A 49-year-old man from Pennsylvania will spend the rest of his life in prison after killing his wife, sexually assaulting her in their home before strangling her to death and confessing to the crime in a series of text messages to family and coworkers.
On Wednesday, Lancaster County Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Conrad sentenced Matthew Scott Harrison to life in prison plus five to ten years in a state correctional facility for the murder of Jami Harrison on February 5, 2024.
Prior to his formal sentence, Harrison pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree murder and one count of strangulation in his wife’s death. Harrison’s plea agreement resulted in the dismissal of charges for second-degree murder and aggravated indecent assault.
As one of Jami Harrison’s daughters prepared to read a victim impact statement, she paused and “turned directly to Harrison,” calling him “a coward,” according to a news release from Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office. The daughter stated that she and her siblings had hoped Harrison would “be a father figure to them,” but instead he revealed himself to be abusive and “not the best example of a man.”
Jami Harrison’s daughter also emphasized Matthew Harrison’s lack of concern for his stepchildren by removing their “only true parent” and leaving their mother’s body in the bedroom for Jami Harrison’s then-11-year-old daughter to discover.
According to police, the little girl called 911 on the afternoon of February 5, telling the dispatcher that Matthew Harrison was “really mean and hurts” her mother. The family lived on the 2200 block of E. Mount Hope Road in Manheim, approximately 75 miles west of Philadelphia.
Assistant District Attorney Fritz Haverstick, who prosecuted the case alongside Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Ponessa, also spoke in court, reading off some of the most “vulgar and degrading” messages among the approximately 120 texts Harrison sent to his wife while staying at a nearby hotel in the days before killing her.
“Your not getting away with this,” Some of the messages he sent included “If I’m going down, you’re coming with me,” “How’s that for your marriage,” and “It’s till death do us apart,” according to Lancaster NBC affiliate WGAL. He also called her a “whore,” stated that he “hates her,” and claimed that she deserves “nothing but misery and much much pain.”
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Matthew Harrison told Jami Harrison in at least one message on the day of her murder that he needed to return and “grab things from home.”
Other troubling messages from Matthew Harrison’s phone included texts stating, “Dude, I’m in a world of s—,” “I won’t be back,” and “the demon in me broke free.” Harrison also stated that he “overheard her having an inappropriate conversation,” saying, “and that’s all I could take.”
Furthermore, on February 3, Matthew Harrison allegedly messaged his son about killing Jami Harrison.
“Matthew Harrison messages, ‘If I kill her by now, I’m fine, son.'” (The son) responds, ‘Come on now ol head lol’, and Matthew Harrison responds, ‘S— you think [I’m] kidding,'” according to the probable cause affidavit. “After being told to ‘be cool,’ Matthew Harrison replies, ‘Ever since what happened to you…I’ve been having murder on my brain.'”
It wasn’t immediately clear what Harris meant by “happened” to his son.
According to prosecutors, Matthew Harrison told detectives after his arrest that he “believed Jami wanted him to kill her’so she could stop being a whore.'” He also stated that by killing Jami Harris, he “believed he had’set her free.'”
While delivering the sentence, Conrad echoed the victim’s daughter’s sentiment, stating that killing his wife was “one of the most cowardly acts a man can do.”
In addition to his incarceration, Harrison will have to pay $6,500 in restitution.
