'He really will come kill me': Ex-boyfriend charged in death of Bobbie Lou Schoeffling
Bobbie Lou Schoeffling repeatedly told authorities she feared her ex-boyfriend would kill her and then, according to prosecutors, he did.
Nicholas J. Howell, 28, was charged this week with first-degree reckless homicide in her death, along with several other counts including stalking and felony intimidation of a victim.
Schoeffling, 31, was found fatally shot inside her Milwaukee home July 26, 2022.
Howell had not been charged previously with any domestic violence crimes. He has not yet made an initial court appearance or entered a plea in the homicide case.
The criminal complaint outlines a pattern of stalking behavior by Howell and quotes Schoeffling’s own statements to police, captured on officers’ body cameras and security footage.
On July 11, 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, the complaint says.
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.”
Four days later, Schoeffling walked into Milwaukee Police District 3 to report that Howell had just beaten her in her car in front of her two young sons. She told the officer she feared Howell and that she did not follow up with prosecutors on an assault report from the previous year because of that fear.
“I wanted to talk to the DA, but it was the same situation but I was scared because he kept threatening me, if I give him up, you know what I mean? I was afraid,” Schoeffling said in an exchange captured on District 3 security footage.
In the complaint, Assistant District Attorney Michael Schindhelm argued 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.
By threatening and intimidating the victim, and therefore making her uncooperative with police, Howell has forfeited, or lost, his constitutional right to confront her, Schindhelm wrote in the complaint.
Criminal complaint cites texts, location data and other phone evidence
The day before she was found dead, Schoeffling had started a new job.
Howell sat outside her employer’s building and texted her several times, asking if she could take a break. The messages, quoted in the criminal complaint, show Howell asking who she was with.
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, the complaint says.
Detectives believe Schoeffling was at her home on West Hampton Avenue near North 91st Street 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, the complaint says.
The phone then moved from that location toward Schoeffling’s home at about 5:15 p.m. There was a roughly 20-minute gap in location data until 5:53 p.m. when the phone location reappeared and was moving back toward Howell’s home.
The phone stayed at his residence until 6:10 p.m. and then traveled west to Schoeffling’s home, arriving there about 6:49 p.m. and remaining until 7:03 p.m., according to the complaint.
In an 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.
In the complaint, the prosecutor 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.
Schoeffling's homicide was reported on the scanner's page at 2:40 p.m. July 26.
Suspect had been wanted for months before abuse reported
Howell had been wanted on a fleeing case out of Washington County and a probation violation warrant from the Department of Corrections since mid-2021 — months before Schoeffling first reported domestic abuse to authorities.
He finally was arrested July 27, the day after Schoeffling was discovered with a gunshot wound to the head.
He has been in custody since then on a violation of probation hold from the Department of Corrections. He had been on extended supervision since his release from prison in 2019 in an earlier gun case.
His Washington County case remains pending. His initial appearance on the homicide had not been scheduled as of Tuesday. The criminal complaint does not include any references to Howell admitting wrongdoing, nor does it say if police found the gun used to kill Schoeffling.
Relatives say Schoeffling had repeatedly tried to break free of Howell.
At the time of her death, the mother of two was starting a new job and was looking to buy a house. Months later, her grandmother received a letter.
Schoeffling had been approved for a home loan.
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.
Need more help with crime and safety questions? The Milwaukee Resource Guide is here to help. Have something you want answered? Submit a question.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Bobbie Lou Schoeffling’s ex-boyfriend charged in 2022 shooting death
