US Man Kills Son, Burns Body Before Telling Cops "It Was Horrible Accident"

A lawyer in the United States allegedly shot his 20-year-old son, burnt his body and then called the cops to tell them what he claimed was a "horrible accident". According to the People, 68-year-old Michael Howard from Houston, Texas, was arrested on Monday and charged with murder and tampering with evidence. His son, Mark Howard, was diagnosed with Down syndrome and held a job. The father allegedly told the cops that he had "mistaken" his son "for an intruder at his property" and shot him. 

Sabine County investigator JP MacDonough said that the 68-year-old showed officers around his property when they arrived at the scene, the outlet reported. He provided them with the shotgun he allegedly used to shoot his son before leading them to the wood pile where the 20-year-old's burned body was. 

Michael Howard "had taken the body of the deceased, placed it 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 pile of wood and other burnable material, which had been previously set up and then, his words, 'cremated' his son in accordance with what he felt his son would have wanted," the investigator said, adding that the crime scene appeared to have been "washed" with a "water hose". 

Howard says the "whole thing was a horrible accident," JP MacDonough alleged. 

"It is a bizarre crime. Mr Howard committed this act and then in the furtherance of that, burned the body and then cleaned the crime scene, which as an investigator I would take as indicative of nefarious purposes," MacDonough said. 

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The victim's mother and his two siblings were not at the home at the time of the incident, police said. 

Separately, the district attorney said that his office is looking into possible additional charges including the desecration and mishandling of a corpse as well as other charges related to tampering with the scene of a crime.

Currently, the 68-year-old is in custody. His bond is set at $10 million per charge.