FORT SMITH -- A November trial date has been set for a man accused of allowing a mentally handicapped man in his care to die, then dumping his body in a wooded area.
Sebastian County Circuit Judge J. Michael Fitzhugh set the week of Nov. 9 for the second-degree murder trial of Shawn Edward Howard, 44. Second-degree murder is defined as knowingly causing death under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.
Howard has been in the Sebastian County jail in lieu of a $200,000 bond since his April 8 arrest.
The body of Jimmy Don Abner, 57, of Fort Smith was found in a wooded area outside Cedarville in Crawford County on Feb. 12. A man and his grandson walking in the woods found Abner naked but for a pair of socks.
Howard, Abner's live-in caretaker working for Bost Human Development Center, had reported Abner missing about 8:30 p.m. on Feb. 10. He told police he was taking a shower about 2:30 p.m., when Abner told him he was leaving with a man named Eugene.
According to police records, Howard said he went to the door and saw Abner getting into a white pickup with two black men who drove away. Police were never able to find anyone fitting the description of "Eugene" who owned a white pickup.
Another Bost employee told officers that Abner had only one pair of shoes, which police found in Abner's closet.
An autopsy determined that Abner weighed 92 pounds and was covered with bed sores. Howard had told police, according to reports, that Abner was in good health and weighed 134 pounds.
A woman acquainted with Howard told police that he offered to pay her $4,200 if she told police she saw Abner leaving with "Eugene."
Reports said police received a handwritten note purportedly from Abner that said he went to Joplin, Mo., to be "gay married" and that if they didn't stop trying to find him, he would kill himself.
The handwriting in the note matched that in Howard's handwritten statement, police said.
NW News on 09/11/2015