How an unfinished dryer cycle caught the eye of Idaho first responders investigating the suspicious demise of a girl in a tub

When former Idaho State Trooper Dan Howard known as 911 from his residence in Athol, Idaho, on the evening of Feb. 2, 2021, he was crying a lot that it was exhausting to know what he was saying.

“My spouse … she shot herself,” Dan Howard advised the operator. “She’s within the bathtub lifeless … I am going upstairs and she or he’s lifeless. She’s lifeless … she’s grey, she has no pulse, nothing … she’s chilly.”

Dan Howard later advised authorities that he had been downstairs and heard one thing hitting the ground upstairs. Dan Howard mentioned that when he went upstairs over an hour later, he discovered his spouse of 26 years, Kendy Howard, in a tub full of water with a gunshot wound to her head.

The case — ranging from the hours after Kendy’s demise to a shocking last twist — is investigated by “48 Hours” and correspondent Peter Van Sant in “The Bathtub Homicide of Kendy Howard.” An encore of the printed airs Saturday, Could 3 at 9/8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.

Kootenai County Sheriff’s Deputy Miranda Thomas was one of many first responders to reach on the Howards’ residence that evening. Thomas later described how Dan Howard was “screaming, yelling, asking us for assist … sobbing, gagging, simply general type of freaking out.”

Additionally on the scene that evening was Kootenai County Sheriff’s Detective Jerry Northrup. Northrup confirmed the 911 name was dispatched as a suicide, however recounts that it didn’t take lengthy for his crew to develop suspicious.

“For a girl to shoot herself within the tub, nude, is uncommon,” mentioned Northrup. “It doesn’t suggest it could actually’t occur — it simply signifies that it is uncommon.” 

There was additionally different proof on the scene that caught out to investigators. In accordance with Northrup, there was damaged glass discovered within the major bed room, and Kendy Howard’s clothes thrown on the ground. There have been moist towels behind the lavatory door, and when investigators first arrived on the scene, they reported that the water within the tub was nonetheless heat to the contact. Thomas observed a packed duffle bag full of ladies’s clothes lay on the backside of the steps, and that the shirt Dan Howard was carrying appeared to have contemporary deodorant stains.

One of many extra intriguing clues, say investigators, was a load of laundry mid-cycle within the dryer. Thomas took observe: “A washer or dryer would not run for very lengthy, 45 minutes, possibly an hour, so when was this washer and dryer began?”

Northrup had the identical thought and recorded the time left on the dryer cycle: six minutes. He advised Van Sant how he pulled up the cycle working occasions from the producer’s web site and in contrast the data in opposition to the time at which the 911 name was positioned.

Northrup decided that the dryer cycle would have began at 10:42 p.m. and the 911 name got here in at 10:43 p.m. Which means, says Northrup, Howard began the laundry cycle a few minute earlier than calling 911. However why?

Investigators continued digging, and after reviewing the proof with medical and scientific consultants, got here up with a principle as to how Dan Howard might have killed his spouse. 

Dan Howard was arrested in April 2023, and in March 2024, went on trial for the homicide of his spouse.