LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU) — A heartbroken family finally has a chance to heal three years to the day after their daughter’s death. A confession from her killer is the final piece of the puzzle.
In a confession letter to his wife, Harold David Haulman said he killed Tianna Ann Phillips on June 13, 2018, three years ago Sunday. On the anniversary of her death, friends and family of Tianna Ann Phillips released balloons into the sky. They can finally start to heal, now that her alleged killer confessed.
Harold David Haulman told Luzerne County detectives he picked up Tianna Ann Phillips from her friend’s house on June 13, 2018, drove her to a remote area, and bludgeoned her to death.
Her family did not find out what happened to her until almost three years later when he was charged for her murder in May 2021.
“It was very bittersweet. It was not the outcome that we had hoped for, however we now know that he will not be able to hurt anybody else and for that I find peace,” Toshia Feaster, Tianna’s sister said.
According to court documents, Phillips was last seen leaving her friend’s house at 424 East 9th Street in Berwick. She told her friend “Dave” was picking her up. She was referring to Harold David Haulman, a truck driver she met on an app called MeetMe.
Her family told Berwick Police about Haulman when they reported her missing. Haulman told Berwick Police he was going to pick Phillips up that night, but she canceled so he turned around.
The case went cold until December 27, 2020, when Haulman was arrested for the murder of Erica Shultz from Bloomsburg and started telling detectives what really happened to Phillips.
Haulman said he killed Phillips on the night his wife found out about their affair. He took Phillips into the woods along Hobbie Road and killed her.
Several months later, he went back for her remains and put them in the dumpster behind an AMC movie theater in Scott Township, Columbia County.
Haulman told police he killed Shultz in the same location along Hobbie Road two years later. That’s where investigators found Shultz’s remains. Phillips’ sister says she’s still hoping for that closure.
“I’m sad that we haven’t been able to locate my sister and lay her to rest but we still have hope and we will see this through ’till the very end,” Feaster said.
Feaster finally has answers she’s been waiting for, but worries about how many more families are still waiting. She says she’ll keep updating her Facebook page “Bringing Home Tianna” in case it helps link Haulman to other missing people.
Haulman is also a suspect in a homicide investigation in Michigan. Authorities are saying he meets the criteria of a serial killer.
A GoFundMe has been established to help Phillips’ two children.
