Prosecutor says Bobbie Lou Schoeffling faced 'reign of terror' at hands of ex-boyfriend as homicide trial begins
Bobbie Lou Schoeffling's 11-year-old son can remember many times his mom was afraid in the days, weeks and months leading up to her death.
And each time involved her ex-boyfriend, Nicholas J. Howell.
"When Nicholas was threatening to shoot the house up, I'm guessing she was scared," the boy said. "She was probably scared when her hair got pulled back."
His voice echoed through the courtroom of Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Jeffrey A. Wagner on Tuesday afternoon during the trial against Howell, who is accused of killing Schoeffling after months of abuse.
Howell, 29, faces charges of first-degree intentional homicide in her death, along with several other counts including stalking and felony intimidation of a victim.
The case was the focus of a Journal Sentinel investigation that raised questions about opportunities that police officers, prosecutors and probation agents missed to help Schoeffling over the final 10 months of her life amid an escalating pattern of domestic violence incidents.
Throughout the months leading up to Schoeffling's death, Howell was wanted on warrants unrelated to domestic violence, but law enforcement failed to arrest him until after the homicide, the investigation showed.
Schoeffling's son talked in detail about one of those missed chances during his videotaped interview with a Milwaukee Police Department detective, which was played in court as part of the trial. The Journal Sentinel is not naming the son because of his young age and for privacy and safety reasons.
"If they'd have started chasing him, they could have caught him," the boy told police in the video. "And my mom would still be alive."
'Routinely and regularly brutalized'
Bobbie Lou Schoeffling repeatedly said that she feared Howell would kill her.
And prosecutor Daniel T. Flaherty said that on July 25, 2022, he did.
In his opening statement Monday, Flaherty said the murder came after Howell "routinely and regularly brutalized" her, including incidents that happened in front of her young children. He called Howell's abuse of Schoeffling a "reign of terror."
Schoeffling, 31, was found shot multiple times in her Milwaukee home on July 26, 2022. Her cold body was found on the kitchen floor, Flaherty said.
But defense attorney Russell Jones urged members of the jury during his brief opening statement to remember that Howell starts with the "presumption of innocence."
Jones later 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, Jones did not mention an alibi during his opening statement. And on Wednesday afternoon, Jones said that Howell had decided not to testify in the case.
'It sounded like a demon to me'
The trial has featured testimony from about two dozen people.
Witnesses include police officers who responded to Schoeffling's calls for help following domestic violence incidents, 911 dispatchers, Schoeffling's sister, and her close friend, who found her body when she went to her home to check on her.
It also featured testimony from Officer Shawn Toms, whom Schoeffling spoke to on July 15, 2022, when she went to Police District 3 looking for help. She reported that Howell beat her in a car in front of her children about 30 minutes earlier.
The Journal Sentinel previously obtained security video that showed Toms taking Schoeffling's report and appearing to blame her for the abuse she suffered, and calling her derogatory names after she left the lobby. Multiple experts interviewed by the Journal Sentinel criticized how Toms handled the interaction and the Milwaukee Police Department later acknowledged the officer's "shortcomings."
Prosecutors were not aware of the District 3 security footage until the Journal Sentinel obtained it in an open records request.
A number of police officers who testified during the trial said the vast majority of calls they respond to are linked to domestic violence.
Others who testified included a neighbor named Earl Perry, who said on the afternoon of July 25 he was outside tying up the curtains on his gazebo 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.
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.
More: Fatal domestic violence is on the rise. Here's what's being done about it in Milwaukee.
'She feared for her safety'
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 — detail 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."
Prosecutors argue these and other statements from Schoeffling about the ongoing domestic abuse can be used in court under what’s known as a “forfeiture by wrongdoing” theory. That means a defendant loses the right to cross-examine a witness if he or she commits an act that makes it impossible for that witness to testify.
"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.
Prosecutors introduce texts, location data showing Schoeffling's final movements
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 cell phone location data. The phone data also showed a log of her movements, or steps, 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. and recorded no further activity until it was recovered by police.
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 returning to Howell’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 in Riverwest when it was turned back on at 6:09 p.m., and then traveled west to Schoeffling’s home, arriving there about 6:37 p.m. and remaining until 7:02 p.m., Shulz said
In a videotaped interview with detectives, Howell denied making the two trips west toward Schoeffling’s house.
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.
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 St. Joseph’s Hospital, making it “extremely unlikely” Howell 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.
"He searched it one, two, three, four, five, six, seven times," Maciejewski said in court.
Schoeffling's homicide was reported on the scanner's page at 2:40 p.m. July 26.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Ashley Luthern contributed to this article.
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 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: Trial for Bobbie Lou Schoeffling's ex-boyfriend Nicholas Howell begins
