Martin's House

**Martin's house** is a residential location at **325 Huntington Road** in Skylin, Texas. It was the primary residence of Martin Harris from 1993 to 1994, until he was killed on the premises while police rescued abducted teenager Kate Wallis. The house was boarded up and closed-off to the public by 1995.

## History

### 1993

Greg Turner acquired the home through his realtor company Skylin Realty. He sold the property to Skylin High's newest assistant principal Martin Harris. On June 21st, Jeanette and her friends, Mallory Higgins and Vince Fuller, planned to break into the home to play hide and seek as part of a Summer Bucket List. Mallory stole a key to the house from Skylin Realty and convinced Jeanette to go inside with them. Mallory and Vince hid in the upstairs shower while Jeanette searched the home for her friends.

Martin moved into the house a day early and where he startled a teenaged Jeanette Turner. She claimed she was in the house in search of her fathers briefcase. She loudly offered to show him something in the basement that her father might have missed. She pointed out a water stain in the basement, but feigned disappointment at it just having been a shadow. He was unbothered by the discovery as he planned to tear out the carpet. As they spoke, Mallory and Vince ran out of the house where Jeanette met up with them a few minutes later. Jeanette secretly pocketed the key and put it in her jewelry box at home.

On July 4th, Martin left to witness the annual Skylin fireworks. With him gone, Jeanette entered the home once again with the key she never returned. She snooped through Martin's belongings until she found a yearbook from a his previous job in Widow Falls. She stole the yearbook as part of a dare.

On August 15th, Jeanette snuck into Martin's **house** again and broke into his music cabinet. She sorted through the multiple discs before she found the one she wanted. She heard a sound from the front door and quickly hid in the cabinet. She witnessed Tanya Peterson and Martin enter the living room. She watched them talk and saw Tanya unabashedly flirt with Martin. She came onto him and told him personal aspects of her life unprovoked. Tanya swooned over Martina and admitted that her ex paid child support since he believed her daughter Tennille was his biological daughter, even though he wasn't. Martin didn't want to know something that personal about his students as she brushed his hair with her fingers. Jeanette backed away from the door and bumped into the stereo which began to blast music. Tanya spilled wine over her shirt while Martin approached the cabinet. Jeanette quickly shut off the sound. Tanya thought she sat on the remote then looked down at the mess she spilled on her shirt. Martin left to get Tanya some supplies to clean herself up.

Tanya wrenched open the closet doors and confronted Jeanette on what she was doing there. Jeanette assured Tanya that she wouldn't say anything about Tennille's father. Tanya made a deal that they would both stay quiet about what transpired here, and told Jeanette to leave. She did and hurried out of the house before Martin could see her.

On August 29th, Kate and her boyfriend Jamie Henson walked home as he was heavily intoxicated. He stopped at a house to relieve himself as Kate urged him to hurry up. Martin rushed out of his house to ask what they were doing, surprised to see Kate and Jamie. He asked Jamie if he was okay, and Jamie fell over onto the ground. Martin asked Kate if he was okay and then offered to let them come inside to call her parents. She refused so he offered to give her a ride home, which she accepted.

Kate returned to his home that night and emotionally told him about a fight she had with her mother, and how Joy had hit her. She didn't want to go back home or to her friends out of fear her mother would drag her back home. Martin knew she was scared so he invited her inside for tea.

Kate began to live in the house, initially as a way to hide from her family, but when a relationship began between her and Martin she became isolated there. They shared his bedroom and she was given free reign of the house but not the outdoors. He was free to come and go as he pleased. In the fall, Greg Turner visited unannounced to use the phone due to a flat tire. The near-miss shook both Kate and Martin, so he decided to hang dark curtains over the front door so no one could see in or out. On Halloween, they built a fort in the living room where they watched scary movies together. For Thanksgiving, they cooked a meal and ate in the dining room. By Christmas Eve, Kate felt homesick and made a phone call to her ex-boyfriend Jamie Henson, though she didn't say anything. Jeanette Turner broke into the home again and this time, Kate hid upstairs while Jeanette snooped around. She heard Kate's footsteps and panicked. She stole a snow globe from the television stand and fled. Kate went to the window too look out, though she knocked over a nutcracker in the process.

That night, Kate decided to sneak out of the house and visit her old home, though she returned before anyone saw her. Christmas Day brought the couples largest fight when Martin confronted her over leaving. He forbade her from leaving the house again until she was eighteen. She protested and wanted to leave. He sent to the basement to get her suitcase. While she was down there, he locked the door using a key which trapped her. He played Christmas music while she screamed for him to let her out.

He covered the windows with barbed wire and nailed boards over them. She could hear sirens that passed but no one came to save her. The door was sealed with a multitude of locks. He would lock them again when he went into the basement so she couldn't escape behind him. He waited for the shower to run downstairs before he walked down. He stepped over a creaky step and entered the basement. Kate tried to flee but the door had been locked behind Martin, which caused her to become distraught. They fought in the basement a few moments later, but he overpowered her. While she was unconscious from either drugs or dehydration, he filled the basement with gallons of water, boxes of snack food, bags of fruits and vegetables, tampons, mouthwash, and toilet paper.

### 1994

Kate spent nearly a year locked in the basement without contact with anyone else. On June 21st, the police came to Martin's house asking questioned about Kate Wallis. That night, Martin came downstairs to the basement with a box that contained a gun named Annabelle. He introduced Kate to the weapon and she feared that he would kill her. He instead turned the gun on himself but ultimately dropped the weapon. He began to scream and bang on the walls. Kate picked up the gun and pointed it at him. He tried to talk her out of shooting, and she remembered their times together - the good and the bad, some of which included the house. She pulled the trigger and fatally shot Martin. She stayed with him for the entire night before she went upstairs to call the police.

She was forced to stay there with barbed wires that covered the boarded-up windows. She was rescued from the home on June 22nd, when the local police department learned of her whereabouts. The publicly story held that Martin died in a shootout with the police in front of Kate. His house was ceased and abandoned.

On August 15th, Cindy Turner discovered a key to Martin's house in Jeanette's belongings. She had a hunch that the key would fit Martin's door and went to the home to find out for herself. She ensured no one was around before she approached. She slid the key into the keyhole and was disheartened to learn that it fit. She opened the door and broke the police seal. That night, she returned home and gave the key to Greg as she urged him to try it himself. Greg went to the home at dark and was devastated when the key fit. He entered the home and angrily knocked items off an end table.

### 1995

Still inhabitable as a crime scene, it seems that Jeanette continues to go into it in secret with her copy of its house key. At the urging of his anxious wife, Greg Turner opens the door into the hall, revealing that his daughter is indeed involved somehow with the late Martin Harris and his abduction of Kate Wallis.

## Inhabitants

* Martin Harris (Owner)
* Kate Wallis (Co-Resident, 1993; Basement, 1993-1994)

## Trivia

* Jeanette Turner owns a spare key to the house. She failed to return it after a rendezvous with her friends.
* Tanya Peterson was inside the home in 1993, prior to Kate's abduction.
* Two known people were inside Martin's house during Kate's isolation - Greg Turner and his daughter Jeanette.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.01 Happy Birthday, Jeanette Turner
2. ↑ 1.03 Off With A Bang
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 1.06 An Ocean Inside Me
4. ↑ 1.07 Happy Birthday, Kate Wallis
5. ↑ 1.09 A Secret of My Own
6. ↑ 1.02 A Smashing Good Time
7. ↑ 1.04 You Don't Hunt, You Don't Eat
8. ↑ 1.10 Hostile Witness