Parolled Prisoner Murders Elderly Kansas Couple

Parolled Prisoner Murders Elderly Kansas Couple

An elderly Kansas City couple have died after parolled prison with a long history of criminal offenses brutally beat them, authorities confirmed this week.

Brandon Howell, 34, went on a murder and robbery spree on September 2 killing three people and beating Ann and George Taylor, a couple in their 80s, so badly that now they have died from their injuries.

Prosecutors charge that Howell attacked the couple in their home, then fatally shot three neighbors before fleeing in the Taylors’ auto.

Howell is charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the shooting deaths of 88-year-old Alice Hurst, her son, 63-year-old Darrel Hurst, and 69-year-old Susan Choucroun. He will likely now face charges of murder since the passing of the Taylors.

The killer’s father told the media that the return to crime of his son was shocking because the 34-year-old had been trying to turn over a new leaf and go straight. But after recently losing his job, his father says Howell went off the deep end.

But the accused perpetrator has a long criminal history.

Howell was sentenced to 12 years in jail for a 2000 home invasion where he pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated kidnapping, kidnapping, aggravated robbery and cruelty to animals because he beheaded a pet cat during the robbery.

The mother of one of his early victims called Howell “evil, pure evil.”

Dianne Remfert, whose son was a victim of Howell’s first spree of violence, said that when they learned that Howell was out of jail and again perpetrating violence they were stunned he was out of prison.

“My son sent me a text and said, ‘mom, that was Brandon Howell that murdered those three people and injured the others, what the ‘F’ is he doing out? What’s going on?'” she told Fox 4.

Despite that Howell was charged with numerous fights and behavior infractions early in his 2000 sentence, in 2011 he was given a work release. Shortly thereafter, in 2013, he was placed on parole.

Officials say that until this month Howell incurred no parole violations since his 2013 release.

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter: @warnerthuston. Email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.

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