Bascom DeWitt Harden, known as Dee, was 67 when his body was found in Edgewater, Volusia County, Florida, on August 27, 1976. Born October 18, 1908, Harden became one of the victims in a multi-state murder spree carried out that summer by Allen Leroy Anderson.

Anderson, described as a 34-year-old vagrant with a lengthy felony record, had left a Seattle halfway house in June 1976 after stealing the director’s car and credit cards and then traveled across about twenty states. Fingerprints and eyewitness accounts placed Anderson in the Edgewater area around the time of Harden’s killing; after Anderson’s arrest in Minnesota he confessed to multiple murders and was extradited to Florida to face charges in Harden’s death. Anderson was initially sentenced to death and later had that sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Harden was buried at Edgewater New Smyrna Cemetery.

Are there readers who remember Harden or who have information about his life in Edgewater?