Donald Eugene Harding: Crimes and Victims
Background
Donald Eugene Harding was an American murderer, armed robber, kidnapper, and prison escapee whose violent crime spree crossed several states during the final months of 1979 and January 1980. Harding was born on March 1, 1949, in Arkansas. His criminal history began when he was still a juvenile and eventually developed into repeated burglaries, robberies, escapes, kidnappings, car thefts, assaults, and murders. Authorities ultimately connected or suspected him in a remarkably large number of violent offenses committed while he traveled through the United States using stolen vehicles, stolen identification, and false names.
Harding escaped from the Pulaski County Jail in Arkansas on September 17, 1979, along with several other prisoners. After the escape, he traveled from state to state while committing robberies and taking vehicles from his victims. He frequently restrained people during these crimes. In several of the killings attributed to him, victims were tied or otherwise immobilized and then either shot or left unable to breathe because of gags. Harding was eventually convicted of three murders in Arizona, while investigators also considered him responsible for additional killings in Texas and California.
The Multi-State Crime Spree
During late 1979 and early 1980, Harding survived largely through robbery and theft. He approached strangers, entered motel rooms or other private locations, restrained victims, and stole money, identification documents, credit cards, luggage, and automobiles. Stolen identification was especially useful to him because it allowed him to move from place to place under false names. One identity he used belonged to Ronald Gene Svetgoff, a robbery victim whose identification and automobile Harding had stolen in December 1979.
Harding's violence was not limited to people he intended to kill. Numerous victims survived being held at gunpoint, tied up, robbed, or forced to surrender their vehicles. His surviving victims and the property taken from them later helped investigators reconstruct his movements. The pattern also connected crimes committed hundreds of miles apart. By January 1980, law enforcement agencies in several states were attempting to locate him.
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