By George Slaughter
Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office detectives are continuing a 14-year-old cold-case investigation into the cause of death of a Denver man.
The case began in August 2007. Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call involving a death investigation at the W.A. Parish Power Generating Station, a coal-fired power plant in Thompsons, Texas. Thompsons is an unincorporated community approximately 13 miles southeast of Richmond.
There, it was revealed that the unidentified deceased man had been transported to the power plant via a railroad car loaded with coal which traveled from Wyoming. Sheriff’s detectives sought to identify the victim. DNA information was obtained to help identify the man. The injuries provided the medical examiner and detectives few clues as to whether his death was an accident or homicide.
A citizen’s tip led detectives to reopen the cold case in late 2020. The reopened investigation led to additional, advanced DNA testing. The dead man was identified as 40-year-old Patrick Thomas Harris, who was last seen near his Denver home just days before his death.
The Carnes Funeral Home in Stafford further assisted the family by donating an appropriate marker for the local grave site of Harris.
This cold case remains open as the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office continues to work with both the family and the Denver Police Department.
“While many questions still exist, sheriff’s detectives were finally able to afford the Harris family some semblance of closure after these past 14 years,” said Fort Bend County Sheriff Eric Fagan said. “We owe it to them to find more answers.”