Latest / NO FILTER / Devastated Husband Believes He_s Fooling Everyone_ The Murder of Kendy Howard [Documentary](MP3_160K)

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Devastated Husband Believes He_s Fooling Everyone_ The Murder of Kendy Howard [Documentary](MP3_160K) · NO FILTER

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Coote and Eye County Sheriff's deputies arrived at the home
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: of Daniel and Kendy Howard around eleven pm on February two,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. Dan Howard, a marine and former state trooper,
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: was inconsolable. He had just discovered his forty eight year
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: old wife, Kendy, dead in the bathtub. Through cries of anguish,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: the distraught husband claimed there had been no foul play,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: but when investigators began digging into the details and peering
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: just under the surface, they decided that the evidence was
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: telling a very different story. Hi there, I'm Kevin, and
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: welcome to Just Thought Lounge. Today's case is a complicated one.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Kutenai County investigators pursued this case relentlessly as a homicide
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: based on their determination that the scene had been staged,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: but medical experts disagreed over the cause of death. The
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: physical evidence raised some red flat but offered no clear conclusions.
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Over several years, the investigation was fueled mostly by logical speculation,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: in the feeling that something was not right, or rather
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: that someone was not being truthful. Let's take a look.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: In February twenty twenty one, Daniel and Kendy Howard had
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: owned their home in Athel for almost twenty years. There
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: they had raised two children together, daughter Brooke from Kendy's
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: previous relationship, and a son, Wyat, a few years younger
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: than his sister, whom they shared. Both children had lived
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: in the family home as adults, albeit temporarily. Brooke was
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: a new mother herself, and Kendy adored spending time with
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: her granddaughter. More recently, the children had moved out, and
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: tensions began to rise. Fifty five year old Daniel, after
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: serving in the Marine Corps, had gone on to a
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: twenty year career in law enforcement. During that time, he
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: had served as a sheriff's deputy and an Idaho State trooper.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: By early twenty twenty one, he was working three weeks
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: on and three weeks off in Alaska. On the night
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: of February second, he had been home in Athel for
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: only a few days. It was nearly eleven PM and
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: the couple had been alone in the house. Dan recalled
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: that Kenny had prepared her regular evening bath around nine,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: but had not re emerged from the bathroom. When he
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: went upstairs to check in, he found his wife of
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: twenty seven years deceased in the bathtub. Next to her
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: was a handgun sitting in the now reddened bathwater.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: But for me, you make you okay all right? Can't
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: pat you house? You now?
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: Okay?
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: A day?
• 3:26
  Speaker 4: I can't a game?
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: You okay? Okay? All right?
• 3:51
  Speaker 4: In a chair?
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: Get up chairs something okay?
• 3:55
  Speaker 5: So that was good.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Responding Deputy Miranda Thomas found Dan Howard pacing and wailing
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: outside of the house as other deputies entered the home
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: to locate Kennedy. Dan paste hunched over, gagged occasionally, and
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: let out anguished cries.
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: Dan, YEA, that's better.
• 4:35
  Speaker 6: I'm shoving you a little more comfortable.
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: Deputy Thomas would later recall that Dan gagged without vomiting
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: and cried without tears. Officers inside cleared the house and
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: insured no one else was present.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: S The.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: Medical personnel had been called out to respond to the scene,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: despite Dance statements to the nine one one operator indicating
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: that his wife had already passed on.
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: This is their scene. Come up.
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: In the bathroom. At the top of the stairs, Coote
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: and Eye County deputies found Candy undressed in the bathtub.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: A semi automatic handgun was visible in the water next
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: to her, and there was a single spent shellcasing the
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: forty eight year old grandmother had sustained a gunshot wound
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: to the head. At first glance, it did not appear
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: to be a homicide. The gun in the water was Kendy's,
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: but there were aspects of the scene that did not
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: appear quite right. There was no clothing nor a bathroom
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: in the room for her to have changed out of
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: or into. The only towels were decorative hand towels, which
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: matched the decor of the room, not the kind of
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: towel one would have on hand for a bath. Kendy's
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: purse and cell phone were sitting on the bathroom counter,
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: though both were beyond in arm's reach from the tub.
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: Beyond these observations, it was the physical scene that raised
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: the most questions. Kenny had blood on her face that
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: had dried in the opposite direction of how she had
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: ostensibly fallen in the bathtub. Investigators noted that the direction
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: of movement appeared to be counter to the laws of gravity.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: Strands of her hair were loose and rested in the
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: opposing direction across her face. This again suggested she could
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: have been positioned where she was found, there was no
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: spatter at all on her hands. The bath mat at
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: the foot of the tub was soaked through with water,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: though nowhere else on the floor was wet. To the
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: seasoned investigator, there was one more obvious red flag. The
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: water was clear enough to see through. Had her death
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: been caused by the gunshot to her head in that bathtub,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: this should not have been the case. Elsewhere in the
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: house there were unexplained abnormalities. Shards of broken glass were
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: found on the carpet in the bedroom. In the basement,
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: the wood burning stove was raging. Responding officers described the
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: lower level of the home as uncomfortably hot. They later
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: came to learn from Brooke and other family members that
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: Dan insisted on heating the whole house using the wood burner,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: claiming that turning on the central heating was too expensive.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: As a result, the vents on all levels of the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: home were always open to enable air circulation. The result,
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Brookes said, was that sound carried easily from the lower
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: level one could clearly hear what was going on above outside.
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: Deputy Thomas noticed that Dan had what appeared to be
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: fresh deodorant stains on his t shirt. He later told
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: officers that he had showered at about three point thirty
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: that afternoon. By the time they arrived, over six hours
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: had passed. Just before discovering his wife, Dan must have
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: also been doing some laundry. Deputy Ben Wheeler, only roughly
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: five weeks into the job, found the dryer running. Six
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: minutes were left on the cycle. Based upon the time
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: stamp on his body camera and the six minutes documented
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: on the timer, it was deduced that he must have
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: started the cycle within only a few minutes of calling
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: nine to one one. It was Deputy Wheeler who had
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: the unenviable task of giving Dan Howard the news that
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: his wife was dead.
• 8:50
  Speaker 7: Phil sh I'm sorry to inform you that your wife's fast.
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: The deputy offered to contact family or anyone else that
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Dan wanted. After taking down some information to notify their
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: son Wyat, the deputy began asking the distraught husband a
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: few basic questions about how he had come to discover
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: his wife in the bathroom.
• 9:27
  Speaker 6: When is the last time that you saw your wife?
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: Was I know this this? How long ago? Did you?
• 9:46
  Speaker 6: Did you?
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: Then?
• 9:48
  Speaker 5: You win?
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: You for a shop?
• 9:52
  Speaker 6: It was a ship downstairs, so like some hit the
• 9:58
  Speaker 6: floor something when was the last from fourteen a bath
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: I don't know, fifteen, maybe thirty or so? Okay.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: When Deputy Ben Wheeler had first entered the bathroom, he
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: had held his gloved hand just over the waterline in
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: the bathtub. There were still bubbles present and the temperature
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: was still warm. Dan sat down with deputies and a
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: detective in his kitchen, where they would conduct a formal interview.
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: Further searching of the house was on hold as law
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: enforcement sought a search warrant. In the meantime, In full
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: view were notepads and other paperwork that suggested the state
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: of the Howard marriage. Most curious was a folder from
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: a family law office with divorce papers inside, So what
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: goals go on? Next to the attorney's folder was a
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: notepad listing all of the couple's assets with notations they
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: assigned the division of each item between them, including properties
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: that the couple owned. Their estate was worth close to
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: two million dollars in Idaho. This would be split equally
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: in a divorce.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: Divorces for discussion.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: Dan explained to Detective Northrop and Detective Lalatin that the
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: two had been having difficulties in the marriage. He suggested
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: that these problems must have been her motivation when she
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: brought the gun into the bath with her that night.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Dan explained how they had been finalizing the division of
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: assets two nights earlier. When Kenny told him that one
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: of the items she wanted was her gun, he went
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: to the gun safe and got it out for her.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Night.
• 12:51
  Speaker 5: We have safe guns fixed, awesome fixed.
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: That night, he explained, when Kenny returned home with some food,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: she had come to realize that there would be a
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: hiccup in the plans to divide the couple's assets. In particular,
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: Dan explained that she had been attempting to purchase a
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: new home of her own in Camei, where she had
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: grown up and could be closer to her parents. He
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: believed that the house would need to be split, along
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: with everything else, news that was apparently devastating to Kenny.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: But she was always very emotional, he said.
• 13:44
  Speaker 5: Jesus from doing and she shows the house has to be.
• 14:00
  Speaker 7: And it's cheating upstairs and shoot stakes a bath for death.
• 14:06
  Speaker 7: Suck out the headphone, so heard the suckingthom.
• 14:16
  Speaker 1: Dan stated clearly that he could hear the bathwater running.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: He thought that it had perhaps gone into an overflow
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: When he entered the bathroom, However, he told the detectives
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: that the water was just trickling. He said that the
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: bathroom door was open he heard something fall to the floor.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: The marine, with twenty years of experience in law enforcement,
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: had also been a firearms instructor. He had worked on
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: a swat team. Dan did not recognize the noise as
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: a gunshot.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: Curious law matters.
• 14:52
  Speaker 5: Every think it was a shot and watch TV looked
• 15:02
  Speaker 5: at trying to think, hust track of time, But any reasons.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: Shot before you today? The shot?
• 15:36
  Speaker 5: When was that.
• 15:39
  Speaker 3: Street or so?
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: Before his hands could be plastic grabbed and then swapped
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: for GSR. Detective Lalatin noticed Dan placed both of his
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: hands in his pockets. He appeared to be rubbing them
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: against the fabric on his legs. The motion was so
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: noticeable that Dan needed to be told to stop and
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: to keep his head hands away from his clothing. He
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: tested negative for GSR. There was some gunshot residue found
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: on Kendy's hands. Dan's DNA was not found in the tub.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: His DNA was found on a magazine left in Kendy's purse,
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: which sat on the bathroom counter from the house. Dan
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: called both of his children, his stepdaughter Brooke and son Wyat. Brooke,
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: upon hearing that her mother had died in what he
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: called a terrible accident, immediately accused her stepfather of murder.
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Kendy's parents, with whom she was very close and had
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: spoken with hours earlier, were not notified at the same time.
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: The two discovered what had happened independently the next day
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: when they drove into Athol to check in. They had
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: been unable to reach Kendy that morning. In fact, Dan
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: never spoke to his father in law at any point
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: after Kenny's death. He called into the funeral home to
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: arrange the payment for her cremation, but he did not
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: attend his wife's funeral. The autopsy on Kenny Howard was
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: undertaken by doctor John Howard of the Spokane County Medical
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: Examiner's Office in Washington. He was of no relation to
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: Daniel or Kendy. The autopsy was conducted the day following
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: her death, on February third. Responding officers at the scene
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: had all reached a similar conclusion. The way Kenny was
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: found and the way that her husband was behaving was
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: deeply suspicious. From patrol deputies, the crime scene investigators, and detectives.
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: Not one of them believed that Kennedy's death had occurred
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: in the way that Dan had described. Dan's background in
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: law enforcement made his claims to not recognize the sound
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: of a gunshot unlikely. His work experience also meant that
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: he would have been cognizant of the steps to take
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: to stage a crime scene. Law enforcement believed Kenny was
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: likely shot after she had already been killed, possibly strangled,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: and then moved to the bath. Doctor Howard, however, concluded
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: that there was no reason to believe that she had
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: died from anything other than the single gunshot. He decided
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: her cause of death was a gunshot wound, and her
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: manner of death was undetermined. Through almost three decades of marriage,
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: Kenny and Dan had experienced a few rough patches. The
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: former state trooper had found himself on the opposing side
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: of law enforcement more than once during that time as well.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: In twenty thirteen, the Cooteneye County Prosecutor's office asserted that
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Dan confronted and threatened to kill one of his closest friends,
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: a man named Matthew Wood. This occurred after Kenny allegedly
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: admitted to having an extramarital relationship with him. Dan allegedly
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: poured syrop in Matthew's vehicle, left him vulgar message, stole
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: his mail, and fired a shotgun at his house. Dan
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: admitted to some, but not all of these actions. The
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: judge who hurt his case said that he believed Daniel
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: Howard acted under considerable stress brought about by his return
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: to duty following a twenty eleven police shooting in which
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: he killed a woman. Shortly after that, he learned that
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: his wife had an affair with his best friend. Dan
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: received a three year suspended prison sentence. That Kenny was
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: miserable in the marriage was obvious. Rook recounted how Dan
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: would present himself and the relationship differently in public than private.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Around other people. He was often attentive and affectionate towards Kendy.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: In private, he would routinely insult her. He used callous insults,
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: including calling her fat, stupid, and slutty. The forty eight
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: year old had developed deep insecurities about her body, which
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: manif infested in extreme dieting, four am jim trips, and
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: eventually scheduling plastic surgery. She also alleged that Dan was
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: more than just verbally abusive. In July twenty twenty, only
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: months before her death, she sent photos of bruising on
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: her arms and chest to friends. Doctor Howard's conclusion was
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: a major setback in the death investigation. His medical opinion
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: contradicted the working theory that Dan had staged the gunshot
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: in the bathtub to cover the murder. One of the
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: greatest inconsistencies in Dan's story was his claimed motive for
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Kenny's actions. Dan described his wife as over emotional. He
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: told detectives repeatedly that he had wanted her to reach
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: out for help and to get medication. Family and friends, however,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: described the mother and grandmother as full of life. For
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: over ten years, Kenny worked in the supply services department
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: at Kutenai Health, a friendly and well liked coworker. In
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: her spare time, the grandmother loved antiquing, She enjoyed the outdoors,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: and she loved a nice bubble bath. Kendy was also
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: very chatty and kept in regular contact with her family.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: She spoke with her mother only hours before her death.
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: They had discussed new furniture to purchase for the house
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: in Camei. Kendy had given notice at her work in
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: preparation for the move. She had requested references for new
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: job applications and spoke of her dream of opening a
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: small antique shop in her hometown after she was settled in.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: She had also moved on romantically. Since the spring of
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty, Kendy had been rekindling a relationship with an
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: old flame from her teenage years. In the years since
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: high school, Daniel Pratto had remained in Camei and had
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: become friends with Kendy's parents, Janie and Wendell Wilkins. Kenny
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: and Daniel Pratto had always been friendly with each other,
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: but more recently they had spent time together one on
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: one doing activities they both enjoyed, hiking, fishing, and antiquing.
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: On January twenty ninth, only a few days before her death,
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: Kendy booked a cosmetic surgical package called a Mummy Makeover.
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: This included a tummy tuck and a breast augmentation. Kendy
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: was making plans she appeared to be moving on with
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: her life. In the early morning hours of January twenty ninth,
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: boyfriend Daniel Pratto received a phone call through Facebook Messenger
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: from Kendy's phone. When he picked up, he heard an
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: open line. Kendy and Dan were arguing. She sounded scared,
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: yelling towards Dan, what are you trying to do? As
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: well as let me close the door. After only fifteen seconds,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: Daniel hung up the line and dialed her parents. He
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: feared intervening directly may worsen an already volatile situation. Janie
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: and Wendell Wilkins called the sheriff's deputies out to their
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: daughter's home.
• 23:02
  Speaker 6: Are you kidding me?
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: Their calls from.
• 23:10
  Speaker 3: Do you like coming?
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Kenny greeted the deputy at the door and quietly led
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: him inside.
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: You must be mister Howard Daniel.
• 23:26
  Speaker 6: About mister Howard Daniel.
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Or behind the closed bedroom door, Kenny spoke barely above
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: a whisper.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: Your friend an moms consout you. I'm sure you call
• 23:44
  Speaker 3: us the same age. Friends are a lot more worried
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: about you. Just you know when you woke up, kay,
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: I know that's what you're both send. Okay, get that
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: when you're safety questioning yourself.
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: She said that she could not give him details while
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: Dan was in the house, but she did indicate that
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: she had just asked her husband for a divorce earlier
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: that evening. At that time, she wanted to pack a
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: bag and leave.
• 24:52
  Speaker 3: She had a base.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Details of what transpired emerged only after Kenny had safely
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: left the house in Camee. She told her boyfriend Daniel
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: and her parents that she had awoken in the night
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: to the sight of her husband hovering over her. He
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: was dressed entirely in black, wore gloves, and had items
• 25:16
  Speaker 1: in both of his hands. She saw that on top
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: of her he held a pillow. She did not clearly
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: see what was in his other hand, only that his
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: gaze directed down on her was terrifying. He seemed to
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: look straight through her. Kenndy was certain that Dan was
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: about to kill her. She had dialed Daniel Pratto rapidly
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: and locked herself in the bathroom. After Daniel disconnected, She
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: kept her parents on the phone until the sheriff's deputy arrived.
• 25:45
  Speaker 1: In the following days, her loved ones pleaded with her
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: not to return to the house. By that time, she
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: had realized that Dan had likely been holding a gun
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: in his other hand. She had spotted a magazine out
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: in the bedroom, which had been moved by the time
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: police arrived, but the next day Dan was trying to
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: make amends. He called her twenty six times, claiming that
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: it had been a misunderstanding. He was accepting of the divorce.
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: He said she could come home and they would work
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: through it. Kenny was anxious to finalize the divorce paperwork.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: She had also made two final appointments in Athel for
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: her eyeglasses and nails, and she needed to do final
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: check ins at her work. Kendy decided to return. Dan
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: had been caught red handed. He wasn't stupid enough to
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: try it again, She said. Her father gave her a
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: gun for her own protection and asked her once again
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: to please reconsider. It was the last time he would
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: see his daughter alive. The investigation lasted two years before
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: the Cooteneye County Prosecutor's Office felt that they had a
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: strong enough case against it Daniel Howard to try him
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: for murder. He was also charged with domestic battery for
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: the bruising Kenny displayed in July of twenty twenty. Prosecutors
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: framed their argument around the quote by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however, improbable
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: must be the truth.
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: Having the ability to read a crime scene and collect
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: evidence also gives the ability to stage a crime scene
• 27:28
  Speaker 2: and not leave evidence.
• 27:30
  Speaker 6: Three questions. Who who had the opportunity? Well, Dan was
• 27:35
  Speaker 6: the only other one in the house. Evidence will show
• 27:37
  Speaker 6: you that how who had the ability to stage a
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: crime scene? Dan had the law enforcement training and experience
• 27:46
  Speaker 6: needed to hide or leave little evidence of the scene. Why,
• 27:51
  Speaker 6: what's the motive?
• 27:53
  Speaker 2: Kenny was going to take half of everything in the.
• 27:55
  Speaker 6: Divorce one million dollars when she all the evidence And
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: we have concluded this case.
• 28:09
  Speaker 3: Is not impossible and has not been eliminated, and therefore we'll.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Be asking you, fine, boyfriend, Daniel Pratto told the jury
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: about the bubbly and energetic Kendy Howard that he had
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: known for most of his life. He spoke of their
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: rekindled romance as well as their future plans. Daniel was
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: not only Kenny's new love, he was also her realtor.
• 28:38
  Speaker 6: James there fine, maybe her in love with Kenny as
• 28:42
  Speaker 6: and of course in your relationship. Did you fall in
• 28:45
  Speaker 6: love with her?
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: Yes? He loves her?
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: Yes, she tell you? Does she love you?
• 28:53
  Speaker 5: Yes?
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: Is that something that you said to each other, can
• 28:58
  Speaker 6: we do?
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: Kendy also spoke with Daniel Prado about visiting with a
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: divorce attorney. The attorney told her that the house purchase
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: should not be impacted by the divorce. The couple could
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: not divide the house as an asset because she had
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: not fully purchased it. The house would have been considered
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: a debt. Yet, when speculating over Kenny's motivation to harm herself,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: Dan pointed specifically to her alleged realization that her new
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: dream home would need to be liquidated and evenly divided
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: along with everything else in the divorce. On the notepad
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: listing the couple's division of assets was marginalia in Dan's handwriting,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: showing that Kenny's new house in Camei would be included
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: in their agreement. It seemed impossible that Kenny would have
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: agreed to this and then been devastated by it, because
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: she knew from her attorney that no such thing would happen,
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: she was unlikely to lose the house. Dan, however, did
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: not know this. Several witnesses close to Kenny, including Daniel, daughter, Brooke,
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: her best friend, brother, and parents, testified that Kenny hated guns.
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: She'd never handled them and had never been observed loading one,
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: not to my knowledge. Kendy's brother, Brian, with whom she
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: had been close, told the jury that Dan had been
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: very suspicious of his wife In the days before her death.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: He asked his brother in law whether she was having
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: an affair and with whom It was. Brian's understanding that
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: Kendy was not being unfaithful, though he knew that she
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: was seeking a divorce.
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: Because I didn't know about the boyfriend, I had suspicion.
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: I asked, and I was told no, they.
• 30:47
  Speaker 6: Were just friends.
• 30:49
  Speaker 5: And so I looked at that.
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: You know, who's your.
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: Daniel product.
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: Only days before kenny death, Brian revealed the suspicions to
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: Dan Howard. Doctor Howard's determination of the cause of death
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: the single gunshot wound, remained the most significant outstanding question
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: that the state needed to resolve in order to make
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: its case. A few months after the autopsy had been conducted,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: doctor John Howard retired. According to his colleague, doctor Jennifer Narra,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: he had spoken about little else for months before leaving,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: as though the doctor already had one foot out the door.
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: It also emerged that in twenty eighteen, a total of
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: fourteen Manner of death cases concluded by the forensic pathologist
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: had been formally called into question and were under investigation.
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: The state argued that doctor Howard's conclusions were flawed, in
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: part because after decades on the job, he had simply
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: grown lazy and declared the easiest conclusion in this case
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: without considering all the facts. Doctor Nara was tasked with
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: reviewing and reevaluating her former colleague's report and conclusions on
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Kenny's case. She found that Kenndy Howard had bruising in
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: thirty distinct locations on her body sustained before she was killed, So.
• 32:17
  Speaker 7: The bruises that I pointed out in the photos to
• 32:19
  Speaker 7: be all looked at and were all injuries.
• 32:27
  Speaker 3: Bruises yes to blood horsetrap.
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: One of these areas was the chest, which would have
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: been representative of cutting off someone's airways. Kenny also had
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: a second degree burn on her arm. This level of
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: injury would have been extremely painful to expose to a
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: warm or hot bath. The state argued that she was
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: shot after she was dead. This explains the lack of
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: blood at the scene. It was central to their theory.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: Former Spokane County Medical examiner, doctor John Howard, for the
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: first time in his career, took the stand for the defense.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: When he did, he stated that there is absolute positive
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: evidence of a gunshot wound with the same amount of
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: hemorrhage or bleeding I've seen in hundreds of other gunshot
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: wounds that have proven fatal.
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: Was the amount of.
• 33:19
  Speaker 7: Blood that you observed consistent with an inter world gunshod Yes.
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: Two weeks into the trial, and just after the prosecution
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: rested its case, the court paused for a three day
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: break over the weekend. That Friday night, Spokane International Airport
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: police in Washington State arrested Dan Howard at the airport.
• 33:44
  Speaker 1: The conditions of his bond included an eleven pm curfew
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: and meant that he was not allowed to be within
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: two miles of the airport. After he was apprehended, defense
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: counsel told the judge that Dan was simply following a
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: friend who was returning a rental car and not in
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: fact trying to flee. The state said otherwise, it was
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: perfect timing after such a strong case had been made
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: against him. Dan had his bond revoked and was booked
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: into the Koten Eye County jail for the remainder of
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: the trial. During her closing argument, Julia Scoffstall, deputy prosecutor
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: for Kuten Eye County, put together all of the pieces.
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: Kenny was fun, she was active and engaged in her life.
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: The investigation had shown that the gunshot wound was not
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: self inflicted and had occurred after she was already dead.
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: They theorized that Dan would have been trained in the
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: crodded restraint technique, which cuts off blood flow causing a
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: person to pass out. Applied over an extended period of time,
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: it will kill someone and leave little to no visible damage.
• 34:52
  Speaker 6: Here the bad water running.
• 34:57
  Speaker 4: Anyway, he said, I heard something floor didn't sound.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: Like a shot.
• 35:03
  Speaker 4: The same defendant his father testify that he's completely deaf
• 35:08
  Speaker 4: in one ear, So he is a deaf in one
• 35:15
  Speaker 4: ear prior law enforcement officer, who was on a swat,
• 35:20
  Speaker 4: who was a firearms instructor. He cannot recognize the sound
• 35:24
  Speaker 4: of a gunshot going off in a small room with
• 35:28
  Speaker 4: an open door in his house, but he can hear
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: the bathwater running. And Howard, as an ex marine, was
• 35:39
  Speaker 4: trained in that parati shrinked.
• 35:43
  Speaker 2: He knew the dangers of that hold.
• 35:46
  Speaker 6: The lethality of it. He had worked in law enforcement
• 35:50
  Speaker 6: for a very long time.
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: Not just as a trooper, although troopers go to.
• 35:56
  Speaker 6: Many fatal scenes, but beyond that.
• 36:01
  Speaker 4: Swap firearms, instructor, instructor and with knowledge day King of
• 36:09
  Speaker 4: Prince politics.
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: Defense attorney Jason Johnson painted a different picture of Kendy Howard.
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: He claimed that she was going through a midlife crisis,
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: having an affair and living a secret life. There were
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: details in the States case that were missing and others
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: did not line up. Two search warrants had been issued
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: on the house, yet no gloves were found. How did
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: Dan stage just seen so cleanly without gloves? Only days before,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: Kenny had claimed to see her husband dressed all in
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: black wearing gloves hovering over her in the night, but
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: no black clothing was ever identified in the house either. Finally,
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: defense argued that there had been no clear outline of
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: the steps that Dan had taken. Was Kenny killed elsewhere
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: in the house and moved into the bath? Even the
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: theory of the death had holes in it.
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: No, dude, when she placed some tub, then waffled up,
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: then shot?
• 37:11
  Speaker 3: Why is there more water or land?
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: The only part of Lotter is there's a damp bathhouse,
• 37:20
  Speaker 2: it's not on floors.
• 37:21
  Speaker 6: Not if the water's in there, then it already and
• 37:26
  Speaker 6: Dan certainly would have had blood on them.
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: And again it doesn't explain or no gloves down.
• 37:31
  Speaker 3: So he would have had to use his.
• 37:35
  Speaker 2: Hand and describe it and put someone else's DNA. So
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: the state hasn't offered one theory on what happened.
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: The jury returned a verdict after nine hours of deliberation.
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: Count one, Is it defendive Daniel C. Howard guilty or
• 37:57
  Speaker 2: not guilty of domestic battery?
• 37:59
  Speaker 6: Guilty?
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: Count two? Is it Daniel C. Howard guilty or not
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: guilty of murder in the first degree? Not guilty? Is
• 38:10
  Speaker 2: the defendant.
• 38:12
  Speaker 5: Daniel Howard guilty or not guilty of second degree murder guilty?
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: In late May twenty twenty four, Daniel Howard was back
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: in court for sentencing. In under two months since his conviction,
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: the murderer had lost fifty pounds the result of a
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: hunger strike. Before receiving his sentence, Dan professed his innocence.
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: He stated that he loves and misses his wife and
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: the rest of his family.
• 38:45
  Speaker 6: As are sure.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: That's people trade sometimes the nature.
• 38:59
  Speaker 5: In vity of the defense standing alone is sufficient to
• 39:04
  Speaker 5: justify a fixed life sentence.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: And that is what I'm going to impose here.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: First, District Judge Lamont Barrett's sentenced Dan Howard to a
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: fixed life sentence, which will see him living out the
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: rest of his life in prison with no chance of release.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: He was also given ten years for domestic battery. That
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: term will be served Concurrently, Dan has become estranged from
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: his two children. Brooke testified against him, telling the court
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: how cruel he had been towards her mother. His son, Wyat,
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: was said to have accepted that his father was responsible
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: for the murder as soon as he learned of his
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: mother's death. Judge Barrett's believed that there is little chance
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: of Daniel Howard's rehabilitation. He concluded that you killed somebody
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: who brought a lot of life and light to those
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: around her. You snuffed that out because of your own
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: grind and greed. That was the tragic case of Kenny Howard.
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: Thanks for joining me, and a special thanks to Carmine's mom,
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: Rachelle will Kellis and Cbe Delivery. This is your shadow.
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: Thank you for joining the members lounge. I'm Kevin. This
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: is just thought lounge and I'll see in the next
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: one to see.
• 40:24
  Speaker 6: Please tell me who the scream saves. I can here
• 40:26
  Speaker 6: the crimes repeat.
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: Gotta take my time because these crimes get deep, but
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: these stories can't hide. Let me find my seat, Kevin,
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: go ahead and settle in.
• 40:32
  Speaker 6: Gott it be selective, doing all the research, keeping it objective,
• 40:36
  Speaker 6: always being effective. Can say he got in neck, pick
• 40:38
  Speaker 6: it a litter.
• 40:39
  Speaker 1: You see how Newton got his back.
• 40:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah, the content that you need this to be a
• 40:43
  Speaker 2: new sign. Talking in the comments they.
• 40:44
  Speaker 3: Got in the lives.
• 40:45
  Speaker 6: Tune in and like love that. It's it feels like
• 40:48
  Speaker 6: the whole world