Father admits cremating son’s body after murder

HEMPHILL — A Texas father has been arrested after he confessed to killing his son and “cremating” him. According to our news partner KETK, a Sabine County deputy was contacted by Michael C. Howard who said he had “accidentally” shot his son, Mark Randall Howard, who he had mistaken for an intruder on his property the night before. The sheriff’s office said Mark had down syndrome. Michael allegedly told officials he had taken his son’s body in the “front-loading bucket of a backhoe tractor and carried it to a remote area on his property and placed the body on a wood/trash pile which had been previously set up and then ‘cremated’ his son.”

According to the State Bar of Texas, Michael is a lawyer and had a private law practice out of Houston.

When authorities arrived to the Howard’s property at 2505 Mount Sinai Road near Fairmount, Michael told deputies the murder was a “horrible accident.” He also showed deputies the shotgun that he claimed to have used.