Shattered: The True Story of a Mother's Love, a Husband's Betrayal, and a Cold-Blooded Texas Murder by Kathryn Casey Page B
Authors: Kathryn Casey
Tags: Fiction, General, True Crime, Texas, Murder, Case studies, Trials (Murder) - Texas, Creekstone, Murder - Investigation - Texas, Murder - Texas, Murder - Investigation - Texas - Creekstone, Murder - Texas - Creekstone, Temple; David
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the next afternoon, Belinda and the baby were in the car and on their way back to Katy.
Perhaps not surprising, with an infant son to care for, Belinda’s priorities had changed. Winter faded into spring, and she tired of the long hours coaching after classes ended for the day. That spring, Belinda called Coach Clayton in Katy, who’d helped her and David find the Livingston and Alief jobs, and told him that she was shopping for a position without coaching responsibilities. Clayton asked around, then called Belinda and suggested she apply at Katy High, where the district had an opening for a content mastery teacher, to tutor students in math and science.
Thin, with short dark blond hair, Debbie Berger was one of the Katy High staff members who interviewed Belinda that spring. “She absolutely blew us away,” says Debbie, who worked in the department with the job opening. “Belinda was so full of life, she radiated it. We knew the kids would love her.”
There was only one concern. Debbie had taught at Katy High a decade earlier, when David Temple had been a student. So had many of the other teachers at the high school, and they hadn’t forgotten him. “When she told us whom she was married to, I thought that couldn’t be right. People grow up and change, but I thought, Oh, my gosh, no ,” says Debbie, who’d known the football team’s star linebacker to be a bully. “He had such a bad reputation, it really took me back. But Belinda acted so proud to be his wife, and she was so strong, so great. She was perfect for the job, and I thought maybe he’d changed.”
In the spring of 1996, Belinda gave her notice at Alief and prepared to start the next fall at David’s alma mater, Katy High School. A few months later, two people entered the Temples’ lives who’d play roles in the drama to come: Quinton Harlan, a tall, handsome high-school coach with a laid-back manner, and his wife, Tammey, a pretty, petite, dark-haired spitfire. The Harlans would become David and Belinda’s best friends, but in the end Tammey would feel compelled to pull away to try to save her marriage, and Quinton would find himself entrapped in the vortex of a sensational and brutal murder.
7
I liked Belinda right off. We just automatically clicked, and we got close,” says Tammey Harlan, fidgeting ever so slightly in a chair in her cozy kitchen. “It was tough not to like Belinda. Everyone did. She was just great to be around, more fun than it seemed possible. We were both coaches’ wives, alone a lot while our husbands worked, and we became like family.”
Quinton and Tammey met during high school at Wharton, a small city with a quaint downtown on the Colorado River, southwest of Houston. Tammey moved to Wharton from Tennessee but integrated quickly, becoming a cheerleader and homecoming queen. They’d married in 1990, two years earlier than David and Belinda, and both went on to be teachers. When they moved to Katy, the Harlans had a toddler named Sydnee, a year older than Evan, and Tammey was pregnant with their second daughter. A few years older than Tammey, Quinton towered over his diminutive wife. Tammey, with dark hair and eyes, was just four feet eleven and, when not pregnant, weighed a little more than a hundred pounds, but like Belinda, Tammey was vivacious and strong willed.
The first time they met Belinda and David was that summer, in 1996, days after moving to Katy, when the Harlans dropped in at Pappasitos, a cavernous, loud, brightly decorated Mexican restaurant that serves platter-size portions of highly seasoned chicken, beef, and shrimp, to wrap in warm flour tortillas, alongside pico de gallo and bowls of pinto beans. That day, David and Belinda were at the restaurant with other Hastings coaches and their spouses, including the head coach, Bobby Stuart, and his wife, Kay. The Harlans recognized Stuart and stopped over to say hello. Quinton hadn’t yet started at the school, and Stuart walked him and Tammey
Perhaps not surprising, with an infant son to care for, Belinda’s priorities had changed. Winter faded into spring, and she tired of the long hours coaching after classes ended for the day. That spring, Belinda called Coach Clayton in Katy, who’d helped her and David find the Livingston and Alief jobs, and told him that she was shopping for a position without coaching responsibilities. Clayton asked around, then called Belinda and suggested she apply at Katy High, where the district had an opening for a content mastery teacher, to tutor students in math and science.
Thin, with short dark blond hair, Debbie Berger was one of the Katy High staff members who interviewed Belinda that spring. “She absolutely blew us away,” says Debbie, who worked in the department with the job opening. “Belinda was so full of life, she radiated it. We knew the kids would love her.”
There was only one concern. Debbie had taught at Katy High a decade earlier, when David Temple had been a student. So had many of the other teachers at the high school, and they hadn’t forgotten him. “When she told us whom she was married to, I thought that couldn’t be right. People grow up and change, but I thought, Oh, my gosh, no ,” says Debbie, who’d known the football team’s star linebacker to be a bully. “He had such a bad reputation, it really took me back. But Belinda acted so proud to be his wife, and she was so strong, so great. She was perfect for the job, and I thought maybe he’d changed.”
In the spring of 1996, Belinda gave her notice at Alief and prepared to start the next fall at David’s alma mater, Katy High School. A few months later, two people entered the Temples’ lives who’d play roles in the drama to come: Quinton Harlan, a tall, handsome high-school coach with a laid-back manner, and his wife, Tammey, a pretty, petite, dark-haired spitfire. The Harlans would become David and Belinda’s best friends, but in the end Tammey would feel compelled to pull away to try to save her marriage, and Quinton would find himself entrapped in the vortex of a sensational and brutal murder.
7
I liked Belinda right off. We just automatically clicked, and we got close,” says Tammey Harlan, fidgeting ever so slightly in a chair in her cozy kitchen. “It was tough not to like Belinda. Everyone did. She was just great to be around, more fun than it seemed possible. We were both coaches’ wives, alone a lot while our husbands worked, and we became like family.”
Quinton and Tammey met during high school at Wharton, a small city with a quaint downtown on the Colorado River, southwest of Houston. Tammey moved to Wharton from Tennessee but integrated quickly, becoming a cheerleader and homecoming queen. They’d married in 1990, two years earlier than David and Belinda, and both went on to be teachers. When they moved to Katy, the Harlans had a toddler named Sydnee, a year older than Evan, and Tammey was pregnant with their second daughter. A few years older than Tammey, Quinton towered over his diminutive wife. Tammey, with dark hair and eyes, was just four feet eleven and, when not pregnant, weighed a little more than a hundred pounds, but like Belinda, Tammey was vivacious and strong willed.
The first time they met Belinda and David was that summer, in 1996, days after moving to Katy, when the Harlans dropped in at Pappasitos, a cavernous, loud, brightly decorated Mexican restaurant that serves platter-size portions of highly seasoned chicken, beef, and shrimp, to wrap in warm flour tortillas, alongside pico de gallo and bowls of pinto beans. That day, David and Belinda were at the restaurant with other Hastings coaches and their spouses, including the head coach, Bobby Stuart, and his wife, Kay. The Harlans recognized Stuart and stopped over to say hello. Quinton hadn’t yet started at the school, and Stuart walked him and Tammey
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