Her murder was as ironic as it was brutal. Forty-three-year old Dian Harlin, affectionately known as the “Dog Lady,” had been strangled to death with a dog leash. Her body was found on October 13, 1982, along the beach shore near her home in the waterfront city of Morro Bay, California, two-hundred miles northwest of Los Angeles.

Police questioned Dian’s fifty-one-year-old husband Hugh. After inconsistencies were found in his statements, Hugh changed his story. Although he was never charged in connection with Dian’s murder, authorities believe he knew more than he was volunteering.

Today, many in Morro Bay still wonder if Hugh Harlin killed Dian. They also wonder if he met a similar fate as his wife. Four years after Dian’s murder, Hugh himself became the focus of a mystery as he vanished without a trace.

The murder of Dian Harlin and the disappearance of her husband Hugh are both still unsolved.

Dian and Hugh Harlin

Dian frequently denigrated Hugh and the two had many loud verbal arguments; no one could recall such an incident turning physical.

The couple were eccentric but were also friendly and generous, Dian probably to a fault. Hugh made a modest living as a manual laborer and fisherman. Dian squandered the money he gave her on friends, beggars, and, especially, on not only their own dogs, but the neighborhood strays as well.

Dian’s love of the four-footed people earned her the moniker “The Dog Lady,” and she seemed to have more of an affinity for her pooches than for her husband. A joke among acquaintances was the hounds feasted better than Hugh. Dian was known to have given the dogs people food while Hugh was often served the canine chow. It was even said that for one Christmas, Diane cooked an Alpo casserole for her other half.

A Quirky Couple

Dian took her dogs, Charity and Totu, for a walk on the evening of October 2, 1982. She was last seen walking them near the Morro Bay High School at approximately 6:15 p.m.

The body of a female found beneath cypress trees on a beach near Morro Bay eleven days later was too decomposed to identify. Police issued a press release with the woman’s description, asking for the public’s help in identifying her. Hugh Harlin contacted them that evening and identified two bracelets found on the woman as Dian’s.

Fingerprints confirmed the murdered woman was Dian Harlin. She had been strangled to death with the leash she used to walk the dogs. Both pets were seen running from the area approximately an hour later.

A 1982 article from the San Luis Obispo tribune says Dian had also been sexually assaulted.

Strangled to Death

Hugh told police he had not seen his wife since she left home with the dogs on the evening of October 2. He said he had not reported Dian as missing because she often left for extended periods of time without telling him.

Hugh initially told police that the dogs were wearing their leashes when they came home shortly before midnight that evening. When police showed him the leash used to strangle Dian, however, Hugh did an about-face, saying the dogs were not wearing their leashes. He then hushed up, refusing to answer any more questions.

Hugh Harlin was far from a grieving husband. Police did not officially rule him a suspect in Dian’s murder, but they now began viewing him with suspicion. Although investigators believed he was holding something back, they ultimately concluded he was not involved in his wife’s murder.

Was Hugh Hiding Something?

Over the following four years, Hugh lived much the same as he had before Dian’s murder, with the possible exception of a little better diet.

On November 1, 1986, Hugh borrowed tools from a friend for a two-day construction job in San Simeon, twenty-five miles north of Morro Bay. He left at approximately 1:30 p.m. The San Simeon property owners said it appeared he had been there and completed the work. Hugh, however, never returned home.

Two days later, a friend found Hugh’s 1967 Chevrolet utility bed truck abandoned on the side of Highway 1 near Cambria, ten miles south of San Simeon and twenty miles north of his Morro Bay home. Hugh’s glasses, sleeping bag, backpack, tools, tobacco tins, and sack lunch (no dog food), were on the dashboard. The car keys were found on the ground several yards away.

Nothing at the scene suggested any sort of struggle had occurred. In examining the truck, friends found a fuel line had been removed. They theorized Hugh had encountered mechanical problems and began walking toward a service station.

Hugh Disappears

Hugh had taken off on extended outings before, although he had always told someone where he was going. Friends said he was a survivalist who could live for long periods off the land.

No one who knew Hugh, however, could think of why he would want to disappear. Although police still believed he knew more than he was saying in relation to Dian’s murder, they had cleared him of any involvement.

Was It Willingly?

Hugh Harlin was never charged with any wrongdoing in connection to Dian’s murder. He is listed as “missing”, not “wanted.” The fact that he has not been heard from in nearly thirty-seven years and that there have been no confirmed sightings of him during that time period leads investigators to believe he met with foul play.

Whether Hugh’s disappearance and probable death is related to Dian’s murder is speculation.

Nothing New on Hugh

At the time of his disappearance in 1986, Hugh Frederick Harlin was fifty-one-years-old, five-feet-eight inches tall, weighed approximately one-hundred-forty pounds, and had brown eyes and gray hair. He is missing the thumb and forefinger on his left hand. Hugh worked as a manual laborer and fisherman; he was also a handyman and was experienced in living off the land.

Hugh Harlin would today be eighty-eight-years-old.

What Happened to Hugh?

If you have any information on the murder of Dian Harlin or on the disappearance of Hugh Harlin, please contact the Morro Bay, California, Police Department at 805-772-6225.

Murdered and Missing

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96762649/dian-lenore-harlin#https:

 

SOURCES:

• Charley Project
• Doe Network
• The Tribune (San Luis Obispo, California)
• Unsolved Mysteries