Luke Howard, 35, had just killed his mother and aunt inside their Kansas home. Minutes later, he was standing at a Walgreens counter — and the reason behind the killings is as chilling as the crime itself.
On the morning of February 12, 2025, pharmacy staff at a Walgreens in Liberty, Missouri, noticed a man walk in wearing blood-soaked clothes. He didn’t grab a cart or browse the aisles. He walked straight to the counter and said he wanted to turn himself in to police.
That man was Luke Howard, 35 — and roughly 30 miles away, back in Lenexa, Kansas, officers were already responding to a welfare check at a home where two women had been shot dead. The victims were his 63-year-old mother, Valerie Howard, and his 71-year-old aunt, Joyce Austin.
“He threatened her because she wanted him out of the house.”
The motive, according to police, was a single piece of paper: a 30-day eviction notice. Austin had issued it to her nephew after a history of threatening behavior inside the home the two women shared. Two days before the murders, officers had already been called to the residence following a physical altercation involving Howard. At the time, Valerie Howard told police she and her sister-in-law had locked themselves in their bedrooms out of fear.
Howard wasn’t done escalating. The very day before the shootings, he called police himself — claiming Austin had threatened him with a gun. He quickly recanted that statement. But no one could have predicted what would come next.
On the morning of February 12, both women were found shot to death inside their home. Austin’s son, who had separately called police that day asking about his mother’s whereabouts, also told officers that Howard was in possession of firearms.
Howard, meanwhile, had already fled the state. His bizarre surrender at a Missouri pharmacy — bloodied clothes and all — led to his arrest by Liberty police, who then extradited him to Johnson County, Kansas. He was initially charged with two counts of first-degree murder.
On Wednesday, Howard pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder. He is scheduled to be sentenced on August 24. Court records indicate he has a documented history of violent behavior and bipolar disorder — details that paint a troubling picture of a situation that neighbors, family, and police could see was unraveling, long before it turned deadly.
For Valerie Howard and Joyce Austin, the warning signs weren’t enough. Their story has renewed conversations about what more can be done when a family member becomes a threat — and how quickly a legal notice can become a lethal trigger.
