In March of 1996, 12 year old, double amputee Julie Harris disappeared while walking to a neighbor's home to get a ride to church. Despite a few sightings and two viable suspects what actually happened to Julie remains unclear. (resposted at the request of Julie's friend)
I orginally posted this piece at the Unresolved Mysteries subreddit over a year ago, but a friend of Julie's asked me to repost to some other subs to spread awareness of Julie's case.
**Background**
In 1996 12-year-old Julie Harris was in the 7th grade. She was a happy and athletic girl who participated in downhill skiing and swimming. She lived in the small town of Colville, Washington with her mother Sherri and her two brothers- 10 year old Clifford, and 7 year old George. The children had different fathers and none of the men were involved in the children's lives, at least as far as I can tell. Sherri was however in a long-term relationship with a man named Don Sax who had been her live-in boyfriend since 1994. Despite her young age Julie's life was far from carefree. Julie had a blood disorder which was diagnosed when she was less than 2 years old and as a result her feet and lower legs had to be amputated. From then on Julie wore prosthetic feet and sometimes used braces or a wheelchair to get around. Despite her physical limitations Julie remained an active child who was involved in Special Olympics Sports. She was pretty independent and friends and family remember that Julie was able to get around without her prosthetics if needed, sometimes removing them around new people just to get a laugh. The family hadn't always lived in Colville and in the past they had lived in Coos Bay, Oregon and Spokane, Washington, having family and friends and all three places.
**Disappearance**
In March of 1996 Julie seemed to be having a bit of a rough patch. Julie, who was usually happy, funny, and remembered as a prankster, had seemed more moody and withdrawn than normal, something her mother attributed to puberty and growing up. For the first time Julie was feeling self-conscious about her prosthetic feet especially as she and her friends entered their teen years and started to become more interested in boys and dating. Additionally Julie’s grades had begun to drop.
On the night of Saturday, March 2nd, 1996 Julie quarreled with Don Sax over her grades and school work. Julie was unable to participate in sports if she had Fs at school and was upset when Don and Sherri told her she may not be able to participate in an upcoming ski event. Julie, upset, went to her room and then went to bed. Julie’s brother Clifford was slated to participate in a ski event in the town of Wenatchee that weekend and Sherri went with him. It is unclear if Sherri and Clifford left the morning of the 3rd before they saw Julie, or if they left on the 2nd. Either way, a few early reports say that Julie was last seen on the evening of March 2nd. The next morning, a Sunday, Don Sax left the home to go fishing, he reported that Julie was in her bedroom. Where Don went to fish, who he was with, and how long he was gone for have never been publicly released. When Julie was not home when family members returned a few hours later, a missing person’s report was filed and Julie was listed as a runaway. Police speculated that Julie, upset with Don or her mother, decided to run away to either Coos Bay or Spokane where she had lived previously and had family. The report noted that Julie had set her alarm for early in the morning, gotten dressed, packed four slices of pizza, and left the home.
Sherri drove to Spokane and checked in with relatives there hoping to find Julie, but Julie wasn't there. At this point Julie’s family created missing person flyers and her grandparents offered a reward for information. Police received a few tips and sightings and a few articles ran in the newspaper asking for information.
Despite the initial reporting, most modern articles report a slightly different story. They claim that Julie was last seen on the 3rd of March, not only by Don Sax but also by neighbors who reported that Julie was walking to church. Julie would walk to the neighbors home down the street and the neighbors would drive her to the Kettle Falls Assembly of God congregation every week, but that week she never arrived. This narrative is supported by a runaway report as apparently Julie left the home wearing a black skirt and a pink and black sweater which seems like a church outfit. Neighbors saw her walking that day and one even reported to the police that they saw Julie speaking with a slim man that morning wearing a trenchcoat on Main Street. Another person called the police department to report seeing a girl matching Julie’s description in Bend, Oregon. In this sighting the girl was in a wheelchair which Julie used on occasion but this girl was never located. Sadly, within only a few days, Julie’s case faded from the spotlight.
One month after Julie’s disappearance on April 9th, 1996 a beachcomber called the police and after a search, police announced that Julie’s purse and prosthetic feet were found on the banks of the Colville River near where it flows into Lake Roosevelt, other items found in the search have never been made public. At this time Julie’s case was reclassified from runaway to endangered.
**Persons of Interest**
Within days police moved their focus inward to Sherri and Don Sax. Don was questioned numerous times by the police and Sherri told the newspaper that the police were trying to “frame” him. Eventually Don retained an attorney on the advice of Sherri. Meanwhile, police announced that Don had become “person of interest.” Sherri had a hard time accepting this and claimed that Julie and Don got along well. Recently she told a podcast that Julie had a better relationship with Don than her sons did and Julie affectionately called Don “zteddy Bear.” Despite this announcement the story yet again faded into obscurity.
If law enforcement wasn’t suspicious before, by May 1996 their interests peaked once again when CPS received a call that Don Sax had assaulted Clifford, Julie’s brother. After an interview with the boy it was determined that after arguing with Clifford over his homework, Don restrained Clifford by the neck and kneed him in the thigh resulting in a large bruise. Don claimed that Clifford had punched his mother in the chest and when Sherri called for Don, he grabbed Clifford but did not hurt him, Don attested that the bruise on Clifford’s thigh came from a bicycle accident. According to the couple, because Sherri had physical disabilities of her own and because Clifford was already larger than her, Clifford was able to overpower his mom. Don was charged and went to court for facing a 4th degree assault charge. He moved out of the home for a few months but is unclear if he faced any additional consequences. Both George and Clifford were removed from the home and placed in foster care, at least briefly. Sherri more or less backed up Don’s version of events and sticks to this story even today decades after her split from Don. Still Julie’s disappearance remained a mystery.
One year after her feet and purse were found, in April of 1997 Julie's remains were found by children in the vicinity of Haller Creek Road and Riedel Creek Road about six miles south of Colville. Her remains were spread over about an acre, presumably from animal activity. She had not been buried and no obvious trauma was found on her bones. Nevertheless her case was classified as a homicide. Police still maintained that Don was the best person of interest but nothing definitive ever tied him to Julie’s death or disappearance.
Sherri and Don stayed together for a while but split several years after. Sherri and Don are still in contact and occasionally speak on the phone although Sherri reports that she hasn't seen him in several years. Sherri still maintains that Don would not have hurt Julie and now believes that someone else was responsible for Julie's disappearance. While rumors still float around the internet regarding his involvement, Don Sax has flown under the radar since 1997.
In 2012 a new surge of publicity befell Julie's case when a serial killer named Israel Keyes was arrested. As some readers may know Israel Keyes grew up in the town of Colville and in 1996 he was 18 years old. After being caught for a murder in Anchorage, Alaska, Keyes was interviewed by law enforcement. Keyes reported to that while he remembered the case of Julie's disappearance from his teen years, he says that he didn't have anything to do with it. Strangely, he then goes on to say that he didn't kill any children after his first child was born. But in 1996 Keyes was not yet a father. When confronted with this discrepancy he says nothing.
Besides location, a few other details link Keyes to this crime. In one CBS special one of Julie's friends is interviewed and she tells the interviewer that she and Julie casually knew Keyes, sometimes chatting with him at the public pool. Julie's friend reported in this interview that she and Julie gave Keyes their phone numbers and addresses, something they both kept hidden from their parents. Additionally Keys matches the description of a young thin man wearing a trench coat seen talking to Julie that morning on main street. People who knew Israel Keys as a teenager reported that he was awkward, especially around girls, but Sherri fears that her daughter who was self-conscious about her prosthetic feet, may have relished any attention from an older boy especially as she entered her teen years. When shown a picture of a teenage Keyes, Sherri reported that he looked familiar and she thought that Julie and he had mutual friends, which wouldn’t be too far fetched in a town of less than 5,000 people.
Unfortunately Israel Keys never gave investigators any more information regarding Julie Harris and to this day it's unknown if he was involved, but many law enforcement agencies think it's possible that Julie Harris was an early victim of Keyes. As of 2020, Keyes remains a “person of interest” in Julie’s case. Even with two “persons of interest” Julie’s case remains cold and unsolved. If you have any information on the death of Julie Harris you can contact the Stevens County Sheriff's Office at 509-684-5296. What happened to double amputee Julie Harris?
**Sources**
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https://www.khq.com/coldcase/q6-col...le_a6b56632-d67a-11ea-9aaf-dfd79791a7c7.html)
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https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1...ng-colville-girl-may-have-been-slain-police/)
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https://www.newspapers.com/image/574773080/?terms=Julie Harris missing&match=1](https://www.newspapers.com/image/574773080/?terms=Julie Harris missing&match=1)
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https://www.newspapers.com/image/574933369/?terms=Julie Harris missing&match=1](https://www.newspapers.com/image/574933369/?terms=Julie Harris missing&match=1)
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https://www.newspapers.com/image/805238021/?terms=Julie Harris missing&match=1](https://www.newspapers.com/image/805238021/?terms=Julie Harris missing&match=1)
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https://www.newspapers.com/image/873760683/?terms=Julie Harris missing&match=1](https://www.newspapers.com/image/873760683/?terms=Julie Harris missing&match=1)
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https://www.newspapers.com/image/574933580/?terms=don sax&match=1](https://www.newspapers.com/image/574933580/?terms=don sax&match=1)
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https://archive.seattletimes.com/ar...imes.com/archive/?date=19970429&slug=2536309)
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https://www.khq.com/coldcase/q6-col...le_a6b56632-d67a-11ea-9aaf-dfd79791a7c7.html)
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https://www.spokesman.com/stories/1...9/missing-girls-remains-found-near-colville/)
