This is a companion post to a video on the case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqPcOova1wA&t=43s
Today I am going ot to talk about the disappearance and murder of Deidre Christine Harm.
This is a case that has really stuck with me and haunted me. I followed it closely at the time, partly because I somehow felt a connection to Deidre and related to her in so many ways. I checked every day for updates and wondered if she would be found and hoped she would be found alive. I kind of lost track of the case for years after that with no new updates and the case seemingly growing cold, but it never really left my mind so years later I looked it up to see if there was any new information, leads or just to kind of reconnect with it. I live in Wisconsin so in 2006 this was all over the local news and there were updates at the time and seeing her picture all the time really made me feel for her, worry about her and connect with her.
It takes place in 2006, when the 21 year old mother of a 4 month old baby went missing after a night out with her friends in Wisconsin Rapids. She was described by her friends as fun, bubbly and a free spirit who was a devoted mother. She had just gotten her own apartment in Wisconsin Rapids for her and her baby and was really happy about this big step in her life.
The night Deidre went missing was June 10, 2006. I’m sure she was so excited to get a night out with her friends after having a baby. That night she got a babysitter and went to a couple bars with her friends, specifically The Body Shop and The Finish Line are named. The night she went out she was dancing at bars and having a good time. She was there with a friend who eventually wanted to head home but Deidre wasn’t ready to call it a night yet so she stayed out later by herself. It wasn’t until the next morning when the babysitter called that her friends realized that she hadn’t picked up her child and hadn’t made it to work that day. She was reported missing and the search was on for the young mother. Wisconsin Rapids is not a large, town, it only has about 18,000 people in it so this was quite unexpected for her to just disappear. Her friends and the father of her child were questioned but their alibis checked out. However the friend who left her at the bar was able to say that Deidre was talking to a man before he left.
She was seen leaving with this man and then seemingly vanished without a trace. According to her family and friends, Deidre was happy in her life and her daughter meant everything to her. There is no way that she would just have left on her own volition. It took 5 months for her body to be found and it’s still officially considered an unsolved case. Hunters ended up finding the skeletal remains in the town of Seneca. The cause of death was undetermined after an autopsy because of the condition they were found in. Her head was found in one area and the rest of her body was found around a quarter mile away. There were signs of trauma but it couldn’t be determined if this happened before or after death so really the skeleton didn’t give too much information. The only person of interest in this case has also died, so while there is some hope that someday someone will come forward with some help or details, we don’t know if this will ever be officially solved. Deidre’s friend and other patrons at the bar were able to give enough details about the man Deidre was seen with to create a sketch.
After the autopsy and the sketch was created there were no new leads for a long time and the case went cold until 2009 when the Police Chief of Wisconsin Rapids said they received a tip pointing them in the direction of 36 year old Christopher Revak, who was a Wisconsin Rapids native who later moved to Missouri. He seemed to match the description of the person that Deidre was seen leaving the bar with the night she disappeared and Revak was also a suspect in another missing persons case in Missouri, however records show that Revak was in Wisconsin Rapids when Deidre went missing. Unfortunately, Revak committed suicide while in custody in Missouri, before investigators were able to speak with him regarding Deidre Harm.
In researching more about this case, I found surprisingly little about it and about Deidre. It was featured in part of an Investigation Discovery series, “Dead of Night” that aired in 2018 and mentioned Christopher Revak in connection to Deidre and the other woman he was suspected of killing. It is suspected that he was a serial killer, possibly connected to the murders of up to 4 women, however since he is dead I am not sure we will ever know. He was arrested in Douglas County Missouri in 2009 and hanged himself shortly after that. The focus of the ID channel episode centers on the link between the two women who disappeared and the connection that both of them had to Christopher Revak, however he was never officially implicated or charged with the murder of Deidre Harm. If you want to watch the ID Channel episode they talk more about Christopher Revak but I really don’t want to focus too much on him. I wanted to make this in dedication to Deidre and keep the focus on her.
There is a Facebook page up in honor of Deidre Harm that is still active and still seeking answers. I believe that it is run by her friends. I think it is so great that they are keeping this going and keeping her memory alive. I never met her, I haven’t been to Wisconsin Rapids and she still touched my life in some way. They do however ask people to be respectful about what is posted on the page and to refrain from any amateur sleuthing on the page. Really, I get the interest but be respectful. Deidre’s daughter especially is now old enough to be on the internet and see what is posted about the case and her mother’s murder. The page does have a post clarifying some of the details from the ID channel episode and facts that may have been a little off in it, such as the age of Deidre’s daughter when she went missing. I really wish that there was more out there and more I could share about this case and about Deidre. I wish there was any kind of resolution to this case. But it is possible that someone out there does know something, so if you do please contact the Wisconsin Rapids police department if you have any additional information that you think they should know.