An expert on strangulation testified in a Williamson County murder trial of a 2009 Cedar Park murder case will be heard watching a 2009 suspect interrogation in a murder trial out of Cedar Park today. The jury watched the Other news tonight, a jury found a man guilty of killing a woman that neither Harmel nor Caylor would have looked at 27-year-old Jessica Caylor lived in Austin, Texas.
After graduating from Texas State University, her life became incredibly busy. She juggled two jobs while working toward her master’s degree and still managed to maintain an active social life. She held a position at a local grocery store and also worked as a substitute teacher, hoping that soon she would secure a full-time role at an elementary school.
At the same time, Jessica was putting money aside both for her graduate studies and to pay off her student loans. She had a lot on her plate and faced her share of stress, but she always kept an optimistic, glass-half-full outlook. She believed this hectic period wouldn’t last forever. Her family recalled that Jessica once wrote, “Someday everything will make perfect sense.
Laugh at the confusion, smile through the tears, and keep reminding yourself that everything happens for a reason.” Responsible, driven, and fun to be around, Jessica was in a positive place in her life with many things ahead to look forward to. On Labor Day, September 7th, 2009, Jessica spent the day with her cousin and best friend Melanie, along with several others.
The weather was extremely hot, so the group cooled off by swimming in the pool and enjoying a barbecue. They stayed there for a few hours before heading out to a restaurant. Since Jessica had work the following day and was trying to save money, plus she was the one driving everyone home, she limited herself to just a couple of drinks.
After the restaurant closed, the group went to a bar to play some pool. Shortly after midnight, they left the bar and Jessica began driving everyone back to their homes. At around 1:30 a.m., she was still on the road. Melanie, who was the last person still in the car, asked Jessica if she wanted to stay over for the night. Jessica refused, saying she wanted to wake up feeling rested and ready for her shift.
She also mentioned needing to stop for dog food on the way home and check on her pets. After a quick hug goodbye, Jessica headed off toward Walmart. A few hours later, as people were starting their mornings and getting ready for work, Melanie’s phone rang. It was one of Jessica’s coworkers. Jessica hadn’t shown up.
Right away, Melanie felt uneasy. Jessica was never the type to call in sick, let alone miss work without any notice. Melanie started calling around, but with each person who said they hadn’t heard from her, the feeling that something was seriously wrong only grew stronger. Jessica lived in an He quickly drove home, where one of Jessica’s dogs greeted him, noticeably agitated.
Jessica wasn’t there, and it appeared she hadn’t returned home at all the night before. John immediately contacted his colleagues and reported her missing. They began tracking her phone, which last pinged near the intersection of US Highway 183 and Walton Way in Cedar Park. It wasn’t a remote location, quite the opposite.
The area was filled with businesses, and at that time of day, there were already plenty of people and traffic around. One possibility was that her car had broken down and her phone battery had died. Melanie and her boyfriend Sarah rushed to the location and quickly spotted Jessica’s white Kia. It was neatly parked just outside of Little Caesars.
As soon as they stepped out of the car, they were hit by a strong, overwhelming odor coming from inside. Even with the windows rolled up, the smell was intense. It was already around 90° outside. Jessica was inside, slumped in the driver’s seat, which had been pushed much farther back than normal. She wasn’t moving. From outside, they could see what appeared to be feces inside the car.
The vehicle was unlocked, and the moment they opened the door, the smell became even stronger. Melanie reached in and touched Jessica’s head, trying to wake her, but there was no response. Her skin was red from sunburn, her body covered in marks, and her hair was soaked with sweat. Sarah immediately called 911. Jessica Caylor had been murdered.
There was a clear ligature mark around her neck, along with small hemorrhages in and around her eyes, face, and neck. Her body was covered in bruises and scratches. Investigators determined that she had been raped and strangled twice, once with a piece of fabric, possibly the tie from the dress she had been wearing over her bathing suit, and a second time by hand.
The marks on her neck showed signs that she had fought back, clawing at her attacker in an attempt to break free. Many of the scratches on her neck were caused by her own nails during the struggle. Her wallet, cards, and car keys were missing, though her phone was recovered and taken in for analysis. Since the location where she was found was a busy, public area, police began canvassing nearby restaurants and stores.
One restaurant employee reported arriving early that morning and noticing Jessica still alive. She said Jessica was naked inside her car, moving around on all fours as if trying to put her bathing suit back on. Later, she saw her again. This time dressed in her white dress, sitting outside the car and playing with her hair.
The third and final time, Jessica was back inside the vehicle, talking to herself and making unusual hand movements. Several other witnesses also reported seeing Jessica and described her as disoriented and sluggish. No one approached or spoke to her, but her behavior was clearly unusual and concerning. The next time she was seen, she was already dead.
Melanie and insisted that Jessica had been completely sober when they parted ways and that she did not use drugs. This was later confirmed by toxicology results, which showed no trace of drugs, alcohol, or medication in her system. The case was becoming increasingly strange and difficult to explain, prompting investigators to dig deeper for any possible reason behind her erratic behavior.
In the back seat of her car, officers found a large bag of dog food. Melanie had mentioned that Jessica planned to buy some on her way home, confirming it had been purchased that morning. Directly across the street from where her car was found was a 24-hour Walmart. Surveillance footage showed Jessica arriving there around a quarter to 2:00.
She entered the store alone, wearing her white dress, a red baseball cap, and carrying a bag over her shoulder. Inside the store, Jessica appeared completely normal. She walked steadily, showed no signs of confusion, and didn’t seem impaired in any way. She didn’t interact with anyone, nor did anyone appear to be paying attention to her.
She went straight to the dog food aisle, picked up what she needed, then headed to the checkout and left the store. One of the employees stood near the entrance and watched Jessica as she walked out, and this is where things took a turn. Up until that moment, no one inside the store had been following her. But suddenly, a tall man wearing a brown shirt and a baseball cap appeared to be right behind her.
He had only been inside Walmart for a few minutes, having parked his small truck some distance away from where Jessica had left her car. He went into the restroom, and when he came back out, Jessica was just ahead of him, carrying the large bag of dog food over her shoulder. As she made her way back toward her Kia, the man followed closely, about 20 seconds behind, and seemed to be picking up his pace.
Unfortunately, Jessica’s car was parked directly behind a large tree, which completely blocked the camera’s view. The only other camera that captured that area was of very poor quality, but it still showed enough to confirm that the man approached her car. He never reappeared on camera or walked back into view, and his truck remained parked where it was.
Roughly 2 minutes after both Jessica and the man reached her vehicle, the car pulled out and headed toward the exit. The footage was deeply unsettling. Security cameras inside Walmart also had a view of Jessica’s car when it was later parked outside Little Caesars. They tracked the person who exited the vehicle, watching as he crossed the road into the Walmart parking lot.
At that point, investigators were able to confirm it was the same man from earlier. He got straight back into his truck and sped off at around 5:30 a.m. About 20 minutes after Jessica’s car was parked outside Little Caesars, her bank card was used at an Exxon gas station, and it was the same man from Walmart making the transaction.
Jessica never left her car, which remained stationary from approximately 2:50 a.m. until the moment she was discovered. However, since multiple employees had seen her alive during that time, she must have still been alive for several hours after arriving at that location. None of it was adding up. Investigators released portions of the surveillance footage and issued a bolo alert for the red pickup truck.
From there, all they could do was hope that someone would recognize the vehicle and come forward while police continued their investigation. Jessica’s funeral was later held, and it was during this time that her family learned she had been strangled. The marks on her neck were visible. This revelation made an already heartbreaking day even more devastating.
The question remained, who could have done this to her and why? To the detective’s surprise, they soon received a call about the truck from a woman named Leslie. Her fiance was close friends with the man she believed owned the vehicle, 37-year-old Crispin Harmel. Leslie explained that just a few hours before Jessica was discovered, Crispin had been supposed to come by their apartment to drop off money he owed, but he never showed up.
That alone felt unusual to her, and she couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling she had. Although Crispin was practically like family, and making that call wasn’t easy, she felt she had to speak up, especially knowing that a young woman had lost her life. When investigators ran his name through their system, they found that he had been pulled over just 3 weeks earlier for driving with an expired registration.
The officers had been wearing body cameras at the time, and the footage clearly showed him behind the wheel of the same truck, even wearing the same baseball cap. This strongly suggested they had identified the man they were looking for. 5 days after Jessica’s body was found, police went to Crispin’s home to question him. It was immediately noticeable that the appearance of his truck had been altered.
Parts that had previously been silver were now painted black. Crispin didn’t seem surprised to see the officers, and admitted that he knew Jessica. He claimed that the two had arranged to meet through a website called lonelyhousewifehookups.com. According to his story, they had communicated through messages and agreed to meet at Walmart sometime between 12:30 a.m.
and 1:00 a.m. on the night she was killed. He said that after meeting, they drove off together in her car and had sex near a park. He acknowledged being in her vehicle and potentially being one of the last people to see her alive, but insisted that didn’t make him a killer. What he didn’t realize was that investigators already had surveillance footage that contradicted his account.
The recordings showed that both he and Jessica arrived at Walmart well after 1:00 a.m. There was no interaction between them inside the store. They didn’t speak or even acknowledge each other. In fact, Jessica’s behavior upon arrival clearly indicated she wasn’t there to meet anyone. She went straight in, bought dog food, and left.
It became obvious that there had been no prior connection between them, and his version of events quickly fell apart. He then changed his account, claiming that Jessica had driven him back to Walmart, where they sat at her car talking for a short time. He said he opened up about his financial struggles, explaining he couldn’t even afford gas, and according to him, Jessica offered to help by giving him her debit card and writing the PIN number on his hand.
He went on to say that the following day, after hearing that Jessica had died, he panicked, thinking to himself how strange it was that he had just been with her. Out of fear, he said, he threw away the debit card and altered the appearance of his truck so no one would suspect him. He delivered this version of events with confidence, but investigators immediately recognized how implausible and overly complicated it was.
Melanie and the others pointed out that Jessica had never mentioned plans to meet anyone that night. She was an open and honest person, and if she had been meeting someone, especially a stranger, late at night, she would have made sure people knew exactly where she was going and who she was meeting.
A thorough analysis of their phones and computers revealed no evidence of any communication between Jessica and Crispin. There were no messages, no contact, and no indication that Jessica had ever even visited the website he mentioned. However, one thing stood out. Just hours after Jessica was found, Crispin had been searching her name online, looking at photos and reading news articles about her.
Investigators believed that he had followed Jessica outside, forced his way into her car, and made her drive to a nearby park. There, he sexually assaulted her and strangled her twice before returning the car to the parking lot, leaving her inside, and taking her bank card. The moment detectives brought up what was seen on surveillance footage, Crispin asked for a lawyer and refused to say anything further.
Police were convinced they had found the killer, but there was still a critical gap. They couldn’t fully explain what had happened between the time he left her car and when she was eventually found dead. He hadn’t returned, and no one else had been near the vehicle. Nothing suggested self-inflicted harm, yet she had remained alive for hours after he left.
The case was deeply confusing. At that stage, there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him with murder. However, there was sufficient proof to charge him with tampering with evidence. In May 2010, after pleading guilty, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Meanwhile, Jessica’s murder case remained open with investigators repeatedly reviewing every detail.
Eventually, they came across a study written by a professor from the Indiana University School of Medicine that shed new light on the situation. The article explained that victims of strangulation can sometimes die hours later due to the effects of the assault. Death isn’t always immediate.
It can be delayed over an extended period. This phenomenon is known as delayed death due to strangulation. Experts believed this could explain Jessica’s strange behavior outside her car, as well as the presence of feces inside the vehicle. After being strangled twice, her brain had likely suffered severe damage, leaving her disoriented and unaware of her surroundings.
She would have been incapable of asking for help or even using her phone. Combined with prolonged exposure to extreme heat while sitting in the car, she was placed in a fatal condition. Dr. Bill Smock, a forensic medical expert, explained that the process begins with a loss of consciousness due to a lack of oxygen reaching the brain.
This can be followed by seizures, and within as little as 15 seconds, brain cells begin to die. The first bodily functions lost are control over the bladder, followed by the rectal sphincter. The brain stem, responsible for breathing and heartbeat, is the last to shut down, while higher brain functions like memory and personality are affected much earlier.
It became clear that Crispin had strangled Jessica twice, likely believing she was already dead, when in reality, she had only lost consciousness. With evidence pointing to clear intent to kill, and supported by medical findings, prosecutors finally moved forward. In May 2013, he was indicted for capital murder.
He pleaded not guilty. An expert on strangulation testified in a Williamson County murder trial today. The doctor testified that he agrees with the medical examiner’s findings that Jessica Kayla died as a result of strangulation. Crispin Harmel is accused of killing the 27-year-old. Witnesses saw Kayla alive hours after she was strangled in her hot car, acting strangely. Dr.
Bill Smock says it’s because she was attacked. So this case, I think we have two explanations to why Jessica’s behavior was abnormal. One, brain damage from strangulation, and number two, heat. The defense cross-examined Dr. Smock using his own testimony, saying if someone was strangled, their reaction would be to dig their nails into the attacker, which would likely collect the attacker’s DNA under their fingernails.
There’s no DNA linking Kayla and Harmel. The defense was confident in their position. There was no DNA evidence connecting Crispin to Jessica, but given the extreme heat that day, this wasn’t entirely unexpected. Experts explained that high temperatures and humidity can cause DNA to break down much faster, making it unlikely that any usable evidence would remain on her body.
The prosecution, however, wasn’t concerned. They believed the sheer amount of evidence captured on surveillance footage was more than enough. It clearly pointed to him, and there was no indication that anyone else could have committed the crime. The state called Elizabeth, Crispin’s former girlfriend, to testify.
She told the court that he had claimed his apartment had burned down, and that he had lost his phone in the fire. In reality, his phone had been confiscated as part of the investigation. He had also told her that his truck had broken down, but that, too, was untrue. The vehicle had actually been seized by police.
Despite the mounting evidence, the case took a frustrating turn when it ended in a mistrial. Prosecutors were accused of withholding evidence, forcing everything back to square one. The situation grew even more controversial when the DA, Jana Duty, was later jailed for violating a gag order and faced sanctions from the State Bar of Texas for professional misconduct.
Years later, she was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The details of a 2009 Cedar Park murder case will be heard again this week in a Williamson County courtroom. Crispin Harmel is being retried in the In the spring of 2018, Crispin’s second trial finally began. Nearly a decade had passed since Jessica was murdered.
Williamson County jury watched a 2009 suspect interrogation in the murder trial out of Cedar Park today. The jury watched the second interview Cedar Park police had with Harmel after they say they found holes in his story. KXAN’s Lauren Kravitz has more. The primary concern after our investigation was moving forward was that many things were just not adding up.
For a third day, Sergeant Bond, who investigated Jessica Kayla’s murder, testified he had a list of concerns after his first interview with Crispin Harmel. In a follow-up video interview, Harmel said Caylor drove them back to the shopping center near Walmart after they had consensual sex, but Bond said that didn’t make sense. The receipt itself was pushed all the way back on the rails and her feet could not touch the the gas and brake.
Harmel also said Caylor started up her car as he was walking back to his truck. But surveillance video never shows the lights turn on or Caylor’s car leave. In fact, Caylor’s car keys were not in the car and never found. Harmel also said Caylor lent him her debit card to get gas, but he threw it away once he saw police were looking for him.
Generally speaking, when when people either change something or get rid of something, it’s because they don’t want it to be located in or on their person. Uh which means they want to disassociate with that particular item. And that was Lauren Kravitz reporting. The defense started to cross-examine Sergeant Bond late this afternoon.
One of the things that they argued was that neither Harmel nor Caylor would have looked for each other inside Walmart because the plan was to meet at her car. Prosecutors argued that neither of them uh were looking for each other at the time that Harmel said they were supposed to meet. In other news tonight, a jury found a man guilty of killing a woman in Cedar Park in 2009.
Crispin Harmel is convicted of kidnapping, raping, and strangling her. The judge sentenced Harmel to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Fortunately, this time the jury found Crispin Harold guilty of capital murder. Since prosecutors chose not to pursue the death penalty, he was automatically sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In 2020, he appealed the conviction, but it was upheld and he remains behind bars serving the same sentence. Jessica had spent a wonderful evening with her friends and that morning, as she walked back to her car, she was simply ready to go home, feed her dogs, and get up for work. Her master’s degree was within reach and she had so much ahead of her waiting to be accomplished.
Her cousin John said he had hoped that Crispin being caught and locked up would bring some sense of relief, but it didn’t. “It doesn’t change anything,” he said. “He still gets to live and Jessica doesn’t.” Her father added, “So much was taken from me that day. He took away my chance to walk her down the aisle.
She would have been an amazing mother. I know it. I miss her every day.” Melanie reflected on the loss, saying that some days are easier than others, but the good memories are often overshadowed by what she witnessed in the parking lot. “No day will ever feel completely whole again,” she said. “Something will always be missing.”
