A Houston attorney, Michael Howard, has been charged with the murder of his son Mark Randall Howard, after reporting the incident as a "horrible accident" to a Sabine County sheriff’s deputy. The 68-year-old attorney is also charged with tampering with evidence following the tragic event at the family’s east Texas lake house, according to Eyewitness News.
Upon responding to Michael Howard's call, deputies were led to a woodpile on the property where they found what are believed to be charred body parts and bones. Having charred from an apparent cremation attempt, these remains were discovered on Howard's property, said the Sabine County Sheriff’s Office. Houston Public Media reported that Howard placed the body of his 20-year-old son, diagnosed with Down Syndrome, in a front-loading bucket of a backhoe and transported it over a mile from the initial incident location before setting it ablaze on a woodpile.
The bond for Howard has been notably stiff, set at a total of $20 million -- $10 million for each charge of murder and tampering with evidence. In a statement obtained by Houston Public Media, JP MacDonough, an investigator with the sheriff's office, discussed the severe nature of the crime and the subsequent charges at a press conference.
As the investigation unfolds, it was revealed by MacDonough that the site of the shooting appears to have been washed with a water hose, indicating a possible attempt at cleaning up evidence. "Mr. Howard committed this act and then in furtherance of that, burned the body and cleaned the crime scene, which as an investigator, I would take as indicative of nefarious purposes," MacDonough said. The Sabine County District Attorney, Paul Robbins, is preparing to move forward with an indictment before a grand jury, as expressed in a discussion with Howard's attorney and shared by Eyewitness News.
