Naman Shrestha
When the police were called to the Kootenai County residence of Kendy Howard in 2021, they were met with the body of Kendy Howard in the bathtub. Although it appeared that she had taken her life, the detectives decided not to jump to conclusions without further investigating the scene. It turned out that she was murdered, and the killer tried to make it look like suicide. The entire case is explored in detail in CBS’ ’48 Hours: The Bathtub Murder of Kendy Howard,’ which also features insightful interviews with individuals related to the victim and the investigation.
Kendy Howard’s Body Was Found in the Bathtub of Her House in 2021
Janie and Wendell Wilkins welcomed a little bundle of joy into the world on April 30, 1972, in Orofino, Idaho, in the form of Kendy Ann Wilkins Howard. After spending the first four years of her life in Kamiah, Idaho, Kendy and her family, including her brother Brian Wilkins, relocated to Lewiston, where she went to school and got closer to her hobbies and talents. Not only was she great at singing, but she also had a knack for dancing. Kendy was also known to be quite athletic, as she was a member of a youth track team. Since her early days, she had a soft corner for horses and religiously went to various rodeos in the area. She also owned a horse named Poppy.
Once high school started, Kendy’s routine of attending rodeos every other weekend gradually stopped, but she still spent time with Poppy whenever she could. To support her family financially, she worked at a couple of eateries, including the Pizza Factory and Jilindas Café. Soon after graduating from Kamiah High School in 1991, she became a mother for the first time as she gave birth to a daughter named Brooke, with Jim Forsmann. When things didn’t work with Jim, she started dating Daniel “Dan” Howard, an Idaho State Police trooper, and went on to marry him. The couple became parents to Wyatt and moved to a couple of places before finally settling in Athol. Later, she bagged a job at Kootenai Health and turned into a valuable employee of the organization because of her hardworking nature and determination.
She also took on the role of a 4-H leader and assisted kids with numerous projects. Kendy Howard appeared to be leading a happy and fulfilling life when, all of a sudden, she met her demise. On the night of February 2, 2021, the police received a distressed call from her Athol, Idaho, residence. Upon rushing to the property, they found 48-year-old Kendy floating in the bathtub with a gunshot wound to her face. While examining the scene of the crime, they noticed several abnormalities in the house, such as her clothing on the floor, broken glass in the bedroom, and wet towels behind the bathroom door. Moreover, further tests showed that she was strangled first and then shot in the mouth to make her death appear as a suicide. After ruling out suicide, a homicide investigation was launched.
Several Signs Suggested Kendy’s Life Was in Danger Prior to Her Murder
During the investigation, the detectives conducted multiple interviews with Kendy Howard’s family and friends, only to learn that the marriage between the victim and Dan Howard had turned sour at the time of her demise. Putting their focus on the husband, the investigators dug deeper into the interpersonal relationship between the two. They found out her husband allegedly had a controlling nature, owing to which Kendy had decided to divorce him after 27 years of marriage. At the same time, she had rekindled a romantic relationship with a guy from her high school and was in the middle of purchasing a house of her own.
Before her demise, Kendy also alleged that she woke up in the middle of the night to find her husband standing over her with gloves on. Little did she know that it was a foreshadowing of the things to come in her near future. What the authorities found more suspecting of Dan’s behavior was that he allegedly treated her loved ones in a cruel manner. For instance, when her daughter came to purchase one of Kendy’s belongings that he was selling at a yard sale, Dan called the police on her and had her taken away by the police on the grounds of trespassing. Furthermore, on the fateful night, Kendy and Dan were alone at their house when the latter claimed that he heard a loud thud from upstairs before finding his wife dead in the bathtub.
Kendy Howard’s Killer Maintained His Innocence But Was Found Guilty
After years of collecting evidence against him and connecting the dots, the investigators claimed that Dan first strangled Kendy and then proceeded to remove her clothes. After carrying her body into the bathroom, he carefully placed her in the bathtub and filled it with water, setting up the crime scene to appear as a suicide. In the end, Dan shot her through the mouth before dialing 911 and reporting her death. Finally, in April 2023, the police had gathered enough evidence to place him under arrest. He was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of felony domestic battery.
Less than a year later, in March 2024, Daniel Howard stood on trial for his crimes. Trying to convince the jury of his alleged innocence, he addressed the court, saying, “I’m not that monster, I assure you, the people have portrayed me to be. Kendy and I had 28 years together. We had mostly a good marriage and a good life…I could not have been the monster for 28 years.” However, despite the best efforts of the defense, by the end of the month, the jury returned with a guilty verdict and convicted him of the second-degree murder of Kendy Howard. A couple of months after the conviction, Dan was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, in addition to 10 years for domestic battery.
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