Houston lawyer arrested, charged with murder after shooting and cremation of his son, police say – Houston Public Media

Lucio Vasquez/Houston Public Media

A Houston attorney was arrested and charged with murder this week after telling officers he accidentally shot his 20-year-old son and cremated his body, according to the Sabine County Sheriff’s Office.

A day after the incident, Michael Howard told officers that he mistook his son, Mark Randall Howard, for a trespasser on his property in the 2500 block of Mount Sinai Road in Sabine.

According to a press release from the Sabine County Sheriff’s Office posted on Facebook, Howard placed his son’s body in the front-loading bucket of an excavator and carried it to a secluded area on his property. He told police he placed the body on a pile of wood before cremating it.

According to media reports, his son was diagnosed with Down syndrome.

Texas Rangers and other officials executed a search warrant on Howard’s property. They retrieved bones that appeared to be charred from an area full of soot and ash. The recovered parts were sent to the medical examiner’s office.

Howard showed responding officers the shotgun used to kill his son and claimed the entire incident was a “horrific accident,” the release said.

He was arrested and charged with murder and tampering with evidence. Bond has not yet been set.