Jim Howard

All witnesses purchase of interest, and suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Welcome to Primetime Crime. I'm your host, Kylie. Let's talk right now and true crime, and then together we are going to work on warming up some cold cases. Let's go. Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Primetime Crime. It's Kylie. We are going to do a very brief right now in True Crime because I do not feel my greatest. I'm telling you it was inevitable that I was going to get sick, and here we are. I am officially sick. Today's episode was recorded prior to me getting sick, so at least I had that ready to go. Depending on when and if I feel better, we'll determine if I put an episode out on Friday or not. But stay tuned. I'm hoping I'll be able to get one recorded all right right now in True Crime, and then we're getting into the episode. Cross Road Park, a place for Healing and Hope, has released a statement in regards to the Chad Dabell property. A new nonprofit is being created to turn tragedy into Hope in Rexburg, Idaho, a local benefactor, who prefers to remain anonymous, has entered into a contract to buy the notorious property formerly owned by Chad Dabell. The property was the burial site of murder children Tylee Ryan and JJ Vallo. Chad Dabell and LORII Vallo, Chad's second wife and mother of the children, were convicted for the murders of Tiy JJ and Chad's first wife, Tammy. This also doesn't add that Tammy was also killed on that property at that home. The home, which was needed to Chad's Daybell's former attorney, John Pryor to pay Chad's legal fees, was listed for sale shortly after Dabell's conviction. The transaction is expected to close in early September. The purchaser, a local resident of the area, intends to create a community space for the property that will honor the victims and facilitate healing. They are in the early stages of envisioning the plan and will consult closely with the victims' families. Further information and a new website will be released soon. All in all, I do feel like this is a good idea. I don't feel like anyone in their right mind would want to live in that house on that property, so doing something like this is good. However, I have seen that. Some members of the family have spoken out and said nobody has contacted them whatsoever in regards to this. So it'll be interesting to see what ends up coming out and I will be sure to keep you guys updated on it. Another solved cold case to share with you guys. This case was twenty eight years old and it is finally solved, and. It is the murder of. A fifteen year old girl named Danielle Houchins. She was sexual assaulted and murdered and her case has been called for twenty years, but they officially reopened her case in twenty nineteen in hopes that some of the new DNA technology could help identify the person. That killed Danielle. Now, during the initial investigation, they were able to collect four hairs from the scene and they officially submitted those and preliminary DNA analysis led them to a man named Paul Hutchinson who lived in Montana and Paul is now fifty five years old. They interviewed him and they said that he definitely exhibited signs of nervousness and erratic behavior and twelve hours later he committed suicide, which in my opinion, is all that we need to know about that. So we do have a solved case. At least that's how it seems. It seems like it is a solved case, and I think that him doing what he did taking his own life is very, very telling. They of course aren't sure of the motive of this crime, but they do think that it was a crime of opportunity where he just took it upon himself to take the life of this innocent fifteen year old girl. But I truly do think that in all of these unsolved cases that I cover where there is DNA involved, I think the time is running out for the perpetrators of these crimes because the DNA technology is ever advancing and these people are slowly but surely getting caught. This is the third case in the last week that has had resolution because of advances in DNA technology. Time is running out, and. It's going to be a heck of a lot harder to get away with a crime in present day twenty twenty four than it was way back when, even in the nineties, even in the early two thousands, things have changed so so much. So that is it for right now? In true crime, we are going to go ahead and get started with today's episode. Okay, guys, today jumping in to a brand new case today. Today, we are going to be talking about the homicide of a guy named James Lee Howard. His family called him jim or Jimmy Lee. You're gonna hear me refer to him probably as all of those names throughout this episode. But I was contacted by Jimmy's mom, Carolyn, in regards to his case, and once I started talking with her, I realized that it was something that I have to do. This is an episode that I have to. Cover on my podcast because things like this do happen more often than I think. We hear about. Them in the media and in the news, and I want to be that person that is on the right side of a story like this. I want to report it accurately, and I want to do all that I can to help Jimmy's family get justice for him, because his story is just as important as all of the other stories I tell you. So we're going to be talking about Jimmy's story today. This is a little bit different than the normal episodes I do, but it is still just as important, and you might be able to help us propel this one forward, So please listen carefully. James Lee Howard was born on March twenty eighth of nineteen eighty six to his parents, Carolyn Spears Howard and Darvin Lee Spears. He was born in Floyd County, Kentucky. He was known, like I said, to his family, as Jim or Jimmy Lee, and he had a true. Heart of gold. He was a beloved son, friend, father, and brother. He was also an animal lover. He loved taking care of some of the wild horses that were in Martin County. Any time of day, no matter the type of weather, the snow, the heat, the cold, he would go out there and help these horses and help take care of them. He also took it upon himself to raise money to feed them, and he also spent a lot of his own money out of his pocket to help these horses. So this was a true good human at the end of the day. Jim was also a super talented musician. He loved bluegrass music. He played the guitar, he played the banjo. Just an all around super nice, talented, good hearted guy. And when I tell you. That I really did get a sense of what kind of person Jimmy was just by speaking with his mom over the last few months. Carolyn is a true warrior, and I know that Jimmy also had this in his spirit because he was raised by her. And I know that he is proud of her for doing all of the things that she is doing to try to help propel his case forward. So we are going to talk about the night that Jim was killed. So it all started on the night of July fourth of twenty twenty two, and it went into the morning hours of July fifth. So, like I said, Jim lived in Kentucky, and this house had quite a bit of property surrounding it, and it was essentially situated between two mountains. He had a lot of property surrounding him. The road that the house was off of was quite a ways away. His cousin also lived nearby, but the houses were still quite far apart. So July fourth, there was a guy named Austin Harliss who had gone over to Jim's house. So Austin was. Married to a guy named Linda, and this particular night, for whatever reason, he had driven his wife Linda's truck over to Jim's house. Linda and Austin. Were friends with a woman named Ruth, who was Jim's former living girlfriend. They had recently broken up and Ruth had moved out of the house, so the circumstances of Austin's visit are very much up for discussion amongst Jim's close friends and family. However, Jim's mom, Carolyn, believes that the circumstances surrounding why Austin was there was because he was trying to take some stuff from Jim's house. There's also a couple of text messages that Carolyn got that night from Jim, which she believes was part of a conversation that Jimmy was having with Austin, basically talking about nothing is moving out of this. House, the truck's not moving, nothing's moving. So with this, at some point nine one one ended up being called. We are still not sure who exactly called nine one one, However, the family had their own beliefs about who it may have been. Now, there is a nine to one one call dispatcher transcript that Carolyn has, However, it doesn't have any times or a date on it, so I don't entirely know how accurate this is if it was fabricated after the fact, I really don't know, but I am going to read this whole transcript because it really does paint a picture of the type of situation that was happening at Jimmy's home and how many state police were present at the time. And we're going to go through it. I'm going to read it word for word. There's a lot of police coding and stuff in it. We're going to read it word for word, and then we're going to kind of talk about it, and then we're going to talk about the aftermath and go from there. Caller advise that a James Lee Howard is outside shooting into the air with the shotgun. The caller advised that he is talking to himself as he is doing this. They are requesting law enforcement Duty Office has been updated Netcare squad for and have got permission to go on scene. All responding additional units has been canceled. Subject is confirmed ten to seven. At this time, two units advise that they're in route to the shut to shut down the road. MCSO one advise shots fired. Mail is the one yelling at this time. You one advise shots fired. Spoke with caller They advised, no one is yelling and they are not sure where shooter is. Caller states that the mail has been drinking vodka all day and supposed to have numerous guns unknown type. Martin County director advised that Pike County has drone en route. MCSO one advise that KSB, KSP has a chopper en route to the scene. You want advise Post nine advice that they have aircraft and route. Another unit advised he will be down in route to shut the road down. MCSO one requesting additional units advised more units the better. Macgoffin County units are en route. Lawrence County has been notified. Rescue nine eight three advised he will get units to shut the road down. KSP was advised of the road shut down around the area. You one advised him and several other units are shutting the road down. Unit one requested for fire department to close down the roadway to keep traffic down. Netcare Base advise that they have health net on standby. Netcare ten ninety seven Staging Unit thirty nine advised that him Paintsville four one nine KSP units and Fish and Wildlife were heading up to the holler advise Netcare four to stage at ZIP zone new. Unit thirty nine advised that Paintsville four one nine was ninety seven at this time, and ninety seven in police code means that they have arrived at the scene. You thirty nine advised that he's at seventy two Sandlick advised in individuals waving him down post confirmed two troopers are at actively being shot at by subject made contact with you thirty nine. Additional caller advice, subject is actively shooting at officers tried to make contact with Unit thirty nine and nineteen no answer calls shots fired, slash shooting. And that is pretty much the transcript. Now, like I said, there is no time or date on any of this, so the validity of it I do not know. Jimmy's mom does not know. This is just the things that she received after the fact. So there is a lot going on there, and there's a lot to kind of take away from that. But jim was killed by. Police that day, and he was on his own property, in his own home, literally at the front door of his home when he was shot and killed. We're going to talk about the injuries that he sustained here in a little bit because it is a very, in my opinion, important part of the story, and the whole reason I'm doing this episode is to point out that Jimmy did not have to die that day. Austin was also. Present during this shootout with police officers. He was apparently on the property and at one point in an article I read, it said that he tried to make himself known to the officers, and his take on things was that him and jim each had about four drinks, but they were getting along well. However, we do not know the validity of that statement at this time. So essentially what happened, nine one one ended up being called. Kentucky State Police ended up arriving, and you can see in this nine to one one transcript radio transcript that there was a lot of units present that day. It wasn't like one person came to the scene. There was a lot of people present. And when they arrived, jim was asking. Them, why are you here? Do you have a warrant? What are you doing here? I want you to get off of my property. You don't have a warrant, you have no reason to be here. And their claim that he shot at them and they had to return fire. It doesn't exactly make sense because, like I said, this is a quite large piece of property. It is pretty heavily wooded. There was a lot of vehicles kind of around. None of those vehicles that were parked have bullets going in them towards the direction in which Jim would have been shooting, if he was shooting at the police officers. So the article that I referenced earlier when I was talking about Austin, it was from Mountain Citizen dot com. I am going to be sure to link it in the show notes, but I do want to read this because I think it may help add some context to this. Again, we do not know the validity of this. I am just reading what the article is saying. So Austin said they were getting along good. At some point while the pair were hanging out, things took an unexpected sour turn, and Austin had told Jim that he wanted to leave, but Jim disapproved, and when Jim ended up going to the bathroom, Austin ended up escaping outside and hiding in an embankment. He said he wasn't even able to get to his vehicle. And then at that point is when Jim came outside and began firing into the air. Police then arrived. They were communicating with Jim through their intercom and asking him to come out with his hands up. Of course, he was demanding to know why they were there and who he was talking to. Understandably so, because he was on his own property, he had the right to know who it was and why they were there. And then backup ended up arriving, Austin managed to make his presence known to the officers, and it says that Austin says that he begged the officers to let him speak to Jim using the loud speaker. So Jim was shot six times and most of the gunshot wounds entered the back of his body, meaning that he wasn't facing cops at the time that he was shot. Jim, like I said, was killed at the front door of his house, on his own property. Jim's mom and one of his good friends, Chris, said that Jim was a fantastic shot and if he was shooting at anybody, he would not have missed and he could have definitely caused major damage. But like I. Said, there were no shellcasings, no cars with any bullets or any different bullet fragments found in the direction that Jim would have been shooting. Also, keep in mind that Lynn, to Austin's wife, her truck is parked right in front of the house at the time that all of this is going on, and you would think that if Jim was shooting in their direction, that truck was parked. Pretty much facing Jim. If he was shooting erradically, there would have been something on that vehicle, in the front of that vehicle that would allude to there being a lot of random shots fired, and there wasn't. But there was a crack in the back windshield like a bullet had gone through it coming from that direction, coming from up towards the home, meaning the. Shots that were fired at Jim. And they let Austin drive that truck home that night after everything was said and done, even though it had a bullet through the back window. They let Austin drive that truck home that night. You can see in a video that one of Jim's good friends posted on Facebook where he kind of takes you around the property and shows you everything. The side of the house has been grazed with bullets. There's bullets everywhere, all facing the direction of the house. None of the other cars that were on the property had any damage to them, which they would have if Jim was shooting erratically in the direction of law enforcement. So let's now talk about Jim's injuries. On the death certificate, the cause of death is listed as homicide, and the autopsy report gives the following injuries. Gunshot wound of the head, gunshot wound of the neck, gunshot wound of the right arm and shoulder, gunshot wound of the mid lower back, gunshot wound to the sacral region of the back, and gunshot wound to the left forearm. The shots were also fired at a downward angle, which is important when you're talking in a self defense manner. And also, six different wounds on six different parts of his body does not, in my opinion, scream self defense. It screams full blown attack on Jim. So upon Jim losing his life in his own home, they didn't notify next of kin, who would be his. Mother, Carolyn. They didn't call her and let her know that, hey, your son has unfortunately lost his life. This is what happened. She didn't find out about it like that. She found out about it on Facebook, on social media that her son had been killed, And to me, that says so so much about KSP and how they handled this whole situation. It is devastating and heartbraining to think that anyone could do that to someone else. Jimmy was someone's child, someone's friend, a father, a son. I just can't imagine finding something like that out on social media. And there's never any amount of apologies or words that can be said to correct something as horrible as that. So Jim's blood alcohol level was zero point one sixty three, and the whole version that KSP wanted to portray was that Jim was drunk and super intoxicated and they basically had no choice but to fire back because he. Was firing at them. They even went into his home and they had lined up different liquor bottles that he had and took pictures of that. They took all of his guns and AMMO out of his house. It very much seems to me, as an outsider looking in on this case with no personal connection to it whatsoever, it very much seems like grasping at straws to try to portray a situation. To be something other than what it was. And I do truly believe that if Jim was shooting at law enforcement, that there would be some type of evidence that he was actually shooting at law enforcement. They also did not have bodycams, so that's another huge issue in my opinion as far as the validity of what they say actually happened. Now, I am going to talk about a situation that had happened with Kentucky State Police a few days before that I believe kind of led to the massive law enforcement presence and ultimately led to Jim losing his life that night. So this is from Wikipedia. I am going to post the link in the show notes. But there was a mass shooting involving police officers that occurred in Allan, Kentucky on June thirtieth of twenty twenty two. So this was just a few days before July fourth of twenty twenty two. So three police officers and a police dog ended up being killed, along with four others being injured, including three police officers. There was a guy forty nine years old named Lance Storts, and he was shooting at police officers. He was arrested and charged with murder and attempted murder of a police officer. So Floyd County Sheriff John Hunt reported that around two thirty pm on June thirtieth, there was an officer who received a phone call from someone who said that a man named Lance Storts was holding a woman against her will and also abusing her. The officer ended up going to the home the woman was outside. She ended up going to officers and they realized that Lance was still inside of them home. Now, Lance's home was. On an elevated spot that had a clear field of fire for about two hundred yards. Officers were able to get a protection order for the woman and they went to Lance's home to arrest him because of the assault allegations that were made against him. These shooting began around six forty four pm. There were four Sheriff's deputies that had arrived to his residence to serve an emergency protective order related to a domestic violence situation with this woman, and according to a witness that was present, Lance used the butt of a firearm to break out a window in the front of the home and began firing out of it. Additional police officers then responded shortly after. The Floyd County Sheriff said that the shooting was very much planned. Officers were forced to retreat under their patrol vehicles, and one of them ended up getting carbon monoxide poisoning as a result of this. It's then surrendered hours later after they negotiated with him, and he was taken into custody. So obviously a lot of lives were affected and taken that day, and it was a big uproar. I'm sure in Kentucky at the time. I'm sure there was a lot of national attention on this particular situation, and of course it's not a good thing when there's a situation where anyone has to lose their life. But just four days later with. Jim's call, when that call came through and they said that he was shooting his gun in the air, they arrived on scene, Jim was obviously upset, trying to figure out who these people were, why they were there, they didn't have a warrant, and yeah, notably he was upset. But I one hundred percent, in my gut and my soul, do not believe that he was shooting at those officers. And unfortunately, I think everyone was so heightened from what had just happened on June thirtieth that they saw what was happening. They thought that there was a threat there, even though I don't believe that there was, and they took it out on Jim. He was an innocent person. He was maybe having a bad day, and they. Took it out on him. And he was on his property, at his front door. And like I said, I've watched the video of them touring his property. There is nothing that makes me believe that he was shooting in. The direction of law enforcement. And the way that they handled the aftermath of it, not notifying Jim's mom of his passing and what happened. I just can't even imagine having to try to navigate life losing a child, but then having to navigate life losing a child in such a horrific way, when you know she knows her child, she knows that Jim did not shoot at law enforcement, and when everything else is kind of pointing away from the fact that that's what happened, it has to be even harder and even more devastating on a day to day basis. I am truly honored that I have gotten the chance to know Carolyn, and through her, gotten a chance to know a little bit about who Jimmy was. As a person and gotten to know a little bit about his story and unfortunately getting to know how his life ended that night July fourth, going into July fifth, and that there are injustices in law enforcement, and sometimes what appears to be and what is reported are two entirely different things from what actually happened. And I think that's why I felt so compelled to do this story, because this could happen to anybody. I talked about it when I did. Kayalana Turner's episode, and how kay Alana was just this normal girl in the midst of a mental health crisis and her world was turned upside down and she lost her life because those that were supposed to protect her failed to realize that she was in the middle of a mental health crisis and a mental health breakdown. And that is a story that will forever stick with me. And Jimmy's story is going to forever stick with me because he was unfortunately targeted that night. He was painted in a bad light in the media, and I wanted to bring the other side, because there are always two sides to every story. I am going to arrange to do an interview with Carolyn, Jim's mom so she can tell you a little bit about from her mouth who Jim was and her experience and what all has gone on in the last couple of years since Jim was so tragically taken from his family and friends in such a horrific, horrible way. But that is Jim's story. I very much wanted to get this episode out earlier than I did, and I really felt like I needed to devote some time and attention to researching it properly and really getting an idea of what happened that night and reporting it, factually putting it out there in a factual manner, and doing it in correspondence with Carolyn, Jim's mom. It's very important to me that I get this one right. It's important to me that I get them all right. But having a more of a personal relationship, just chatting back and forth with Carolyn in the few months that I have known her, it is very important to me that I do this one. Right, and I do it the right way. And I almost oddly feel like this was kind of supposed to happen. Carolyn found me because of Amber Spradlin's story, because Amber Spradlin's murder happened in very close proximity to the area that Jim lived in and was killed in, and she somehow or another found my page and reached out to me, and that is how I learned about Jim's story. And we know about the lies and corruption that are going on in the Amber Spradlin story. She and her family waited a year and a half to get any movement on anything. So I do believe that everything happens for a reason in regards to why certain people come in near life, and I do believe that I'm the one that's supposed to help Carolyn propel jim story forward and get the word out that there are more than one side to a story. And that is why I decided to take on this episode and take on Jim's last day of life. So I appreciate you guys so much for listening. Like I said, I am going to do an episode where I chat with Carolyn so she can give her take on things as well, because her side of everything is also very, very important. But I appreciate you guys so much for listening and for support learning the podcast. As always, I will see you guys. Next time for a brand new episode. Have a good one. Bye.