Update: Investigators Say Dallas County Woman Was Tortured to Death in 2011
By: KARK 4 News
Updated: January 21, 2013
Update (January 21):
After two more arrests in the 2011 death of a Dallas County woman, investigators are revealing graphic details of her death, which they say, was by torture.
Christopher Aldrich, 24, and Sherri Bowen, 49, were picked up at the Dallas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) on Friday.
Aldrich is the step-brother of victim Nancy Harvill, and Bowen is her step-mother, investigators say. Both are charged with Capital Murder, Kidnapping, Domestic Battering 1st. Degree, Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution, and Abuse of a Corpse. Additional charges against Bowen include: Financial Identity Fraud, and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor (2 Counts).
John Aldrich, also a step-brother to Harvill, was arrested in the case earlier this month.
The DSCO explained the following details of Harvill's death in a news release:
The incident began on/or about Friday, August 26, 2011 when Nancy Harvill and John Aldrich were engaged in a physical altercation resulting from an argument over the care and treatment of Nancy's minor children. Allegations are that Sherri Bowen instructed John and Chris Aldrich to tie Nancy up. The two suspects bound Nancy's Hands behind her back then tied her feet together in a "hogtie" fashion. All three suspects then began to beat and torture Nancy Harvill by striking her repeatedly with their hands, broom sticks, baseball bats, cast iron pans, furniture, hot candle wax, kicking, and shooting her with a spring loaded airsoft gun. The continued abuse and torture ultimately lead to her death. Sherri Bowen instructed other family members to participate by punching and kicking Nancy while bound, and on the floor.
The torture continued over the next 48 hours while Nancy remained bound, and abused. She was not permitted to eat, drink, or use the restroom, and had been transported between the laundry room and living area for periods of abuse, and torture. On Sunday, August 28, 2011 between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., following her torture and subsequent death, Nancy was laid out in the laundry room where they straightened out her body, and retied her. They then dragged Nancy's corpse though the house, and out of a back door leading into a "shop like" addition to the family home. John and Christopher Aldrich used a borrowed tiller to excavate the ground and two shovels to shape the grave. Nancy was wrapped in plastic, her body was contorted and placed into the grave.
Once Nancy was buried, John Aldrich, Christopher Aldrich, and Sherri Bowen met inside the home and developed a cover-up story that Nancy left the state with an unknown individual. The cover-up story was maintained over the next 15 months. Meanwhile financial, medical, and personal matters were falsified using the deceased's identity in an apparent effort to conceal her death.
Christopher Aldrich and Sherri Bowen are being held on $250,000 bond. John Aldrich's charges are expected to be amended to reflect the same charges Chris Aldrich is facing at his next court appearance in February.
Update (January 9, 12:10 p.m.):
A Fordyce man is facing a murder charge after the body of his missing stepsister is found in Dallas County.
The Dallas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) says John J. Aldrich, 25, is suspected in the death of Nancy Harvill, 34, who had been missing for more than a year.
Harvill's body was found around 6:30 Tuesday night at 702 North Spring Street in Fordyce.
The DCSO says it will ask prosecutors to file a second degree murder charge against Aldrich.
They believe he killed Harvill in October 2011 and buried her body inside a workshop connected to the Fordyce home where they both lived.
Family members say they at first thought Harvill had run away, but later became suspicious.
Original story (January 9, 11:25 a.m.):
An investigation is underway in Dallas County after a missing woman's body is found.
So far, all officials will tell us is that the woman had been missing since October 2011 and that the body was found in a shallow grave inside a shed.
KARK 4 News is headed to the scene and will have more information as it becomes available.
**Graphic story warning**
After two more arrests in the 2011 death of a Dallas County woman, investigators are revealing graphic details of her death, which they say, was by torture.
Christopher Aldrich, 24, and Sherri Bowen, 49, were picked up at the Dallas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) on Friday.
Aldrich is the step-brother of victim Nancy Harvill, and Bowen is her step-mother, investigators say. Both are charged with Capital Murder, Kidnapping, Domestic Battering 1st. Degree, Hindering Apprehension or Prosecution, and Abuse of a Corpse. Additional charges against Bowen include: Financial Identity Fraud, and Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor (2 Counts).
John Aldrich, also a step-brother to Harvill, was arrested in the case earlier this month.
The DSCO explained the following details of Harvill's death in a news release:
The incident began on/or about Friday, August 26, 2011 when Nancy Harvill and John Aldrich were engaged in a physical altercation resulting from an argument over the care and treatment of Nancy's minor children. Allegations are that Sherri Bowen instructed John and Chris Aldrich to tie Nancy up. The two suspects bound Nancy's Hands behind her back then tied her feet together in a "hogtie" fashion. All three suspects then began to beat and torture Nancy Harvill by striking her repeatedly with their hands, broom sticks, baseball bats, cast iron pans, furniture, hot candle wax, kicking, and shooting her with a spring loaded airsoft gun. The continued abuse and torture ultimately lead to her death. Sherri Bowen instructed other family members to participate by punching and kicking Nancy while bound, and on the floor.
The torture continued over the next 48 hours while Nancy remained bound, and abused. She was not permitted to eat, drink, or use the restroom, and had been transported between the laundry room and living area for periods of abuse, and torture. On Sunday, August 28, 2011 between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., following her torture and subsequent death, Nancy was laid out in the laundry room where they straightened out her body, and retied her. They then dragged Nancy's corpse though the house, and out of a back door leading into a "shop like" addition to the family home. John and Christopher Aldrich used a borrowed tiller to excavate the ground and two shovels to shape the grave. Nancy was wrapped in plastic, her body was contorted and placed into the grave.
Once Nancy was buried, John Aldrich, Christopher Aldrich, and Sherri Bowen met inside the home and developed a cover-up story that Nancy left the state with an unknown individual. The cover-up story was maintained over the next 15 months. Meanwhile financial, medical, and personal matters were falsified using the deceased's identity in an apparent effort to conceal her death.
Christopher Aldrich and Sherri Bowen are being held on $250,000 bond. John Aldrich's charges are expected to be amended to reflect the same charges Chris Aldrich is facing at his next court appearance in February.
Photos below are suspect John Aldrich and victim Nancy Harvill:
Update (January 9, 12:10 p.m.):
A Fordyce man is facing a murder charge after the body of his missing stepsister is found in Dallas County.
The Dallas County Sheriff's Office (DCSO) says John J. Aldrich, 25, is suspected in the death of Nancy Harvill, 34, who had been missing for more than a year.
Harvill's body was found around 6:30 Tuesday night at 702 North Spring Street in Fordyce.
The DCSO says it will ask prosecutors to file a second degree murder charge against Aldrich.
They believe he killed Harvill in October 2011 and buried her body inside a workshop connected to the Fordyce home where they both lived.
Family members say they at first thought Harvill had run away, but later became suspicious.
Original story (January 9, 11:25 a.m.):
An investigation is underway in Dallas County after a missing woman's body is found.
So far, all officials will tell us is that the woman had been missing since October 2011 and that the body was found in a shallow grave inside a shed.
KARK 4 News is headed to the scene and will have more information as it becomes available.
