Friends say Tim Harris is mourning both girls while their mother, Jessica Quarles, awaits further proceedings on six felony charges.
KENTON, Tenn. — Before an indictment defined the case in legal terms, Tim Harris returned to his West Tennessee home and found two children he loved dead from gunshot wounds, according to a friend who described the discovery as a lasting source of grief.
One of the children was Harris’ 1-year-old daughter, Landrie Harris. The other was 11-year-old McKenna Young, the daughter of his fiancée, Jessica Quarles, from a previous relationship. Quarles is now accused of killing both girls. She faces two counts each of first-degree premeditated murder and first-degree felony murder, along with two aggravated child abuse, neglect or endangerment counts. She has entered a not-guilty plea, according to local reporting, and remains jailed without bond.
Haley Paige Wilson, a longtime friend of Harris, told Law&Crime that he was devastated by what he saw at the family’s home June 13. Wilson said the image of the scene would remain with him and that Harris appeared numb in the days that followed. Her account does not describe the physical condition of the children, and authorities have released few scene details. What is known is that both girls had been shot and that Quarles was found elsewhere in the residence with serious stab wounds.
Investigators have not accused Harris of participating in the deaths. Yet Wilson said social media users questioned and blamed him during the period when Quarles was hospitalized and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation had not announced a suspect. She said the public accusations compounded a loss that was already difficult for him to process. On June 29, the TBI announced that an Obion County grand jury had indicted Quarles and that investigators had identified her as the person responsible.
The bureau’s statement marked an important turn in the investigation, but it answered only one of the case’s broad questions: whom authorities intended to prosecute. It did not explain what evidence led agents to Quarles, when the shootings occurred, whether police recovered a firearm, what sequence investigators believe unfolded inside the house or why the children were killed. Those details may remain outside public view until prosecutors make filings, witnesses testify or evidence is introduced in court.
Wilson said Harris’ relationship with McKenna was especially important to him even though he was not her biological father. McKenna had several disabilities and used a wheelchair. Wilson recalled that Harris worked overtime to obtain a motorized chair for her after an earlier one was stolen. She said McKenna’s expression changed when Harris entered the room and that he treated her as his own child. The recollection has become one of the personal details separating the girls from the list of charges now attached to their deaths.
Quarles had previously written online that McKenna had Fragile X syndrome, epilepsy, autism, low muscle tone and conditions affecting her gait and mobility. One indictment count describes an alleged offense involving a vulnerable child. Another alleges aggravated child abuse, neglect or endangerment involving a child age 8 or younger. The TBI did not specify which facts support each count, although the age descriptions correspond to McKenna and Landrie.
Landrie had turned 1 in May, according to the date of birth included in the TBI’s announcement. McKenna would have turned 12 in November. The agency identified the home only as being in the 300 block of Jan Lynn Street in Kenton, a small Obion County community near Tennessee’s border with Kentucky. Officers were called there June 13, and TBI agents joined the Kenton Police Department’s investigation at the request of 27th Judicial District Attorney General Colin Johnson.
The Obion County Sheriff’s Office and district attorney general’s office also participated. Initial local reports described Quarles as critically injured and said she was taken to Regional One Medical Center in Memphis. Law&Crime later reported that she was arrested after being released from the hospital. Authorities have not issued a detailed public explanation of the stab wounds. A local court report characterized them as apparent self-inflicted injuries, but the TBI’s charging announcement did not address that conclusion.
The uncertainty surrounding the first days of the case shaped the community’s response. Before Quarles was charged, relatives and supporters attended a candlelight vigil connected to her and the children. Rickey Dale Alexander, identified as one of Quarles’ relatives, initially posted that he did not believe she was capable of involvement. After the indictment, he told Law&Crime that the family was heartbroken and asked people to remember McKenna and Landrie, saying they were loved and that their lives mattered.
That shift illustrates the difference between public reaction during an unfolding investigation and the formal accusations that followed. A person’s disbelief, grief or suspicion is not evidence. Neither is an indictment proof of guilt. A grand jury determines whether prosecutors have presented enough information for charges to proceed; it does not decide whether the allegations have been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. That decision would be made through a plea or a trial under the supervision of the court.
A local radio report said Quarles appeared in Obion County Circuit Court on July 6 and told the court she could not afford a lawyer. The report’s headline said she pleaded not guilty, although one sentence in the article mistakenly described the plea as guilty. The same account said a judge ordered a psychiatric evaluation and set another hearing for Sept. 21. No trial date has been announced, and no reliable public report reviewed for this article identified the lawyer representing her.
The psychiatric evaluation should not be treated as a finding about Quarles’ mental condition or responsibility. Courts can order evaluations for several case-related questions, including whether a defendant understands the proceedings and can assist counsel. The publicly available report did not state the specific question the judge asked evaluators to address, and no evaluation results have been released. It would therefore be premature to draw conclusions about her competency, mental state or possible defense. Friends said Harris was trying to move through daily life while carrying the impact of the discovery. Wilson recalled seeing him around her family and noticing that the sound and presence of children appeared difficult for him. She said he still made an effort to engage with her young son even while grieving. Those observations portray the personal cost of the deaths but do not answer the criminal questions before the court.
Financial difficulties had been discussed publicly before the shootings. In January, Quarles posted that Harris had been laid off for more than a month, that he had submitted numerous job applications and that she had been away from work after Landrie’s birth. She also referred to McKenna’s medical appointments and household bills. No law enforcement agency has connected those problems to the killings, and there is no publicly verified motive. Treating the family’s financial stress as an explanation would go beyond the evidence disclosed so far.
The case now has two parallel tracks. In court, prosecutors must disclose and present evidence supporting the six counts against Quarles, while the defense will have opportunities to challenge that evidence and the legal sufficiency of the indictment. Outside court, relatives and friends are mourning two children whose lives were connected through the same home but shaped by different ages, needs and relationships.
Harris, according to Wilson, is grieving both of them. The legal system will determine whether Quarles is criminally responsible, but it cannot reverse the moment Harris entered the residence or restore the children to the people who cared for them. Quarles remains held without bond, and her next reported hearing is Sept. 21. She is presumed innocent unless convicted.
Author note: Last updated July 27, 2026.