House hunter recalls horrific moment he discovered dead body while viewing property with family
A Florida native has recalled the horrifying moment he discovered a deceased body while viewing a new home in Kentucky.
David Hammersley and his family were forced to flee their hometown due to the hurricane season and decided to go house hunting in Kentucky.
On September 26, 2022, David was shown 2-acre lot with a main house, a detached garage, as well as a cottage.
The home in Burkesville was everything they ever wanted, with David telling CBS' The Mansion Above Dale Hollow Lake programme: "The house was immaculate. No furnishings in it. You can eat off the floor."
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Upon further inspection, the family were spooked by the cottage at the far end of the property, which David believed had a deceased raccoon in.
However, after looking further into the cottage, David and his father-in-law uncovered a horrific scene.
"I saw a man on the floor, his arm outstretched, obviously dead, from gunshot wounds," the Florida-born man added.
The police were alerted and an autopsy was performed on the deceased individual. He was later identified as Michael 'Mike' Harding, a man who had been missing for over a week.
Harding had been shot four times, with authorities finding a phone at the scene which they hoped would provide some answers.
Lead investigator BJ Burton told the CBS programme: "Once you start looking through the text messages and phone calls, it becomes very obvious early on that he was lured to the house."
At the time of Harding's death, he was going through a divorce with his wife Julie Harding.
"I feel like he was blinded by love. He truly loved her. So, I thought he found his dream girl. But to me personally, I just, I didn't like her," Heather Cavalieri, Harding's daughter, said.
Investigations concluded the victim's wife had close to 200 calls with a man named Thomas O'Donnell, from Houston.
Police uncovered the phone and O'Donnell's smartphone device were located together just weeks before Harding's death.
Burton added on The Mansion Above Dale Hollow Lake: "And the first thing you notice is ... the phone is first turned on when it's in the Houston, Texas, area.
"I don't think Mr. O'Donnell got out here by accident. The only connection that he had to Michael Harding was through Julie Harding."
Harding's wife died by suicide soon after her husband's death.
Burton believes she conspired with O'Donnell to kill her husband as she feared of losing hundreds of thousands of dollars during divorce proceedings.
O'Donnell was found guilty of murder in 2025 and sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
Callum Jones