Man pleads guilty to strangling Cartersville mother who disappeared in 2016

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. — A Bartow County man pleaded guilty to strangling to death a Cartersville mother of three nearly a decade ago.

Richard Dale Harden will spend the rest of his life in prison for the murder of Heather McDonald.

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McDonald disappeared in Cartersville in Sept. 2016. Investigators found her Jeep outside a Bartow County motel parking lot along Hwy. 411. There was no sign of McDonald and they launched an extensive search for the missing woman.

A month later in Oct. 2016, an off-duty police officer and his son found McDonald’s remains in Haralson County woods while they were hunting.

Cartersville police issued a warrant for Harden connected to a different crime in Carroll County. When they went to execute the warrant, Harden barricaded himself inside a home and kept telling officers “it’s about that missing girl.”

Police found a woman’s sock in his truck and compared Harden’s DNA to a sample found underneath McDonald’s fingernails. They also tracked Harden’s cell phone from Cartersville to the area of Haralson County where McDonald’s remains were found.

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While he was being questioned, Harden admitted to McDonald’s murder and said the two exchanged sex for drugs. Texts from his phone show that communication between the two ended the day McDonald vanished.

Investigators said Harden admitted to strangling her and dumping her body in Haralson County.

“McDonald’s disappearance and murder are a dark tragedy. Justice in this case has been long-awaited, but the District Attorney’s Office hopes that Harden’s conviction and sentence provide some peace and resolution to the victims affected by his actions,” District Attorney Erle J. Newton III said.

The state said it worked to get a life sentence for Harden without going to trial so it wouldn’t have to put the family through a lengthy trial.

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