KOOTENAI COUNTY, Wash. – The murder trial for a former ISP Trooper has wrapped up week one. Dan Howard is charged with the murder of his estranged wife, Kendy Howard. She was found with a gunshot wound in a bathtub inside the couple’s Athol home back in February of 2021. Prosecutors believe Dan Howard attacked his wife, chocked her and then staged it to look like a suicide. The defense says Kendy’s death was a suicide, telling the jury Kendy’s DNA was found on the gun, Dan Howard’s was not.
Howard was charged with the murder more than two years after Kendy was found dead. He posted bail and has remained out of custody during the court proceedings.
Prosecutors will call up to 60 witnesses in a trial expected to last three weeks. Week one included testimony from family members, law enforcement, medical experts and the man Kendy was dating at the time of her death. She had plans to move to be closer to that man and was in the process of purchasing a home in Kamiah. Friends also took the stand, testifying that Kendy Howard was in good spirits and looking forward to starting a new life without her husband of more than 25 years. They say she had consulted with a divorce attorney.
Much of the case will come down to how Kendy died. Investigators believe there was a struggle before Kendy’s death where she was beaten and choked and that the scene was then staged.
One of the investigators who worked the scene for the KCSO, Jerry Northrup, was on the stand Friday. He told the jury about discussing gunshot residue with Howard.
“Near the end of our contact with him, we brought up the GSR and that it needed to be done,” Northrup testified. “What I observed is Mr. Howard immediately put both hands inside his coat pocket…and began rotating his hands …in a back in forth motion until I was able to test his hands.”
He further testified that Howard told investigators he had ‘test fired’ a gun he owned earlier in the day. They seized that gun for further testing to see if it had in fact been recently fired or cleaned.
“The gun showed dust accumulation, an accumulation of dust, no evidence of solvents or lubrications or anything else…it also didn’t show any signs of any kind of combustion related to the discharge of a firearm,” he testified. “From my perspective it was completely inconsistent with shooting the gun as he described.”
Northrup also testified to a discovery in the couple’s laundry room. A deputy photographed their dryer which showed it had six minutes remaining in the cycle. The jury was shown photos of the contents of that dryer.
“It looked like bathmats and towels,” he testified.
Investigators say they conducted research on the dryer’s particular model, factoring in time and other evidence at the scene to come to a conclusion.
“Within minutes of the 911 call, the dryer was started,” he testified.
Stained clothing found in their washing machine, a gray sweatshirt and some green paints , initially appeared suspicious, but he testified the stains were determined not to be blood.
Also on the stand Friday was Dr. Bill Smock, a forensic expert for the state. Dr. Smock has made headlines before when he was an expert witness in the Derek Chauvin murder trial.
“Based upon what you saw, in terms of the evidence on her body, her broken jaw, her burn, all these blunt force trauma injuries from her head to her toes, did you develop an option about whether or not this was a suicide or a homicide,” Prosecutor Arthur Verharen asked Smock.
“Yes, I did,” Smock responded from the witness stand. “Mrs. Howard died of a homicide.”
In Smock’s review of the case, he testified to noting more than 30 areas of bruising to Kendy’s body. The defense says no one noticed any injuries to Dan indicative of a fight between the couple. The defense asked Smock if he knew of any of Dan’s DNA being found under Kendy’s fingernails,
“Not that I recall sir,” he testified.
Testimony is set to resume first thing Monday morning.
