Westchester District Attorney: New leads in 1996 millionaire murder cold case
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ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah revealed new developments in a double homicide investigation dating back to November 1996 in Eastchester, New York. A probe identified two new suspects in the deaths of Archie Harris, 79, and Betty Ramcharan, 35, with no ties to the exonerated Selwyn Days, who was tried in the case five times.
Rocah's office did not reveal the identities of the new suspects on Monday.
A jury acquitted Days in 2017, after hung juries, false confessions, overturned convictions, and 16 years incarcerated. No physical evidence linked Days to the crime scene, his alibi placed him in North Carolina during the murders, and detectives recorded only a portion of the interrogation where he confessed, beginning after 1 a.m.
Prosecutors argued in court that Days believed Harris had abused Days’ mother—Harris's home health aide before Ramcharan—and acted out of revenge. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, made the case that Ramcharan committed a murder-suicide over Harris's money.
When found at Harris' home in the affluent Eastchester, the bodies of Harris, Ramcharan, and Harris' pet dog had been beaten and stabbed to death. Police suspected burglary, noting in 1996 that Harris’ wealth and volatility could have contributed to the attack.
Neighbors called Harris abusive and boastful about large sums of cash stored on-site. A diabetic and retired millionaire, he had a contentious public history with his aides and police. When she worked for him, Days' mother accused Harris of sexual assault. He'd also caught criminal charges for a gun threaten against an employee.
His will named Ramcharan as the primary beneficiary of his $2.1 million estate. However, her death meant that Harris' three estranged children inherited, instead. The estate settled with Days' mother for close to $9,000 over her accusation.
Arrested in 2001, Days confessed after interrogation, but later recanted, arguing that police coerced him. In 2023, a state judge dismissed Days' lawsuit seeking compensation for his wrongful conviction.