James Harris, inset, was killed in 2022 by his daughter’s then-boyfriend Zachary Tyler Hackman (photo provided by Portland Police Bureau). Background: The location on Northeast Marine Drive and Northeast 2nd Avenue where Harris’ body was dumped (photo from Google Maps).
For the killing of his former’s girlfriend’s father and abusing the corpse a day before he went on a family vacation with the woman’s family, Zachary Tyler Hackman of Oregon was sentenced to 19 years in prison this week.
The 24-year-old man was first arrested and charged in the fall of 2022 for the slaying of James Orlando Harris, 54, according to the Multnomah County District Attorney’s office. Police said when they found Harris’ body, he had been strangled and had suffered a blow to the head.
His body was found in a sleeping bag dumped into heavy brush.
The Chronicle reported that Hackman used a dog leash to strangle Harris, the father of LoraJean Harris and Hackman’s then-girlfriend, and struck him with a hammer to his head. Hackman had been living with the family for months before the killing.
The judge told Hackman at his sentencing this week that he needed time “in a dark room with a mirror that he can’t look away from.”
Reporting from the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, the news outlet said that Harris’ sister addressed the court briefly.
Hackman, she said, “stole something that cannot be replaced.”
Hackman pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse in a plea deal, a review of online court records shows. He did not address the court when given an opportunity to do so Thursday.
LoraJean Harris told prosecutors that Hackman never explained why he killed her father and his attorney reportedly offered to put a statement in writing for the family instead of addressing them in court this week.
The Chronicle reported that LoraJean Harris told investigators she had returned from a concert out of town when she received a call from Hackman asking for help to clean out trash. She told prosecutors she had no idea she had helped Hackman dispose of the body or evidence from the killing. Hackman only told her what she had done after she helped him, she told authorities. LoraJean Harris was never charged and told investigators Hackman, who also went by the alias Zack Call, scared her.
When Hackman was interviewed by police he told police he had no recollection of anything unusual taking place before his girlfriend’s father went missing.
Judge Jenna Plank accepted Hackman’s plea a day before his sentencing hearing.
According to the district attorney’s office he was sentenced to 204 months for one count of manslaughter in the first degree and 24 months for one count of abuse of a corpse in the second degree. In addition to the sentences, which he will serve consecutively, he must also serve three years of post-prison supervision.
He is currently in custody in Multnomah County and will be transported to the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections to serve his sentence.
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