Carman Jenkins

Overview

Carman Jenkins pleaded guilty to murder in the death of Mekole Harris and was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Her sentence was later reduced to 40 years in prison.

Her case involved the killing and dismemberment of Mekole Harris in April 2008. Investigators said her body was cut up and that some body parts were found in trash bags at the doorsteps of two separate residences. Investigators said not all of Harris’s remains had been found.

Timeline

• April 2008 — Severed hands and feet of Mekole Harris were left in trash bags outside two homes in the Cleveland Street area.
• April 6, 2008 — Harris was killed.
• March 29, 2012 — Carman Jenkins pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
• April 11, 2012 — Carman Jenkins testified against her husband, Clarence Jenkins Jr., during his trial.
• June 10, 2013 — A judge reduced Carman Jenkins’s sentence to 40 years in prison.

The offence

Investigators said Carman Jenkins and her husband killed Mekole Harris and cut up her body. Investigators said they left severed hands and feet at two residences in the Cleveland Street area in April 2008.

Investigators said the killing and dismemberment were intended to send a message to another woman, their former roommate, Grace Davis, who had a relationship with them. Investigators said the Jenkins claimed the former roommate owed them $10,000.

Prosecutors said Clarence Jenkins and Carman Jenkins used Harris’s limbs to frighten Grace Davis into paying $10,000. Prosecutors said the email address provided to respond to the alleged demand was used after discovery of the body parts and that “threatening letters” were left with Harris’s limbs.

A coroner identified Harris’s hands using fingerprints, and the feet were believed to be from Harris. Police appealed for public help because not all of Harris’s remains had been found.

Victim

Mekole Harris was 34 years old. She was described as a mother of four whose four children lived with relatives. Her severed hands and feet were found in separate trash bags outside two homes about a mile apart in the Cleveland Street area.

Her family members said she knew her life was in danger shortly before she disappeared. Her mother, Jessie Mae Harris, said that Mekole Harris told her, “She said someone wanted to kill her,” and that she was “trying to get her life straight.”

Mekole Harris’s sister, Lisa Perry, told the judge the family wanted Jenkins to be sentenced to life in prison.

Harris’s mother, Jessie Harris, later died in 2010 of a massive stroke. Harris’s sister said, “She grieved herself to death,” and described Harris as a loving person who treated everyone as if they were friends.

Investigation

Greenville police investigators used IP addresses to track where an email account was checked—twice from a Greenville County library computer and once from the couple’s home. The library provided images of the couple checking the email address.

Authorities said copies of threatening notes were found in the Jenkins’ residence and that DNA tests confirmed Harris’s blood was found in the house and in the couple’s van.

During the investigation, investigators asked Carman Jenkins to come to the Law Enforcement Center to talk about the case. Jenkins told investigators she would meet with them but she had “child-care issues” to deal with first. Instead of going back to the Law Enforcement Center, investigators staked out the home and watched as she made several trips to a trash dumpster over the course of an hour and a half, throwing away cleaning supplies and trash bags resembling the ones used to hold Harris’s hands and feet. Investigators later said she came to the Law Enforcement Center and lied to investigators about what she had been doing since they last spoke.

Police later served a separate arrest warrant on Clarence Jenkins and found blood spattered on the walls and bathroom, as well as a collection of swords and knives, handcuffs, a clump of hair, and copies of threatening letters.

A former Greenville police officer, Christopher Odom, testified at trial that he opened a garbage bag that had a foot inside later identified as Harris’s foot.

Arrest and charges

Clarence Jenkins Jr. and Carman Major Jenkins were charged with murder for the death of Mekole Michelle Harris. Clarence Jenkins Jr. and Carman Jenkins were being held without bond in the Greenville County jail after the charges were filed.

The couple’s body-related evidence was linked between evidence found at the couple’s home and evidence found outside the two residences where Harris’s feet and hands were found. Authorities said there was no obvious connection between Harris and where the limbs were found.

Greenville police Maj. Gary McLaughlin refused to talk about the evidence at a Friday night news conference and appealed to the public for help because not all remains had been found. McLaughlin refused to say how the couple knew Harris, how she was killed, or any possible motive, and also refused to say whether the couple picked where they left the hands and feet on purpose.

Trial

Clarence Jenkins Jr. trial

Carman Jenkins testified against her husband, Clarence Jenkins Jr., describing how they killed Harris and what they did with her body. Carman Jenkins testified that Clarence Jenkins pretended to be a police officer and convinced Harris that he would keep her out of jail if she helped them.

Carman Jenkins testified that they tied Harris up and made her call Davis’s family to try to extort $10,000 from them. She testified that Harris was tied up for about a day before the Jenkins killed her. She testified that they chopped off Harris’s hands and feet, took her body to Paris Mountain to burn it, and then returned home “as if nothing had happened.”

Prosecutors said the Jenkins left parts of Harris’s body at Davis’s home to try to force her back into a relationship with them.

During the second day of Clarence Jenkins’s trial, a witness named Jones testified about what happened when she tried to move out. The witness said Clarence Jenkins told her that he would let her go because he, “can't kill you.”

Prosecutors said if Clarence Jenkins were convicted he could face life in prison.

Carman Jenkins plea

Cindy Landrum reported that Carman Jenkins pleaded guilty for her part in the 2008 death of Mekole Harris after her severed feet and hands were left at two residences in the Cleveland Street area.

Judge Ned Miller sentenced her to 50 years in prison. Before handing down the sentence, Judge Ned Miller said that her cooperation with authorities and her testimony in Clarence Jenkins’ trial could lead to a reduced sentence.

Her defense attorney and a psychologist blamed the change on Clarence Jenkins, describing him as violent, controlling her every move, and isolating her from her family.

During the guilty plea, her attorney said that the death penalty had been dropped against Clarence Jenkins. Thirteenth Circuit Solicitor Walt Wilkins declined to comment on that, citing a gag order Miller had previously placed on the case.

Sentencing

Initial sentencing

On March 29, 2012, Carman Jenkins was sentenced to 50 years in prison.

Judge Ned Miller stated that her cooperation with authorities and her testimony in Clarence Jenkins’ trial could lead to a reduced sentence.

Her projected release date from prison was listed as 2058 according to the Department of Corrections website.

Sentence reduction

On June 10, 2013, a judge reduced Carman Jenkins’s sentence from 50 years to 40 years in prison.

Solicitor Walt Wilkins said the prosecution needed her testimony to help in the conviction of Clarence Jenkins. He said they believed she was truthful and that her sentence reduction was a benefit for her cooperation.

Wilkins said: “Hopefully that the victim's family still feels some sort of justice with a 40-year sentence for her and a life sentence for Clarence Jenkins.”

Other details

Bond hearing and statements

A bond hearing occurred on May 23, 2011.

Lisa Perry asked a judge to keep Jenkins in jail, saying: “I think she's a threat to the community and I think she's a flight risk because her life is on the table.”

Perry accused Carman Jenkins and Clarence Jenkins of cutting up her sister to use as a threat to someone else because that person owed them money. She told the judge: “Her body had been dismembered, cut-up, her feet, her hands, her toes, from what we know her ears,” and she said, “I think she's a threat to the community and I think she's a flight risk because her life is on the table.”

A judge set a $100,000 bond after the solicitor told him a deal had been made with Jenkins: she would lead authorities to the rest of Harris’s body, and in return prosecutors would not seek the death penalty against her.

A family member told the judge: “We want her remains, so we can put her to rest.”

Andrea Drummond said, “I recall that day clear as day,” and “It was a very horrific deal for everyone.”

Drummond said her dog ShaCole found Harris’s body parts on a porch at an abandoned home and that she said: “I couldn't believe it, I couldn't believe my eyes.”

Names and relationships mentioned

Carman Jenkins’s husband was Clarence Jenkins Jr.

Investigators referred to the former roommate as Grace Davis.

Mekole Harris’s sister was Lisa Perry.

Mekole Harris’s mother was Jessie Mae Harris / Jessie Harris (as named in different passages).

Carman Jenkins’s mother was Beverly Major.

A psychologist named Dr. David Price testified about Carman Jenkins suffering from “Stockholm Syndrome.” Dr. David Price compared Carman Jenkins to Patty Hearst and said: “This woman could not think for herself,” and the psychologist also said it was “Stockholm Syndrome,” describing it as “a condition where a person empathizes with the person who is controlling him or her and helps the controller’s causes.”

Community and church involvement

Beverly Major described her daughter as a good person who went on mission trips to work on people’s homes in South Carolina and the Bahamas. She said: “I love her and I’m here for her.”

David Stubbs described Jenkins as playing basketball for the church because the church didn’t have a team for her age group and as helping keep the gym open on Saturdays. He said Jenkins eventually had a key to every part of the church, babysat the children of church members, and went on youth mission trips. Stubbs said she had plans to go to college, earn a business degree, and open her own restaurant. Stubbs said Jenkins had lost touch with him after she was forced to quit Spartanburg Methodist College when her mother became ill and she met her husband, and he said: “This is not Carman. This is not the girl I knew.”

Evidence locations and directions

Investigators said hands and feet were left at residences in the Cleveland Street area, including an Andover Park Apartments location and another on Rose Avenue. Prosecutors described the body parts as being left on doorsteps of two residences about a mile apart.

Paris Mountain was the location where Carman Jenkins testified the body was taken and burned.

Outcome

Carman Jenkins received a reduced sentence to 40 years in prison on June 10, 2013 after being sentenced to 50 years in prison on March 29, 2012. Her husband Clarence Jenkins Jr. was found guilty by a jury and was sentenced to life in prison.