2 charged years after body of man with intellectual disability found, Chambers Co. deputies say

CHAMBERS COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) -- Two murder suspects are behind bars nearly four years after detectives found a missing man's body in Dutton Lake.

On Monday, the Chambers County Sheriff's Office charged and arrested Carroll Richardson for his alleged role in the 2020 murder of 37-year-old Daniel Howey.

Authorities also charged Shaun Sandles in Howey's murder for allegedly being Richardson's accomplice. Sandles was already incarcerated at the Powledge Unit of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on unrelated charges out of Harris County, according to deputies.

Investigators said Howey, a man with intellectual and developmental disabilities who needed the use of a wheelchair, had been reported missing out of Harris County around the time his body was found.

The sheriff's office said Richardson had been caring for Howey at the Caring Hands Group Home in Harris County. Records show that Howey received a large settlement from a personal injury case in May 2020, in which Richardson was the suspect.

Richardson is accused of systematically depleting Howey's large settlement through various transactions, including large sums of money directed to himself, his associates, and his business.

Detectives believe that Howey had threatened to report Richardson for the theft of his settlement money before his body was found on Oct. 13, 2020, in Dutton Lake on FM 2354.

Investigators said a witness provided critical eyewitness accounts leading up to and during the course of the murder. A grand jury heard the case on Thursday and indicted both Richardson and Sandles on the murder charges.

If you have any further information relating to this incident, please contact the Chambers County Sheriff's Office at (409) 267-2500 and to the attention of Sgt. C. Hudson or Lt. L. Clement at the Chambers County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division.