THE ORDEAL
CHAPTER ONE
I met her online at Match.com and she was beautiful. A real blue-eyed beauty with blonde
hair. Her name was Kerri Guthrie and we hit it off right away. She had twin daughters, named Martha and
Chelsea, who were ten years old. It was the end of 2001.
They lived in Nevada City, California, about twenty miles from Lake Tahoe. Kerri skied, rode horses, and loved the outdoors. And so did I. My name is Mike Harris and I lived in Bishop, California, about two-hundred miles south of Kerri's four-acre spread. I lived on the eastern slopes of the High Sierra Mountains. I was a computer whiz and had created the website www.395.com, which showcased the Eastern Sierra corridor of Highway 395, a route that travels from Southern California to Canada.
I skied a lot and did a weekly video ski report featuring Mammoth Mountain, CA. The video report was seen by thousands on the internet. Kerri was impressed. I rode horses at walk up trails. Kerri was vastly more experienced. She rode dressage, did equestrian jumping, had packing experience, raised her own horses; she was awesome. I wanted to learn how to ride like she did.
Kerri did all of this with a vision disability that hindered her eyesight as a result of Albinism. Basically, she had to move her eyes slightly from side to side in order to see. If she just stared at something, it would blur out. She had a companion dog named Farley, who was a Black Labrador Retriever and he went everywhere with her. I had three Dalmatians and our dogs got along great. I skied with Kerri and she followed right behind me so she could see better and we had a ton of fun. She had the horses and I had the skiing. It was a match made in heaven.
Kerri owned her home and I rented a single wide trailer with a small yard. Kerri had four acres of forested land at 4,200-foot elevation. This was good for horses in the summer but the winters were tough. As time went by, Kerri decided to move to Bishop. She had roommates in Nevada City and so, as her visits to Bishop lengthened, she still had her home cared for.
My trailer was not very large but the equestrian facilities near my home were world-class, and most importantly, below the snowline. Kerri moved her horses over and we groomed, fed, rode, and took pictures. Kerri had been having trouble with Chelsea and so, in early 2002, Chelsea went to live with her dad in Coloma, California. Martha and Kerri, with Farley, moved into my mobile home in Bishop. Kerri went back to Nevada City every week or two and Martha stayed with me since she was in school. Every few weeks we would all go over to Nevada City together for the weekend. Martha was in the Bishop school and had made several new friends, including Michele Jackson and Shaylynn Ellis.
Kerri had her home up for sale and we worked on it to get it ready to sell. During the summer, we spent a lot of time at the stables and I did my internet work gathering video and pictures of the area for use on the website. Late in the summer, Chelsea moved over, having heard from Martha how great it was to live in the Eastern Sierra. Martha and Chelsea entered fifth grade and were in class together, which they really liked, although their teacher, Ms. Ginter, thought they were troublesome together.
We kept the same schedule traveling between Bishop and Nevada City. We all enjoyed the road trips, because we could go shopping and eating at places not available in our small towns. We especially liked the all-you-can-eat buffets in Reno and Carson City, Nevada.
2002 merged into 2003, with our routine staying the same; skiing, horseback riding and watching movies. I cooked and Kerri and the girls cleaned up. I was really happy with domesticated life. I had been a bachelor for decades and I wanted to settle down. I was 42 years old, had never been married, never had kids; my dogs were my family at that point.
In the spring of 2003, Kerri sold her house. There weren't many homes for sale in Bishop to Kerri's liking and budget. She wound up buying a place thirteen miles north of Bishop in the Chalfant Valley. She got a double-wide on half-an-acre, zoned for horses. It wasn't perfect, but it was a great starter home. In July 2003, Kerri moved from Nevada City to Chalfant and she asked me to move in with her. So I did.
We worked on the new property cleaning it up, fixing it up, and setting up the horse corrals.
There was an apple tree and a pear tree. We had satellite TV with hundreds of channels. Life was good. We got an exemption so the girls could still go to the Bishop schools even though we lived in the Chalfant district.
The girls made friends in the neighborhood as several of the kids were also in the Bishop school. One of their friends was Raeanna Davenport. The girls played with Raeanna and sometimes she came over. In October 2003, Raeanna came over to the house with her grandma, who wanted me to watch Raeanna while the grandma went to town. I was hesitant, but Raeanna pleaded that she didn't want to go all the way to her uncles in Benton. She wanted to stay and play with Martha and Chelsea. Kerri was at work.
As afternoon stretched into evening, I put on a movie and started dinner. I told Raeanna she could stay for dinner. It was all good. We had baked halibut nuggets, noodles romanov, and spinach. Just about dark, Raeanna's grandma called her to come home from out on the street and Raeanna went home. The next afternoon, while Kerri was at work, I heard a knock on the door and I answered it. It was a Mono County Sheriff's Deputy who asked me to step outside. I was placed under arrest. I asked what was going on and he said he would tell me later. A CHP lady officer came to the house and took control of Martha and Chelsea, because Kerri wasn't at home. I was transported to the Mono County Jail in Bridgeport, CA., some ninety miles to the north. In the car, the deputy explained that Raeanna's grandmother had reported that Raeanna had been touched inappropriately the day before. I immediately became hostile and professed my innocence.
Once I had been booked into jail, I made a phone call to Kerri and explained how I was in jail because of Raeanna and told her to ask the twins what happened in order to get me freed. She said she would get to the bottom of it and our call ended.
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They lived in Nevada City, California, about twenty miles from Lake Tahoe. Kerri skied, rode horses, and loved the outdoors. And so did I. My name is Mike Harris and I lived in Bishop, California, about two-hundred miles south of Kerri's four-acre spread. I lived on the eastern slopes of the High Sierra Mountains. I was a computer whiz and had created the website www.395.com, which showcased the Eastern Sierra corridor of Highway 395, a route that travels from Southern California to Canada.
I skied a lot and did a weekly video ski report featuring Mammoth Mountain, CA. The video report was seen by thousands on the internet. Kerri was impressed. I rode horses at walk up trails. Kerri was vastly more experienced. She rode dressage, did equestrian jumping, had packing experience, raised her own horses; she was awesome. I wanted to learn how to ride like she did.
Kerri did all of this with a vision disability that hindered her eyesight as a result of Albinism. Basically, she had to move her eyes slightly from side to side in order to see. If she just stared at something, it would blur out. She had a companion dog named Farley, who was a Black Labrador Retriever and he went everywhere with her. I had three Dalmatians and our dogs got along great. I skied with Kerri and she followed right behind me so she could see better and we had a ton of fun. She had the horses and I had the skiing. It was a match made in heaven.
Kerri owned her home and I rented a single wide trailer with a small yard. Kerri had four acres of forested land at 4,200-foot elevation. This was good for horses in the summer but the winters were tough. As time went by, Kerri decided to move to Bishop. She had roommates in Nevada City and so, as her visits to Bishop lengthened, she still had her home cared for.
My trailer was not very large but the equestrian facilities near my home were world-class, and most importantly, below the snowline. Kerri moved her horses over and we groomed, fed, rode, and took pictures. Kerri had been having trouble with Chelsea and so, in early 2002, Chelsea went to live with her dad in Coloma, California. Martha and Kerri, with Farley, moved into my mobile home in Bishop. Kerri went back to Nevada City every week or two and Martha stayed with me since she was in school. Every few weeks we would all go over to Nevada City together for the weekend. Martha was in the Bishop school and had made several new friends, including Michele Jackson and Shaylynn Ellis.
Kerri had her home up for sale and we worked on it to get it ready to sell. During the summer, we spent a lot of time at the stables and I did my internet work gathering video and pictures of the area for use on the website. Late in the summer, Chelsea moved over, having heard from Martha how great it was to live in the Eastern Sierra. Martha and Chelsea entered fifth grade and were in class together, which they really liked, although their teacher, Ms. Ginter, thought they were troublesome together.
We kept the same schedule traveling between Bishop and Nevada City. We all enjoyed the road trips, because we could go shopping and eating at places not available in our small towns. We especially liked the all-you-can-eat buffets in Reno and Carson City, Nevada.
2002 merged into 2003, with our routine staying the same; skiing, horseback riding and watching movies. I cooked and Kerri and the girls cleaned up. I was really happy with domesticated life. I had been a bachelor for decades and I wanted to settle down. I was 42 years old, had never been married, never had kids; my dogs were my family at that point.
In the spring of 2003, Kerri sold her house. There weren't many homes for sale in Bishop to Kerri's liking and budget. She wound up buying a place thirteen miles north of Bishop in the Chalfant Valley. She got a double-wide on half-an-acre, zoned for horses. It wasn't perfect, but it was a great starter home. In July 2003, Kerri moved from Nevada City to Chalfant and she asked me to move in with her. So I did.
We worked on the new property cleaning it up, fixing it up, and setting up the horse corrals.
There was an apple tree and a pear tree. We had satellite TV with hundreds of channels. Life was good. We got an exemption so the girls could still go to the Bishop schools even though we lived in the Chalfant district.
The girls made friends in the neighborhood as several of the kids were also in the Bishop school. One of their friends was Raeanna Davenport. The girls played with Raeanna and sometimes she came over. In October 2003, Raeanna came over to the house with her grandma, who wanted me to watch Raeanna while the grandma went to town. I was hesitant, but Raeanna pleaded that she didn't want to go all the way to her uncles in Benton. She wanted to stay and play with Martha and Chelsea. Kerri was at work.
As afternoon stretched into evening, I put on a movie and started dinner. I told Raeanna she could stay for dinner. It was all good. We had baked halibut nuggets, noodles romanov, and spinach. Just about dark, Raeanna's grandma called her to come home from out on the street and Raeanna went home. The next afternoon, while Kerri was at work, I heard a knock on the door and I answered it. It was a Mono County Sheriff's Deputy who asked me to step outside. I was placed under arrest. I asked what was going on and he said he would tell me later. A CHP lady officer came to the house and took control of Martha and Chelsea, because Kerri wasn't at home. I was transported to the Mono County Jail in Bridgeport, CA., some ninety miles to the north. In the car, the deputy explained that Raeanna's grandmother had reported that Raeanna had been touched inappropriately the day before. I immediately became hostile and professed my innocence.
Once I had been booked into jail, I made a phone call to Kerri and explained how I was in jail because of Raeanna and told her to ask the twins what happened in order to get me freed. She said she would get to the bottom of it and our call ended.