Naman Shrestha
In the episode titled ‘Body Parts’ of ‘Homicide Hunter: American Detective,’ the primary focus is on the horrific 2008 killing of a mother of four named Mekole Harris in South Carolina. After her dismembered remains were discovered outside an apartment, the police hunted down the perpetrator/s with the help of physical evidence and witness statements. All the intricate details of the case and the subsequent investigation are discussed in the documentary, which also features in-depth interviews with Mekole’s loved ones and the officials involved in the case.
Mekole Harris’ Remains Were Found Within a Few Days of Her Disappearance
In November 1972, Jessie Mae Harris welcomed Mekole Michelle Harris into the world as her little bundle of joy. Growing up alongside her sisters, Patrice Strickland and Lisa Perry, Mekole had a troubling childhood that led her to find comfort in drugs. It is alleged that she was a longtime addict and a mother of four children, who were in the custody of the state or her relatives. As per reports, Mekole had also been convicted of drug and prostitution charges around 2007. The 35-year-old woman, whose last known address was a boarding house in Greenville, South Carolina, reportedly talked to her mother on April 4, 2008, and told her about someone trying to kill her.
A few days later, Mekole vanished from a Rutherford Road staffing agency. On the morning of April 7, her dismembered remains were recovered in two different plastic bags outside an apartment building on Cleveland Street and a house on Rose Avenue. The authorities used fingerprints to verify her identity from her severed body parts. The autopsy revealed that Mekole’s cause of death was strangulation, after which her remains were dismembered. The gruesome homicide led to the launch of an investigation, with the police gathering evidence and witness statements.
Mekole Harris’ Perpetrators Killed Mekole to Threaten Their Former Roommate
The homicide investigation soon led the detectives to Clarence Jenkins Jr. and Carman Major Jenkins, a married couple who were tied to the case through a series of threatening letters in their possession and other physical evidence found at their home. As per investigative reports, Clarence and Carman were involved with their former roommate, Grace Davis, in a three-way romantic relationship. In order to frighten her into paying the $10,000 debt she allegedly owed them, the couple lured Mekole Harris to their home.
While pretending to be a police officer, Clarence reportedly handcuffed her to a chair and put a plastic trash bag over her head before choking her to death with a cable cord. The couple then dismembered her remains and sent them to Grace, threatening her with dismemberment if she failed to pay her debt. It was also later revealed that the remains of Mekole were accompanied by a few letters, wherein Clarence and Carman threatened their former roommate. After the arrest of Clarence and Carman Jenkins, the police pursued the death penalty against both of them.
Carman and Clarence Are Serving Their Sentences at Different South Carolina Prisons
A few years later, on March 27, 2012, Carman pleaded guilty to killing Mekole Harris and got her sentence reduced in exchange for cooperating with law enforcement and testifying against her accomplice and husband, Clarence Jenkins. During her hearing, she revealed the gruesome details of the crime. In the end, she was sentenced to 50 years in prison for her involvement in the homicide. Weeks later, in April 2012, Clarence’s trial commenced. During the trial, Carman testified against the defendant and told the jury how he allegedly forced her to take part in the killing. In the closing statements, the prosecutors reminded the jurors of the gravity of his crime and how he dismembered an innocent woman for selfish reasons.
Meanwhile, the defense tried to shift the blame to Carman Jenkins, whom they allegedly called the mastermind behind the entire plot. Ultimately, on April 13, 2012, Clarence was convicted of murder and kidnapping in connection with the killing of Mekole Harris. Consequently, he was sentenced to life in prison. More than a year later, on June 10, 2013, Carman’s original sentence of 50 years was reduced to 40 years after a judge agreed to a sentence reduction because of her contribution in getting her husband convicted. She apologized for her deeds, stating, “I didn’t mean for any of this to happen and I’m sorry that it did happen.” As of today, while Carman is serving her sentence at Leath Correctional Institution in Greenwood, South Carolina, with her release date scheduled for April 2048, Clarence is incarcerated at Broad River Correctional Institute in Columbia, South Carolina.
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