A 60-year-old man already out on parole for a decades-old murder conviction has been sentenced to 10 years in prison after he broke into a North Hampton home in south St. Louis while a young woman was inside alone. Kenneth Howard reached his hand through her window, tried her front door handle, and knocked over a flower pot before officers caught up with him nearby.
The incident happened on January 5, 2026, on the 5000 block of Lindenwood Avenue, according to the St. Louis Circuit Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case under docket number 2622-CR00047-01. Assistant Circuit Attorneys Isabella Zoog and Andrew Bennett handled the trial alongside Deputy Chief of Homicide Carolyn Chkautovich, the office says. While early coverage of the break-in, including a report from FOX 2, placed the address generally in south St. Louis, the Circuit Attorney's Office has since specified that the block falls within the North Hampton neighborhood.
Police were notified that someone was trying to get into a home on Lindenwood Avenue, and the responding officers learned that Howard had broken a window screen and opened the window, reaching his hand inside, per FOX 2's reporting. The 26-year-old woman who lived there was home alone and fled in fear when she saw him reaching through the window and later spotted him pacing on her front porch. She handed officers surveillance video showing Howard on the porch, and police found him nearby before she identified him during a show-up identification, according to the Circuit Attorney's Office.
A Jury's Enhanced Finding
A St. Louis jury found Howard guilty in July of first-degree burglary and second-degree property damage, and jurors also designated him a prior and persistent offender based on his criminal history, the Circuit Attorney's Office reported. That designation mattered for his sentence: under Missouri Revised Statutes Section 569.160, first-degree burglary is a Class B felony that typically carries 5 to 15 years in prison when someone unlawfully enters an occupied building intending to commit a crime, according to Beerup Law.
But Missouri's habitual offender statute, RSMo Section 558.016, allows a defendant found to be a persistent offender to be sentenced within the range for a felony one class higher than the crime itself, according to Rose Legal Services. That meant Howard's Class B felony could be punished as though it were a Class A felony, opening the door to the 10-year sentence handed down by the court.
Out on Parole for a 1997 Murder
Prosecutors say Howard was on parole for second-degree murder at the time of the burglary. He was convicted in 1997 of second-degree murder, armed criminal action, and first-degree burglary, and was originally sentenced to life in prison plus 115 years, per the Circuit Attorney's Office. He was later released on parole.
Howard was later released on parole, a subject discussed generally by MRD Lawyers. Nearly three decades later, prosecutors say, he ended up reaching through a stranger's window in North Hampton.
Prosecutors Emphasize Community Impact
Circuit Attorney Gabe Gore framed the case as more than a property crime. “Burglary is more than a crime against property. It is an intrusion that can fundamentally change how someone feels in the place they call home,” Gore said. He added that Howard's sentence “removes a convicted murderer from the streets of St. Louis and makes the community safer,” and said the defendant “demonstrated a continued willingness to commit serious crimes.”
The neighborhood where the break-in happened is generally considered one of the city's safer enclaves — local crime data compiled by DoorProfit shows North Hampton's overall crime rate running roughly 25% below the citywide St. Louis average. That contrast helps explain why prosecutors leaned so heavily on the psychological toll of the intrusion rather than treating it as a routine break-in.
Part of a Broader Prosecution Pattern
Howard's sentence illustrates how the Circuit Attorney's Office can use persistent offender laws to push sentences well beyond what a first-time burglary charge alone would carry.
