JEFFERSON COUNTY, Colo. — A defendant who was accused of killing a man found inside an RV parked in Golden's Woolly Mammoth Park-N-Ride in 2023 has been sentenced to life in prison.
Donald Leroy Harris, 52, was charged with first-degree murder (after deliberation), possession of a weapon by a previous offender and tampering with physical evidence (to destroy), as well as two crime of violence sentence enhancers, in connection with the murder of Matthew Hire, 57.
He was found guilty of the murder and tampering with evidence charges. The latter carried a sentence of 12 months in the Department of Corrections, but Harris was sentenced to life in prison for the murder charge. The sentencing happened on May 9 following a jury trial.
This case started in mid-April 2023. On the afternoon of April 14, 2023, a deputy with the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office began a routine search of the Woolly Mammoth parking lot, located at 18560 Highway 40, according to an arrest affidavit for Harris. Deputies often check the lot because many of the vehicles are unattended, and therefore can become a target for criminals.
The deputy patrolled the parking lot often and knew that a blue and white 1992 Gulfstream Friendship motor home had been parked in the lot for at least a couple weeks, according to the affidavit. The tags had expired in 2013. The deputy decided to try to contact anybody who was inside, and knocked on the door. When nobody answered, the deputy called for two other deputies to come to the scene, and as a trio, they entered the motor home.
The deputies noticed controlled substances and drug paraphernalia on the table and cabinet area, according to the affidavit. When they looked down a small hallway, toward a bathroom and sleeping area, they found a man's body on the bathroom floor, partially covered with a white bath towel, according to the affidavit.
The man was pronounced deceased at 5:58 p.m. He was later identified by a coroner as Hire. He had mental fragments at the base of his skull, the coroner determined.
During a search of the RV, deputies found a live bullet on a bench in the RV's dining area, but no shell casings, and broken glass inside the home. As they moved around the RV, they also discovered paperwork about a sentencing hearing for Harris, who had been arrested by the Golden Police Department on March 26, 2023 — about three weeks prior. That day, Harris had been arrested as he was moving items between his car and a car that was registered to Hire. Both Harris and his wife had active warrants out of Denver and they were taken into custody.
During a police interview with Harris' wife after their March arrests, she explained that she had recently been with her husband and an unidentified friend of his about a plan to "rip Matthew off" and how the friend had access to Hire's credit and debit cards, the affidavit reads. Ultimately, this led to Harris having access to Hire's bank account, Harris' wife told police in the interview. She added that Harris' friend had "told her that he would cut her head off if she talked to the police," according to the affidavit.
Investigators looked at emails via the application J-Pay that Harris had sent and received since his March arrest. They also examined receipts found in the RV for a Home Depot purchase on March 24, 2023, which included black contractor-style trash bags. While looking through Harris' car, they found a loaded .22 caliber Taurus revolver in a case, as well as a set of keys, the affidavit reads. The firearm had a single fired shell casing.
This evidence, along with other findings from the investigation, led to Harris' arrest in early May. Few details about Hire's death were available in the affidavit.
Harris was sentenced to life in prison on May 9, 2025.
