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Inset: Melissa Howes (Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The Dollar General in Dix, Ill., where Melissa Howes ran over and killed her husband (Google Maps).
An Illinois woman is heading to prison for “intentionally” running over her husband and killing him at a Dollar General while she was intoxicated, with cops and prosecutors saying she drunkenly shoved him to the ground first before driving over the man’s body with her car.
Melissa Howes, 54, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated DUI charges this week in connection to the September 2024 death of her husband, Jeffrey Howes, 49, at the Dollar General at 101 S. Main St. in the rural village of Dix, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office. Officials announced her guilty plea in a press release Wednesday posted on Facebook.
“Yesterday in felony court … Melissa Howes pled guilty to First Degree Murder and Aggravated DUI involving a death resulting from this Sheriff’s Office investigation, which concluded Howes intentionally ran over the victim,” police said. “Howes agreed to 20 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.”
According to cops and her charging documents, Howes was caught on video from an adjoining apartment complex shoving her husband to the ground and then getting into her car to run him over. Police said she backed up before speeding forward to crush him.
It’s unclear why Howes did what she did, with officials listing no other motives to go with her drunkenness. Rescue efforts were attempted at the scene to save her husband and he was transported to a local hospital, where doctors pronounced him dead.
“Evidence of alcohol impairment was observed with Melissa and Sheriff’s Office Detectives were contacted to assist,” the sheriff’s office said in a September press release. “Upon completion of the investigation, Melissa Howes was arrested for the crime of Aggravated DUI involving a Death and transported to the Jefferson County Justice Center.”
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Incident logs obtained by the local news outlet The Sentinel described Jeffrey Howes’ death as a “person vs. car” incident in which cops reportedly found him “under the car” when they arrived on scene.
A sheriff’s deputy and bystander had to jack the vehicle up off the ground in order for first responders to treat the victim, the Sentinel reports, as the man was going into cardiac arrest and CPR was required.
Howes was still in custody Tuesday at the Jefferson County Jail, according to police. She’s awaiting transfer to the Illinois Department of Corrections.
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