Who killed Iris Harless? Columbus police renew effort to solve grandmother’s slaying
Come March 28, 18 years will have passed since a Columbus grandmother viciously was assaulted and strangled in her home on Northgate Drive.
Who killed Iris Harless remains a mystery, though police long have had all the physical evidence they need to convict the man: They have blood samples, DNA, fingerprints, composite sketches and witnesses who saw him. They even have the pair of prescription glasses he left behind.
They’re just missing one crucial element: His identity. They don’t have a name.
The evidence police have has not matched anything on file in law enforcement databases: No matching DNA profile has turned up in the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) maintained by the FBI, which compiles DNA samples from crime scenes and from people sentenced to prison. No fingerprints from the crime scene have matched prints filed in the automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) that agencies use.
But after re-interviewing witnesses, cold-case investigators now have renewed hope that a break in the case is imminent, and they’re again asking the public for any additional tips that could help.
Police last announced progress in the investigation in 2017, through a process called DNA phenotyping, which used the DNA evidence to create a computer-generated image of the person from whom the genetic material came. Police publicized those images to show what the analysis estimated the man would look like years later, in the hope that someone would recognize him.
No one did, and witnesses later told investigators an earlier sketch of the killer, created in 2003, was more accurate than the one in 2017.
Fighting a killer
A police lieutenant in 2006 said Harless, 64, apparently confronted her killer outside her 4717 Northgate Drive home, where her three dogs would have barked at him.
She was wearing a nightgown and carrying a cordless phone she dropped in her driveway as he dragged her inside, beat and strangled her around 9:50 p.m., police said.
Another struggle ensued when Harless’ grandson came home with some friends. The grandson, who lived with Harless, had been gone for about 30 minutes, having left to buy some food.
“We know when he arrives home, there are things he sees outside the house that alert him that something’s wrong,” cold-case Detective Stuart Carter said in an interview with the Ledger-Enquirer. “The phone’s out there. The side door’s standing open. There was some type of trash bin that was knocked over.”
He walked in, calling for his grandmother, and heard no response. “And then he encounters the suspect in a hallway,” Carter said.
He yelled for his friends to go get help, and started fighting with the man, nearly biting the intruder’s thumb off before trapping him in a bedroom by holding the door closed.
“The suspect breaks out a window, a bedroom window, and he’s last seen leaving on foot,” Carter said, “and was never seen again.”
Police said the killer last was seen at Northgate Drive and Reese Road, but passersby had noticed him in the area before Harless’ homicide.
Other witnesses
Between 6 and 8 p.m., a motorist and his wife saw an apparently drunk man on the ground vomiting along Reese Road near Shenandoah Drive. When they stopped to see if he was OK, he asked for a ride to a bar called Coach’s Corner, which at the time was in the Gentian Corners Shopping Center, on Gentian Boulevard at Reese Road. They refused.
The motorist said it still was light outside when he saw the man. Records show the sunset in Columbus that day was at 6:57 p.m. EST, Carter said.
A second couple driving by saw the man near Fairview Drive, and told police he was wearing a white button-down shirt and blue jeans.
The man cut his hand trying to break into a Reese Road home, and he is believed to have used his white shirt as a bandage before stuffing the shirt in his back pocket and walking on, leaving a trail of blood from Reese Road to Northgate Drive, police said. DNA tests matched that blood to blood found at Harless’ home, detectives said.
Carter said witnesses told police the man was white and muscular with black or dark-brown hair that was short in the front and long in the back like a “mullet” style. They said he was in his mid-20s or early 30s, and estimated his height at 5 foot 10 to 6 foot 1, and his weight at 185 to 195 pounds.]
Harless’ grandson told Carter he suspected the man worked in construction or similar outdoor labor, because his hands were calloused and his skin looked tanned and leathery.
Anyone with information may contact Carter at 706-225-4319 or scarter@columbusga.org.
Carter emphasized that what police want most is a name, and anyone who can identify the man may do so anonymously. Because of all the physical evidence investigators already have, having a tipster testify in court may not be necessary.
“This is a case where if we just get the right name, we can solve this without actual testimony from someone,” he said.
“Obviously, we would like to talk to anyone that could provide any information that would get us closer to making an arrest on this case” Carter added. “But again, we do have DNA evidence on this case. We’re confident it belongs to the suspect.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2021 at 4:02 PM.