{"id":434753,"date":"2026-09-13T13:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T13:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/434753\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T13:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T13:40:15","slug":"plano-woman-whose-sister-was-killed-by-husband-in-mchenry-pens-book-in-her-memory-shaw-local","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/434753\/","title":{"rendered":"Plano woman whose sister was killed by husband in McHenry pens book in her memory \u2013 Shaw Local"},"content":{"rendered":"

The sister of Laura Harrison, who was killed in 2016 by her husband Anthony in their McHenry<\/a> home, shares a story about the silence surrounding domestic violence and a sister\u2019s love.<\/p>\n

Nichole Yunger, 40, of Plano<\/a>, who wrote the book under the N.M. Yunger, recently self-published \u201cThe Good One: A Memoir of Love, Loss and Justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yunger never thought she would author such a book, but as she writes in the book\u2019s preface, \u201cLife doesn\u2019t give us choices when it comes to grief. It only asks us how we will carry it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The book is Yunger\u2019s way of honoring her sister, preserving her memory and supporting domestic violence awareness efforts. She hopes the book gives a voice to victims and the families left behind, she said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Yunger triplets – Laura, Jillian and Nichole (Photo provided by Nichole Yunger)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a story of love, loss and justice,\u201d Yunger wrote. It\u2019s a painful truth that I can\u2019t rewrite but can finally bring into the light.”<\/p>\n

She begins the story describing what life was like growing up in Naperville<\/a> as a triplet with her sisters Jillian and Laura. She details the local and national media attention, including an appearance on \u201cThe Oprah Winfrey Show,\u201d when their mother gave birth to a second set of triplets.<\/p>\n

Nichole Yunger, the mother of two girls who works for Sugar Grove<\/a> Public Library, writes of the red flags. In the beginning of their relationship, Laura was missing family dinners, not returning calls or text. Anthony Harrison\u2019s family<\/a> had also expressed concern for Laura, according to Shaw Local reporting at the time he was charged.<\/p>\n

Bill Harrison, Anthony Harrison\u2019s uncle, said he and his family noticed that Laura Harrison seemed increasingly tired and looked \u201cthin and exhausted.\u201d Family members attempted to reach out and check in with her, but she indicated that everything was fine, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were worried,\u201d Bill Harrison had said. \u201cWe could only imagine what that was like to live 24\/7 with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yunger writes of the learning her sister had been killed. She details going through Laura\u2019s home in the aftermath of her murder, her bedroom transformed into a bloody crime scene, her clothes that \u201cstill carried the unmistakable trace\u201d of her Candie\u2019s perfume. Yunger took the perfume bottle home with her.<\/p>\n

She recalled the basement where Laura\u2019s body had been found. The message \u201cI did this\u201d written in black marker on the wall near nearby. Authorities have said Anthony Harrison wrote the message after stabbing his wife to death.<\/p>\n

As she stared at the words, Yunger writes, she was \u201cstunned by the audacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

She recalls the heaviness of the court proceedings that followed and Anthony Harrison\u2019s emotionless demeanor throughout.<\/p>\n

Laura Harrison, who is the \u201cgood\u201d sister the book\u2019s title refers to, was 30 years old and making plans to \u201cescape the cycle of abuse\u201d the day he killed her.<\/p>\n

Laura and Anthony had met at North Central College in Naperville<\/a> and began dating in 2005. Laura was \u201cbrilliant [and] had always been strong,\u201d her sister wrote. But Anthony, although he was accepted into college on a scholarship, eventually dropped out and didn\u2019t have a job, according to the book.<\/p>\n

\"N.M.<\/p>\n

N.M. Yunger author of The Good One, A memoir of love, loss and justice. (Photo provided by Abby Elliott-Studio G. Photography\u00a0)<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t part of Laura\u2019s regular friend group. Yunger recalled felling uneasy about him. But as she writes, if her sister \u201csaw something good in Anthony, maybe something good was within him.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, as time passed it became increasingly complex to overlook the subtle signs that something wasn\u2019t right,\u201d Yunger wrote. As the relationship grew more serious, she grew more concerned. Her sister became isolated and Anthony more controlling, she said. She saw her sister\u2019s sparkle dim and confidence about her future waver. But Yunger also recalled thinking, \u201cShe\u2019ll figure out.\u201d<\/p>\n

They married in 2011. In May 2015, Anthony was charged with misdemeanor domestic battery for choking and scratching Laura, court records show. But just over a year later in June 2016, while that case still was pending and as Laura Harrison was about to begin a life on her own without Anthony Harrison, he killed her. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors said during his 2018 trial that on the night of June 4, 2016, Harrison stabbed his wife multiple times. <\/p>\n

She had planned on leaving<\/a> him and just hours prior to her murder she had called a crisis center and McHenry police<\/a> seeking help to remove him from the house. Police told her it likely would take a physical act of violence for them to order him off the property, according to trial testimony.<\/p>\n

After he killed her, Anthony Harrison laid his wife\u2019s body on top of a pile of firewood on the basement floor, prosecutors said; he waited two days before calling 911, asking for help because he\u2019d tried to take his life and saying he\u2019d killed his wife.<\/p>\n

In those two days, Harrison went to Home Depot and bought a shovel, garbage bags, cleaning supplies and fire-starters; prosecutors said, adding there were indications he\u2019d tried to dig a hole in the backyard. He also went to McDonald\u2019s and bought a chocolate milkshake, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

When he killed her, the 2015 domestic battery case was still pending, records show.<\/p>\n

Norma Peterson, executive director of Document the Abuse, is an advocate for victims of domestic violence. She wrote the forward to Yunger\u2019s book. She said in part that Laura Harrison\u2019s story is \u201cheartbreakingly tragic yet familiar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stories of domestic violence victims are often silenced by fear, by shame, and sometimes by a system that fails to protect them,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cThat\u2019s why books like The Good One are so important. They bring these stories to light, ensuring that the names and experiences of those we\u2019ve lost are not forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anthony Harrison, now 41, is an inmate at Sheridan Correctional Center in La Salle County<\/a>. He was convicted<\/a> of first-degree murder and sentenced to 40 years<\/a> in prison. He is required to serve 100% of his prison time and is scheduled to be released June 6, 2059. <\/p>\n

His attorney at the time, Assistant Public Defender Grant Tucker, had asked the judge to consider second-degree murder as an alternate verdict to first-degree murder. He asked the judge that Harrison be sentenced to 20 years and be housed in a facility that could address his mental illness. Tucker told the judge Harrison was raised in foster care and endured physical and sexual abuse throughout his childhood.<\/p>\n

Anthony Harrison\u2019s appeals and attempts for a new trial<\/a>, claiming ineffective counsel and that he did not receive proper mental health treatment following Laura\u2019s death, have failed, records show.<\/p>\n

His current attorney declined to comment.<\/p>\n

\"Anthony<\/p>\n

Anthony Harrison (Illinois Department of Corrections)<\/p>\n

In the final chapter her her book, Yunger writes a sort of love letter to her sister, called The Final Goodbye. <\/p>\n

\u201cI realize now that I don\u2019t need to hold onto the pain to hold onto you,\u201d she writes. \u201cYou\u2019re not in the trauma. You\u2019re in the flowers. You\u2019re in the music. You\u2019re in the sunlight that filters through the trees, in the laughter of your nieces, in every act of courage and kindness that\u2019s been done in your name. You\u2019re in me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The sister of Laura Harrison, who was killed in 2016 by her husband Anthony in their McHenry home,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[9310,803,90372,1440,251,150896,150895,150897,160,162,161,16758,123392],"class_list":["post-434753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-plano","tag-breaking","tag-crime-and-courts","tag-dupage-and-cook-county-front-headlines","tag-kendall-county","tag-local-news","tag-mchenry","tag-mchenry-county","tag-naperville","tag-plano","tag-plano-headlines","tag-plano-news","tag-shaw-local-front-headlines","tag-sugar-grove"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}