E274: Dian Harlin

Coffee and Cases Podcast

Allison Williams, Maggie Damron

Unsolved, Murder, Conspiracy, True Crime, Cold Cases, Mystery, Society & Culture

4.8 • 608 Ratings

🗓️ 22 August 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the fall of 1982, the quiet rhythm of Morro Bay, California was shattered when the body of 43-year-old Dian Harlin was discovered beneath a cluster of cypress trees near the high school. She had been strangled with a dog leash—an eerie detail that raised more questions than answers. Was her stormy marriage to blame? Or was Dian the victim of a predator who struck by chance? And what are we to make of the fact that her husband Hugh, who acted strangely after her death, also vanished without a trace just four years later? More than four decades later, the mysteries remain. Who killed "the Dog Lady" of Morro Bay? Did her husband know more than he admitted? Or was he another casualty of a truth still buried in the fog? Tune in as we unravel the case of Dian Harlin—a story of eccentric lives, whispered rumors, and unanswered questions that continue to echo through the small seaside town. If you are interested in bonus content for our show or in getting some Coffee and Cases swag, please consider joining Patreon. There are various levels to fit your needs, all of which can be found here: https://www.patreon.com/coffeeandcases

Transcript

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0:00.0	Morrow Bay is the kind of place where the ocean sets the rhythm of life. Fishing boats bob in the harbor,
0:05.0	the fog drifts low over the cypress trees, and the town seems to breathe in a steady, predictable way.
0:10.9	But on an October evening in 1982, something disturbed that rhythm. That fall, the fall of
0:16.7	1982, the coastal town of Morrow Bay, carried the kind of quiet that every sound from the ocean
0:22.3	seemed to amplify. That calm was broken when a woman's body was discovered beneath a cluster of
0:27.4	trees near the local high school. She'd been strangled with a dog leash. Her remains hidden
0:32.4	only steps from a popular cross-country trail. The scene was chilling, not only because of what was found, but because of what was left
0:39.4	behind.
0:40.2	The discovery was as haunting as it was confusing.
0:43.1	Who was she?
0:43.8	For a while, no one knew.
0:45.3	Her body was badly decomposed, her features unrecognizable, and her story and mystery.
0:50.3	But the bracelets laying beside her, Jade and Silver, offered the first clue.
0:54.7	When her husband was asked to look at them, he confirmed what investigators already feared.
0:59.1	This was no stranger.
1:01.0	Suspicion soon spread through the small seaside town.
1:04.0	The husband's explanations didn't add up and his shifting story only deepened the unease.
1:08.5	Neighbors whispered about their stormy marriage, about the arguments
1:11.2	about the dogs that seemed to be her constant companions, and yet no evidence ever placed him at the
1:16.4	scene. Four years later, as if fate demanded a cruel symmetry, her husband would vanish without a
1:21.6	trace. His truck abandoned on the roadside, his belongings left behind, his body never found.
1:27.2	The woman at the center of today's case is 43-year-old Diane Harlan.
	...

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