'The justice our family needed': Ex-boyfriend found guilty in murder of Bobbie Lou Schoeffling

A year ago, Bobbie Lou Schoeffling's son told a Milwaukee detective about the abuse she suffered.

He saw his mother beaten. He saw her hair ripped out. He saw her fear when her abuser threatened to shoot into their home.

The 11-year-old boy saw something else, too: A system that failed to protect his mother.

He described one of those missed chances in the videotaped interview that was played in court this week. The Journal Sentinel is not naming the son because of his young age and for privacy and safety reasons.

"If they would have started chasing him, they could have caught him," the boy said, referring to officers who responded to one 911 call. "And my mom would still be alive."

In his closing argument Thursday, prosecutor Daniel T. Flaherty urged the jurors to consider the reams of evidence presented over the four-day trial — witness accounts, body camera footage, text messages, cellphone location data and DNA evidence. He said he believed Schoeffling's son.

"And I think you should too," Flaherty said.

In the end, the boy's words did what so many officials could not. They brought his mother a measure of justice.

The jury convicted Nicholas Howell, 29, of first-degree intentional homicide, stalking and several other felony counts. Jurors reached the decision in less than five hours.

His conviction carries a mandatory life sentence.

"This is the justice our family needed to begin our healing process and I am so thankful for everyone involved to make it happen," sister Tia Schoeffling said Friday.

Law enforcement missed escalating pattern of domestic violence

Schoeffling repeatedly told authorities she feared Howell would kill her.

But a Journal Sentinel investigation published last April found police officers, prosecutors and probation agents missed an escalating pattern of domestic violence over the final 10 months of her life.During that time, Howell was wanted on warrants unrelated to domestic violence, but law enforcement failed to arrest him until after her death, according to the investigation.

Schoeffling, 31, was found shot multiple times in her Milwaukee home on July 26, 2022. Her cold body was lying on the kitchen floor.

The case sparked outrage over how Schoeffling was treated, particularly by one Milwaukee police officer at District 3. Their interaction, captured on security footage, appeared to show the officer blaming Schoeffling for failing to hold Howell accountable. The officer also called her derogatory names after she left the counter.

After the story's publication, the Milwaukee Police Department acknowledged the officer had "shortcomings" and opened an internal investigation into all six contacts the department had with Schoeffling prior to her death. The results have not yet been released.

The Common Council and the city's Fire and Police Commission have demanded answers and Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said he never wanted to see any crime victim treated the way Schoeffling was.

For some domestic abuse survivors, Schoeffling's interactions with police and prosecutors mirrored their own. Experts and advocates said it highlighted the importance of supporting victims outside of the criminal justice system and improving the experience for those who do turn to it for help.

Since her death, Schoeffling’s family has searched for accountability and sought justice on her behalf.

During the trial, more than 30 people testified for the prosecution, including police officers who responded to Schoeffling's calls for help following domestic violence incidents, 911 dispatchers, family members, and her close friend, who found her body.

Flaherty told jurors the murder came after Howell "routinely and regularly brutalized" Schoeffling, including in front of her young children. He called Howell's abuse a "reign of terror."

Defense attorney Russell J. A. Jones repeatedly tried to cast doubt on the witness testimonies, as well as the cellphone location data and DNA evidence.

Jones said that while Howell seemed "a little possessive," that didn't prove anything.

"Being possessive doesn't make you a killer," he said.

Jones also raised questions about the specific timing of Schoeffling's death, and whether she was shot and killed by someone else — such as during an armed home invasion. A police officer and detective who responded to the scene, however, said there was no sign of "ransacking," and no items of value were missing from her home.

Although the defense filed a motion earlier indicating Howell may provide an alibi, he did not. And Howell — who had told detectives he was at his mother's house all day, before acknowledging that he took his brother to the hospital — decided not to testify in the case, Jones said Wednesday.

'It sounded like a demon to me'

Others who testified included Schoeffling's neighbor, Earl Perry, who said he was outside tying up the curtains on his gazebo the afternoon of July 25, 2022, when he heard a "commotion" coming from a house across the alley from him.

"I heard, 'B****,' then he just started firing," Perry said.

Asked if it was a man or a woman speaking, he said, "It sounded like a demon to me."

Prosecutors also introduced evidence about DNA found on Schoeffling’s body. Lab analysis showed "strong support" that the DNA belonged to Howell, including one area of her body where the DNA was "1 trillion times more likely" to be his than anybody else's, officials said.

Howell told detectives during a videotaped interview, which was played in court on Wednesday, that he had been with Schoeffling on Monday morning before she went to work.

Other testimony from Schoeffling’s sister, son, friend and others — as well as Schoeffling’s own statements to police, captured on officers’ body cameras and security footage — detailed a pattern of abuse and stalking behavior by Howell.

In one incident on July 11, 2022, Milwaukee police responded to a 911 call after a woman said her friend's ex-boyfriend was beating her. The officers found Schoeffling and her friend. The officers asked Schoeffling for the name of her ex-boyfriend and she replied:  "I can’t tell you guys because he really will come kill me."

Later, the two officers were able to identify the ex-boyfriend as Howell, according to the criminal complaint.

The same body camera footage also showed Schoeffling’s friend hugging her and telling her they were going to fix the situation. Schoeffling replied: "No, we’re not. I'm gonna die. He’s gonna kill me."

Another segment of the body camera footage showed Schoeffling standing alone, nervously looking around, as she identified Howell as her abuser.

During the exchange at the District 3 police station, Schoeffling was captured saying: “I wanted to talk to the DA, but it was the same situation. ... I was scared because he kept threatening me, if I give him up, you know what I mean? I was afraid."

"She wanted me to move forward, but she did not want to be part of the process," William Ackell, an assistant district attorney, testified. "She feared for her safety."

Howell had not been charged previously with any domestic violence crimes.

Cellphone data traces Schoeffling's final hours

The day before Schoeffling was found dead, Howell sat outside her employer's building and texted her several times, asking if she could take a break. Those messages, some of which were read in court by Det. Brian Maciejewski, show Howell asking who she was with and when she would get off work.

Schoeffling said her boss had taken her out to lunch.

Howell responded with a series of messages: "You got outta somebody car." "I just saw you." "Hello wtf was that." "You having people pull up at your job already."

Schoeffling told Howell she got off work at 5 p.m. and her last call was to Howell’s number at 5:03 p.m. That call was answered and lasted nearly three minutes.

Detectives believe Schoeffling was at her home on West Hampton Avenue by 5:17 p.m. based on cellphone location data. The phone data also showed a log of her movements, which had been updating throughout the day and stopped at about 5:20 p.m. The phone's log of application usage also stopped updating at about 5:25 p.m.

Investigators believe Schoeffling was killed at that time or shortly after.

The same afternoon, Howell's brother was injured in a shooting investigated by Milwaukee police. A phone linked to Howell showed the phone moving in a manner consistent with dropping off his brother at St. Joseph’s Hospital about 4:40 p.m. before heading back to his mother's home, police officials said.

The phone then moved from that location toward Schoeffling’s home at about 5:15 p.m.

Howell's phone was turned off at about 5:24 p.m., and turned back on at about 6:09 p.m., meaning it was off for about 44 minutes, Officer Jason Schulz said Wednesday.

The phone was back near his mother's home after it was turned back on at 6:09 p.m. It then traveled west to Schoeffling’s home again, arriving there about 6:37 p.m. and remaining until 7:02 p.m., police said.

In a videotaped interview with detectives, Howell denied making the two trips west toward Schoeffling's house.

Phone records show Howell sent two text messages to Schoeffling around 6:20 p.m. to tell her his brother had been shot and he was heading to Froedtert Hospital.

But investigators have noted the texts came after the call Schoeffling made to Howell’s number, which was answered, and after Howell’s apparent trip to take his brother to the hospital, making it "extremely unlikely" he would need to later text Schoeffling about the shooting.

Howell's phone also recorded seven searches of an online scanner service, which posts fire and emergency medical services incidents as they become available. The searches began at 9:51 p.m. July 25 and continued until 2:49 p.m. July 26.

Schoeffling's homicide was reported on the scanner's page at 2:40 p.m. on July 26, 2022.

"He stopped searching because he located what he's looking for," Flaherty said. "He knew she was dead. He wanted to know when he needed to start crafting his story."

Contact Mary Spicuzza at (414) 224-2324 or mary.spicuzza@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @MSpicuzzaMJS.

Where to find help

• The National Domestic Violence Hotline is 800-799-7233.

• The Sojourner Family Peace Center in Milwaukee operates a 24-hour confidential hotline at (414) 933-2722.

• We Are Here Milwaukee provides information on culturally specific organizations at weareheremke.org.

• The Haus Of Peace provides housing, transportation, mental health counseling and other resources to women and children in Jefferson County who have experienced homelessness or abuse. It can be reached at (920) 285-7179 or at www.hausofpeacewi.org.

• The Women’s Center in Waukesha has a 24-hour hotline at (262) 542-3828.

• The Asha Project, which provides culturally specific services for African American women and others in Milwaukee, provides a crisis line from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at (414) 252-0075.

• The UMOS Latina Resource Center in Milwaukee offers bilingual, bicultural, domestic violence, sexual assault and anti-human trafficking supportive services and operates a 24-hour hotline at (414) 389-6510.

• The Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center offers culturally sensitive, trauma-informed services for those who have experienced domestic or sexual violence and can be reached at (414) 383-9526.

• Our Peaceful Home, which serves Muslim families and is a program of the Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, operates a crisis line at (414) 727-1090.

• The Hmong American Women’s Association, which serves the Hmong and Southeast Asian community, has advocates available at (414) 930-9352 from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

• End Domestic Abuse Wisconsin has a statewide directory of resources at endabusewi.org/get-help.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Ex-boyfriend found guilty in murder of Bobbie Lou Schoeffling