Wife Allegedly Hired a Man to Kill Her Husband; She Later Died

On September 19, 2022, Michael Harding, 53, drove to a vacant home in Burkesville, Kentucky, believing he had been called out for an HVAC service job. He was found shot dead at the property a week later. No legitimate service call had ever been made.

Prosecutors say the call was a setup - and that the woman who arranged it was his estranged wife.

Who Julie Harding Was - and What Prosecutors Say She Did

At the time of Michael’s death, Julie Harding was a captain with the California Highway Patrol, living in Sacramento while the couple remained separated. Prosecutors allege she had hired Thomas O’Donnell, a 60-year-old man from Napa, California, to kill her husband.

In court documents reviewed by Court TV, investigators outlined a trail of digital evidence connecting O’Donnell and Julie Harding. Phone records showed 194 contacts between the two from July through September 8, 2022 - eleven days before the murder. Contact between them stopped entirely after that date.

O’Donnell is alleged to have obtained the lockbox code from the real estate company by posing as an agent showing the property to potential clients. He used that code to gain entry - and prosecutors say he was waiting when Michael Harding arrived. Cards from a man named “Rob” - a name O’Donnell was known to use - were later found in Julie Harding’s office.

In the days before the killing, Julie Harding had also withdrawn more than $102,000 from joint accounts she shared with her husband, according to prosecutors.

The Death That Followed the Arrest

O’Donnell was arrested on December 8, 2022, at Sacramento International Airport. Two days later, on December 10, Julie Harding was found dead at the Tennessee home she had shared with her husband. Authorities determined her cause of death was suicide.

She had been arrested on a separate charge - criminal trespassing - just before her death. She was never tried for the murder of her husband.

O’Donnell has pleaded not guilty. His defense has argued there is no forensic evidence linking him directly to the murder weapon and no documented proof of direct payment. Attorneys have also pointed to the “bitter, escalating divorce” between the Hardings and suggested Julie Harding may have spoken to multiple men about her marital troubles.

Three States, One Trial

The case spans California, Tennessee, and Kentucky. By the time of his death, Michael Harding was living and running his HVAC business out of Tennessee while Julie Harding was based in Sacramento, California - the couple having been estranged for some time.

Former colleagues of Julie Harding testified during the trial’s opening days that they had watched her behavior change noticeably in the months leading up to the killing - losing weight, becoming erratic, and sharing personal details she had previously kept private. One retired sergeant testified that a phone call he received after Michael Harding’s death immediately raised his suspicion.

Kentucky prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for O’Donnell.

What the Trial Will Determine

Thomas O’Donnell is the only living defendant in this case. The woman prosecutors believe orchestrated the plan is dead. The case that reaches the jury rests on cell phone data, financial records, witness testimony about behavior, and the documented contacts between two people whose communication stopped eleven days before one of their husbands was found shot in a vacant home.

Michael Harding’s family is watching the proceedings in a Burkesville courtroom - waiting to hear, in open court, what finally happened on the day he drove to answer a call that was never real.

References: Trial Begins for Man Accused in Murder-for-Hire of CHP Captain’s Husband | Kentucky Prosecutors Seek Death Penalty in CHP Captain’s Husband Murder