On December 5, 1973, 50-year-old attorney Paul V. Howell of Massillon, Ohio, was murdered in Nassau, Bahamas while attending a convention. Early police theory considered the possibility that he had interrupted a burglary in progress.

Howell’s body was returned to Ohio for funeral services and he was buried in Saint Joseph Cemetery in Massillon. The investigation led to the arrest of 19-year-old Michaiah Shobek, born James Michael Shoffner, a handyman who had recently moved to the Bahamas. Shobek was later identified as responsible for the deaths of three American tourists, including Howell, and he confessed at trial, saying his victims were angels of Lucifer and that he was acting on divine instructions. He was convicted and sentenced to death and was executed by hanging in Nassau on October 19, 1976.

Did anyone in Massillon or attendees of that 1973 convention ever recall contacts or unusual visitors at the Nassau hotel that night?