In the spring of 2021, the life of 39-year-old Harlow Thomas Harley Owens was tragically cut short in a violent act that also claimed the life of his girlfriend. On May 1, 2021, police discovered the bodies of Owens and 29-year-old Kelsey Coon-Lennon inside a Lansing, Michigan, home. Both had been fatally shot. The discovery was made after officers responded to a report of a shooting.
Investigations later determined that the couple had likely been killed a few days earlier, on April 28, 2021.
The initial investigation did not immediately lead to an arrest, leaving a period of uncertainty. However, authorities would soon connect the double homicide to a man already in custody for other violent crimes. Isaiah Gardenhire, then 41, was identified as the suspect in the murders of Owens and Coon-Lennon. At the time he was charged with their deaths, Gardenhire was already incarcerated in connection with a separate and brutal crime that occurred in June 2021: the fatal stabbing of a 13-year-old girl and the assault of her mother.
Gardenhire was subsequently charged with two counts of second-degree murder for the killings of Owens and Coon-Lennon. In a move that brought a degree of legal closure to the case, he pleaded guilty to these charges. An Ingham County judge sentenced Isaiah Gardenhire to a term of 50 to 125 years in prison, ensuring he would likely spend the remainder of his life incarcerated. During his sentencing, Gardenhire chose not to make a statement, though his attorney conveyed that he took responsibility for his actions. The motive behind the fatal shootings of Harlow Owens and Kelsey Coon-Lennon has not been publicly disclosed.
