CHAMBERS COUNTY, Texas — The Chambers County Sheriff’s Office believes it has cleared a cold case dating back to September 2020.
"It feels great to have it solved,” Lt. Tanner Dickens said.
Carroll Richardson, 50, is charged with murder in connection with the death of Daniel Howey, an intellectually and developmentally challenged 37-year-old who used a wheelchair and whose body was found in Dutton Lake in the Beach City area.
"He was in the care of the group home either owned or managed by Mr. Richardson,” Dickens said.
Richardson was arrested Monday, coincidentally while appearing in court in Harris County for another case.
He is also accused of systematically depleting a large insurance settlement the victim had received.
“I believe that what happened, or what they believe happened through the investigation, was that Mr. Howey had threatened to report Mr. Richardson for the thefts and that may have been a good portion of the motive that led up to this,” Dickens said.
Richardson is charged along with an alleged accomplice named Shaun Sandles who happens to already be in prison for forgery.
Details of the victim’s death are disturbing but investigators believe he may have been dumped in the water while still alive and drowned.
The group home Richardson ran was later busted for allegedly being unlicensed and full of filth with residents living in deplorable conditions.