A woman native to Texas, who worked as an assistant public defender before staring her own firm in Oklahoma in 2014, seemed to have it all when she became a criminal defense attorney.
Keegan Harroz was a smart and bright star on the rise, but it all came crashing down.
“She was smart and effective. Judges respected her,” says her ex-boyfriend and former law partner, David Bedford. “However, she did have brushes with the law from time to time.”
In May of that year, she was charged with assault and battery on a police officer and the domestic assault of her then-husband, Nicholas Harroz, who later told an investigator that he was kicked in the face twice.
“The reporting officer documented that the victim had blood on his left ear, swollen lumps on his face, and abrasions to his forehead, cheek, and bridge of his nose,” states a probable cause affidavit.
Despite the severe injuries to her ex-husband, the charges were dropped against her.
In the fall of 2018, Harroz began representing Barry Titus II, a former crane operator who owned a dent repair shop, on drug and firearm charges.
The up and coming lawyer also began representing him on domestic assault and battery charges, which were tied to a restraining order obtained against him by his ex-girlfriend Tiffany Eichor, whom he allegedly beat and attempted to strangle in Nov. 2017.
“Soon after meeting Titus, the two began dating and her decision-making abilities severely started to decline,” Bedford, who later filed a bar complaint against her, said. “Not showing up at work. Her attitude was indifferent. She was not communicating. She started changing.”
“I was the only one who saw the changes in her, others noticed it too,” Bedford added.
Lisa Weiszmiller, who met Harroz in 2013 at a veteran’s diversion program where Harroz volunteered, says the lawyer lost her focus, recalling an incident in May of 2019 when she went to her house to prepare for a case Harroz was representing her on.
“We just came specifically to work on my case,” Weiszmiller recalled. “Which didn’t happen because she was all consumed with Titus.”
Weiszmiller claimed a friend later contacted her to inform her about Harroz’s arrest.
“She had texted me a picture of Keegan being arrested. She said, ‘Isn’t that a friend of yours?’ I said, ‘That’s my lawyer on top of it.’ I never got my file back. I never got my stuff back from her. I never got my collateral back from her.”
Authorities allege that within months after Harroz began representing Titus on the domestic assault and battery charges in Oct. 2018, the plot to kill Eichor began.
Police reports show that in December 2018, Harroz asked one of her clients to plant what she described as methamphetamine, which was actually a bag of sugar, at the Beggs, Oklahoma home of Eichor’s parents, Jack and Evelynn “Kaye” Chandler. Eichor was also living with her parents at that time and Harroz wanted to discredit them.
Eichor’s parents found the package and called the police and then installed a security camera.
“As his lawyer, she was aware that the State’s plea offer to Titus was 10 years in prison, and which she communicated to Titus,” states court documents filed by prosecutors. “Efforts were made by Harroz to frighten Eichor away, hoping she would not pursue these charges. When it became apparent Eichor would not be scared off, plans were made to kill her to prevent her from testifying against Harroz’s lover and Harroz.”
A deputy later testified that on March 6, 2019, Titus sent a message to his father that he had gone to court the day before, and told his father about the prosecutor’s plea offer.
“Keegan has her new cell phone number but I don’t know what the hell to do other than pray she gets into a car wreck and dies because of the karma from trying to take my life or spend the next 30 days saying my goodbyes to everyone I love before I die,” the message read, according to court documents.
Prosecutors allege that on Sept. 6, 2019, Harroz and Titus drove to Frisco, Texas, and had dinner with her family before checking in at the Red Roof Inn in Plano.
The two then drove three hours back to Oklahoma, where at around 3 a.m., they cut the electric meter and phone lines at the Chandler’s home. They then proceeded to kick in the front door and killed Jack first. Eichor was outside her bedroom and was shot several times in the back as the suspects chased her down the hallway. Kaye attempted to hide in the closet before she was murdered.
According to prosecutors, all three victims were shot with two different types of weapons.
On the day Eichor and her parents were killed, prosecutors claim that a car resembling Harroz’s 2010 Lexus was seen on surveillance near the residence. Titus’s DNA was also allegedly found on a ball cap near the home.
Just days after the murders, on Sept. 13, Harroz’s brother called the Sachse Police Department in Texas and turned over an AR-15 rifle that he stated was involved in a triple homicide.
The gun was traced to an Oklahoma man who told investigators that Harroz and Titus bought a rifle from him in Aug. 2019.
“The rifle shell casings from the homicide scene matched the rifle casings fired by the two of them at the witnesses’ firing range,” states a motion filed by prosecutors.
In March of 2021, Harroz was sentenced to serve 24 months in federal prison for being a prohibited person unlawfully in possession of a firearm.
On April 2, Titus was sentenced to serve 36 months in federal prison for being a prohibited person unlawfully in possession of a firearm after pleading guilty to unlawfully possessing a firearm while being an unlawful user of a controlled substance.
Within days of the sentencing, the couple were arrested and charged with three murders in connection with the deaths of Eichor and her parents.
Harroz and Titus have both pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and burglary. If convicted, they face the death penalty.
“Harroz has quite the history with law enforcement,” a prosecutor noted in a motion. “For an attorney, and supposed law abiding citizen, this is quite the record of run-ins with the law.”
