TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – A former deputy identified as the only probable suspect in the cold case murder of a young girl spent a decade working at Florida law enforcement agencies, but an investigation found almost no trace of his time at them.
Cold case detectives with the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office say James Howard Harrison is the probable suspect in the abduction, sexual assault and murder of 11-year-old Lora Ann Huizar on Nov. 6, 1983, in St. Lucie County. Harrison was a deputy for the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office at the time.
Harrison died in 2008 but was identified as a suspect last week.
Few local records linking Harrison to the Tampa Bay area have survived, but Nexstar’s WFLA found a three-page form filed with the Florida Retirement System and a recommendation letter from 1972.
Those documents show that then-Hernando County Sheriff Sim Lowman called Harrison “dependable,” writing, “I think this man would do an outstanding job for you.”
“People can be very good at what they do but have an evil, sinister side,” former FBI Agent Jennifer Coffindaffer said.
According to cold case detectives in St. Lucie, Harrison allegedly assaulted and killed 11-year-old Huizar in 1983. Coffindaffer says it’s unlikely she’s the only victim.
The former agent also says it’s unusual Harrison worked at 10 different agencies. St. Lucie detectives say Harrison was a Hernando County deputy and Brooksville police officer.
“Most law enforcement officers do not skip agencies,” Coffindaffer explained. “I think a cold case squad in each of those jurisdictions needs to be assigned this case.”
So far, cold-case detectives in Hernando say they have not tied any unsolved cases to Harrison.
The city of Brooksville, which would have records from the now-dissolved Brooksville Police Department, says they “thoroughly researched the records” but found no trace of Harrison.
Coffindaffer says most predators prey where they live and work. Still, she thinks the dozens of agencies in the Tampa Bay area should check their unsolved files.
“I would narrow my focus down to somebody similar to the little girl where his actions seem to have been exposed, and I would look at that in that county,” said Coffindaffer. “These departments may have to hand dig.”
The former FBI agent says other potential victims would be pre-teen girls who were sexually assaulted.
