Killer teen, Crystal Brooke Howell  

Crystal Brooke Howell, 20, killed her father, Michael Howell, 50, in 2014 and hid his body in a shed

Crystal  shot her father once point blank in the head while he was napping at their eight-bedroom cabin in a remote area of Sheepback Mountain, NC

She then moved her friends into the home for drug-fueled parties after killing, Michael Howell, a former sports editor and writer for the Columbia County News-Times

 

The teen dragged her dad’s body to a storage shed and stuffed it into a plastic storage bin where it was discovered by two of the house guests

House guests ratted her out to the cops 

Convicted on first degree murder, Crystal Brooke Howell was sentenced to serve 30 years, minimum

 

Michael Joseph Howell, a former Columbia County News-Times sports editor, was found murdered by his then 17-year-old daughter. Crystal Brooke Howell, stashed her father’s body in a shed while spending his money

17-year-old Crystal Brooke Howell was charged as an adult in the death of her father, the Haywood County Sheriff’s Office announced on March of 2014. The teenage Crystal of Maggie Valley, was charged with first-degree murder after her father, 50-year-old Michael Howell, was found dead of a single gunshot wound to the head, back in April 2013. On Monday Crystal Brooke Howell, now 20, was sentenced to 30 years minimum in the murder of her father.

Crystal Brooke Howell, pled guilty to the shooting death of her father in 2014

Crystal Brooke Howell of Maggie Valley, North Carolina, admitted killing her sports editor father with a bullet to the head when she was 17. She pled guilty to first degree murder charges in the death of her father, Michael Howell,in Haywood County Court, Monday and received a minimum 30 year sentence.
After murdering her father  with one shot to the head while he napped in their Sheepback Mountain home,in his sleep, 17-year-old Crystal dragged the body to a shed on the property, wrapped it in plastic and hid it in a bin for a month.

Crystal Howell, who admitted to killing her father as a teenager, appears in court during her trial

After the murder, the teenager started spending her victim’s money and moving friends into the house for drug fueled parties.
‘She then started to drive his car and spend his money. She had her friends move in, had a drug-fueled party, and even had a stripper pole installed in the kitchen,’ said Assistant District Attorney Jeff Jones said in a Haywood County DA news release.
According to the Columbia County News-Times Crystal started hatching the plot to kill him father on February 24, after she was caught shoplifting while out with her father, according to police. At this point, Crystal who had been living with her dad after her parents divorced five years earlier.

Crystal Howell, then 17, admitted to killing her father while he napped and then hiding his body in a plastic storage container for a month until two friends discovered it. Her family say she suffers from mental illness

Detective Scott Robinson said in the warrant affidavit, that the suspect had been interviewed a month later at the Richmond County jail by two investigators, and she  “stated that approximately one month ago, she shot her father, Michael Howell, in the head with a shotgun. She stated that sometime afterward she threw the fired shotgun shell in the garbage,”
Crystal Howell, then 17, admitted to killing her father while he napped and then hiding his body in a plastic storage container for a month until two friends she had moved into the home discovered it.
She was able to get her father’s body into a plastic storage container and covered it with a sleeping bag.
She proceeded to tell friends that her dad had moved to Georgia and killed himself. She also moved several of her friends into the house. However, on March 22 two of the men who were staying at the house went into the storage shed and, while cleaning up and after moving a pinball machine, one of the men, Anthony Talley, spotted the plastic storage bin and looked inside, finding Michael’s body.

After her parents divorced, Crystal went to live with her father, Michael Howell,  in a large cabin in a remote area of Maggie Valley, NC called Sheepback Mountain 

The shocked Talley was later to say, ‘I never want to see anything like that ever again in my life’.
‘It has ruined me.’
Her mom, Kristina Rester, said Crystal had called her March 19, to say her father had released her from his custody and she wanted to move back to Augusta, Georgia. Rester said she told her daughter she would have to provide proof of the emancipation, before she would allow it.
Still, Crystal had shown up at her house in Augusta, that day with Michael’s Land Rover and a U-Haul trailer with her belongings. She only stayed long enough to take a shower and then left to meet a friend.
She said that her although her daughter had behavioral issues and bucked authority, they  ‘had a good summer’ and spoke often, adding ‘The reason she wasn’t living with us was that she couldn’t follow the rules here’.

Crystal told friends Michael Howell had moved to Georgia and killed himself, before moving several of them into the house

Crystal is suffering from mental illness said her aunt, Brenda Ellis.
‘I can tell you there is a lot more wrong with Crystal than has come out’.
‘There have been so many issues but they have compounded by all that she has been through over the years.’
‘She’s not a heinous monster. It is a heart breaking tragedy, that’s all I know. People need to understand mental illness is serious and it can be pushed to the limit and I think this is what has happened.’
Crystal Howell, was sentenced Monday, to 25 years in prison before she can apply for parole, with an extra five to seven for hiding her father’s body, to be served at the North Carolina Department of Adult Corrections.