The man who was hired by a California Highway Patrol captain to kill her husband four years ago has been sentenced to life in prison for murder.
Prosecutors in Kentucky, where the murder occurred, alleged that Thomas O’Donnell, 64, conspired with CHP Capt. Julie Harding to kill her estranged husband, Michael Harding. A jury found O’Donnell guilty of murder on Friday and sentenced him to life in prison on Monday.
The murder was committed on September 19, 2022. O’Donnell was arrested on December 8 at Sacramento International Airport. Julie Harding died of apparent suicide two days later.
Investigators linked O’Donnell to the crime and O’Donnell to Julie Harding using cellphone data. Data indicate that O’Donnell was near Julie Harding’s home in Sacramento two days before the murder. Julie Harding had worked for the CHP for 22 years and had led the department’s Yuba-Sutter office since 2018. She was on leave at the time of her death.
