William Devin Howell

William Devin Howell (born February 11, 1970) is an American serial killer who was convicted of murdering seven women in 2003. He is one of the most prolific serial killers in Connecticut history. In November 2017, while already serving a 15-year prison sentence for manslaughter, he was sentenced to six consecutive life sentences (a life sentence in Connecticut is 60 years in prison, meaning he was sentenced to 360 years in prison), which he is currently serving at Cheshire Correctional Institution.

Victims The victims were identified as seven women, including one transgender woman, Janice Roberts. Their bodies were discovered in two locations, including an area behind a shopping plaza on Hartford Road in New Britain, referred to by Howell as his "garden". The person who discovered this principal body dump, at the start of 2005, by which time the remains were mostly skeletal, had been looking for an area to hunt in. The ground is wooded and marshy and inaccessible by car, which delayed the investigation and recovery of the victims.

Janice Roberts Janice Roberts (b. October 5, 1958), a 44-year-old transgender woman from New Britain. She was last seen alive on June 18, 2003, when observed getting into Howell's blue van outside a Stop & Shop in Wethersfield. She was reported missing on June 24. Howell later told an informant that he tried to engage Roberts in a sexual act and, upon realizing that she was a transgender woman, strangled her.

Diane Cusack Diane Cusack, a 55-year-old New Britain resident, disappeared in mid-2003. Police last had contact with her on July 9, during a landlord-tenant dispute. Her remains were found behind the New Britain shopping plaza in 2007, and she was identified in 2011. Cusack, who had had a substance abuse problem, had been out of contact with her family for years and had never been reported missing.

Nilsa Arizmendi On July 31, 2003, a woman told police that her sister, 33-year-old Nilsa Arizmendi, had not been heard from for 7 days. Arizmendi's boyfriend, a convicted drug dealer, was immediately a suspect in her disappearance but was ultimately cleared after passing a polygraph test. The sister told police that Arizmendi was a heroin user and sex worker who was living in a motel in Wethersfield along with her boyfriend. He told investigators that he and Arizmendi had allowed Howell to stay overnight in their room and that he last saw Arizmendi at 2:30 .a.m on July 25, 2003, when she got into Howell's van. Arizmendi's body was found on April 28, 2015, along with the bodies of three other women.

Mary Jane Menard Mary Jane Menard, 40, a mother of two from Waterbury. A former addict, she had turned her life around to become a substance abuse counselor. She went missing from New Britain in October 2003 and her remains were found behind the shopping plaza in 2007. They also found 6 videotapes of Howell having "bizarre" sex with women, but the videos were shot in a way to ensure that their faces were not clearly visible.

Howell was arrested in Hampton, Virginia, on May 15, 2005. Because Arizmendi's body was yet to be found, Howell was charged at that time with first degree manslaughter. Later, he was also charged with witness tampering after threatening another inmate.