Anne K. Howard - HIS GARDEN: Conversations With A Serial Killer

HIS

GARDEN

CONVERSATIONS

WITH A

SERIAL KILLER

ANNE K. HOWARD

WildBluePress.com

HIS GARDEN published by:

WILDBLUE PRESS

P.O. Box 102440

Denver, Colorado 80250

Publisher Disclaimer: Any opinions, statements of fact or fiction, descriptions, dialogue, and citations found in this book were provided by the author, and are solely those of the author. The publisher makes no claim as to their veracity or accuracy, and assumes no liability for the content.

Copyright 2018 by Anne K. Howard

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

WILDBLUE PRESS is registered at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Offices.

ISBN 978-1-947290-71-6 Trade Paperback

ISBN 978-1-947290-70-9 eBook

Interior Formatting/Book Cover Design by Elijah Toten

www.totencreative.com

Preface

In just nine months, from February to October 2003, seven individuals in and around New Britain, Conn., went missing. All of their bodies were subsequently found in close proximity to one another in a wooded lot behind a suburban strip mall. The mall could not have appeared more ordinary in location or styleand yet, for many years, as patrons ate at Subway, paid to have their car mufflers fixed or their hair cut, purchased their beer, or poked around Daddys Junky Music Store, the bodies of the killers victims lay rotting on the swampy earth located just a few hundred yards away.

I first heard about the then-unsolved murders in early 2015, while researching some other open murder cases not far from my home along Route 8 in Northwest Connecticut. Every time I searched the Internet for information about the Route 8 murders that occurred between 1988 and 2004, articles about the unsolved New Britain strip mall murders would appear in the results. Reading that someone was on the loose and had left the remains of seven individualsall of them prostitutes, most with drug addictionsin the wooded land beside a busy commercial roadway in a nearby suburb literally sent shivers up my spine. The first skull was discovered by a hunter in August 2007; within two weeks, 50 bones of three women were found. In April 2015, the remains of four more victims were unearthed. Who was this monster and how had he managed to escape getting caught?

I live near Winsted, Conn., a town devastated by the flood of 1955, when the overflow of the Mad River wiped out one side of Main Street. Like most New England towns, Winsted contains many ghostly legends, including the myth of The Winsted Wildman. As the story goes, in the summer of 1895, a local town official was out picking berries and saw a large man, stark naked and covered in hair all over his body emerge from the bush. News quickly got out that there was a Bigfoot in the area. A more plausible explanation was that an insane artist, Arthur Beckwith, had reportedly escaped from a New York asylum the year before. Wandering around naked in the bushes would not be unusual for Beckwith, as he had previously escaped from a Litchfield asylum and was discovered six months later living sans v tements in the tropics of Cuba.

When I read about the killer who had left the bodies of six women and one man behind the strip mall in New Britain, my mind conjured up The Winsted Wildman: a giant beast of a man; half human, half wild boar; driven to kill and dismember his victims because he was both hungry and insane. Little did I know that I would soon meet and get to know the subject of my darkest fears.

My relationship with William Devin Howell started in July 2015, shortly after he was named as a person of interest in the New Britain serial murders, but not yet officially charged with the crimes. It began with written correspondence and evolved into monthly face-to-face meetings at a high maximum prison in Suffield, Conn., where Howell was serving a 15-year sentence for the murder of Nilsa Arizmendi. At all times, he knew that the sole purpose of our communications was my plan to write a book about him and he also knew that what I would end up writing would not always be to his liking.

His two attorneys, William Paetzold and Jeffrey Kestenband, had done a good job of warning their client of the dangers of getting involved with a journalist pending trial. They later remarked on the psychological dynamic that I had with Howell whereby Howell often stood up to them and went against their legal advice in order to stay connected with me. Predictably, our author/subject relationship was complicated, confusing, surprisingly intense and, quite frankly, a head-trip of the highest order. Many times I wondered what I had gotten myself into by deciding to write a book about a man alleged to have committed such heinous crimes. Howell suggested that I title the book, Dancing With the Devil. Though I did not choose that title, it aptly describes the last three years of my life.

A thread that runs throughout this story involves the drug epidemic that afflicts our nation, and seemingly upscale states including Connecticut are certainly not immune from the epidemics ruinous effects. Once addicted to poisons such as heroin or crack cocaine, otherwise ordinary people engage in extremely high risk, illegal activities including prostitution in order to fund their costly habits. One thing is irrefutable: there is no such thing as a typical prostitute. Wild Bills victims came from all walks of life. Based on my interviews conducted with some of their family members and investigative reports contained within the legal discovery that was given to me by the killer himself, it is clear that the victims wanted to be free of their nightmarish addictions. Many engaged in drug rehabilitation programs and remained clean for long periods of time before succumbing to the addictions clutches and returning to life on the streets.

Tragically, the drugs, coupled with the prostitution, exposed these individuals to a murderous monster. I truly believe that if it were not for the drugs, most of Howells victims would be alive today, as they would have never placed themselves in the dangerous position of setting foot into his van, the infamous Murder Mobile, where they met their demise. On the issue of whether all of Howells victims were engaged in prostitution at the time of their deaths, the transcripts of police interviews that took place during the investigation indicate that they were, although at least one family member of a victim contests that fact. It also appears that the only victim that was not addicted to drugs was Danny Whistnant.

In theory, local and state police should dedicate equal time and zeal to every missing persons case. In reality, it is often assumed that the prostitute overdosed and died or skipped town with her john, so less energy is put into the investigation. To their credit, the many law enforcement officers referenced in the story that you are about to read did not fall into that pattern of apathy. Det. Robert DeRoehn of the Wethersfield Police Department, New Britain Police Chief James Wardell and many others aggressively pursued justice as though the victims in question were members of their own family. Each one has my deepest respect and the gratitude and respect of the people of Connecticut. I see these men and women as protectors of the vulnerable.

This story also tackles the issue of sexual assault head on. As with the drug epidemic, sexual assault is rampant in our society. For almost two decades, my law practice has focused on representing individuals seeking Social Security disability benefits because they cannot sustain employment due to severe mental and physical impairments. I have encountered literally hundreds of women and men who were sexually molested in childhood or suffered sexual assault in adulthood. The residuals of their traumas last a lifetime: acute anxiety involving flashbacks, nightmares and the fear of being around others, along with periods of deep depression that stem from feelings of hopelessness and low self-worth. For readers who have experienced sexual abuse, I offer a word of warning. The contents of this book, especially the disturbing information contained in Part Two, may be too upsetting for you to read. Please proceed with caution and put the book down if it results in emotional distress.