At the trial, held in Burnet, Bonnies relatives and a handful of San Sabans watched as Bruce sat coolly through the proceedings, convinced there was nothing hed be found guilty of. For Bruce, the following decades would turn into a blur of shifting relationships and jobs. A devout reader ofBetter Homes and Gardensshe stored all her back issues neatly in the laundry roomBonnie also put her stamp on the house, turning a closet into a bathroom, adding on an extra bedroom, and building a sunporch that could comfortably seat up to 27 people. The Harkey brothers founded Harkeyville, which in its heyday would boast a general store, a cotton gin, a blacksmith shop, a baseball diamond, a millinery, and a racetrack. Begin typing your search term above and press enter to search. Wearing his thin, light-blue coveralls, Riley dispensed tips on everything from soil drainage and fertilization techniques to how many grazing sheep to allow in the groves and how to stave off pecan scab, a type of fungus that looks like a horticultural syphilis. Harkey was, recalled family friend Donna Bush, one of the sweetest ladies I ever knew.. Karens eleven-year-old son, who had found her and called 911, stood on the front porch clutching a cordless phone. He sensed her reluctance to embrace him and John, feeling her disdain as soon as the wedding was over. But both those possibilities were excluded when the bloodhound, using a scent swab from her pillow, followed her trail down the driveway almost to the road, indicating shed likely left in a vehicle. Left: Bonnies bedroom, decorated with her paintings of flowers. How many years does it take for a pecan tree to produce pecans? Queen of the County, Part 4 - NBC News There was a payment made to Carl Pressley and of course there were some arrangements to be made that further payment would be made to Carl Pressley for killing Bonnie Harkey, said Wilkerson. Top: The foyer where Karen Johnson was found dead. Bonnie Harkey was still living on the farm, and her guardian believed she deserved more than the $44,000 the brothers were offering from the sale of the land, McAfee said. Invisible to a farmer, the devastating fungus would stealthily invade through the roots, withering the leaves in an instant and killing the tree seemingly overnight. In exchange for a lighter sentence, Carl and Lillian agreed to testify against Bruce, and jurors also heard from two inmates, including one former Aryan Brotherhood member, who claimed that Bruce had tried to hire them from jail to kill both Carl and Spinks. Bruce Harkey was convicted Tuesday of capital murder for a 2012 scheme to kill his 85-year-old stepmother, Bonnie Harkey, and her housekeeper, Karen Johnson. All I wanna do is get this cleared up and go home. He remains hopeful that his case will be overturned on appeal. and his only child, 32-year-old Riley, together with Rileys two sonsten-year-old John and five-year-old Bruceplanted another 1,500 trees, in a grove that came to be known as the Harkeyville Orchard. 10,853 followers.