Laramie Cline, a 23-year-old female, was tragically killed between August 10 and August 11, 2017. She was traveling with David Houston-Harvey in her own vehicle, heading south on Interstate 25 through Weld County, Colorado, on their way from Wyoming to Denver. A disagreement arose between the pair, as Cline wished to remain in Colorado, while Houston-Harvey wanted to go back to Arkansas or Alabama.
This dispute ultimately led to her untimely death.
The man responsible for her death, David Houston-Harvey, initially provided a self-serving account of the events to investigators. He claimed that Laramie had brandished a gun at him, and in the ensuing struggle to seize the weapon, it accidentally discharged, killing her. However, a different, more sinister narrative emerged when he confided in his girlfriend, admitting that he had shot Laramie while she was asleep. After committing the murder, Houston-Harvey placed her body into a suitcase and concealed it in the trunk of her car.
He then drove her car to Arkansas, where he disposed of her body, along with her cell phone and the gun he had used. Her remains were later discovered in a suitcase near Lake Pickthorne in Lonoke County, Arkansas. An autopsy confirmed that Laramie Cline died from a single gunshot wound to the head, and her death was ruled a homicide.
David Houston-Harvey was apprehended and initially faced charges in Arkansas for abuse of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. He was already serving a 12-year sentence in Arkansas for abandoning her body when a grand jury in Weld County, Colorado, indicted him on multiple charges, including first-degree murder. In a plea agreement, Houston-Harvey pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. In September 2020, he was sentenced to 35 years in the Colorado Department of Corrections for the murder of Laramie Cline.
