California Highway Patrol Captain Found Dead Months After Her Husband Was Killed

California Highway Patrol Captain Julie Harding. Courtesy of California Highway Patrol Valley Division

A California Highway Patrol commander was found dead in Tennessee days after a California man was arrested for her husband’s murder in Kentucky, and she herself was arrested for trespassing, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) confirmed in a statement to The Epoch Times it was investigating the death of Julie Harding, 49, at the request of 13th Judicial District Attorney General Bryant Dunaway.

Deputies with the Clay County Sheriff’s Office were dispatched to a home in Celina, Tennessee, on Dec. 10, where they found Harding deceased, TBI spokesperson Susan Niland said in an email.

“Her body was taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Nashville for an autopsy,” Niland stated. “At this time in the investigation, her death does not appear to be a result of foul play.”

The agency would not release further details on how police came to the conclusion that the death did not appear to be a result of foul play, declining to answer if suicide was suspected.

Julie Harding Had Been Arrested

Julie Harding and her husband, Michael Harding, were in the middle of a divorce when he was murdered in September, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Two days prior to her own death, Harding was arrested on suspicion of trespassing at the home of her husband’s girlfriend. The alleged girlfriend, identified in police reports as Natasha Davis, expressed fear of Julie Harding to the police after Michael Harding was murdered.

Davis reported days later to authorities that her Netflix account had been hacked, the Los Angeles Times reported, and she told authorities one profile had been altered to show her name with a photo of a monkey, and that the “second profile was named Julie with an angry princess picture.”

Video from a home security camera allegedly showed Julie Harding taking a dog from Davis’s property that once belonged to Julie and Michael Harding. Davis also reported Harding for harassment and stalking in October, CBS13 reported.

In September, Michael Harding, a Navy and Army veteran, was reported missing. His body was discovered Sept. 26. Cumberland County Coroner Gary White told KPIX that Michael Harding had been found dead in a vacant home with multiple gunshot wounds to his head and body.

Kentucky State Police said a man named Thomas Francis O'Donnell was arrested Dec. 8 at the Sacramento International Airport on a warrant out of Kentucky for the suspected murder of Michael Harding.

The home where Julie Harding’s body was found was purchased in Clay County, Tennessee, in October 2019 in the name of Michael and Julie Harding, according to property records.

Julie Harding was with the California Highway Patrol for 22 years, most recently as commander for the Yuba-Sutter area, said Brian Wittmer, the acting commander who took over her post, in an interview with The Appeal-Democrat.