WISCONSIN RAPIDS − Two sisters of a 34-year-old man charged with killing his father in October in Wisconsin Rapids took the stand Feb. 11 in Wood County Circuit Court to talk about helping their brother the morning their father was killed.

Randall E. Harris Jr., of Milwaukee, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the death of his father, Randall E. Harris Sr., 56, of Wisconsin Rapids, on Oct. 31, 2025. He is also charged with recklessly endangering safety for injuries caused to a 59-year-old man.

Emma Harris, Harris Jr.’s sister and Harris Sr.’s daughter, took the stand Feb. 11, on day three of what is scheduled to be an eight-day trial. This is the second trial for Harris Jr. on the charges after the original trial, which started Feb. 2, ended in a mistrial.

Emma Harris said Harris Jr. called her about 6 a.m. Oct. 31 and asked her to pick him up at a service station and take him to her Wisconsin Rapids apartment. Emma Harris said her brother sounded cold, nervous and scared when he called her. She and her boyfriend went to get him. She said Harris Jr. had a cut on his hand, his shirt was torn down the middle and he had blood on him.

Emma Harris said she didn’t have any bandages, so she helped Harris Jr. clean the cut on his hand and put pressure on it. She gave him a clean sweatshirt to replace the torn and bloodied shirt, and he cleaned himself up.

When Wood County District Attorney Jonathan Barnett asked Emma Harris if she questioned Harris Jr. about what happened, she said no. She said she didn’t ask him any questions. Emma Harris said her brother was only at her house about a half hour and then someone came to pick him up. Emma Harris said she heard part of a phone conversation Harris Jr. had and thought he said he had killed his dad.

When defense attorney Oren Jakobson questioned Emma Harris, she said Harris Jr. had told her Harris Sr. and the 59-year-old man who had been stabbed had spent about $1,300 on drugs during the past week and had become angry with Harris Jr. when he refused to give them money for more drugs.

Emma Harris said Harris Jr. told her Harris Sr. came at him with a machete and cut his hand. He said both Harris Sr. and the 59-year-old man attacked him.

Emma Harris said she talked to two officers who came to her mother’s house on Oct. 31, and she told them what her brother had told her. Barnett asked why she hadn’t told two investigators who talked to her later that her brother said Harris Sr. attacked him with a machete and why she hadn’t told him when he first questioned her.

Brandia Harris, another sister of Harris Jr., also took the stand Feb. 11. She said Harris Jr. called her the morning of Oct. 31 and asked her to pick him up at Emma Harris’ home. Brandia Harris said she had been at work and found messages from both Harris Jr. and her mother on her phone. Her mother was upset about what had happened between Harris Jr. and Harris Sr.

Brandia Harris said Harris Jr. wanted a ride to Oshkosh. From there, he had another ride home to Milwaukee. Before they could get to Oshkosh, police pulled them over, got them out of their vehicle and handcuffed them, Brandia Harris said.

Brandia Harris also said her brother had told her Harris Sr. and the 59-year-old man had been doing drugs and attacked him when he wouldn’t give them money for more. Harris Jr. said Harris Sr. attacked him with a machete and Harris Jr. shot Harris Sr. twice, Brandia Harris said.

When Jakobson questioned her, Brandia Harris told about a family gathering in 2021 when Harris Sr. had brought a machete and started swinging it around at everyone. People became frightened and left, she said.

Brandia Harris said her father would keep weapons near him whenever he was using drugs. She said he would keep a knife next to him in his recliner where it was partially hidden. Brandia Harris said she had stopped letting her kids go to visit her father because she didn’t think it was safe.

Forensic pathologist explains victim died from complex homicide violence

Dr. Robert Corliss, a forensic pathologist from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Hospital, took the stand the morning of Feb. 11 to talk about what he found when examining Harris Sr.

Harris Sr. had two large cuts to his head that were being called chop marks, Corliss said. He also was shot four times, with one bullet going through his right forearm and into his chest.

A blood test done on Harris Sr. showed he had cocaine in his system at the time of his death, Corliss said.

Barnett asked Corliss about how incapacitating the wounds Harris Sr. suffered would be. Corliss said how much a wound incapacitated someone could be rated on a scale of one to five with one being not at all and five being totally incapacitated. A five would be someone suffering a massive head wound that would knock the person unconscious, Corliss said. None of Harris Sr.’s wounds would be totally incapacitating, Corliss said.

Harris Sr. died from complex homicide violence, Corliss said.

Special agent shares how crime scene was processed

Special Agent Matthew Anderson, of the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Division of Criminal Investigation, took the stand the afternoon of Feb. 11. Anderson is a deputy fire marshal who helps with homicide investigations.

When the state helps with a murder investigation, the Division of Criminal Investigation, Wisconsin Troopers and Wisconsin Crime Lab all work together as a team, Anderson said. Anderson coordinated the agencies when the three responded to the homicide Oct. 31 in Wisconsin Rapids.

The first thing the group does is walk through the entire property, taking pictures of everything in every room of the house, Anderson said. The staff from the Crime Lab takes the pictures. They took more than 1,200 photos of the Harris home, Anderson said.

The Crime Lab staff goes through each room to identify what needs to be collected and marking them with small numbered tent-shaped cards, Anderson said. The locations of the markers also are photographed.

The State Patrol use special equipment to map out the crime scene, Anderson said. They mark thousands of points and enter that into a special computer program, which a Division of Criminal Investigation specialist uses to make accurate 2-D and 3-D maps of crime scenes.

Wisconsin Rapids Detective David Bailey also took the stand Feb. 11 to tell about how a neighbor of Harris Sr. called police on Nov. 5 and said he had found something in his shed. Bailey went to the home and found one of the doors on the shed was off the track and had what appeared to be blood on it. A riding lawnmower had blood on both sides of it and on its hood, Bailey said.

Bailey said he found a knife with what looked like blood on it and a lighter next to the lawnmower. Harris Jr. attacked a man with two knives, according to witnesses in the house. However, no knife with blood on it had been found in the house, Bailey said.

Contact Karen Madden kmadden@usatodayco.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.

This article originally appeared on Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune: Defendant’s sisters testify during Wisconsin Rapids homicide trial

Reporting by Karen Madden, Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune / Wisconsin Rapids Daily Tribune

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