MITCHELL — A Michigan man who was charged with a misdemeanor offense for disposing of a woman’s body at a Mitchell truck stop pleaded guilty to the charge Friday during a hearing at the Davison County Public Safety Center.
After pleading guilty to improper disposal, Anthony Melvin Harris Sr., 60, of Detroit, was sentenced to 360 days in jail. He received credit for serving 41 days in jail.
Harris was initially charged with second-degree murder, a Class B felony that carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, following an investigation into a dismembered body that was found on March 11 at the I-90 Travel Center.
Upon further review of additional evidence and autopsy results, Davison County prosecuting attorneys dismissed the second-degree murder charge on April 5. The prosecuting attorneys opted to pursue the improper disposal charge instead, which is a Class 1 misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail.
The South Dakota Attorney General’s Office issued a statement explaining the decision by the Davison County State’s Attorney’s Office to drop the murder charge and pursue improper disposal.
The statement explained that evidence showed the woman, Melody Gooch, 57, of Detroit, died of an “accidental drug overdose.” The statement said Gooch’s overdose did not occur in South Dakota. Autopsy results showed Gooch’s death was caused by “combined drug toxicity due to Buprenorphine, Fentanyl, and Cocaine, and that the manner of death to be accidental,” according to the state’s Attorney General’s Office.
The final autopsy report also indicated the blunt force trauma Gooch sustained from being run over at the I-90 Travel Center “did not occur when she was alive,” the statement said.
According to the affidavit, local police were called to the scene on March 11 and noted “it appeared the deceased person was struck by a vehicle in the parking lot where the human entrails were located. Around the human entrails was blood spatter consistent with a person being struck by a vehicle and then dragged away from the initial impact point.”
Officers found the woman’s head in a garbage container near the pallets, the affidavit said. The affidavit initially alleged Harris ran over the woman multiple times before disposing of her body at the Mitchell truck stop.
Harris was arrested on March 14 in the state of Washington. He was extradited to Davison County to appear before a judge.
While Harris has been sentenced for the improper disposal charge, South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said Michigan state officials will now determine whether Harris faces additional charges for the incident.
Sam Fosness joined the Mitchell Republic in May 2018. He was raised in Mitchell, S.D., and graduated from Mitchell High School. He continued his education at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, where he graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in English. During his time in college, Fosness worked as a news and sports reporter for The Volante newspaper.
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