A FORMER state trooper has been sentenced to life in prison for brutally murdering his wife and staging it to look like a suicide by placing her body in a bathtub filled with water.
Harrowing footage shows the moment cops arrived at the scene of Kendy Howard’s death in February 2021 to find her husband of 26 years, Dan Howard, screaming and crying in the front yard.
Dan Howard’s mugshot after being charged with murder in April 2023[/caption]
Kendy Howard, who was found dead in her bathtub[/caption]
Bodycam footage shows the bathroom where Kendy’s body was found[/caption]
Bodycam footage shows Dan Howard crying after killing his wife[/caption]
First responders went to the Howards’ home in Athol, Idaho, which is about 20 miles outside of Coeur d’Alene, after Dan called 911 to report his wife’s death.
“My wife, she shot herself,” Dan told the operator through sobs.
“She’s in the bathtub dead. I go upstairs and she’s dead. She’s dead…she’s gray, she has no pulse, nothing…she’s cold.”
The case is explored in a new episode of 48 Hours with CBS in an episode called The Bathtub Murder of Kendy Howard.
The program reveals bodycam footage of cops arriving at the Howards’ house to find Dan panicking at the brutal scene.
Kootenai County Sheriff’s Deputy Miranda Thomas told CBS the former Idaho State Trooper was “screaming, yelling, asking us for help, sobbing, gagging, just overall kind of freaking out.”
He later told cops he had been downstairs when he heard a loud thud from something hitting the floor upstairs.
Dan said that he went upstairs over an hour later to find Kendy with a gunshot wound to her head in a bathtub full of water.
Kootenai County Sheriff’s Detective Jerry Northrup said the 911 call was dispatched as a suicide because Dan told officials his wife had shot herself in the bathtub.
Deputies climbed the stairs of the home to find a chilling scene – and Thomas recalled the gun was in the tub with Kendy’s naked body.
However, investigators soon spotted red flags at the scene.
“From the beginnings, it looks odd,” Northrup told 48 Hours correspondent Peter Van Sant.
“For a woman to shoot herself in the tub, nude, is unusual,” he said.
“It doesn’t mean it can’t happen. It just means that it’s unusual.”
Timeline of the case
February 2, 2021 – Dan Howard calls police to report his wife, Kendy Howard, died by suicide
April 21, 2023 – Police arrest Howard in connection to the murder
December 8, 2023 – Howard is released from jail on bond
March 2024 – After a three-week trial, Howard is found guilty of second-degree murder and domestic battery.
May 23, 2024 – Howard is sentenced to life in prison without parole
Cops noticed a packed duffle bag full of women’s clothes at the bottom of the stairs, along with broken glass in the couple’s bedroom.
According to Northrup, investigators also found wet towels behind the bathroom door – and noticed that the bathtub water was still lukewarm.
LAUNDRY CLUE
Investigators also found a load of laundry going with minutes left on the dryer cycle.
“A washer or dryer doesn’t run for very long, 45 minutes, maybe an hour, so when was this washer and dryer started?” Thomas asked.
Northrup reported that he recorded six minutes left on the dryer cycle. After researching the specific running times of the laundry unit, he compared the minutes against the time of the 911 call.
He found that the minutes left meant the dryer cycle likely started at 10:42 pm – just one minute before the 911 call came in.
“Dan knows things that most normal people, ordinary people, don’t know,” retired Kootenai County Sheriff’s Det. Sergeant Ken Lallatin told CBS.
“Things like killing someone and staging it to look like a suicide.”
The U.S. Sun has reached out to the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office for comment.
LIFE IN PRISON
Two years later, Howard was arrested and charged with murder.
During his trial in March 2024, prosecutors said that Kendy was planning to divorce Howard and he discovered she was having an affair, which prompted his violent attack.
Experts said at trial that Kendy’s body was found with bruising and lacerations on her feet. They testified that there was a “suspicious” lack of blood at the scene, according to the Spokesman-Review.
Howard was found guilty of strangling his wife to death, putting her body in a bathtub, and shooting her through the mouth to make it look like a suicide.
First District Judge Lamont Berecz said Howard was “not sorry.”
“It’s clear to me you are a remorseless killer, and I don’t say that lightly,” Berecz said.
Judge Berecz sentenced Howard to life in prison without parole.
The Bathtub Murder of Kendy Howard airs on Saturday at 10 pm ET on CBS and streams on Paramount+.
If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call or text the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text Crisis Text Line at 741741.
Kendy Howard smiling[/caption]
The Howards’ laundry machines, which gave a suspicious clue to cops[/caption]
