HOUSTON – It’s a tape recording few people had heard until Thursday.
The private investigator hired by Clara Harris in 2002 to trail her husband to prove adultery released a recording between the two only to KPRC2.
Bobbi Bacha, with Blue Moon Investigators, allowed KPRC2 to listen to the July 25, 2002 conversation she recorded between her and Harris. It was taped the day after Harris bonded out of jail for the murder of her husband. On the mini-cassette tape, Bacha can be heard asking Harris to confirm her identity and why Harris decided to show up to the hotel unannounced.
“We didn’t know you were out there and then our contract says you’re not supposed to be down on the location,” Bacha is heard saying on the tape.
Harris hired the private investigator to prove her husband of 10 years, an orthodontist, was having an affair with one of his former employees. Bacha said Harris knew her husband was cheating but wanted video proof.
On July 24, 2002, The private investigator spotted Harris’ husband and another woman at the Hilton NASA Clear Lake in Nassau Bay. Investigators were recording when they noticed Harris showed up with her stepdaughter, Lindsey.
Bacha said the confrontation inside the hotel ended when Harris ran over her husband with her Mercedes at least three times in the hotel’s parking lot.
“She said she had to go see,” Bacha said. “So even hiring an investigator, having her employee go and follow him, her going out there with Lindsey looking for him, she still wanted to see for herself.”
On the recording Bacha had locked in a safe for 15 years, Harris learned the investigators were recording the whole time and that the video was handed over to police. The video was later used in court to help convict Harris, along with dozens of testimonies from witnesses.
“Videotape?” Harris asked.
“Yes ma’am we have everything,” Bacha replied. “You know, but we don’t have it in our possession because of the incident that occurred.”
“So you were able to get the tragical (sic) part?” Harris follows up.
“The investigator did video everything,” Bacha answered. “You hired us to video the subject.”
Bacha said she remembered Harris had a surprisingly calm demeanor.
“I did hear her voice crackle a little bit when she asked about the tragical (sic) events for the first time. But she still kept prim and proper,” the private investigator recalled.
The former dentist could also be heard on tape asking for a refund, which Bacha informed Harris she wasn't eligible for after she broke their contract by showing up to the hotel to confront her husband.
Harris is scheduled to be released from prison Friday. Bacha said she’s happy for Harris' release, but wonders if prison has helped in her rehabilitation.
“Please people, do not make Clara Harris into the hero for all of the cheater woman out there or men. She’s not a hero,” Bacha said. “She’s a woman who has control issues and she’s a woman who let her emotions get out of control.”