A police officer with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department identified as Chase Harder, 21, was arrested accused of murdering his girlfriend 24-year-old Dayanna Hurtado in Coral Springs, FL on August 15, 2023 all in front of Dayanna’s 3-year-old daughter.
At 8:26 pm, Officer Harder got into an argument with Dayanna at her home. Officer Harder had previously threatened to kill Dayanna via text messages.
During the argument Officer Harder is accused of shooting Dayanna several times, killing her. Dayanna’s 3-year-old daughter saw her mother’s body drop to the ground after the shots were fired.
Officer Harder then left the scene with Dayanna’s daughter in a SUV.
A few hours later, Officer Harder took the young girl to her biological father’s house identified as Jordan Chávez.
Officer Harder told Jordan that Dayanna was fine, the officer then left. The young girl told her father Jordan that Officer Harder was lying and that mommy was hurt and fell to the ground to sleep.
Jordan contacted police. Officer Harder later contacted the Coral Springs Police Department to turn himself in and was subsequently arrested in the lobby of the police station.
Officer Harder has been charged with one count of premeditated murder and one count of written threats to kill or do bodily injury.
