Luke Howard, Lenexa, Kansas man shoots mom & aunt dead after serving him eviction notice after domestic abuse incidents at home they shared. Victims id as Joyce Austin and Valerie Howard.
A Kansas man is alleged to have murdered his mother and aunt at the home the three shared in Lenexa after the sister in laws served him an eviction notice earlier this week.
Luke Howard, 34, upon shooting the two victims, showed up at a Walgreens in Liberty, Missouri, on Wednesday covered in blood, where he confessed to killing the two women, KMBC reported.
Lenexa officers were dispatched to the home at about 5 a.m. where the bodies of Joyce Austin, 71, and Valerie Howard, 63, were found, following their shooting death. Police said the women were former sisters-in-law who lived together at the home with Howard’s son.
10 to 12 shotgun casings found at crime scene
Luke Howard told investigators that he shot the two women when they gave him a 30-day eviction notice. Police said they had been called to the home twice in the week leading up to the murders on domestic disturbance calls.
Detectives said they found 10 to 12 shotgun casings in the living room. The murder weapon was located in his vehicle at the scene.
An affidavit for Howard’s arrest stated police being called to the home on February 10 after he complained that his mother had grabbed him around the neck and pushed him. Valerie Howard told police that her son came into her room and broke an ashtray and caused her to fall. She said that he had started being violent toward both women in 2021 and that they had been locking themselves in their rooms ‘as much as possible.’
Mental health evaluation
The day after that incident, the women served him with an eviction notice. Howard according to cops reacted angrily and called police, telling them that one of the women had pointed a gun at him, a claim he promptly retracted, telling officers he just thought she was going to get a gun, KCTV reported.
Austin told police that day that she knew Howard had two guns but did not know where they were kept. Authorities searched his room but found no weapons,
During an ensuing meeting with a mental health facility, Howard insisted he was not in position of any weapons. Except he was.
Howard remains behind bars in Clay County, Missouri, on a $5 million bond awaiting extradition to Kansas, KSHB reported. He now faces first degree murder charges.
