Thomas O’Donnell was convicted in the killing of Michael Harding, whose estranged wife was a California Highway Patrol captain.

BURKESVILLE, Ky. — A California man was sentenced to life in prison after a Kentucky jury convicted him of killing a Navy and Army veteran in a plot prosecutors said used a fake HVAC service call to draw the victim to an empty house.

Thomas O’Donnell, 64, of Napa, California, learned his sentence May 4, three days after jurors found him guilty of murder in the death of Michael Harding, 53. Prosecutors said O’Donnell acted with Julie Harding, Michael Harding’s estranged wife and a California Highway Patrol captain, after the couple’s marriage collapsed across several states. The case turned on phone records, travel data, cash withdrawals and a vacant property in Cumberland County.

The killing was tied to a home on Glasgow Road in Burkesville, where prosecutors said Michael Harding went on Sept. 19, 2022, after receiving messages from a prepaid cellphone about HVAC work. FBI Special Agent Elizabeth Wheeler testified that Michael Harding texted the prepaid phone at 4:10 p.m. to say he was “35 minutes out.” The reply came back, “No worries.” Harding asked if that was good, and the sender answered yes. At 4:16 p.m., after Harding wrote, “See ya soon,” the reply was, “Perfect,” Wheeler said. Prosecutors told jurors those routine service-call messages led Harding into a trap.

Harding’s body was found Sept. 26, 2022, inside the vacant house by a real estate agent showing the property to possible renters. Authorities said he had been shot multiple times. Prosecutors said the home was not Harding’s and had been reached through a scheme in which O’Donnell posed as someone connected to the property, obtained access and then used the same general setup to bring Harding there for supposed repair work. A black pickup linked to Harding had been seen in the Bowling Green area after he disappeared, and friends raised concerns when he did not return. Investigators first had few public answers, but the case shifted as detectives worked through phone, hotel, flight and bank records.

The prosecution’s theory placed O’Donnell near the crime scene through cell data and connected him to the lure phone. Investigators said the prepaid phone and O’Donnell’s personal phone moved in the same areas, including near Burkesville around the time Harding was killed. They also said a laptop tied to O’Donnell searched the Glasgow Road address twice while connected to Wi-Fi at a hotel about an hour away. The defense challenged the weight of that data, arguing that phone locations do not prove who was carrying the devices. O’Donnell’s attorneys also said prosecutors had no direct proof of a payment from Julie Harding to O’Donnell and no witness who saw him pull the trigger.

Jurors heard that Julie Harding and O’Donnell had a close relationship before the killing. Prosecutors said Julie Harding, then 49, was in an extramarital affair with O’Donnell while she and Michael Harding were in a bitter divorce. Court filings described 194 calls between Julie Harding and O’Donnell in the three months before Michael Harding was killed. Prosecutors also pointed to three large cash withdrawals from accounts Julie and Michael Harding shared after she filed for divorce in May 2022. The withdrawals were listed as $102,000, $73,000 and $47,700, totaling more than $220,000. Prosecutors said the money showed motive and payment, while the defense said the records did not prove that O’Donnell received the cash.

Michael Harding had moved from California to Tennessee after the separation and was living in Celina, where the couple had bought a home with plans to retire. He was running an HVAC business and was living with a girlfriend when he was killed, according to reports presented in the case. Julie Harding remained tied to California, where she had worked for the California Highway Patrol since 1999 and later became a commander. The case drew attention because the alleged planner was not a private citizen outside law enforcement, but a veteran officer who had held a leadership role. Prosecutors said that position made the betrayal more striking, though Julie Harding never stood trial in the murder case.

O’Donnell was arrested Dec. 8, 2022, at Sacramento International Airport as he prepared to board a flight to Tennessee. That same day, Julie Harding was arrested in Tennessee on separate stalking and burglary charges tied to the woman who had been dating Michael Harding. Investigators said she had been seen on home security video in October 2022 taking Harding’s dog, Charlie, from a Murfreesboro home. Two days after O’Donnell’s arrest, Julie Harding was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at a home in Celina. She had been on administrative leave from the California Highway Patrol at the time of her death.

At trial, prosecutors leaned on records rather than a single eyewitness. They said the pattern showed O’Donnell traveled from California, coordinated with Julie Harding, used a prepaid phone, looked up the property and waited for Michael Harding to arrive. Prosecutor Jesse Stockton told jurors during closing arguments that the evidence pointed to O’Donnell as the killer. “There’s no evidence someone else killed him,” Stockton said. “All this evidence points to this amateur hitman from California.” The defense said the case relied on assumptions and gaps, including uncertainty over who held which phone at key times and whether any money moved from Julie Harding to O’Donnell.

The guilty verdict on May 1 ended the trial phase and left sentencing to follow quickly. O’Donnell’s life sentence means he will remain in state custody for the murder conviction. The death of Julie Harding left prosecutors unable to try the person they described as the co-conspirator and financial driver of the plot. It also left unanswered questions about the full path of the withdrawn money, the final exchanges between Julie Harding and O’Donnell and whether anyone else knew what was planned before Michael Harding entered the vacant house.

Michael Harding’s family described the verdict as a moment of shock and relief after years of hearings and delay. His daughter, Heather Cavalieri, said the family was happy but still stunned by the outcome. The case began with a missing veteran and a strange service call, then spread from Kentucky to Tennessee and California. It ended in a courtroom with jurors accepting the prosecution’s theory that a fake work request was used to isolate Harding at a house where he had no reason to expect violence.

Court proceedings after sentencing are expected to focus on routine post-conviction filings and any appeal notice from the defense. O’Donnell is now serving a life sentence in Kentucky.

Author note: Last updated May 25, 2026.