Lenexa saw its first homicides of 2025 on February 12 when a welfare check at a home on West 90th Street uncovered two fatal shootings. Victims were 63-year-old Valerie Howard and her 71-year-old former sister-in-law Joyce Austin, both found dead inside the residence.

Police quickly focused on a single suspect who lived at the home, 34-year-old Luke Anthony Howard, Valerie’s son. He reportedly walked into a Walgreens in Liberty, Missouri, with blood on his clothes and confessed to shooting both women, later saying the firearm used was in his vehicle. In the days before the killings, Lenexa officers had been called to the house twice for domestic disturbances; Valerie had told them her son had become violent and that she and Austin had been locking themselves in their rooms.

Luke Anthony Howard was charged with two counts of first-degree murder. Does anyone have information about the household’s recent history or those earlier domestic calls that could help clarify what led to this violence?