Watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y8G-6AHvpU
48 Hours' Kendy Howard Video: The Bathtub Scene That Did Not Add Up
On February 2, 2021, former Idaho state trooper Dan Howard called 911 to report that his wife, Kendy Howard, had shot herself in their bathtub. Responding deputies and detectives saw a scene that raised questions from the start. This 48 Hours episode, reported by Peter Van Sant, follows how those questions became a murder case.
Many 48 Hours episodes turn on a single disputed account, and this is a clear example. Dan Howard had law enforcement training and presented his wife's death as a suicide. Investigators had to test that account against the physical scene, the timeline, and what family members and witnesses said about the couple.
The video, published on YouTube in October 2024 after airing on September 28, 2024, has drawn more than 4.8 million views. It is a contained, single-case episode: one home in Athol, Idaho, one 911 call, and a prosecution that took more than three years to reach a verdict and sentence.
At a Glance
| Video | “The Bathtub Murder of Kendy Howard | Full Episode” |
|---|---|
| Channel | 48 Hours |
| Published | October 3, 2024 |
| Length | ~42 minutes |
| Views | 4.8M+ |
| Subject | The 2021 death of Kendy Howard in Athol, Idaho; Dan Howard's staged-suicide claim and his second-degree murder conviction |
What the Video Covers
The video opens on February 2, 2021, in Athol, Idaho. Dan Howard calls 911 and tells responders he found Kendy in the bathtub with a gunshot wound to the head, with her own pistol in the water. As a former state trooper, he understood how a scene would be read — which is part of why investigators looked closely at details that did not fit a suicide, including the condition of the scene as detectives describe it in the episode.
The middle section follows the two-year investigation. Family members told investigators Kendy's death as a suicide did not fit what they knew of her, detectives worked through the forensic limits of the case — prosecutors faced a scene with no simple DNA link tying Dan to the gun — and, in April 2023, Dan Howard was charged with murder and pleaded not guilty. The episode gives time to both the prosecution theory, that he killed Kendy and staged the bathtub scene, and the defense position, that the death was a suicide.
The final section covers the trial in March 2024. After a trial lasting about 10 days, a jury deliberated for more than eight hours and found Daniel Howard guilty of second-degree murder. In May 2024 he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The episode closes on the family who had doubted the suicide account from the beginning.
Strengths
The scene analysis is concrete. Rather than relying only on motive, the episode returns to specific observations by the deputies and detectives who entered the home, and to what those observations did and did not prove. That keeps the argument grounded in evidence viewers can follow.
Peter Van Sant's reporting is measured. The episode lays out the former-trooper angle without treating it as proof in itself. Training is presented as context for how the scene may have been staged, while the verdict is left to rest on the case presented in court.
Kendy Howard stays at the center. Family voices recur throughout, reminding viewers that the disputed scene is not a puzzle in the abstract: a wife, mother, and grandmother died, and her family spent years seeking a different official answer than the first one they were given.
Weaknesses
The forensic picture remains incomplete on screen. By the nature of the case, some of the most contested questions are argued rather than shown. Viewers who want a detailed forensic reconstruction will find the episode necessarily limited.
The timeline is compressed. More than two years passed between Kendy's death and the charge, and the episode moves through that period quickly. The investigative work in between — and why it took as long as it did — gets less room than the trial.
The format is familiar. Longtime 48 Hours viewers will recognize the structure: 911 call, disputed account, investigation, trial, sentence. The case itself is distinctive, but the telling follows the program's established pattern.
Who Should Watch
- 48 Hours regulars — a strong single-case episode with a clear disputed account at its center.
- Viewers interested in staged-scene investigations — the episode is a practical look at how investigators test a suicide claim against a scene.
- Trial-focused true crime viewers — the final section follows the evidence as it was presented to a jury.
- Idaho and Pacific Northwest case followers — a nationally covered case rooted in Athol and Kootenai County.
8/10
A focused, evidence-led 48 Hours episode — the bathtub scene is examined carefully, the former-trooper context is handled with restraint, and Kendy Howard's family keeps the human cost in view. Familiar in format, but the case carries it.
Source: 48 Hours on YouTube (“The Bathtub Murder of Kendy Howard | Full Episode,” published October 3, 2024; aired September 28, 2024); case background via CBS reporting on the 2021 Athol case, the 2024 trial, and Dan Howard's life sentence.