Michelle Howell
Appearances
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
Tonight on Dateline. I hear on the news that Desiree Sunford had been found murdered. And I screamed.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
In education, you can't think about yourself. You gotta think about your kids.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
And she goes, I'm sorry that your heart hurts. And I just broke down. And she goes, I'm gonna let you cry. But the commentary that swirled about what happened and how it happened and who did it, that's where the tininess of this valley starts to really play in. So there were all sorts of wild theories flying around. Stupid theories.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
There were supposedly that one of our kids had done it and then an angry parent had done it. You just wanted to put cotton in your ears so you don't listen.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
Michelle wasn't willing to give Scott that pass. You could not pay me enough to stand outside if I thought that someone I loved or someone that I cared about was hurt or dying or dead inside anywhere.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
I was super confused. I was really confused. Why would you wait? Like, what would stop you? Like, what if she was still alive?
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
If I lost my spouse, if I lost someone that I loved and someone that I cared about, sure as hell wouldn't be smiling at their funeral.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
Multiple occasions. We watched him on his phone walk outside because the back part of the church that we were in, this open venue, there was a wall of windows. And he's on his phone smoking a cigarette outside with a smile on his face.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
But her students didn't forget, and they still wanted answers. When they became eighth graders, they were like, whatever happened to that teacher? Like, did they ever figure out who did it? And I would just say, I don't know. And I would move on. It's not really a conversation you want to have with a 13 or 14-year-old. Sure.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
We spent a Saturday creating this piece of artwork that is up in our library. We innovated her classroom and used all of her pastels and just built this thing. And then I took it to my classroom and any of the kids who wanted to come in and be part of that and put their artwork on there for her and create a tile of their own for her is what we called it. And they did. That's beautiful.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
His attitude, his behavior, his demeanor, his actions were just gross.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
What were you thinking when you heard that name? My exact thought was, who the hell's that guy?
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
It was nice to have somebody that was relatively my age that was right there.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
Once the board got up back on the back door, it wasn't the end of the world. She was like, she knew she had her alarm system. She knew that she could take care of herself, handle herself.
Dateline NBC
Deadly Entanglement
I was getting ready for work Monday morning, and I hear on the news that local art teacher Desiree Sunford had been found killed or murdered. And I stopped and And I screamed. I'm like, tell me it's a lie. Tell me it's a lie. Tell me it's a lie.