An attorney who allegedly shot his son and then burnt his body in a wood pile says it was a ‘horrible accident’ after he mistook his son for an ‘intruder’.
Michael Howard, 68, from Houson, was arrested on Monday (December 2) and charged with one count of murder and another of tampering with evidence, Sabine County investigator JP MacDonough said at a press conference on Thursday (December 5).
Howard’s deceased son, Mark Howard, was 20 years old and had Down syndrome, MacDonough said, although he was ‘high functioning’ and had a job.
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Howard allegedly told police he had ‘mistaken’ his son Mark ‘for an intruder at his property’ and shot him, MacDonough said.
When police arrived at Howard’s property, he showed officers around and provided them with the shotgun he allegedly used before leading them to the wood pile roughly two miles away where he allegedly burned his son’s body.
MacDonough alleged: “[Howard] had taken the body of the deceased, placed it in the front loading bucket of a backhoe tractor, and carried it to a remote area on his property and placed the body on a pile of wood and other burnable material, which had been previously set up and then, his words, ‘cremated’ his son in accordance with what he felt his son would have wanted.”
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The investigator alleged it also appeared the scene where the shooting happened had been ‘washed’ with ‘a water hose’. He waited approximately 17 hours after the shooting to call the sheriff's office, according to the Sabine County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies recovered from the burn site the burned fragments of a lower jaw with some teeth still remaining, KBTX reports. The remains were sent to the Jefferson County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Howard alleged ‘the whole thing was a horrible accident’, MacDonough told reporters.
“It is a bizarre crime,” MacDonough said. “Mr. Howard committed this act and then in the furtherance of that, burned the body and then cleaned the crime scene, which as an investigator I would take as indicative of nefarious purposes.”
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Howard’s wife, the victim's mother, and his two other children, were absent from the home when the shooting happened.
There have been phone calls made from the Howard home, one as recently as Friday, November 29, because of a stolen trailer.
Meanwhile, Texas District Attorney Paul Robbins told reporters his office is currently looking into possible further charges, including the desecration and mishandling of a corpse and other charges related to tampering with the crime scene.
UNILAD has contacted the office of Michael Howard for comment.
Gregory Robinson