11-19-2017, 04:12 PM
Case Closed
![[Image: 305917-howell-william-devin-e1431447396265.jpg]](https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2015/09/18/f539b653-991c-4c2e-b4cc-b5672a948f9f/thumbnail/620x350/c6777ab15d3e86e24ddd743d7b5fe260/305917-howell-william-devin-e1431447396265.jpg)
On Friday, a state judge handed down six consecutive life sentences to William Devin Howell during an emotional hearing where victims' relatives spoke about how the killings devastated their lives. Howell pleaded guilty to murder charges in September.
"He stripped away the youth from us and made me and my brother orphans," said Tiffany Menard, daughter of victim Mary Jane Menard. She called Howell a "monster" and said she tried to kill herself two times after her mother disappeared.
The self-described 'sick ripper' sexually assaulted three of the women and kept one of the bodies in his van for two weeks, sleeping next to the body and calling the victim his "baby," according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Police said a main connection among most of the victims was their use of drugs. Howell called the burial site his "garden" and said the victims should have known they were going to die because of the lifestyles they led, the warrant said.
Howell is believed to be the most prolific serial killer in Connecticut history - not counting mass shootings. The seven killings topped the Connecticut body count of serial killer Michael Ross, who killed six women in eastern Connecticut and two in New York, and was executed in 2005.
The 47-year-old Howell, from Hampton, Virginia, cried and apologized to the victims' families during the hearing, saying he deserved the death penalty and his acts were "monstrous, cowardly and selfish." The state Supreme Court abolished Connecticut's death penalty in 2015.
"I know what awaits me ... a slow painful death in prison," said Howell, who talked about his diabetes and possible limb amputation and organ failure in the future. "I hope that provides some comfort to each of the families." (I can only hope he's right on both counts.)
Ref: https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/...396265.jpg
On Friday, a state judge handed down six consecutive life sentences to William Devin Howell during an emotional hearing where victims' relatives spoke about how the killings devastated their lives. Howell pleaded guilty to murder charges in September.
"He stripped away the youth from us and made me and my brother orphans," said Tiffany Menard, daughter of victim Mary Jane Menard. She called Howell a "monster" and said she tried to kill herself two times after her mother disappeared.
The self-described 'sick ripper' sexually assaulted three of the women and kept one of the bodies in his van for two weeks, sleeping next to the body and calling the victim his "baby," according to an arrest warrant affidavit.
Police said a main connection among most of the victims was their use of drugs. Howell called the burial site his "garden" and said the victims should have known they were going to die because of the lifestyles they led, the warrant said.
Howell is believed to be the most prolific serial killer in Connecticut history - not counting mass shootings. The seven killings topped the Connecticut body count of serial killer Michael Ross, who killed six women in eastern Connecticut and two in New York, and was executed in 2005.
The 47-year-old Howell, from Hampton, Virginia, cried and apologized to the victims' families during the hearing, saying he deserved the death penalty and his acts were "monstrous, cowardly and selfish." The state Supreme Court abolished Connecticut's death penalty in 2015.
"I know what awaits me ... a slow painful death in prison," said Howell, who talked about his diabetes and possible limb amputation and organ failure in the future. "I hope that provides some comfort to each of the families." (I can only hope he's right on both counts.)
Ref: https://cbsnews1.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/...396265.jpg