[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A Texas man is in jail after what he claims was a horrible accident that led to the unintentional death of his special needs son — but authorities have charged him with murder.
On Monday afternoon, sheriff’s deputies in Sabine County, Texas — a rural county a few hours northeast of Houston on the state’s border with Louisiana — were called to the property of a man named Michael Howard. There, Howard (pictured above in his mugshot) told the responding officers that he’d shot and killed his own son, 20-year-old Mark Howard, the night before.
According to sheriff’s office investigator Joseph P. MacDonough, Michael told deputies that Mark had actually been killed late on Sunday night. He also revealed Mark had been diagnosed as a child with “high functioning” Down syndrome. Michael told cops that the young man’s death occurred after he supposedly shot Mark by accident after mistaking him for an intruder.
WTF…
But while an accidental shooting would be awful enough, more details began to come out that gave deputies pause about Michael’s claims. For one, per MacDonough, the father admitted to cops that he didn’t call 911 for at least 17 hours (!!!) after his son was killed. Instead, per multiple Houston-area news outlets, the man allegedly told police that he threw Mark’s body into the backhoe loader of a tractor, drove it to a remote area of the family property, and cremated the remains on a pile of wood. Uhhh WHAT?!?!
Naturally, cops wanted to know why Michael did that rather than, ya know, calling 911 as soon as the shooting occurred. And that’s when he dropped another bomb on responding deputies: per MacDonough, Michael said the no-notification quickie cremation was “in accordance with what he felt his son would have wanted.”
Ummm…
Michael eventually showed deputies the alleged shotgun used in the tragedy, as well as the location of the at-home cremation. Cops filed for a search warrant, which MacDonugh later revealed to news outlets led detectives to discover “what we believe to be body parts and bones, specifically a portion of the lower jaw … which contained a few teeth.” And as if that weren’t enough, the sheriff’s office spokesperson also revealed “indications that the scene had actually been washed, cleaned with a water hose.”
At a press conference on Thursday, per Click 2 Houston and others, Sabine County District Attorney Paul Robbins confirmed that Michael has been charged with murder, desecration of a corpse, and tampering with a crime scene. His bail has been set at $10 million per charge.
MacDonough also confirmed that Michael’s wife and other son — Mark’s mother and brother — were interviewed by investigators, as well. They were not home at the time of the terrible shooting, per the sheriffs office, but authorities believe Michael called them about the incident before calling the cops.
What an awful situation. Mistaken for an intruder, shot, and killed (er, that’s the dad’s story at least, though it seems cops don’t buy it based on the murder charge) only to be cremated, hosed off, and washed away just like that?! Heartbreaking all around…
To learn more about the impact of gun violence, visit https://www.apha.org/topics-and-issues/gun-violence.
[Image via Sabine County Sheriff’s Office]
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