After 24 years of telling police that he did not kill his wife, Cal Harris is taking action against law enforcement and increasing his efforts to find Michele Anne Harris, who disappeared on the morning of September 11, 2001, in New York. His attorneys, Bruce Barket and Aida Leisenring, who are representing Cal in two civil suits against law enforcement, exclusively tell In Touch what he hopes to accomplish by offering a $100,000 reward for information on his missing spouse.

“The hope is to recover Michelle’s remains,” Barket tells In Touch Investigates’ Kristin Thorne. “The police and the district attorney have spent close to 20 years, maybe more like 25, searching Cal’s property. My understanding is that they were searching his property or areas near it again within the last year, and of course, they never found her because they’re simply looking in the wrong place.”

Michele’s minivan was found at the end of her long driveway with the keys still in the ignition on September 12, 2001 — the day after the September 11 attacks. Cal, who had been in the middle of a divorce from Michele at the time of her disappearance, became the No. 1 suspect in the case.

Cal, who has maintained his innocence, was charged with second-degree murder and convicted in 2007 despite Michele still being missing. However, on the morning after his conviction, a witness claimed to have seen Michele outside their family home on the morning of her disappearance. He was retried and convicted a second time in 2009.

After he served three and a half years in prison out of his 25-year-to-life sentence, Cal’s conviction was overturned on appeal. He was set free on bail in 2012 and went to a third trial in 2015, but a mistrial was declared after jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict. A fourth trial occurred in 2016, where Cal was finally acquitted.

Barket tells In Touch that Cal and his legal team are hopeful they can find information that will help them track down Michele, who is believed to be dead.

“Given the information that we have and our ability to still subpoena witnesses for one or both of these trials, we think that a reward at this point in time will bear some fruit. We think that people … we know that people have some information, and we’re hopeful that they will, not out of the goodness of their heart, but for $100,000, provide that information to us,” Barket says.

As for the civil suits against law enforcement, Leisenring says that the “overall purpose of these actions is for [Cal] to receive compensation for all the time, all the emotional distress that he suffered over the course of 15 years, being wrongfully accused, but also not having a fair fight.”

“We believe the prosecution and the police investigation was geared only towards him, and they failed to take on leads that clearly led to other individuals as being the last people to see Michele Harris,” she continues, noting that Cal being “prosecuted for 15 years” despite being acquitted created a “stigma” around him.

The Harris children, who stood by Cal during his convictions and never believed he was involved in their mother’s disappearance, were also affected.

“We just heard from one of his daughters that to date, even though it seems hopeless, she still sometimes catches sight of an individual that resembles her mom, and she wonders, and that’s never going away. It’s like a lifetime cliffhanger for each one of those individuals,” Leisenring adds.

Barket says there are “two individuals in Texas” whom he hopes will come forward with information regarding Michele’s disappearance. Additionally, Cal’s legal team believes Michele’s remains may be located somewhere in New York State.

If you have information that will lead directly to the remains of Michele Harris, call 888-644-0889, or visit findmicheleharris.com. The reward is $100,000.