When a welfare check on Sherry Harlan led the Snohomish County police to her tattered and bloody apartment, they knew something much more sinister had happened. But an investigation would soon uncover a murder twisted up in pagan magic.
Chapter 1: What happened during the welfare check on Sherry Harlan?
She had grown up until she was a teenager in Oregon, had moved to Washington with her mother. She was working at JCPenney and had just moved to a new apartment.
This is former Deputy District Attorney Craig Matheson.
My name is Craig Matheson. I was a deputy prosecuting attorney for Snohomish County. I did that for 35 years and retired in June of 2024.
Shelly hadn't shown up for the last few shifts at JCPenney. One of my first jobs worked in the men's underwear department. More suit and everything. It's crazy. Imagine young Mike Boudet in a suit at JCPenney selling you underwear. Neither can I. Anyway, Sherry's coworkers grew more and more concerned every time they tried to call her because they weren't getting an answer.
And as we've heard before, this just wasn't like Sherry. Again, I'm not sure who the type is that just disappears and doesn't answer people. Oh, right. That's me. That's me. Don't call me. Anyway, she actually enjoyed working at JCPenney. She had a lot of fun with her co-workers who teased her about the awkward laugh she had. This awkward laugh happened so often they decided to catch it on video.
Make her laugh. Laugh, Sherry. Just follow the whale. She can't stop laughing.
Now you have to do the second part of the laugh.
No, we didn't get the trigger warnings on this episode incorrectly. That was not a wounded animal. That was Sherry's laugh. Anyway, Sherry had left her shift at JCPenney on January 1st and hadn't been seen since. Her co-workers called the police and asked for a welfare check on January 5th.
Several uniformed deputies showed up at the apartment complex, which was the Cedar Creek Apartments, and the maintenance man on duty at the apartment complex got his keys and allowed law enforcement entry into Sherry's apartment.
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Chapter 2: What evidence was found in Sherry's apartment?
Detective Betts headed to the scene and found Eric outside the hospital, his hand freshly stitched up, wearing his signature mid-calf Doc Martens and braided goatee. What a look.
you know, they were building their case. So they weren't there to arrest Christensen, but what they wanted to do is get him, you know, tie him to some sort of statement. Maybe he would admit to the crime. Maybe he would give them information to lead them in a different direction. Betts had the presence of mind to essentially do a man-on-the-street type of interview. Got his recorder out,
asked Christensen if he's willing to, you know, talk to law enforcement, you know, that they're out looking for Sherry Harlan. And Christensen agreed.
Eric, I understand that you had a relationship with a woman within the last month. Can you give me her name, please?
Sherry Ann Harlan. Okay. And how long have you known Sherry? Since April of...
2009. 41-year-old Eric had met Sherry on a site called Tagged, which is similar to just about every other dating website out there.
We formed a relationship first, then we started living together. About when was that? That was in March of the same year. Both of us were actually living in our vehicles.
Eric and Sherry stayed with some friends in Everett for a while, but it didn't work out. They had two couples under one roof in a small apartment, and we know where that goes. Nowhere good, very fast. So, they found themselves back in Eric's car.
We stayed in my Mazda 323, and we just parked from various places to places. And did the two of you ever get another place together? We finally did, and that was, I think, in August. Okay, and where was that? I was in Gold Bar.
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Chapter 3: Who was Eric Christensen and what was his relationship with Sherry?
Sherry had been transparent with Dan about her relationship with Eric. And when he went to jail, they sought as a way for her to get away and get her own place.
Dan Young was an older guy. He was employed. He had money. He helped when Sherry had told him that she wanted to move out of the home that she was sharing with Christensen. He agreed to pay both the first and the last month's rent at the apartment complex that she moved into and was the co-signer on the lease.
He also purchased her a flat screen TV, a block of knives, and some cooking implements to kind of set Sherry up in the apartment.
There was actually like a brief week. A brief what? A week where we'd actually broken up and I tried to salvage it and she said fine. Now, is this before or after Christmas?
Before. Before Christmas. Alright, so for a week you tried to salvage the relationship?
Yeah, I was mad. I was really mad at her. Why were you mad? Because of her sugar daddy. Okay, now tell me about that. We haven't talked about that yet. Yeah, her sugar daddy. Now, the way I believe, if you're with somebody, you're with somebody. If you have a sugar daddy, even though it's not sexual, that's still cheating on a person. Right.
That's the way I've been for all my life that I can remember. Now, what made you think that she had a sugar daddy? Because when we were in the apartment in Everett, for that brief time. He had sent her 450 bucks. And... How do you know that? Because she told me.
Okay. And she spent most of the money on my car. Dan was a friend of Sherry's. He helped her out by moving and setting her up in a new apartment, but he also lent her money. As much as Eric disapproved of this man and Sherry's life, he had no problem using the funds Dan gifted Sherry for himself or his car. Then Dan bought Sherry a laptop.
And one day, after an afternoon of lovemaking, Eric just couldn't let the laptop go. Maybe it was the fact that Dan could buy her something nice like a computer that Eric simply couldn't afford. Anyway, it made him angry. Because she was messing with it.
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Chapter 4: What was the significance of the blood oath ritual?
No. Okay, just that, did he say where it was? At the Mineral Park and Ride.
Okay, so did you, were you able to help him with something?
I was actually able to go home and get a coat of hair.
So Gesme showed up to help him get into the vehicle. And when he arrived, Christensen was standing outside of Sherry's car, and he'd locked the keys inside.
On the way home, he called me on my cell phone and said he'd got it open with his Leatherman.
Oh, okay.
I don't know why he didn't do that in the first place.
Yeah, I don't know. Okay. What happened after that?
Um... Then... As soon as... He told me, he said, I need your help.
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Chapter 5: How did detectives connect Eric to the crime?
Yeah, but I'm not sure what kind of knife.
Okay. How did you know this, then, about the knife? I'm sorry.
I'm jumbled.
It's okay.
He actually did tell me he used a knife, but he didn't tell me what kind of knife.
After every single piece of Sherry had been dispersed, except for her head, Ryan told Eric he was done. He'd had enough.
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Chapter 6: What shocking discovery was made in Sherry's car?
You didn't go to where he put the car? No. So you told him you're on your own?
I told him you're on your own. Are you done?
Okay. What was his reaction to that?
He's like, okay.
All right. And do you know what happened with the car?
Um, he goes, I'll have to find a spot to torch it.
Okay. Do you know what body parts were left, if any? Probably an arm and a head. Okay, and why do you, how do you know that?
Because we only got rid of one arm. Okay. That one arm on Kellogg.
Okay.
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Chapter 7: What was the outcome of the investigation into Sherry's disappearance?
Because he called me afterwards, after it was torched, and said he was on his way home. He was walking.
Okay, did he tell you what he did?
He told me he doused the car in lighter fluid.
Okay.
and set it on fire. Did he indicate why he put the head in the front seat?
No. Can you think of why he would do that? Is there any significance to that particular action by him? I don't know. Because we have all these other body parts that are buried or thrown off in vacuums or whatever, not easily found, maybe by animals, but certainly not people.
Yeah.
And then we find a torched car with a head. If you had to speculate, why did Eric do that? I don't know why. There's no religious reason? No. Nothing like that? No.
Ryan then took the police to every place where he'd watched Eric dig a grave for Sherry. They collected every piece of her until they finally had a whole woman again. But Ryan's edgy demeanor cast a shadow of doubt. Had he really just been an observer in all of this? The police still had to tie the physical evidence back to Eric...
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