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Background: News footage of the house where Joyce Austin and Valerie Howard were found dead (KCTV). Inset: Luke Anthony Howard (Clay County Sheriff’s Office).
A Kansas man allegedly shot his mother and aunt after he was evicted from their home — and then fled to Missouri, where he reportedly confessed to the crime at a pharmacy.
Luke Anthony Howard, 34, was being held in custody in Missouri’s Clay County on $5 million bond, according to reporting from KCTV, a local CBS affiliate. He is awaiting extradition to Johnson County in Kansas, where the county’s district attorney said Howard murdered his mother, Valerie Howard, 63, and his aunt Joyce Austin, 71. According to court documents obtained by KCTV, Howard had been living with the two women and was given an eviction notice by Austin before he allegedly shot them.
Court documents, including an arrest affidavit, stated that on Feb. 12, Howard turned up at a pharmacy in Liberty, Missouri, about 30 miles away from the Lenexa, Kansas, home where he lived with his mother and aunt. According to the affidavit, Howard was observed by the pharmacy staff to have blood on his clothes as he reportedly told them that he needed to turn himself into police. When police arrived, Howard allegedly confessed to double murder.
Lenexa police responded to the home of Valerie Howard and Joyce Austin where both women were found dead from gunshot wounds. Police reportedly found about a dozen shell casings in the same room. Austin’s son also called police the same day to ask if his mother was dead, reportedly telling police that Howard owned guns.
The court records included a timeline of events leading up to Feb. 10, when police were called to the Lenexa home after an apparent physical altercation between Howard and his mother. During that first call, she told police that she and Austin locked themselves in their rooms to hide from Howard because he’d acted violently toward them during an incident in 2021.
The same day, Austin called police on Howard again, reportedly telling police that Howard had threatened her and was acting erratic. She stated that Howard had bipolar disorder and she wanted him to leave the house.
On Feb. 11, Howard placed a call of his own to police to report that Austin had threatened him with a gun, a claim that he soon recanted. He also claimed that he was being kicked out of the house, and Austin reportedly confirmed that she had given Howard 30 days to leave. During that call, Johnson County Mental Health officials came to the home and asked Howard if he had guns. He said he did not, and a search did not uncover any guns in the home.
Howard is still in custody in Clay County, Missouri, on $5 million bond, awaiting an extradition hearing.