CHP captain’s colleagues testify she acted erratically before husband died
Former colleagues of a once-rising captain in the California Highway Patrol say they watched her estranged husband spiral before he was killed by an alleged hitman.
Retired Sgt. Brian Wittmer testified Wednesday at the Kentucky trial of alleged Napa shooter Thomas O’Donnell, saying Capt. Julie Harding, 49, began acting differently toward the end of their 3 1/2-year working relationship.
Prosecutors allege O’Donnell fatally shot 53-year-old Michael Harding in a murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by former CHP commander Harding. O’Donnell has pleaded not guilty to capital murder charges.
Wittmer testified KCRAHe said Harding became thinner, acted erratically and began sharing more about her personal life.
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Authorities allege Michael Harding’s estranged wife, California Highway Patrol Capt. Julie Harding, 49, hired Thomas O’Donnell to kill him. (California Highway Patrol via AP)
In September 2022, Wittmer said Harding called to tell her that her husband had died. He stated that the call was exaggerated.
“When I hung up the phone, I thought he wanted me to remember this moment,” Wittmer said, according to KCRA.
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Then-Deputy Chief Doug Lyons later took the stand and described receiving a similar call from Harding. Lyons said that he started a new position at CHP and became its supervisor.
“We wandered around for 35 minutes and I didn’t even know Julie. That was the weird part. I never met her,” Lyons said.
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When asked if, based on this conversation, he believed Harding might be a suspect in the murder of Michael Harding, Lyons said, “Absolutely.”
Prosecutors allege Julie Harding conspired with Thomas O’Donnell to kill her husband and paid him to carry it out in 2022. (Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office)
FBI Agent Wayne Johnson testified that he found no evidence of a payment between Harding and O’Donnell and found no forensic evidence linking O’Donnell to a murder weapon.
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Harding later died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound after O’Donnell was arrested at Sacramento International Airport in connection with the death of Michael Harding, KCRA reported.
Investigators said the phone data eventually led them to O’Donnell after Harding’s phone records revealed repeated conversations between the two.
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“He had a number that he called and talked to almost every day, sometimes multiple times a day,” Kentucky State Police Detective said. BJ Burton said.
Michael Harding, 53, was killed while responding to an HVAC service call in Kentucky in 2022. (Michael Harding)
The California Highway Patrol said in a statement that Harding was off-duty at the time of his death. He had been with the department since 1999 and had been commander of the Yuba Sutter field office since 2018.
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After the couple split, Michael Harding moved to the couple’s home in Celina, Tennessee, while she remained in California. Accordingly CourtTVOn September 22, 2022, Michael, an HVAC business owner, drove from Tennessee to Burkesville, Kentucky, for what he believed to be an emergency service call. Prosecutors allege the call was a trap and he was killed in the vacant house in Kentucky.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
