Police charge man with murder in his father's northeast Amarillo death

Excerpt

Amarillo police said a 69-year-old man found dead Thursday in a northeast Amarillo home was killed by his son.
Robert Harold Howerter, 46, was served Friday with a murder warrant at the Armstrong C…

Amarillo police said a 69-year-old man found dead Thursday in a northeast Amarillo home was killed by his son.

Robert Harold Howerter, 46, was served Friday with a murder warrant at the Armstrong County jail, where officials said he was being held after allegedly confronting a traveler with a knife in a convenience store in Claude.

The Amarillo Police Department identified the victim Friday morning as Ricky Lee Howerter. At 3:44 p.m. Thursday, officers went to a home in the 3800 block of Mesa Verde Drive on a report of a person who had been shot.

Medical personnel declared the elder Howerter dead at the scene, police said. APD’s Special Crimes Unit investigated the death.

“As the investigation progressed, Special Crimes investigators determined the victim’s son was the suspect in this case,” APD said.

The son was already in jail after the Armstrong County Sheriff’s Office arrested him for the unrelated offense in Claude following the alleged murder.

Armstrong County Sherriff Fleta Barnett said Robert Howerter was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after he confronted a traveler with a knife about 9:45 a.m. Thursday at a Cefco convenience store on U.S. Highway 287.

Barnett said Howerter remained in Armstrong County jail in lieu of $515,000 bond.