Youth Sought in Parents’ Deaths Held
A 16-year-old sought in the shooting deaths of his parents was arrested early Saturday in Missouri after apparently running out of gas 900 miles from home.
Jeffrey Howorth walked out of woods and surrendered to police about 1 a.m. The family car he allegedly took after the murders was found abandoned late Friday on Interstate 70 near Williamsburg, Mo., police said.
He was charged with two counts of criminal homicide and will be tried as an adult in the deaths of George Howorth, 46, and Sue Howorth, 48, of Macungie township in eastern Pennsylvania, prosecutor Robert Steinberg said.
Jeffrey Howorth was being held at a Columbia, Mo., jail pending extradition.
Police believe that the youth ambushed his parents when they came home from work Thursday.
His mother, a church secretary, was shot nine times and his father, a utility company employee, was shot five times with a .22-caliber weapon. The couple still had their coats on when their older son, Stephen, 20, found the bodies, authorities said.
The motive for the murders was still unclear, officials said.
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