In Tennessee, Starr Harris was the heart and soul of a small family-operated landscaping enterprise.
However, tragedy struck on the night of June 1, 2010, when Starr—who managed office operations and was married to business co-owner Rick Harris—was found sexually assaulted and violently killed in the woodland area behind her home office. The horrific event cast a shadow of suspicion over the close-knit business community.
As detectives sifted through a lineup of potential suspects, a crucial clue emerged from beneath the foliage, blowing the investigation wide open and exposing a murderer who had been hiding in sight all along. This compelling story is featured on Oxygen’s The Killer Among Us.
Who Was Starr Harris?
Starr experienced a rekindling of affection when she met and wed Rick, forming a joyful merged family consisting of eight children.
Beyond her familial role, Starr was also the office manager for Rick’s thriving lawn care business, based at their home in Drummonds, Tennessee.
“We ranged from 10 to 30 employees at any given time,” Rick’s business partner Kelly Phelps recalled during the July 12 episode. “During the summertime, we were excelling. Our business was just really taking off.”
The Harris’ often treated their employees like family, hosting barbecues and poker parties.
As Kelly remembered, “Starr was such a loving, kind, giving person.”
What Happened to Starr Harris?
But on June 1, 2010, Kelly grew concerned after she couldn’t get in touch with Starr that afternoon.
As Kelly explained, “I really just didn’t know what to think.”
Then around 8 p.m., Starr’s stepson Nathan came home and called Kelly after he saw the home office was in complete disarray, with the computer desk toppled over and the back door of the house standing open.
As Kelly rushed to the property, Nathan went into the woods behind the home and discovered Starr’s body.
“Nathan was coming up from the woods yelling and screaming and kind of crying,” Kelly recalled. “And he is saying, ‘I found her, and it’s not good.’”
One of Nathan’s coworkers called 911 to report the grisly finding around 8:30 p.m..
“When I get to the house it was dark as pitch and the humidity was so high it felt like it was raining,” former Tipton County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Donna Turner recalled. “As I’m walking up to the body, the first thing that I see is that her clothes are down around her waist and she has no bra on.”
Starr had suffered a gruesome head wound, likely caused by bloody pieces of wood found near the body, and had extensive bruising on her body.
“It appeared that she had put up a heck of a fight,” Turner remarked. “Who would have that much rage?”
Clues Found at Starr Harris’ Murder Scene
Back at the house, investigators could find no signs of forced entry, leading them to believe Starr had likely known her killer.
They also found a stack of money still sitting on a table in her office, suggesting the killing had not been motivated by a robbery.
“We believe that bad guy’s at the house. There was possibly a small fight inside the house,” Tipton County Sheriff’s Detective Sherri Wassel explained. “And we believe at this point bad guy forces Starr outside the back door and they enter this wooded area.”
There, the 36-year-old was raped and murdered. A medical examiner would later determine she died of strangulation and blunt force trauma.
Suspects Emerge in Starr Harris’ Murder
As detectives tried to determine who could have wanted to harm Starr, they took a look at her husband Rick—especially after learning that he had been having an affair with his ex-wife. But at the time of the murder, Rick had been miles away at a job site in another city.
Those at the scene that night also recalled him being devastated by Starr’s death.
“The look of sheer terror and just horror and heartbreak on his face it overtook his whole body,” Kelly shared. “It was like he was frozen.”
Rick told investigators that the last time he’d spoken to his wife was around 1 p.m. One of the employees, Rickey Bell, had come to the house because he believed his paycheck was short. But when Starr called Rick to sort out the matter, Rick reminded Rickey—who lived just around the corner—that he’d called in sick one day.
“Rickey Bell was like, ‘yep, you’re right,’ and that was the end of it,” Wassel explained. “There was no confrontation. Nobody was yelling, nobody was screaming.”
It was the last call Starr would ever make.
Rickey told detectives that after speaking on the phone with Rick, he’d left for another town and insisted he had nothing to do with the murder. Rickey gave investigators a sample of his DNA and also showed them that he had no scratches or injuries on his body to suggest he’d gotten into a violent struggle.
Key Piece of Evidence is Discovered in the Woods
The next day, while investigators were doing a grid search of the crime scene, Turner and the sheriff made a chilling discovery. Hidden in the leaves was a used condom.
“We feel we had a sexual assault because we found the condom,” Wassel said. “You’re hoping for DNA. It’s a very big deal.”
Also at the scene, authorities discovered an unusual lighter designed to look like a pistol. Investigators theorized that the killer may have used the lighter to gain the upper hand during a confrontation, leading Starr to believe it was a real weapon.
Who Killed Starr Harris?
When questioning Rickey’s mother, she admitted to having a similar lighter that she kept on top of a cabinet, but when detectives went to look for it, it was no longer there.
Then, the DNA results came back. Though the condom was found to have Rick’s DNA on the outside, it had Rickey’s on the inside.
Investigators learned that Rick’s DNA was likely transferred there because he and Starr had sex the night before, but Rickey’s had been left during the sexual assault.
Rickey—a man with a violent criminal past—was arrested for first degree murder and sexual assault. He refused to admit to the murder during an interrogation, leading Turner to describe him as “pure evil.”
Detectives theorized that he killed Starr after getting upset about his paycheck.
Rickey’s arrest sent shock waves through Starr’s circle of friends and family.
“The question in our mind was how can someone that we’ve hired, who works for us, someone that we go to work with everyday, we’re sharing lunch with on lunch breaks, how could someone do this to Starr?” Kelly questioned. “Finally, maybe, we’re going to get some justice.”
Where is Rickey Bell Now?
He was convicted in March 2012 of first-degree murder and aggravated rape.
“We were extremely happy of course because somebody’s now going to pay,” her sister Tonya Aloia said. “He’ll be in prison for the rest of his life.”
For Starr’s loved ones, however, life was never the same. Her children went to live with their father and Rick took an extended leave from the business. According to Kelly, he died several years ago, unable to ever fully move past his wife’s death.
To learn about more shocking murders, watch The Killer Among Us, Sundays at 7/6c on Oxygen.