidence must have been
1:04:51 Speaker 00 from his hair because Bridget never touched him. When speaking about Caleb's murder, Chris was recorded saying, "I killed him fucking perfect," or "I killed him, then fucking prove it." Melissa responded, "I know, but..." During their conversation in the bugged room at the airport, after Chris told her he took the rap for her, Melissa said, "You shouldn't have said anything." Chris responded in a whisper, "I was thinking about..." And then the unintelligible part, "And the children." Melissa whispered back, "There's an unintelligible part. The audio tapes would have fucked us anyways."
1:05:35 Speaker 00 The prosecution argued that this was her admission of involvement, but her lawyers argued that the unintelligible portion of the transcript was her saying, "They think the audio tapes would have fucked us anyways." And those, you know, that is something very, very different. Very different. The trial judge failed to give the jury proper direction about how to handle the recording. Melissa's retrial started on February 6, 2024. The prosecution argued Melissa was a willing accomplice and not just an accessory after the fact. She helped and even encouraged Chris to commit the murders of Bridget and Caleb Harrison.
1:06:18 Speaker 00 The motive was the custody battle. The jury viewed nine letters written by Melissa to the Harrison family in 2008. In a letter from October of that year, she wrote, "I will be keeping the children with me today." There's something wrong here. No child should behave that way before seeing their father. In a November letter, she wrote, I have a responsibility as a mother to protect my children. And after the episode that occurred on Friday night in my driveway in front of me, it's hard not to believe nothing happens to my children behind the closed doors of your home.
1:06:59 Speaker 00 On March 18th, 2024, Melissa Mayer was acquitted of the murder of Bridget Harrison, and a mistrial was declared for the death of Caleb Harrison. So things have really turned around for her in a big way. On March 3rd, 2025, Melissa pleaded guilty to manslaughter, weeks before the start of her third trial. In the statement of facts read by the judge, Melissa admitted she knew Chris intended to confront Caleb about the ongoing custody battle and to threaten him if he didn't grant her more access to the children. She was aware it could get violent.
1:07:42 Speaker 00 She admitted that she encouraged Chris to confront Caleb, but she didn't know Chris would kill him. They didn't discuss specifically what Chris might say or do, or that Chris planned to kill Caleb. Melissa only learned about it after it happened. On March 17th, 2025, Melissa was sentenced to 15 years plus one day.
1:08:07 Speaker 01 That one day really gets you.
1:08:09 Speaker 00 Will get you for one more day. But again, what a turnaround, right?
1:08:13 Speaker 01 Oh.
1:08:14 Speaker 00 Life with the chance of parole at 25 years, down to 15 years and a day. And she'd already spent over a decade in jail. Yeah. So with enhanced credit for time served in pretrial custody, the judge agreed with a joint submission by the Crown and the defense that she should be released. Melissa only spent one extra day in jail. The ruling came after victim impact statements were read. One of those was from Anna Blackwell, Caleb's cousin, whom he appointed a guardian of the kids. She told the court she feared for her life and said,
1:08:58 Speaker 00 if Melissa decides it's in her best interest, I have no doubt she will orchestrate more harm and more violence. The judge told the family and friends that she knew the sentence was not what they hoped for, but a third trial may have resulted in an acquittal. So as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, I mean, there are a lot of questions that still remain in this case. But after 16 years, the case of the Harrison family deaths is now closed. I think Chris's case is pretty bottled up. I think what's really up for debate is what Melissa's role was,
1:09:43 Speaker 00 what Melissa knew. And to me, it went down most likely one of two ways. Either she did know that Chris was going there, but only found out after the fact that he killed Caleb, or she was the driving force behind all of it. And I mean, all of it. Specifically, both Bridget and Caleb's deaths. Now, she might not have been the one to actually kill them. Yeah. But it was her directing what happened. Controlling the situation.
1:10:26 Speaker 00 And getting Chris to do what she wanted him to do. And again, when he said, I took the rap for you. Well, what does that mean?
1:10:39 Speaker 00 It kind of makes it seem like she knew a lot more than just, oh, after the fact, I found out that he killed Caleb.
1:10:49 Speaker 01 Yeah, because otherwise, there's no reason to really say that. Only reason you're saying, I took the rap for you is because she had to be involved at some level.
1:10:59 Speaker 00 Yeah, because I think he also said, I'm making sure you only get an accessory after the fact.
1:11:05 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:11:07 Speaker 00 And if she truly did learn about Caleb's murder afterwards, then she would be, right? An accessory after the fact. I don't know, there's just a lot pointing to the idea that she may have had quite a bit more knowledge upfront, but I think sometimes that's, that's hard to prove. The recordings and things like that make it seem that way.
1:11:33 Speaker 01 That's true.
1:11:34 Speaker 00 But I also get, you know, going with the, the plea deal, right? You take a chance on the third trial, and if it's an acquittal, then you've really lost. Now, she spent 10 years of her life in prison, but at least this way you get a conviction.
1:11:56 Speaker 01 That's true.
1:11:57 Speaker 00 You don't get more time, but you get a conviction. So, I don't know, a- as a family that, and as a, as the prosecutors, it would be a tough decision.
1:12:07 Speaker 01 It would be, but for the prosecutor, a win's a win.
1:12:10 Speaker 00 Is it? Because to me, the win was life with parole possibility after 25 years.
1:12:20 Speaker 01 Right.
1:12:20 Speaker 00 That got thrown out, so that had to feel like a defeat, I would think, maybe.
1:12:25 Speaker 01 Yeah, but for the record.
1:12:27 Speaker 00 Yeah, it's still a conviction.
1:12:28 Speaker 01 Yeah, if it's a.
1:12:29 Speaker 00 If you're looking at it that way.
1:12:30 Speaker 01 Yeah, trying to get reelected.
1:12:31 Speaker 00 But I think if you're a prosecutor and you truly believe the evidence is there and that it proves that it was more her directing and should be first degree murder, then I think you're looking at it as a loss.
1:12:45 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:12:46 Speaker 00 Even though.
1:12:46 Speaker 01 True.
1:12:47 Speaker 00 You got a conviction. But that's it for our episode on Melissa Merritt. We got a voicemail. You want to check that out? Let's hear it.
1:12:55 Speaker 02 Hey, good evening, Mike and Gibby. This is Kingman in Rogue River, Oregon. I was just listening to your episode about Carnell Fledge and Catherine Brown. I remember this case, I've heard it done a few times. You guys did an excellent job on it. As far as silencers, suppressors, they've been in the news a lot lately. Something I know a little bit about, not a lot, not an expert, but I do own a couple of suppressors. A 22 caliber suppressed in a pistol would be very, very quiet, but not so quiet that you wouldn't hear it if you were in the same room, depending on the ammunition used. There's all kinds of setups you can run it wet, where you put some kind of liquid, you can use water, there's ceramic
1:13:38 Speaker 02 liquids, there's all kinds of stuff that people like to put inside of them. If you run a suppressor wet, it's very, very quiet because all the gases get trapped by that liquid inside of the baffles. Good news is, they just came off the NFA, as far as tax dance are required. So you'll still have to actually register them with the federal government, but you won't have to pay 200 bucks to purchase the suppressor. But, long story short, they're not that quiet, they're not that evil. If somebody used a 22 with a wet silencer, that's probably why nobody heard it, especially if they were, you know, really, really sneaky. Anyway, going on for a long time. Hey, guys, love your podcast, keep your own time ticking. And I don't know if this will pick up, but I'm going to shoot a 22 suppressed right now.
1:14:24 Speaker 02 Pretty quiet. Alright, see you later.
1:14:26 Speaker 00 So I had to play that because nobody's ever actually fired around during a voicemail.
1:14:31 Speaker 01 Right.
1:14:32 Speaker 00 But, you know, and he did talk about ammo, and that's a good thing, and something we probably didn't talk about, because there's subsonic ammo that's going to be even more quiet.
1:14:44 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:14:45 Speaker 00 But again, when you, when you heard that, and I know it's through the phone. What I really heard is, is more of the action.
1:14:53 Speaker 01 Yeah.
1:14:53 Speaker 00 And that's, that's kind of what I've heard at the range when, when some guys next to me were shooting a suppressed 22. Now a larger caliber is going to make more noise even suppressed, but a 22 with subsonic animo can be very quiet.
1:15:09 Speaker 01 I mean, I think the key is, and I've always said this, right? You gotta keep it wet.
1:15:14 Speaker 00 Yeah, you've been a big proponent of that.
1:15:17 Speaker 01 That's the key. Keep it wet.
1:15:19 Speaker 00 You know.
1:15:20 Speaker 01 It goes with a lot of things.
1:15:21 Speaker 00 It's just, uh, it's a good voicemail when somebody talks about it and then actually demonstrates it.
1:15:27 Speaker 01 You actually got a little excited.
1:15:28 Speaker 00 By firing off a few rounds. All right, buddy. That is it for another episode of True Crime All The Time. So for Mike.
1:15:35 Speaker 01 And Gibby.
1:15:36 Speaker 00 Stay safe and keep your own time ticking.
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