Kenneth French said he wrestled with himself for weeks before calling Monroe police detectives to tell them that his brother “Danny” might be involved in the death of 87-year-old Barbara Howe.
Grand Jury indicts man in the 2012 death of 87-year-old Monroe woman
Posted: Dec 10, 2014 3:12 PM EST
Updated: Dec 11, 2014 8:58 PM EST
By Nathan Vicar, Digital Content Producer
BUTLER COUNTY, OH (FOX19) –
A Butler County Grand Jury indicted a Berea, Ky man in the 2012 death of Barbara Howe.
Daniel French, 56, was arrested Wednesday by Kentucky State Police at a home in northwestern Rockcastle County at around 1:56 p.m.
NOTE: This page will return a 404 Error as of 8/18/18. A Staffer at WSMV Nashiville states they are transitioning to a new content provider and that the story will return soon.
Daniel French Indicted For The 2012 Murder Of 87yo Barbara Howe, Found In Her Trunk
Posted: Dec 10, 2014
An Indictment has been returned by the Butler County Grand Jury against Daniel French, age 56, of Berea, Kentucky for Aggravated Murder with death penalty specifications, Aggravated Burglary, Aggravated Robbery, Tampering with Evidence and Abuse of A Corpse in connection with the death of Barbara Howe on or about October 28, 2102 in Monroe, Ohio.
Documents reveal first details in Barbara Howe murder
January 9th 2015, 2:37 pm EST
BUTLER COUNTY, OH (FOX19) – First details of the brutal murder of 87-year-old Barbara Howe were released on Friday, more than two years after she was found dead inside the trunk of her car.
Daniel French, 56, allegedly entered Howe’s residence at the Mount Pleasant Retirement Complex in a ruse that her medical emergency alert system needed repair. Once inside, documents state French used a stun gun on Howe before slitting her throat multiple times, causing her to bleed to death.
Trial date set for man who allegedly murdered elderly Kentucky woman
Posted: Mar 02, 2015 6:39 PM EST
BUTLER COUNTY, OH (FOX19) –
A trial date has been set for a man accused of murdering an elderly woman in 2012.
Daniel French, 56, will stand trial on Nov. 2 for the murder of Barbara Howe.
Note in accused killer’s pocket sparks courtroom clash
Thursday, April 2, 2015 7:15 p.m
BUTLER COUNTY
Butler County court security deputies grew concerned Thursday during a pretrial hearing about a note placed in the pocket of Daniel French, the Kentucky man accused of killing an 87-year-old Monroe woman, and asked the court to advise against any outside communication with the man facing a capital murder charge.
After a deputy pointed to a fold noted in the pocket of French’s jail uniform, Butler County Judge Charles Pater said “anyone behind the bar is not to have contact with anyone in front of the bar.”
Barbara Howe died a terrible death, but everyone ended up suffering
Oct. 18, 2015 8:31 p.m. ET
Sometime in the months following 87-year-old Barbara Howe’s grisly 2012 death, Wanda Allen got a call from her brother. Daniel French needed a place to stay.
Allen was ecstatic. She had grown accustomed to seeing her brother only once a year. Her children are grown.
“I was thrilled to have another adult to talk to,” Allen said.
She didn’t know it then, but her brother was already lost.
French lived with Allen in rural Berea, Kentucky, for about two years while police investigated the vibrant and gracious Monroe woman’s death.
Now, French faces the death penalty for Howe’s killing, one prosecutors call the most brutal and diabolical in Butler County history.
Suspect tells police he saw slain woman’s ghost Allen doesn’t watch the news anymore.
“It’s like there are two sides to him,” she said. “There’s the Danny I know and then there’s something else.”
Trial to begin in Barbara Howe killing
The Associated Press Published: October 19, 2015, 5:40 am
HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) —
A Kentucky man is set for trial in southwest Ohio on an aggravated murder charge in the slaying of an 87-year-old woman found in the trunk of her car.
A Kentucky man is set for trial in southwest Ohio on an aggravated murder charge in the slaying of an 87-year-old woman found in the trunk of her car.
Daniel French pleaded guilty last week to lesser charges, but not on the count that could carry the death penalty with conviction. Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser (MOH’-sur) says he rejected an offer of a plea that would bring a promise of life in prison.
Brother of accused Barbara Howe killer: ‘I just knew in my gut’
October 22, 2015 7:11 p.m Thursday
BUTLER COUNTY
“I struggled with it,” Kenneth French testified Thursday in Butler County Common Pleas Court. “He’s my brother. I thought, what if he didn’t have anything to do with it?”
Prosecutor: Man choked 87-year-old woman, cut her throat
October 22, 2015 6:22 a.m. ET
HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) —
A Kentucky man posed as a repairman to get into an 87-year-old Ohio woman’s home, then shocked her with a stun gun, choked her and cut her throat, a prosecutor said in opening statements at the man’s murder trial.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser told jurors Wednesday that Daniel French killed Barbara Howe after getting into her home in a Monroe retirement community by telling her he was there to repair a medical alert system. After choking Howe, French took her to a crawl space below her cottage, where he slit her throat, the prosecutor said.
PROSECUTOR: MAN CHOKED 87-YEAR-OLD WOMAN, CUT HER THROAT
October 22, 2015
HAMILTON, Ohio (AP) –
A prosecutor says a Kentucky man posed as a repairman to get into an 87-year-old Ohio woman’s house, then shocked her with a stun gun, choked her and cut her throat.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser (MOH’-sur) told jurors Wednesday in opening statements of 57-year-old Daniel French’s trial in Hamilton that French killed Barbara Howe in 2012 after telling her he was there to repair a medical alert system.
Howe’s family members testify in Daniel French murder trial
October 22, 2015
HAMILTON, Ohio (Larry Davis) —
Testimony is underway in butler county for Daniel French, who is charged with the murder of Barbara Howe, 87. More prosecution witnesses have taken the witness stand during the second day of testimony, October 22. They include the victim’s sister and daughter.
French could get the death penalty if found guilty of two counts of aggravated murder. Prosecutors say French gained entry to Howe’s home at the Mt. Pleasant retirement village under the guise of being a maintenance man to fix her medical alert system.
Jurors hear confession in Barbara Howe murder
October 28, 2015
HAMILTON, Ohio (Larry Davis) —
Daniel French’s fate will soon be in the hands of a jury. Late Wednesday afternoon, Oct. 28, the defense rested its case without calling a single witness. That happened after prosecutors wrapped up their case playing a tape of French confessing to the murder. Retired Middletown police detective, Rich Bush, held the loaded .22 caliber rifle that Daniel French said he had waiting for them.
Jury hears recording of Daniel French confessing to Barbara Howe killing
October 28, 2015
WLWT Channel 5 YouTube posting
The trial of a man accused of killing a Monroe woman and stuffing her body in the trunk of her car continued Wednesday. Daniel French is on trial in the death of Barbara Howe of Monroe.
Original YouTube link at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u81OtFdxR9I&feature=youtu.be
Jury hears recording of Daniel French’s confession to killing Barbara Howe
October 28, 2015
HAMILTON, Ohio —
The trial of a man accused of killing a Monroe woman and stuffing her body in the trunk of her car continued Wednesday.
Daniel French is on trial in the death of Barbara Howe of Monroe.
On Wednesday, the jury heard French admit to killing Howe. The confession was recorded on Dec. 10, 2014, in Berea, Kentucky.
Authorities said French was staying in Berea with his sister.
The following is a transcript from the recording.
Jury gets case of man accused of killing Ohio woman whose body was found in trunk of her car
POSTED: 10/29/15, 5:48 PM EDT (AP)
HAMILTON –
Jurors in southwest Ohio have begun deliberations in the case of a Kentucky man charged with killing a woman whose body was found in the trunk of her car.
The Butler County jury got the case Thursday afternoon after hearing closing arguments in the murder trial of 57-year-old Daniel French of Berea, Kentucky.
Prosecutors say French cut 87-year-old Barbara Howe’s throat after gaining entry by posing as a maintenance worker in her Monroe retirement community. The defense insists that French had no plan to kill her.
Jury finds Daniel French guilty of Barbara Howe’s murder
October 29, 2015 5:13PM
BUTLER COUNTY (Lauren Pack, Staff Writer) —
There were plenty of tears shed Thursday afternoon when a Butler County jury found Daniel French guilty of killing 87-year-old Barbara Howe of Monroe. But not one of them was from the man who now faces the death penalty.
After seven days of testimony, the a jury of seven women and five men took just under two hours to convict French, 57, of Berea, Ky., of aggravated murder. The verdict wasn’t a total shock, French confessed to the 2012 brutal homicide at Mount Pleasant Retirement Community when police arrested him more than two years later.
Donna Wesselman, Howe’s daughter, and Pat Marshall, Howe’s sister, shook their heads and looked down as the verdict was read aloud in Butler County Common Pleas Judge Charles Pater’s courtroom. Wesselman wiped tears from her eyes.
Daniel French, Barbara Howe: Murder victim’s daughter looking for peace
October 29, 2015
After Daniel French was convicted of aggravated murder in the death of Barbara Howe, the victim’s daughter says she’s ready for some peace.
Original WCPO video link on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBY7VZ0zV2Q&feature=youtu.be
Jury finds man guilty of killing 87-year-old Ohio woman
October 30, 2015
HAMILTON, Ohio —
Jurors in southwest Ohio have found a Kentucky man guilty of killing an 87-year-old woman whose body was found in the trunk of her car.
The Butler County jury on Thursday convicted 57-year-old Daniel French of Berea, Kentucky, of aggravated murder. The same jury will begin hearing evidence Wednesday to make a recommendation as to whether French should be sentenced to death. The judge will make the ultimate decision.
Prosecutors say French cut Barbara Howe’s throat after gaining entry by posing as a maintenance worker in her Monroe retirement community in 2012. The defense insisted French had no plan to kill her.
French pleaded guilty earlier to aggravated burglary, aggravated robbery, tampering with evidence and corpse abuse.
French found guilty of Howe’s death, prosecutor says he will never walk streets again
October 29, 2015
HAMILTON –
Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser stood directly in front of the jury Thursday morning, just a few feet from Barbara Howe’s family.
“She was still alive,” he told the jury.
Until Daniel French slit her throat.
Gmoser demonstrated. He looked like he had a saw in his hand, vigorously thrusting it back and forth in the air. Howe’s family looked away. Several cried.
Judge sentences Daniel French to life in prison without parole for murder of Barbara Howe
November 4, 2015
HAMILTON, OH (FOX19) –
A Butler County judge sentenced Daniel French with life in prison without parole for the 2012 murder of 87-year-old Barbara Howe.
The jury recommended death, life in prison without the possibility of parole or life with a chance for parole at some point earlier this month.
The judge sentenced French Monday afternoon.
A jury found French, 56, guilty of aggravated murder in the Howe’s death last month.
Daniel French sentenced to life in prison for death of Monroe woman
November 5, 2015 - Lauren Pack, Staff Writer DDN
BUTLER COUNTY –
A Butler County jury spared the life of Daniel French, the man convicted of killing Monroe’s Barbara Howe.
The jury deliberated for one hour and 20 minutes Thursday before reaching its recommendation of life in prison without the possibility of parole for the man found guilty of aggravated murder.
The jury had four sentences it could consider for French: death; life in prison without the possibility of parole; 30 years to life in prison; and 25 years to life in prison.
Howe’s family members testify in Daniel French murder trial
Judge calls French’s actions horrific, inexcusable
November 17, 2015
HAMILTON, Ohio —
Judge Charles Pater agreed with the jury’s recommendation Monday and sentenced Daniel French to life in prison without the chance of parole.
French was found guilty of killing Barbara Howe in 2012. Pater called French’s actions horrific, brutal and inexcusable before he handed down the sentence.
Pater said French will die in prison, but not by execution.
Howe’s family was in attendance for the sentencing. Howe’s daughter, Donna Wesselman, spoke before the sentencing.
“When I sat here a couple of weeks ago, I had thought of some things I was going to say and after I heard your statement a week ago, I felt like what I had prepared was just really very benign and useless.
Howe’s family members testify in Daniel French murder trial
A three-year mystery ended this month after a jury put Daniel French behind bars for the rest of his life for the brutal murder of 87-year-old Barbara Howe.
November 24, 2015 Story by Lauren Pack
Donna Wesselman walked into her mother’s cottage at Mount Pleasant Retirement Community on Oct. 30, 2012, and called her name. There was no answer. She was there at the urging of her Aunt Patty who was worried that she hadn’t heard from her older sister, 87-year-old Barbara Howe.
“I was concerned,” Wesselman said. “But not alarmed.”
Patricia Marshall, 85, was worried something had happened to Barbara. Her red Cadillac was missing from the garage and she said the very social Howe visited friends often but would never leave overnight without alerting her family.
Killer’s brother may receive $5,000 reward in Barbara Howe death
August 10, 2016 Lauren Pack, Staff Writer
Kenneth French said during the trial that he wrestled with himself for weeks before calling detectives to tell them that his brother “Danny” might be involved in the death Howe.
“I struggled with it,” Kenneth French testified. “He’s my brother. I thought, what if he didn’t have anything to do with it?”
Kenneth French said he had a bad feeling when he met his brother, who he referred to as “Danny,” in the parking lot of a Kroger in Walton, Ky. on Nov. 1, 2012.
“When I get out of the truck, he gives me a big hug and tells me he loves me,” Kenneth French told prosecutors and the jury. He said that was odd behavior for his brother, who had called him the day before to ask if they could meet on his way from Monroe back to their sister’s house in Berea.
“I felt like he was telling me goodbye for the last time,” Kenneth French said, sobbing at times during his testimony.