Daughter's murder hidden from GR dad

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Arkansas police said the people responsible for a woman's death communicated via email with her father, who lives in Grand Rapids.

The body of Nancy Harvill, who was born in Grand Rapids, was discovered in Fordyce, Ark. on Jan. 8. Dallas County (Ark.) authorities found Harvill's body buried in a shallow grave inside a shed behind the house she had been living in.

Three people who also live at the home have been arrested. Harvill's stepbrothers, John and Christopher Aldrich, 25 and 24, and her 49-year-old stepmother Sherri Bowen.

The Aldriches and Bowen each face charges of capital murder, kidnapping, first-degree domestic battering, hindering apprehension or prosecution, and abuse of a corpse, according to a news release from the Dallas County Sheriff's Office. Bowen also faces a charge of financial identity fraud and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. John Aldrich also faces two counts of terroristic threatening.

Dallas County authorities believe the murder happened in August 2011. Authorities say Harvill was hogtied and tortured for more than two days following an argument with her brother.

The Aldrich brothers and Bowen allegedly beat Harvill with baseball bats, cast iron pans and furniture, and shot her with an airsoft gun, among other forms of torture.

In the 15 months after her death, according to authorities, the suspects sent Harvill's father emails that he thought were written by her.

He had no idea until recently that she was dead.

"He contacted her constantly," said Harvill's half-brother Peter Jones. "Not like on an every day basis, so he wouldn't have any suspicion raised about his daughter being missing because he's getting messages."

Harvill's father, Homer Jones, spoke with KTHV in Little Rock last week.  

"Makes you want to find the rope from the nearest tree and string them them up, if you don't use them for target practice. I'm at that point," he told KTHV. "It's hard. I'm having a hard time."

The suspects also allegedly made up a story that Harvill had left the state, and falsified medical, financial and personal documents to cover up the murder.

Investigators said the suspects' story held up for more than a year until they discovered the body earlier this month, and John Aldrich confessed.

Harvill's funeral is set for Wednesday in Arkansas.

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The Dallas County Sheriff's Office provided the following news release regarding Harvill's death, which was posted on KARK's website:

-- Warning: Some details are graphic --

The incident began on/or about Friday, August 26, 2011 when Nancy Harvill and John Aldrich were engaged in a physical altercation resulting from an argument over the care and treatment of Nancy's minor children. Allegations are that Sherri Bowen instructed John and Chris Aldrich to tie Nancy up. The two suspects bound Nancy's Hands behind her back then tied her feet together in a "hogtie" fashion. All three suspects then began to beat and torture Nancy Harvill by striking her repeatedly with their hands, broom sticks, baseball bats, cast iron pans, furniture, hot candle wax, kicking, and shooting her with a spring loaded airsoft gun. The continued abuse and torture ultimately lead to her death. Sherri Bowen instructed other family members to participate by punching and kicking Nancy while bound, and on the floor.

The torture continued over the next 48 hours while Nancy remained bound, and abused. She was not permitted to eat, drink, or use the restroom, and had been transported between the laundry room and living area for periods of abuse, and torture. On Sunday, August 28, 2011 between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m., following her torture and subsequent death, Nancy was laid out in the laundry room where they straightened out her body, and retied her. They then dragged Nancy's corpse though the house, and out of a back door leading into a "shop like" addition to the family home. John and Christopher Aldrich used a borrowed tiller to excavate the ground and two shovels to shape the grave. Nancy was wrapped in plastic, her body was contorted and placed into the grave.

Once Nancy was buried, John Aldrich, Christopher Aldrich, and Sherri Bowen met inside the home and developed a cover-up story that Nancy left the state with an unknown individual. The cover-up story was maintained over the next 15 months. Meanwhile financial, medical, and personal matters were falsified using the deceased's identity in an apparent effort to conceal her death.

Christopher Aldrich and Sherri Bowen are being held on $250,000 bond. John Aldrich's charges are expected to be amended to reflect the same charges Chris Aldrich is facing at his next court appearance in February.