SHERIFF: HARRISON BUTCHERED HANDYMAN; OFFICIALS SAY THE MAN CHARGED IN A MURDER-FOR-HIRE SCHEME ALSO DISMEMBERED TODD BORROR.(LOCAL/STATE)Sarasota Herald Tribune | August 06, 1998 | McMaster, Kellie

Byline: Kellie McMaster STAFF WRITER

Thomas Henry Harrison became a household name in Manatee County this year when he was charged with staging his own death to collect insurance money and then was implicated in the August 1995 murder-for-hire of a Bradenton woman.

Sheriff's detectives now say Harrison could be charged with another death - the gruesome decapitation and dismemberment of Todd Borror, 29, a handyman who lived and worked at Harrison's home and then disappeared in March 1995.

Sheriff's officials announced the findings at a news conference Wednesday morning, calling the ongoing case "the most bizarre homicide Manatee County has ever seen."

Borror's family sat in the back of the room at the Sheriff's Office, listening and holding hands, as Sheriff Charlie Wells described how Harrison cut off Borror's head and hands and then "chopped up" his arms, legs and torso.

"He butchered up Todd like an animal . . . and scattered (the body) all over a 1600-square-foot area along (the highway)," Wells said. "It's absolutely shameful."

Harrison, 54, has not been charged in the slaying. He was arrested by North Carolina officials and is awaiting trial there in the slaying of Wendy Kratzert, 45, of Bradenton.

Sheriff's officials don't want to jeopardize the North Carolina case by arresting Harrison now and possibly having to extradite him to Manatee County, sheriff's spokesman Dave Bristow said.

"We'll have to decide who has the best case," he said. For now, "he's safely tucked away up there."Kratzert and her husband, Ed, 51, lived across the street from Harrison and his wife, Luana, 51, in the 3000 block of 34th Avenue East.

Authorities say the Kratzerts were having marital problems and Ed Kratzert hired the Harrisons to kill his wife while she was staying at the couple's summer home in Balsam Grove, N.C. The Harrisons and Ed Kratzert have been charged with first-degree murder and face the death penalty in North Carolina.Bristow said Harrison's motive in the other cases was money. Florida Department of Law Enforcement agents said he killed Wendy Kratzert for her $100,000 life insurance policy and set his boat on fire and staged his death Sept. 16 to collect on several life insurance policies worth more than $600,000.Bristow also said Harrison was involved in several "scams" over the years, including one in which he would pass himself off as a cattle farmer and forge a check to buy a herd. Before the check bounced, he would sell the cattle to someone else.

But, authorities don't think Borror was killed for money, Bristow said. He would not go into detail but said the crime was related to burglaries that Harrison had reported at his home.

Harrison claimed that Borror had stolen several expensive tools, including a $7,000 welder, reports state.

Borror owed money to several people who stayed at the Salvation Army, where Borror also had stayed, according to the missing persons report filed by Borror's mother in July 1995.

Sheriff's detectives asked Thomas Harrison to take a lie detector test in December 1995 in reference to Borror's disappearance. He refused, telling detectives that he was "not the criminal in this case" and hung up the phone, reports state.

For three years, Borror's family has wondered what happened to Borror during the two-week period he went to work for Harrison in the spring of 1995. His relatives declined to comment Wednesday and, through sheriff's officials, asked that their privacy be respected.

Until recently, neither sheriff's investigators nor the family had any idea that Borror's remains had been found off a rural road in Hillsborough County on April 2, 1995.

Things started to unravel Jan. 28, the day before Harrison was arrested in connection with Wendy Kratzert's murder.

Detectives got a tip that Borror had been killed and began investigating the case. They searched the Harrison home, looking for evidence in the slaying and asked for help from people who may have bought tools or other secondhand items at a garage sale the Harrisons had in early January.

Bristow said Wednesday that a chain saw or some other electrically powered tool probably was used to dismember Borror. Detectives thought that the tool may have been sold at the garage sale, Bristow said.In May, detectives located a man who had been at the home when the killing was committed. He had disappeared and was tough to find, Bristow said.

The man, whose name is being withheld by the Sheriff's Office for his protection, told detectives that Harrison took Borror out in his 25-foot boat - the same one he later burned - to kill Borror on March 30 or 31, Bristow said. But the Coast Guard boarded the boat during a routine inspection, thwarting Harrison's plan to kill Borror at sea and dump the body in the water, Bristow said.

Harrison took Borror back to the Harrison home and killed him there, the witness said; sheriff's officials haven't determined a cause of death. Harrison then chopped up the body and scattered the parts off U.S. 301 near Little Bull Frog Creek in Riverview, the man told detectives.

Manatee County detectives contacted Hillsborough County officials and have been trying to verify Borror's identity for several weeks. Because his head and hands were missing, they had to rely on toe print analysis, which is done by comparing toe prints to those on a birth certificate.

Officials said detectives will continue to look into other possible criminal violations, including the legitimacy of the license the Harrisons had to house and care for mentally impaired adults at their home."When you've got a guy that's done this," Bristow said of Harrison, "there's no telling what else happened in that home."

Kellie McMaster covers law enforcement and crime prevention for the Herald-Tribune. She can be reached by phone at 742-6160 or by e-mail at mcmaster12@juno.com.

A tale of two murdersManatee County sheriff's officials say this is how the events related to the murders of Todd Borror and Wendy Kratzert unfolded:

March 30 or 31, 1995 - Todd Borror, 29, a hired hand for Thomas and Luana Harrison, is killed at the Harrison home, 3000 block 34th Ave. E., Bradenton, and his dismembered body is dumped along U.S. 301 in Riverview.

April 2, 1995 - A woman walking her dog in a wooded, rural area of Hillsborough County finds several body parts and reports the discovery to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

August 23, 1995 - Wendy Kratzert, 45, the Harrisons' neighbor and wife of Edward Kratzert, is killed in Balsam Grove, N.C. The murder looks like an auto accident, but authorities discover that she was bludgeoned to death. Edward Kratzert is named as a suspect.

Sept. 16, 1997 - Thomas Harrison disappears after he goes on a midnight cruise in his 25-foot cabin cruiser and the boat catches fire. A search ensues, but not body is found.

December 1997 - State fire investigators determine that the fire on board Harrison's boat was intentionally set, and Florida Marine Patrol officials receive information that Harrison is alive.

Jan. 24 - Harrison is arrested by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement on charges of arson and burning to defraud. He is booked into the Manatee County Jail.

Jan. 29 - Edward Kratzert confesses that he hired Harrison to kill his wife in August 1995 as part of a scheme to collect on her life insurance policy. Kratzert and Harrison are arrested on charges of solicitation to commit murder. Luana Harrison is arrested the next day.

Feb. 1 - Manatee County sheriff's detectives search the Harrisons' home and the pond behind the home, looking for Kratzert's personal property and for Borror's remains.

May - Detectives locate a man who was living in the Harrison home when Borror was killed and witnessed Borror's murder. The witness provided information that led detectives to Hillsborough County.