48 Hours - The Bathtub Murder of Kendy Howard

Episode Date: September 30, 2024

Did a former Idaho state trooper use his law enforcement skills to stage his wife’s death in their bathtub? Peter Van Sant reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial, and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. It was 1989 in Titusville, Florida. Kim Halleck said she and her ex-boyfriend Chip Flynn were kidnapped and attacked at gunpoint. Kim fled the scene, but Chip didn't make it out alive. Did you kill Chip Flynn? No, ma'am. Crosley Green has lived more than half his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered, this is the one that troubles me most, involving an eyewitness account that doesn't quite make sense. A sister testifying against a brother.

They always say lies. You can't remember lies. A lack of physical evidence and questions about whether Crosley Green was accused, arrested and convicted because he's black. Just because a white female says a black man has committed a crime, we take that as gospel. Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the troubled case against Crosley Green, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. I was in my car. It was pretty late in the night. There was a male over the phone screaming at 911.

Right when I pull into the driveway, the front door opens. Over here, come on. And a man walks out of the house. Screaming, crying, yelling. Just overall kind of freaking out. It was a gunshot. It was downstairs. TV's gone. OK, well, we're shit. Upstairs in the bathroom.

They found Kendi upstairs in a bathroom. They found Kendi upstairs in a bathroom. With the tub full of water. Sir, what's your first name? Dan. Dan? Kendi was just so funny and nice. We just clicked and never stopped clicking. Dan and Kendi were just so funny and nice. We just clicked and never stopped clicking. Dan and Kendi were great neighbors.

We all became friends, you know, being neighbors. Small town, everybody, you know, barbecues and hanging out together. She wanted to just love life. And she loved life. She's in the bathtub. And she was in that tub of water with a gunshot wound to her head, and the gun was still in the water of the bathtub. Did something strike you about that scene?

Certainly. We have broken glass here. We have some of her clothing on the opposite side of the bed thrown on the floor. We have wet towels behind the door. Are you asking yourself that means what? From the beginnings, it looks odd. Dan Howard worked as a Idaho State Police trooper. Dan knows things that most normal people, ordinary people, don't know.

Things like what? Things like killing someone and staging it to look like a suicide. Dan thought he was smarter than everybody else, smart enough to trick everybody, and in the end that's what he did. everybody. And in the end, that's what he did. I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I'm so lost and confused because Dan's not arrested. I really did think that he would get away with it. Peter Van Sant reports. The bathtub murder of Kendi Howard. What's going on? Sir, they have to do their job.

This is their scene now. Sir, they have to do their job. This is their scene now. Send in medical. Kootenai County Sheriff's Deputy Miranda Thomas will never forget coming face-to-face with a distraught Dan Howard, a former state trooper at his home in northern Idaho on a cold winter's morning in February 2021. Oh damn it! Oh my god! He would scream and yell but there were no tears in his eyes at any point. He would act like he was gagging, but nothing would ever actually happen.

Deputy Thomas was one of the first responders to Dan's home, a place he shared with his wife of 26 years, Kendi. Dan, I know this is hard, but when is the last time that you saw your wife alive? Dan, do you want medical to look at you at all? No. Okay. Dan Howard told police he discovered his wife in the bathtub. He said she had shot herself in the head.

Kendi's own pistol was at the bottom of the tub in murky water. Secure the scene. Don't touch anything. OK. Kootenai County Sheriff's Detective Jerry Northrup when you look at arrived before midnight. Were you dispatched to a possible suicide? Yes, sir. It was identified as a suicide.

Northrup immediately began analyzing what was before him. For a woman to shoot herself in the tub nude is unusual. It doesn't mean it can't happen, it just means that it's unusual. Northrup, a crime scene expert, says something was missing from this death scene, especially considering Kendi had suffered a head wound. There would be a lot more blood that was produced, and I just didn't see that on her face, on her body, or in the tub.

Deputy Thomas also saw some curious things. I went into the house and found a packed duffel bag. Was someone planning on leaving the house? In the laundry room, the dryer was running, full of clean bath towels and mats. Having a dryer running at midnight, very odd, because I don't do laundry at midnight. Sure, you could, but... And despite the shock of finding his wife dead, Dan Howard appeared to have recently showered,

changed his clothes, and applied fresh deodorant. And you can tell that he's got deodorant lines on his T-shirt. Did something seem un-suicide-like to you? Certainly. There was no other signs of a suicide note. It's often standard procedure to check people at a shooting scene

for GSR, gunshot residue. And as a former state trooper, Dan Howard would know that. Yet Detective Northrup says Howard was uneasy about being tested. Mr. Howard stuck his hands into his coat pockets, and then he began twisting them to and fro,

back and forth repeatedly, until we told him to stop and remove his hands. Back and forth as if he's trying to wipe something off? Yes, that was the impression that we were getting. What was the result? It was negative. It was negative. Even though detectives were suspicious of all those

little pieces of evidence that didn't seem to add up, they could not rule out the possibility that Kendi could have taken her own life. Kendi's sudden passing stunned those who loved her. She loved life. I have never had so much fun with somebody. No care in the world. Michelle Lampert was one of Kendi's best friends. That's Kendi kneeboarding with Michelle in northern Idaho. She always laughed. My favorite is spin class and then to the brewery.

Nothing like spin class and brewery, but she felt like that was okay. She was a great mom. Brooke Wilkins is Kendi's daughter from an earlier relationship. Tell me about your mom. She just seems really special. She was. She had a big personality. She was happy to talk to anyone and make a friend and joke around.

Kendi was a small-town girl from northern Idaho. Sporty and outdoorsy, says her brother Brian. She rode her horse a lot, had sheep for 4-H, and well, she had a goat too at the same time. Kendi was just 22 when she married the former Marine-turned-Idaho State Trooper Dan Howard. He was six years older. Did she talk about the attraction? She did think he was very handsome, and I think the sense of security is a topic that was brought up quite a bit. Dan and Kendi settled on 10 acres in the town of Athol, just a speck on the map, 21 miles north of Coeur d'Alene. They had a son together, Wyatt. Like his dad, he became a Marine.

A neighbor, Carrie Maitland, says Dan and Kendi's marriage seemed strong. They were affectionate towards each other, and they were generally respectful to each other. Kendi worked at a local medical center. During 26 years of marriage, they made good money in real estate in this fast-growing state. By the time of Kendi's death, the couple had more than two million dollars in assets. And yet, money created friction between them. Her money was his money, and his money was his money. He never wanted to spend money. And there was more friction in the marriage, according to friends, after Dan, working as a trooper for the Idaho State Police, shot and killed a woman during a traffic stop.

Dan was cleared of all wrongdoing, but the incident took its toll on Kendi. I do believe she did become depressed. Years later, Dan would leave the state police. And things kind of changed between them. Kendi's brother Brian helped Dan find work on the North Slope, the oil fields of Alaska. He'd work three weeks straight and then come home for three weeks. And she was free for three weeks is when she really decided to experience life. Brian says the couple grew apart. There was arguing, bickering pretty much the whole time i'd be up there around them

but i didn't think it was anything but brooke says it was the beginning of the end of their relationship candy was frustrated and lonely she's very vocal that she does not love him that there's no love in this marriage michelle says kendendi had an affair and even planned plastic surgery. She was just super excited. And that's when Kendi told Dan she was moving out and wanted a divorce. And she had started the process of buying a new house. And I think she really felt that it would be okay.

By the end of January 2021, just days before her death, Kendi met with a divorce lawyer. When Dan came home from work... She just told him, I mean, she just told him everything. And I think that point, I did get scared. She said he was fine. He wasn't fine. Oh, damn it! In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California.

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and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It never made sense to me. It never made sense. When first responders examined Kendi Howard's body in her bathtub, she had a gunshot wound to the back of her mouth, and her pistol was in the water. Dan Howard told everyone that Kendi had taken her own life.

Were you buying that? No. I couldn't see her leaving her kids and granddaughter. When he learned his sister was dead, Brian rushed over to her house. He walked right up to Dan. There was no emotion. He wasn't crying. I asked him if he'd ever hurt my sister, and he wouldn't look me in the eye, and he said no. Kendi's friend, Michelle, was also certain Kendi had not taken her own life.

Kendi was not depressed. You don't think about doing plastic surgery. You don't go work out. You don't go to spin class. But Carrie Maitland, Kendi's neighbor, says Kendi had been deeply unhappy. Maitland, Kendi's neighbor, says Kendi had been deeply unhappy. Months earlier, she says Kendi told her about problems in her marriage. She's just crying and crying and crying, and she's like, I don't even deserve to be here.

Carrie doesn't think there's any mystery about what happened in that bathroom. I do believe that Kendi committed suicide. In the hours following Kendi's death, Detective Jerry Northrup said he had questions about Dan Howard's version of events. There's an order to things, and a logical order. It did not make sense. One thing that didn't make sense that night was the clothes dryer running when first responders entered the house. There were still six minutes showing on the display. So Northrop did some

digging. I went to the manufacturer's site, pulled up the specifics about the times for cycles, and then took that information and compared that against the time at which the 911 call was placed. And what do you learn? That it was started within a minute of the 911 call. Did your son shot himself? Oh, my wife! It suggested that he was doing actions, like starting laundry. And rather than his claim that he was checking on Kendi

Howard and that he was inconsolable and upset, it just didn't add up. And there were other red flags for Detective Northrup. Did you find any signs of a struggle, that there had been some sort of a physical confrontation between these two? Yes, we did. Up in the master bedroom, we noted on the floor that there were pieces of broken glass. And there was that question of the amount of blood in the bathtub.

With a wound to the head, that water would be much darker, red-colored, right from the blood. Yes, sir. Based on my experience, that would be consistent, that the fact that there wasn't was inconsistent. Inconsistent suggesting it might not be a suicide. Correct. Everything started directing us to the path that this was a staged crime scene. Nothing about this case felt right from the beginning. Detective Sergeant Ken Lallaton, now retired, was the lead investigator. So, what happened tonight? Marital problems. She wants a divorce one day, she doesn't the next.

So, she brought home divorce papers. Just playing where he wants. We just grew apart, I guess. Lolleton says he quickly became convinced Dan was playing them. I had the sense that Dan had a story that he had planned to share with us that evening. It felt very contrived. Almost scripted in a way? Absolutely, yeah, definitely scripted. One example, Lallatin says,

was Dan Howard telling him that Kendi had once put a gun to her head. She put it to her head. She freaked me the f*** out. And I thought, for sure, here we go. And dropped the gun and f***ing shot through the floor. Same gun? Same gun. Lallatin says Howard told him that after a heated argument that night over splitting their finances,

Kendi went upstairs to take a bath. A short time later, Howard heard what he described as a thud. Sounded like something hit the floor or something, I don't know. But he didn't investigate for more than an hour. That's when Howard says he found her dead in the tub. How many times have you ever described a gunshot as a thud? I don't think I've ever described a gunshot as a thud. I certainly would not expect someone who served in the Marine Corps,

served approximately 20 years in law enforcement, someone who was a firearms instructor, someone who had been on their SWAT team. I think if anybody's going to know what the sound of a gunshot is from inside a residence, it's going to be Dan Howard. As the morning came, Dan called his stepdaughter Brooke and told her the news. It didn't go well. Even though you can't hear her,

Lallerton says he could hear Brooke shouting at Dan. What were you talking about? Who was that, Dan? It was my daughter, Brooke. Did she just accuse you of this? No. What a sound of life. Why would she do that, Dan? Why would she think you did this? No. Let's see what it sounded like. Why would she do that, man? Why would she think you did this?

I haven't heard somebody that angry in a long time. I'll be honest with you, I was not expecting anything like that. I was across the room and I could hear her. Oh, I know. She's angry. Kids don't want to believe their mom was with you. Not one time have I ever been to a suicide or even heard of one where one of the family members call and accuse her stepdad of murdering her mom. It was a very powerful moment. And I literally was able to see Dan Howard almost physically shrink down.

Like the walls are closing in. Oh, 100%. Dan, why does your daughter think you killed your wife? What evidence sticks out to you from the scene of Kendi Howard's death? See more evidence from the case at 48hours.com. In the early morning of February 3rd, 2021, Dan Howard's behavior continued raising the suspicions of Kootenai County detectives. What were you talking about? They had just overheard that phone call from his stepdaughter, Brooke,

accusing him of killing her mother. I'm hysterical. I'm crying pretty hard. And you're believing that no way she shot herself. Right. I tell him that I don't know what happened, but I know you did this. Because I got to tell you, that phone call put chills down my spine.

Detective Sergeant Ken Lallaton confronted Dan about Brooke's accusation. You did it, didn't you? No, I didn't. I didn't think so. But now, after it wasn't that, I think you did, didn't you? How the now, after wasn't that? I think you did, didn't you? How the hell, how the hell?

She doesn't know. She wasn't here? Within minutes, Dan Howard stopped responding to questions. Detectives were now very suspicious because as an ex-cop, Howard had special skills. Dan knows things that most normal people, ordinary people don't. Things like what? Things like killing someone

and staging it to look like a suicide. But there wasn't enough physical evidence at the scene to arrest him. What's more, later that day, an autopsy was done, and the medical examiner concluded Kendi had died from that gunshot. Kendi's daughter Brooke was perplexed. She says her mother never took her gun out of the safe.

Mom never touched a gun. She wouldn't have used a gun. There's something not making sense here. And I'm so lost and confused because, you know, Dan's not arrested. What Brooke didn't know was that the investigation was zeroing in on Dan Howard. Just hours after Kendi's death, Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney Stan Mortensen was called in to consult with detectives. They pieced together a detailed timeline of the couple's relationship. What did you learn about Dan Howard? So we learned that Dan Howard was not the person that we thought he was.

At home and behind closed doors, he was a different person. Investigators focused in on an alarming incident Dan was involved in from 2013, when he was still a state trooper. Dan had found out Kendi was having an affair with a neighbor who also happened to be Dan's good friend. Enraged, Dan confronted him at his office. He threatened to, I believe his words were splatter his brains all over the walls. Threatened to kill him. Threatened to kill him. Dan Howard was accused of repeatedly harassing the neighbor and eventually pleaded guilty to two felonies

and served almost four months in jail in connection with that incident. He was allowed to resign from the Idaho State Police. After that, Kendi's friend Michelle says the couple's relationship seemed to change. She was stuck to him like glue, just like glue, like hanging all over him. And she was never that way before. I think back going, was she scared? In the years that followed, Michelle says Dan was controlling and quick to anger, especially when it came to Kendi's spending.

Dan never wanted to go do anything because that would spend money. I just don't think she was her full personality when he was around. But when Dan was about to head back to Alaska for work... She was a totally different person. I think she realized the more she was free, the more she loved life, and she didn't have to be under his thumb. They continued to grow apart. Then, Kenny told Michelle about an explosive argument just seven months before her death. She had hidden credit cards and he found the bills and that started that argument.

He grabbed her and held her and there was bruises on her neck and her... She sent me pictures. You could see them. Clara's day in the pictures. She just told me not to tell anybody. Kendi never reported any kind of abuse from Dan to authorities. How long had this physical abuse been going on? Do you have a sense? We really don't know. It had been going on? Do you have a sense? We really don't know.

It had been going on at least six months before she died. Then, just four nights before Kendi Howard's death, deputies were called to the Howard home. Kendi's mother had asked for a welfare check after hearing a panicked Kendi on the phone. Sheriff's office. A visibly nervous Kendi answered the door. Do you mind if we talk to you guys really quick?

Sounds fine to me. All right. Hours earlier, Kendi had picked Dan up at the airport, coming home from the oil fields of Alaska, and apparently upset him by saying she wanted a divorce. Kendi tells a deputy she needs to get something from the bedroom. And so I can go?

Yeah, do you mind if I follow you? That let the deputy speak with Kendi away from Dan. I have started a divorce and he just called me not to take any of it. OK. I can't say what he was going to do with me. Did it ever become physical? I think I woke up in time, so it wouldn't.

Okay. When you woke up, where was he? I don't know where he was. Was he yelling? Was he arguing? Okay, so he's always kind of just that calm. I think he's fine. That's what's weird. Okay. All right. I know what I see, and I know what he was going to do. Kendi, is this your bag as well?

No, that's his. Okay. The deputy helped Kendi leave the house, but investigators would later say they couldn't arrest Dan because Kendi never told deputies Dan had physically harmed her. Deputy prosecuting attorney Julia Schofstahl later learned that Kendi had told friends what had happened. She wakes up in the early morning hours to Dan standing over her,

wearing dark clothes, black latex gloves, a pillow in his hand, the look in his eyes. It was a look that she had never seen before and that she wholeheartedly believed in that moment that he was going to kill her. But later that day, Kendi returned home. She told friends and family that he wasn't stupid enough to try something again, that she felt like she had some level of safety. What's the tragedy in this case to you, the biggest tragedy of all? That she was so close to getting out.

In text messages to Kendi, Dan Howard said it was all a misunderstanding and he was willing to work things out. But there were other signs he wasn't okay. The day before Kendi's death, her brother Brian took a long road trip with Dan. He started asking me about who Kendi was having an affair with. Brian says Dan figured out Kendi was seeing the real estate agent who was helping her buy that new house near her hometown. You could tell he was mad.

near her hometown. You could tell he was mad. The next day, Kendi was dead. To prosecutors, the circumstantial evidence against Dan was adding up. After reviewing Kendi's autopsy and photos taken of Kendi's body, investigators discovered that, in fact, Kendi had multiple bruises all over her body. Her body was riddled from head to toe with bruises and some lacerations.

And her jaw had been broken. I believe that Kendi was beat severely by Dan. So what really happened that night? The theory that Kendi's death scene could have been staged began to take on a new light. She's in the bathtub. Kendi did not die from a gunshot wound. Wait, wait, stop. She was shot, I understand, in the mouth.

The bullet lodged in her vertebrae, and it didn't kill her? Exactly. We believe that Kendi was already dead when she was shot. Hot shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney,

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And listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. As a kid growing up in Chicago, there was one horror movie I was too scared to watch. It was called Candyman. The scary cult classic was set in the Chicago Housing Project. It was about this supernatural killer who'd attack his victims if they said his name five times into a bathroom mirror. Candyman. Candyman? Now, we all know chanting a name won't make a killer magically appear, but did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder?

I was struck by both how spooky it was, but also how outrageous it was. We're going to talk to the people who were there, and we're also going to uncover the larger story. My architect was shocked when he saw how this was created. Literally shocked. And we'll look at what the story tells us about injustice in America. If you really believed in tough on crime, then you wouldn't make it easy to crawl into medicine cabinets and kill our women. Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder,

early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. I think Dan always had a level of control over Kendi. And I think by February 2nd, he had realized that that control was gone. Weeks into the investigation, prosecutors believed the circumstantial evidence showed Kendi died at the hands of Dan Howard. But with the medical examiners ruling that Kendi had died from a gunshot wound and no DNA evidence linking Dan to Kendi's gun, prosecutors faced challenges. So they called in other experts to take a second look at the evidence, including forensic pathologist Dr. Jennifer Nara. I looked at the autopsy report. I reviewed all the photos, all the x-rays, the toxicology results.

I did not agree with the original cause of death, that she died from a gunshot wound at the head. Dr. Nara walked us through her analysis. I looked at what the trajectory was, the path the bullet took inside Kendi's mouth. I thought that was unusual because it was going in a slightly downward direction. Typically, gunshot wound suicides, they go either straight back to the mouth or go slowly upward. And can you demonstrate the path of this bullet? I sure can. So I have a skull model here. And if you don't mind helping me out, then I'm going to take this rod to show

the direction that the bullet traveled through the mouth, through the tongue, and it tore through the tongue like a torpedo. It just went straight through the center of the tongue. And would there have been a lot of blood? Absolutely. It's going to bleed like crazy. Because the heart is beating at the time that the bullet went through that tongue. Exactly. But when Dr. Nara reviewed the photos of the crime scene, she says she didn't see the amount of blood she would have expected to. There was not enough blood.

And there were those bruises on Kendi's body and her broken jaw, which Dr. Nara says were sustained before Kendi had died. Injuries that suggested a physical struggle of some sort. Correct. She's got bruises throughout her body. She's got bruising on both sides of her neck, which is consistent with her being probably choked. What did you conclude?

I believe that Kendi Howard was already dead when she sustained that gunshot wound. So she was already strangled or choked to death. And when she was placed in the bathtub, she was already dead. So then how did Kendi die? Prosecutors say Dan Howard used a restraining technique he learned back in his days as a state trooper. We believe that he utilized a technique known as a carotid restraint. Show me how it works. So what you would do is you'd place your arm around somebody's neck and head and their chin is going to be in the crook of your elbow. Prior to becoming an attorney, prosecutor Stan Mortensen had been a

sheriff's deputy and like Dan Howard had been trained in administering the carotid restraint hold, rarely used as it cuts off blood flow to the brain. If it's applied too long, it can cause death. And that right there was our theory in how Dan killed Kendi. It's an interesting theory, but you do concede it is a theory, right? No witness came forward to say that Dan told me he did this, or there's no physical evidence that proves that he did theory, right? No witness came forward to say that Dan told me he did this, or there's no physical evidence that proves that he did this, right? Not the carotid restraint technique, correct.

But Dan knew how to use this technique and taught other people how to use it. So we weren't just grabbing this theory out of thin air. This was something that Dan actually knew. It took two years for the prosecutors to build their case. Finally, in April 2023, Dan Howard was charged with murder. He was also charged with domestic battery from that incident seven months before Kendi's death, when she took those photos of her bruises and sent them to her friend Michelle. He pleaded not guilty and posted bail.

Howard was ordered to wear an ankle monitor while he awaited trial. All right. In March 2024, a clean-shaven Dan Howard went on trial. The judge ruled that any mention of Dan's previous criminal history or his 2011 killing of a woman during a traffic stop was forbidden. It will turn out to be opening statements. In his opening statement, prosecutor Stan Mortensen said Dan and Kendi Howard had fought over finances that night and it turned physical, with Dan bruising Kendi, breaking her jaw, then killing her with the carotid restraint hold. Then, he said, Dan Howard staged the scene by placing Kendi's body in the

bathtub and shooting her. Ladies and gentlemen, the evidence will come in and will demonstrate that this was not a suicide. Evidence will show that Kendi died of asphyxiation. Evidence will show that Dan Howard is guilty of murder. Dan's lawyer, Jason Johnson, countered the state's claims by asserting that an emotionally troubled Kendi Howard had shot herself. She is struggling with whether she wants to leave Dan. He pointed out that Dan's DNA was not even on Kendi's gun.

The gun had Kendi's blood on it, but Dan's excluded it. And he dismissed the state's assertion there was a physical fight that night. Kenny did not have any DNA under her fingernails. There were no defensive marks on Dan. Johnson also said the investigators were all wrong about the lack of blood at the scene, pointing out that several hours had passed before some of the crime scene photographs of the bathtub had been taken and some of the water could have drained. How much blood went down that drain? Johnson attacked the prosecution's claim

that Kendi was dead from asphyxiation before she was shot by calling that medical examiner who performed Kendi's original autopsy. The cause of death is gunshot wound? That's my opinion. More than a week into the proceedings, the trial recessed for a long weekend break. That night, prosecutors learned of a new, dramatic development that seemed to be right out of a television crime show. It seemed Dan Howard was making a run for it. What do you think of the prosecution's theory of how Kendi Howard died? Chat now with the 48 Hours team on Facebook and X.

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You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+. It's just The best idea yet. With his trial winding down, Dan Howard, who was out on bail with an ankle monitor, suddenly took off. This was the great escape. He was hoping to get away. He did it right after we finished with all of our evidence. A deputy was tracking Howard that night. You know, this is I-90 going 70 miles an hour. He abruptly took an exit and then got back on the highway, you know, looking in his rearview mirror,

is somebody following me? About an hour later, Howard made it to the Spokane International Airport. He's right there at the airport terminal But he's right there at the airport terminal. He's right there at the airport terminal. Dan was taken out of the car. He was put into handcuffs. Howard claimed he had gone there to help a friend return a rental car, not to make a run for it. And I think it's possible that he was going to cut the ankle monitor off, leave it in his car, and then drive away in another rental car. Instead, Howard's drive was a short one, back to a jail cell in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

His bail was revoked. Days later, the prosecution made closing arguments. Ladies and gentlemen, the state has shown you this was not suicide, because a dead person cannot shoot themselves in the mouth. The jury was not told about Howard's escape attempt. Dan Howard's defense attorney insisted that Kendi took her own life. The scene is consistent with suicide.

And that Howard did not have the skills to stage a murder scene. There's no evidence that he worked as a detective. There's no evidence that he had any sort of comicidal training. No evidence of the knowledge of staging a scene. Have you in fact reached a verdict? After 10 days of trial, 62 witnesses, and just over eight hours of deliberations, the jury reached a verdict. Is the defendant, Daniel Howard, guilty or not guilty of second-degree murder? Guilty. I cried. There was, I think, I gasped that there was crying. And did you look at Dan?

I'm looking at him and as he turns, there's just, there's no expression. There's no look of remorse. Dan had shown no emotion. But two months later, at his sentencing,

he begged the judge for leniency. I love my wife, and I miss her. And I'm not that monster. I assure you that people are trading me. Kenny and I had 28 years together, and raised a family, had mostly a good marriage and a good life. I'm not that animal that they betrayed me. It is not my intention to anger the court or disrespect the process that I used to believe in, but your honor,

it's a valid sentence and it's a criminal prison. Thank you, Mr. But the judge wasn't moved. What we know, beyond a reasonable doubt, is that you strangled your wife, you murdered her, and then you staged her naked body in the bathtub, shot her through the mouth, and tried to pass this off as a suicide. You killed a mother.

You killed a grandmother. You killed a mother. You killed a grandmother. You killed a sister. You snuffed that out because of your own pride, greed, and anger. Pride, greed, and anger, said the judge, but others kept coming back to the word control. To me, this case was about a man who thought that he could control a woman. And if he couldn't get his way, he was going to force it. All rise. I cried.

It's such a relief that people got to hear what actually happened. Kenley Wilkins and Ken D's granddaughter. And what do you have in front of you here? Chickens. Brooke's daughter, Kenley, was just eight when her beloved grandmother was murdered. Now 12, she treasures these glass chickens that her grandma collected. Do you feel a connection to your grandmother when you see these?

Yeah. She had a china hutch? Yeah, a china hutch. It was just full of chickens, so I'd always just try to look how many different colors there were. Pretty cool grandma. You loved her, didn't you? What's the hardest thing for you? Probably her smile.

It's tough, isn't it? I want justice for Kendi. What I hope they get from this story, that you don't have to live like this. I wish I could have stopped it. I'm still shocked that we're still talking about domestic violence, and that sometimes you can't do anything

dan howard was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole if you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, contact the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233. Join me Tuesday for Postmortem from 48 Hours, where we'll dive even deeper into today's episode and answer your questions about the case.