Woman seeks life insurance payment for husband she mistook for a bear, and shot

MESHOPPEN, Pa. (AP) — A northeastern Pennsylvania woman who mistook her husband for a bear and fatally shot him during a Canadian hunting trip has been charged with criminal negligence, but spared from more serious charges.

Canadian police have charged Mary Beth Harshbarger, 43, of Meshoppen, with criminal negligence causing death and careless use of a firearm in the Sept. 14, 2006, death of her husband, Mark.

Harshbarger, a homemaker, told authorities that she mistook her 42-year-old husband for a bear. A re-enactment by police in central Newfoundland supports her account, her defense lawyer said.

“She said it was an accident, pure and simple — a misidentification,” lawyer Paul Ackourey, of Scranton, said Thursday. “No one’s been more affected by it than her. It was horrific.”

Meanwhile, Harshbarger will continue to fight for $550,000 in life insurance benefits over her husband’s death near Buchans Junction, Newfoundland, her civil lawyer said.

The Harshbargers, both avid hunters, married in 2001 and had two young children who were with them on the trip. Mark Harshbarger’s brother had also traveled to Canada with them, Ackourey said.

“I feel relieved that she didn’t walk away free,” said Mark Harshbarger’s father, Leonard, of Sweet Valley. “Mark was the closest of my children. He was closest to me, because he was my youngest.”

Ackourey and his client have not yet decided whether to fight extradition on the charges, which had not been formally served as of Thursday morning.

Harshbarger will face a bail hearing in Canada, according to Sgt. B.W. Newell of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, who compared the charges to felonies in the U.S.

Because she is not charged with an intentional killing, Mary Beth Harshbarger is entitled to collect on the life-insurance policies under Pennsylvania law, according to her civil lawyer, Robert Murphy.

She has separate federal lawsuits pending against State Farm Insurance Co. and Aetna Life Insurance Co. over her husband’s policies.

One lawsuit accuses State Farm of failing to pay on a $500,000 policy taken out on July 18, 2006 — two months before his death. The $50,000 policy with Aetna was issued in June 1996 through Mark Harshbarger’s employer, PDG Environmental.

“The charges don’t have any bearing on the lawsuits,” said Murphy, who plans to renew motions to have the policies honored.