Suspect convicted in Walker County cold case

CHICKAMAUGA, Ga. (WDEF) – Solving a cold case that goes back three decades is a big challenge.

29 years ago, only three days before Christmas in 1994, James Harris was brutally murdered in Chickamauga.

Now, almost three decades later, a cold case that has haunted a family here in Walker County has finally been resolved. 

The District Attorney for the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit, Clayton Fuller, said, “For 28 Christmases, the family of James Harris has carried the indescribable pain of not knowing who murdered their loved one. I’m happy to report there will not be a 29th Christmas.”

The victim of this cold case, James Harris, with his family before his death on December 22, 1994 (Courtesy: Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit)

A Walker County grand jury convicted Robert Allen Mowry of malice murder last week.

Mowry had worked with Harris at Miller Industries when Harris was found dead with injuries to the back of his head in his driveway on Boss Road.

Prosecutors were able to connect Mowry’s DNA to the scene of the crime even decades after the murder from his blood on Harris’s clothing and a Kleenex.

Special Agent in Charge for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in this case, Joe Montgomery said, “Through working it and working as many murders as we do, we realize that blood had to be from a bad guy.”

Mowry initially became a suspect in this case after a tip was filed in 2009.

Special Agent Montgomery says this conviction was only made possible recently as Mowry was arrested in Tullahoma, TN in 2020.

He said, “You’ve got to think about in 1994, we didn’t have that technology, so sometimes in these cold cases you have to wait until the technology catches up with you.”

A motive is still not officially known in this case, but Harris’s pockets were emptied as investigators believe it might have been an attempted robbery.

Special Agent Montgomery said, “Mr. Harris carried a great deal of money around with him. At work he didn’t believe in banks, so, a lot of people assumed he carried a great deal of money on him all the time, so we believe that may have been the motive. We are not 100% sure, after doing this for 30 years that is my educated guess.”

Investigators say this resolution should give other families hope their cold cases can be resolved as well.

District Attorney Fuller said, “Years may pass, and a violent criminal may go on living, thinking they may have literally gotten away with murder. But in the District Attorney’s Office, we never forget.”

One thing to note about this case is that Mowry is 53 years old today, only one year younger than what Harris was in 1994 when he was 54.

Mowry will spend the rest of his life in a Georgia State Prison.