On the late afternoon of July 24, 2002, Clara Harris, a beautiful 44-year-old dentist, was wearing a blue blouse and beige pants. Her hair was tied back with a small bow. Afterward, she left with her husband’s 16-year-old daughter in a silver Mercedes-Benz S-Class 430 to go to a hotel. Here, shortly after, a horrific jealousy attack would occur that would lead to one person’s death. This was a case that shook public opinion in America for many years.
The Beautiful Beauty Queen
Clara Harris was born in Bogotá, Colombia. Orphaned by her father at a young age, but Clara still had a happy life with her mother. Growing up, Clara studied dentistry in her hometown before coming to the US in the late 80s to continue her higher education.
With thick red hair, a radiant smile, and a small charming mole on her left cheek, Clara possessed striking beauty. She had won the Miss Colombia Houston beauty pageant right after graduating from the University of Texas.
Clara met dentist David Harris in 1991, when they were both in their 30s and working at the Castle Dental Center in Houston. Not only was David brilliant, having graduated at the top of his class from the University of Texas Dental School, but he was also a rather charming, well-mannered man.
David had previously divorced because his ex-wife complained he was too focused on his career. “David called me right after meeting Clara and told me he had been struck by Cupid’s arrow,” David’s father recalled. Clara also quickly fell in love with David Harris. They married on Valentine’s Day in 1992, less than a year after their first date. The wedding was held at a luxurious hotel.
After getting married, Clara opened her own dental practice. She kept a photo of the two of them in front of her desk, called David 2-3 times during working hours, and never hung up before saying “I love you.” “I’ve found the best thing, someone just for me,” Clara happily told her friends.
A Perfect Marriage
In 1998, Clara gave birth to healthy twin boys. She also had a wonderful relationship with Lindsey – David’s daughter from a previous marriage. After her parents divorced, Lindsey lived with her mother.
No matter how busy she was with work, Clara always came home on time to cook dinner for the family in their stately white brick house, worth over half a million dollars, in the Friendswood suburbs. “I have a perfect life,” she often told her patients. One of Clara’s colleagues said, “I wish I could love my husband the way Clara loves David.”
Meanwhile, David Harris was described by employees as “unlikely to have an affair” because of his calm demeanor, proper conduct, and “never looking at a woman more than twice, other than his wife.” David also always came home on time, disliked nights out drinking with friends, and attended church with his family on Sundays.
After remarrying Clara, his career really took off. In addition to growing his practice, he also provided many free dental services to low-income individuals. By 2001, David Harris’s income had skyrocketed. He bought a plot of land in an upscale shopping district and built a new office space over 500 square meters.
Everyone around them envied the perfect life of David and his wife.
But then one evening in 2002, David Harris decided not to go home to his wife and children as usual. David went to meet a female receptionist who worked at his office, a divorced 39-year-old woman with three young, stylish children named Gail Bridges.
The Beautiful Receptionist
Nearly 2 years prior, Gail also had a perfect life with her businessman husband. She was a beautiful woman with flawless fair skin and almond-shaped brown eyes. Her family lived in a quiet area of League City. Each day, after dropping her kids off at school, Gail would go to an upscale restaurant to sip coffee and chat with other pretty mothers.
After divorcing in November 2000, she moved to a smaller house in a more modest neighborhood and had to start looking for a job.
When she started working at David’s Dental Center in August 2001, Gail was paid around $1,800 per month, a modest sum compared to her previous spending.
But Gail liked this job, partly because of her relationship with her boss. David would often linger at the reception desk to chat with the attractive employee.
At the end of February 2002, David first invited Gail to lunch at an upscale restaurant. A few months later, their relationship became increasingly intimate. They began meeting at the Nassau Bay Hilton hotel, where David had held his own wedding, with rooms overlooking the lake.
The Affair
Many people in David Harris’s office now began noticing the newly-hired receptionist Gail Bridges, who always dressed provocatively in front of David Harris accompanied by flirtatious half-joking remarks. Many co-workers didn’t believe the two would have an affair until Gail told them David was taking her out to lunch.
She told them that David Harris loved her, that his marriage to Clara Harris existed only because of “business and the kids.” Still, co-workers always believed David would never leave his wife.
By early summer 2002, David and Gail were repeatedly caught being affectionate in the office. David was also spending more time at his office than at home, as well as spending large sums of money buying gifts for his mistress and paying for hotel rooms for their upscale rendezvous.
Some of David’s closest colleagues hoped he would come to his senses and try to save his marriage. They decided to have a frank talk with him. David Harris was open with them, but when everyone suggested firing Gail, David said nothing. David Harris later stated he still loved Clara but did not want to end the marriage, but also loved Gail.
Meanwhile, Clara remained completely unaware of what David was doing. No one at the office said anything to her. But perhaps worried everything would come out, on July 17th, David sat down with his wife and then confessed something that left her utterly shocked and becoming unhinged.
The Shocking Confession
He told her about the upscale restaurant lunches and nights at the Hilton hotel with his mistress Gail Bridges, the same place where he and Clara had their wedding reception. Clara began becoming unhinged.
The two discussed the crisis in their marriage, and David made a series of comparisons between her and Gail. He said Gail had a “perfect body” and that she “talked so gracefully” rather than trying to dominate their conversations like Clara did.
They then went to the office together. Clara confronted Gail, telling her she was fired and would never be allowed back.
In the days after, Clara became gaunt. She stopped eating properly and lost 10kg. But then Clara decided to make changes. She visited a plastic surgeon and paid $5,000 for liposuction and breast implants. She also hired a personal fitness trainer. And she told everyone she was going to get David back.
Soon after, people began seeing the couple holding hands at lunch again. David told a friend, “We’re going to make it.”
They also sat down with David Harris’s parents and his daughter from a previous relationship to tell them about the affair. David Harris begged for their forgiveness.
But David also expressed to his wife his wish to meet his mistress at a restaurant to apologize and say goodbye. He said what happened wasn’t Gail’s fault and he couldn’t just cut off contact so abruptly. Clara reluctantly agreed.
The Monitored Date
But as the day for David Harris’s dinner date with Gail approached, Clara grew anxious. One day, she flipped through the ad pages and saw a heading: “Need a clue? Call Blue Moon Investigations.”
On July 23, 2002, Clara walked into the Blue Moon Investigations private detective office. Clara told the receptionist she needed someone to follow her husband the next day.
When set up with the investigator, Clara explained that her husband would be meeting his mistress at Perry’s Steakhouse and she wanted the investigator to get close enough to eavesdrop on what they said.
The next day, right on schedule, the investigator slowly started his car as he saw David’s vehicle preparing to pull out. But he quickly realized David Harris had no intention of going to Perry’s, instead driving to the Hilton hotel and meeting Gail at the restaurant inside.
Now David became distraught and told Gail he wasn’t ready for it to end, that he still loved her and could maybe arrange for them to still see each other. But Gail told her lover she didn’t want to continue the relationship while he had a family. Gail then stood up and walked to her car.
From a distance, the investigator watched as David hurriedly followed Gail. They spoke for a few more minutes outside. Clearly something between them had changed, because they then went back into the hotel together and up to a room upstairs.
The investigator quickly retrieved a video camera to be ready to capture footage of the couple when they emerged next.
Meanwhile, Clara Harris was pacing restlessly at home. She called the investigator and was told her husband and his mistress had gone hand-in-hand into the hotel.
The Fateful Afternoon
On the late afternoon of July 24, 2002, while the private investigator hired by Clara Harris was monitoring her husband David Harris, and his mistress Gail Bridges through binoculars and a video camera, Clara was pacing restlessly at home. Her mind kept wondering what David was up to. Finally, the 44-year-old dentist decided to go into the bedroom and change into a blue blouse, and beige pants, with her hair tied back in a small bow.
Clara then asked her husband’s 16-year-old daughter Lindsey, who was visiting her dad and stepmom at the time, to come along. The two got into Clara’s silver Mercedes-Benz S-Class 430.
Clara and Lindsey went to Perry’s Steakhouse, where David said he would break it off with Gail, but couldn’t find him there. They went to another restaurant David had mentioned sometimes taking Gail, but he wasn’t there either. Clara then drove to Gail’s house and still had no luck finding them.
Finally, Clara contacted the private investigator asking where her husband was. That’s when the investigator revealed David was at a hotel with another woman. Clara knew exactly which hotel he meant – it was the same one she and David had their wedding reception at 10 years earlier, promising eternal love.
When Clara and her daughter arrived, they found David’s car in the parking lot. Clara walked over and smashed the taillights, then keyed his car. The two went to the front desk of the Hilton Hotel. Clara loudly and angrily demanded to know David Harris’s room number, but the clerk said there was no guest by that name – David had checked in under an alias.
The Messy Confrontation
Clara went back to wait in the car. Sitting inside with just a teenage daughter to keep her company, Clara could no longer contain her rage. Just days earlier, David had promised her he would end the affair. Clearly, he had not. She wept and screamed, staring intently at the hotel where she knew her husband was being intimate with his mistress.
Unable to take it anymore, Clara marched back into the hotel lobby. Minutes later, the elevator doors opened and the lovers stepped out into the lobby where Clara and her daughter were standing.
Whether David even had a chance to say anything to Clara or his daughter was unknown to witnesses; they only recalled Clara lunging at Gail screaming “You stupid whore, he’s my husband!” She then slapped, grabbed, and tore at her rival’s clothing. The classic confrontation played out with screams, insults, and curses from the scorned wife. At the same time, her daughter Lindsey was also shrieking, “I hate you, Dad!”
Hotel staff tried to pull the two women apart but in her peak fury, Clara kept charging back at Gail. Finally, David put his hand on his wife’s head, pushed her to the floor, and with a hotel employee quickly ushered Gail out the door.
The messy confrontation seemed over. The hotel staff led Clara and Lindsey back to their car and told them to leave. But Clara had no intention of doing so, especially when she saw David and Gail walking towards Gail’s car in another part of the parking lot. Clara stuck the key in the ignition and started her engine.
All this time, the private investigator hired by Clara had been videotaping the lovers’ movements. But then he was shocked when his viewfinder showed Clara’s car accelerating rapidly towards where David and Gail were standing.
The Horrific Scene
After the messy confrontation, Clara Harris and her husband’s daughter Lindsey returned to their car. But Clara had no intention of leaving, especially when she saw her husband David Harris, and his mistress Gail Bridges in another part of the parking lot.
Clara put the key in the ignition and started her engine. Suddenly, the Mercedes accelerated rapidly toward where David and Gail were standing. It then struck David directly before he could get out of the way, launching him into the air and making him land about 9 meters from where he originally stood.
However, that was not the worst of it. Realizing she had just run over her husband, Clara put her car in reverse, drove across two grassy areas, and struck David’s motionless body again to the horror of onlookers. This action was then repeated a third time.
Throughout, Gail Bridges could only stand frozen in shock. Lindsey, in the passenger seat, screamed for her stepmother to stop. When it was over, Lindsey was visibly shaking – she had never seen her stepmother like this before.
According to witnesses, Lindsey then got out of the car, ran over to the driver’s side, and punched Clara in the face. She then collapsed to the ground, sobbing. As for Clara, she now finally got out but seemed disoriented about what to do next. Finally, she walked over to her husband’s body. She stared at him intently. And then she too began to cry.
Before the police arrived, Clara cradled her husband and begged him to breathe. “I’m sorry,” “David, I’m so sorry. I love you,” Clara repeated over and over.
David was pronounced dead at 9:48 pm on July 24, 2002. Clara was arrested for murder.
The Sensational Case
For weeks, people could not stop talking about Clara – about the sight of a hateful wife grabbing her husband’s mistress by the hair, tearing her clothes, then angrily running over the unfaithful man, only to suddenly break down sobbing and pleading for him to live.
Newspapers gave the dentist husband-killer all sorts of terrifying nicknames. TV shows vied to interview anyone who knew Clara. Even late-night talk shows had to mention the Clara story before their main segments.
When Clara posted $30,000 bail, paparazzi swarmed to capture any glimpse of her. Perhaps not wanting to be recognized, Clara changed her hair color.
One friend said it was rare to see Clara not crying. She could not believe her husband would never again walk through their front door like he did each day. Close friends had to take turns staying overnight at Clara’s because they worried she may harm herself. They said the only thing making Clara want to go on was her love for her soon-to-be 4-year-old twin sons.
Not a few argued Clara should not be punished harshly for what she did. They felt that by going to the hotel tryst instead of home to his family, David Harris had essentially signed his own death warrant.
In letters to the editor of a major local newspaper, some blamed Gail Bridges for purposefully entering into an extramarital affair with David. Many others blamed David for choosing the wrong path and said Clara Harris had simply taken actions any woman might when finding out about a husband’s infidelity.
The Haunting Death
The death of David Harris at the hands of his own wife – dentist Clara Harris – received global attention at the time. On the day of the trial, Clara wept uncontrollably. Her wedding ring was still on her left hand.
With the clear footage of the moment David Harris was fatally struck played repeatedly on the courtroom screens, no one could defend Clara Harris. Her lawyer could only argue on the grounds that temporary insanity caused her to lose control.
Clara’s lawyer argued at trial that his client committed the crime in a state of extreme emotional disturbance. “Who knows what might happen to a devoted wife, loving mother, and proper woman like Clara when suddenly faced with the reality that the man she adored was embracing another woman?” the lawyer said.
Friends and acquaintances of the Harris family also attested that she was an excellent wife and mother. Even David Harris’s own parents said they forgave their daughter-in-law despite causing their son’s death.
However, it was hard for the jury to think leniency could apply to a woman who repeatedly turned her car to run over her husband time and again.
Moreover, no matter how badly David Harris may have acted that day, no juror could overlook the fact that Clara killed her husband right in front of his teenage daughter.
According to Lindsey’s relatives, for a long time after David’s funeral, she remained wounded by the last words she spoke to her father when she saw him with his mistress. The 16-year-old was also haunted by the thudding sounds as her stepmother’s Mercedes struck her father’s body. Through the windshield, Lindsey had watched her dad get flung backward. Lindsey attempted suicide by cutting her wrists twice before the trial.
The Heartbreaking Outcome
After a nearly 3-week trial, Clara was sentenced to 20 years in prison, the maximum for the charge of murder with extreme emotional disturbance, on Valentine’s Day 2003 – the 12th anniversary of their wedding day.
Meanwhile, the “other woman” Gail Bridges also had to live in seclusion after her lover’s death. Gail tried returning to normal life as the quiet mom at her child’s school but found it difficult to meet the eyes of the other mothers. “People forget she was also grieving the death of the man she loved,” Gail’s lawyer said.
Additionally, Gail’s private life was dredged up when gossip hounds quickly discovered this was not the first time she was accused of infidelity. In Gail’s 1999 divorce proceedings, her ex-husband claimed she had an affair with a close friend.
Gail’s ex-husband later also filed a civil suit seeking to modify his ex-wife’s visitation rights to allow him full custody of their three children.
In the years since at prison, Clara has been translating textbooks into Braille for blind students in hopes of early parole.
Clara first became eligible for parole in 2012 but was denied. Over the next 5 years, she was denied three more times.
In November 2017, her parole request was finally granted. Clara, then 64, was penniless, had no assets, and was still legally owed $3.75 million in civil damages to her late husband’s estate. With a felony record, she can no longer practice dentistry.
