Kelly Harris Disappeared on Aug. 10, 1984.
Leonard Hugall has been charged with murder of Kelly Harris.
By ELIZABETH FERSZT
Contributing Writer
Leonard Hugall, has been charged in 1984 disappearance and death of 13-year-old Kelly Harris, in Summit Township in the Jackson metro area.
According to Sheriff Gary Schuette in an email statement, the homicide victim was Kelly Jean Harris (d.o.b. 4/29/1971). As to how they found the alleged perpetrator, Schuette stated that “suspect Hugall was incarcerated in Florida (FDOC), serving out another sentence on a sexual assault crime.”
He further explained that “the case was originally reported as a missing person. It was not until May of this year (2025) that the victim was declared deceased. In July the medical examiner ruled the death a homicide.”
Schuette declined to discuss witnesses, tips, or other evidence because he “cannot discuss evidence until it has been ruled upon by the court for admissibility.” He also declined to confirm whether or not an actual body had been found.
According to the Charley Project, an online database for missing and exploited children that was last updated inn 2014, “Authorities stated that they would attempt to locate Kelly’s remains, based on information provided by Hugall,” who in 2006 eventually confessed to the rape and murder of Kelly Harris.
Hugall, who was Harris’s stepfather, had “initially told investigators he thought Kelly had run away from home. For over 20 years he refused to cooperate with authorities in her case or to take a polygraph test.” But after his confession, “investigators found blood evidence to back up his statement.”
“He says he buried her in a shallow grave. Investigators said it is unlikely that anything can be recovered after so long a time, however. Unless Kelly was buried deeply, her body would probably have been disinterred and destroyed by animals,” according to Charley Project.
This case was originally investigated and solved in 1997, when now Judge Allison Bates was the assistant prosecuting attorney who brought the CSC 1 + Kidnapping charges against Hugall. According to cold case records on Jackson County’s website, “Upon completion of his sentence in the Florida Correctional Facility, he (Hugall) will be returned to Jackson to be tried for the murder of Kelly Harris.”
According to the Charley Project, Harris, “was last seen riding her red three-speed bicycle near her family’s home in the 100 block of Lincoln Court in Jackson, Michigan on the morning of Aug. 10, 1984. She was reported missing by her family when she failed to return home later in the evening.”
Her bicycle was found later that same day at the southeast entrance to Ella Sharp Park, off Jackson Ave., a short distance from her home on Lincoln Court (a residential street off MLK, just south of South Ave.).
“Hugall was the prime suspect in her case from the time police first began investigating the child’s disappearance as a crime. He and Kelly’s mother divorced in 1994. He had a history of violent behavior and child molestation dating back to before he met Kelly,” according to the Charley Project.
“Hugall, who described himself as ‘evil,’ was [later] convicted of burglary, theft and sexual battery in Florida in 1993. Kelly’s mother stated her daughter’s relationship with Hugall was ‘strained’ in 1984 and that she believed he had murdered the child,” Charley Project added.
Investigators in the Jackson jurisdiction knew that Hugall would not be charged in connection with Harris’s presumed death until his scheduled release from prison in approximately 2033.
Hugall has now been charged with Homicide: First Degree Felony Murder; and Homicide: Second Degree Murder, according to an Aug. 14 press release from Jackson County Prosecutor, Kelsey Guernsey, and Jackson County Sheriff, Gary Schuette.
The suspect/defendant was located in Florida, where he has been since he was released from prison in September, 2024 and will be extradited back to Jackson County to face criminal charges, which carry a mandatory penalty of life without parole in MDOC facilities. He will be arraigned in the 12th District Court upon return to the jurisdiction.
Schuette stated, “This arrest demonstrates that time does not diminish our resolve [to solve crimes]. Detectives Kelly Ebersole and Mark Easter have shown relentless dedication on this case. Holding [Defendant] Hugall accountable after all these years is a testament to their commitment and that we never quit, no matter how long it takes.”
