BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Murder charges have been filed against a suspected serial killer for the 2005 death of a Battle Creek woman.
The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office says they have requested murder charges against Harold David Haulman III for the death of Ashley Parlier.
Deputies say Parlier was pregnant when she went missing from her home on June 12, 2005. Ashley’s parents reported her missing and her body has never been found.
The Calhoun County Sheriff’s Office says they were contacted earlier this year by law enforcement in Pennsylvania regarding Ashley’s disappearance. Detectives say a man in custody in Pennsylvania for other murders gave them details about Ashley’s disappearance and the possible location of her body in the north section of Newton Township.
Detectives searched the area twice but were unable to find Ashley’s body.
Detectives traveled to Pennsylvania to interview 42-year-old Harold David Haulman III, a Pennsylvania resident formally of Battle Creek.
Calhoun County Sheriff's Detective Jonathan Pignataro has spent 20 years in law enforcement, and 19 years in Calhoun County.
He was on the job when Ashley went missing.
“I remember the news stories about it. I was on patrol as a deputy. Ironically the same part of western Calhoun county, where Ashley, her remains are suspected to be,” Pignataro said.
Detective Pignataro says they mainly deal with drug-related crimes at his office. Interviewing a suspected serial killer was difficult. He says the hardest part is knowing there is no clear motive for why Haulman did what he did.
"It only makes sense to him, in his mind," Pignataro said.
Detectives say Haulman’s family worked for the U.S. government and he lived in different locations, including Battle Creek from fall 2002 until mid-2009.
Detectives say Haulman admitted to having an argument with Ashley at a home in Emmet Township. He told detectives he had assaulted her, knocked her unconscious, and drove her to a remote area. There, he hit her in the head with a piece of wood until she died, and later got rid of his blood-covered clothing.
Ashley's sister, Nicole Campen, says her parents both died in 2020. They will never get the closure their family has so desperately searched for for the last 16 years.
"He didn’t just kill my sister. He destroyed my parents. He ruined their lives back in 2006. And it never got better,” Campen said.
Haulman is in custody in Pennsylvania for a 2018 murder in Luzerne County and a 2020 murder in the same county. Campen says she wished Haulman had been caught sooner. Campen and detectives say, however, a monster was hiding in plain sight. He had never been on law enforcement's radar until this year.
“We’re a small family from Battle Creek Michigan. This happens on TV. This happens on Investigation Discovery. This doesn’t happen in your real life,” Campen said.
Investigators say Haulman served time in jail in reference to a death on May 29, 1999, in Ramstein, Germany.
Detectives say a forensic social media search revealed that Haulman had researched material related to serial killers and grave robbing.
The Calhoun County sheriff released a video statement regarding the investigation.
Detectives are still working to locate Ashley's remains. If anyone has any additional information, details, or knew Harold David Haulman III or Ashley Parlier please contact Calhoun County Sheriff Detectives at 269-781-0880.
