Man Denies Guilt in Death of Wife Buried in Back Yard

A man who police say has a lengthy criminal history pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a charge that he killed his wife five years ago and buried her body in the back yard of their Canoga Park home.

Michael J. Hardy is charged with one count of murder in the Nov. 28, 1985, death of his wife, Deborah L. Hardy.

Hardy, 46, was arrested Friday near his present home in La Jolla after Los Angeles police unearthed what tests showed is the skeleton of Deborah Hardy. The remains were found in the back yard of a house the couple had rented in the 20600 block of Sherman Way.

Police found the body using a diagram drawn by Robert Hardy, the suspect’s 25-year-old son from a previous marriage, who told authorities he did not witness the killing but helped his father bury the body, said Deputy Dist. Atty. James A. Baker.

The son, who is serving time for burglary, told a prison counselor that his father asked him to help bury his stepmother’s body on Thanksgiving Day, 1985, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Penny L. Schneider.

The son told the counselor that his father said he had hit his wife on the head with a flashlight earlier that day during an argument, killing her, Schneider said.

The counselor alerted Los Angeles detectives, who went to the prison and taped a lengthy statement from the younger Hardy.

Los Angeles police said the son told them he had been bothered by the crime for years. It was not clear why he decided to come forward now.

Baker said prosecutors would not file charges against the son because he “voluntarily came forward with the information which otherwise never would have been revealed or discovered.”

In addition, Baker said that the statute of limitations for being an accessory after the fact to murder expired three years after the 1985 killing .

Hardy was silent as he appeared in Van Nuys Municipal Court with his defense attorney, Deputy Public Defender Randall Megee. Van Nuys Municipal Court Commissioner Rebecca Omens-Rochman scheduled a preliminary hearing for Nov. 16. Hardy is being held without bail in Van Nuys Jail.

An autopsy by the Los Angeles County coroner’s office confirmed that the body is that of Deborah Hardy and established the cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head, Schneider said.

Hardy has three felony convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and for child stealing and assault on a police officer with a firearm, Schneider said.

Times staff writer Michael Connelly contributed to this story.