FLINT, MI – Police allege a Davison man placed a lethal dose of heroin into his wife’s cereal that led to her death.

The alleged incident took place nearly five years ago at a Davison home, but it was just last week that the Genesee County Medical Examiner’s Office changed the cause of death for 36-year-old Christina Ann-Thompson Harris from accidental overdose to homicide.

Jason T. Harris, 44, of Davison, was arraigned Tuesday, Aug. 27 by Genesee District Judge Nathaniel C. Perry III on single counts of first-degree murder, solicitation of murder and delivery of a controlled substance causing death. He faces life in prison on the murder charge.

“We believe Jason Harris murdered his wife," said Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton. “We believe he put heroin into her cereal and milk the night that she died after getting it from someone, thinking it would be tasteless and odorless much like he had asked his coworkers multiple times.”

The entire investigation began in September 2014 when Christina Harris was found dead by a neighbor inside a Bay Street home.

The original cause of death was listed by the county medical examiner as an overdose, but Leyton said Christina’s family and friends never knew her to be a drug user.

She’d recently received a promotion to manager at the Subway sandwich shop inside Ascension Genesys Hospital in Grand Blanc Township where she was “a mentor to her coworker” as well as “an incredibly loving mother” to the couple’s two children, Leyton said.

The couple were dating for five years prior to getting married in 2003, welcoming children to their family in November 2009 and May 2014.

Shortly after 10 a.m. Sept. 29, 2014, Davison police spoke with Jason Harris at the couple’s home.

He told police when he left for work that morning that his wife “was not awake and not talking to him but was coughing and in a restless sleep,” said Leyton during a Tuesday, Aug. 27 press conference in downtown Flint.

Jason Harris also told police Christina Harris had been battling a cold and treated by a doctor for asthma, Leyton said.

A neighbor interviewed by police told law enforcement officials that she’d been contacted by Jason Harris around 10 a.m. that morning and asked to check on his wife.

The door was unlocked and inside the neighbor found Christina Harris on the couple’s bed, Leyton said. The neighbor was unable to wake her.

A second neighbor who is a nurse was asked to come over and check on Christina Harris, Leyton said, and “immediately recognized” she was dead. They called 911.

One of the neighbors told police Jason Harris said his wife was hungry the night of the incident and he fixed her a bowl of cereal which she dropped while eating and passed out on the living room floor.

Davison police received some new information on Oct. 1, 2014, when Jason Harris’ brother and sister traveled to the department and told investigators he’d made comments in the past “about getting rid of Christina Harris” and had been seeing other women prior to her death, Leyton said.

It was also learned that Christina Harris’ mother was with her daughter on the day before her death and “seemed fine and in good spirits,” Leyton said, contradicting Jason Harris’ statement.

The mother also told police her daughter’s relationship was “a rocky one,” Leyton said.

The case was turned over from Davison police to Michigan State Police in August 2016.

Further investigation revealed Jason Harris had been sending messages, emails and pictures to several other woman before and after his wife’s death.

A woman moved into the couple’s home two months after Christina Harris’ death. Police also discovered Jason Harris purchased an airline ticket to Rhode Island nine days after her death to visit a woman with whom he’d exchanged more than 5,800 texts with on his phone.

He also received a $100,000 life insurance check from his wife’s employer and $20,000 life insurance check from his employer after her death. Jason Harris was fired from his job at a plastics factory for testing positive for drugs, including methamphetamines.

Several coworkers spoke with police noting he’d told them, in part, that he asked for Xanax pills and put them in her water on prior occasions, but she wouldn’t drink it after tasting it, Leyton said. Jason Harris allegedly later questioned what pills were odorless and tasteless

Jason Harris told coworkers he put pills in his wife’s food and drinks “to knock her out” and “so she would not feel anything,” Leyton said, so he’d be able to move her body without detection.

At one point, Leyton said Jason Harris offered a man $5,000 to kill his wife, but the man was caught with a weapon while performing surveillance and sent back to prison. Police are still trying to determine who the man is.

Jason Harris also allegedly asked a coworker to kill his wife and offered the same amount of cash.

When asked by a coworker why he didn’t call for an ambulance or help, Leyton said Jason Harris had no reply and told another woman that he "just needed to get rid of Christina” and didn’t want to get a divorce so he wouldn’t have to pay child support and worry about custody of their children.

Jason Harris was arrested Tuesday morning at his Gary Ray Drive home in Davison, where he was still living with the woman who moved immediately following Christina Harris’ death.

Before her death, Leyton said Christina Harris did share some fear that Jason Harris may harm her.

“She told a friend that if something happens to me, look at Jason,” said Leyton.

Nicholas Robinson, Harris’ attorney, said his client “has pled not guilty to this matter and looks forward to contesting these charges.”

“Mr. Harris has been completely cooperative throughout this five year investigation and is eager to have all of the facts revealed when this case is presented,” said Robinson.

Leyton thanked Christina Harris’ parents for their patience and determination, as well as the work of Michigan State Police and Davison police. Children’s Protective Services are working on placement of the couple’s two children.

“It’s been a long, hard road to get here,” said Leyton. “We want justice for Christina and for the community and for mom and dad.”

Christina Harris’ parents were at the press conference but declined comment.

Jason Harris is being held in the Genesee County Jail without bond. He’s due back in court Sept. 5 for a probable cause conference.