Everything from drug addictions to sexual preferences were discussed on the first day of Mark Howard’s long-awaited trial. Several witnesses, including former neighbors, family members, and boyfriends testified about the events leading up to Jeanette Scholten’s sudden death.
Howard, 55, allegedly strangled Ms. Scholten to death in a motel room in March 2016 during what was allegedly a drug deal. According to security video and texts, Howard was the last person to contact the victim, and the last person to enter Scholten’s room before the murder. He was later charged with first-degree murder.
“When they went into the room, they found her body. She was bound on the wrists, strangled, and left in the room for two days.” said prosecutor Crystle Carrion, “After this, no other phone calls or text messages came from the phone. Nobody walked in or out of the room (after Mark Howard left). I’m going to ask you for a verdict of first-degree murder.”
Meanwhile, for the defense’s opening statement, attorney Zachary Newman emphasized the burden of proof the state had in proving his client was guilty. He also made reference to the idea that the defendant enjoyed possibly dangerous sexual activities.
“Some people are a bit odd, and enjoy choking each other,” said the attorney, “The burden of proof is on them to prove each (accusation), and everything they just said. Otherwise, you will have to find him not guilty.”
The victim's mother, Linda Post, had a close relationship with her daughter. In fact, Ms. Post was going to take Ms. Scholten to a job interview the day she was allegedly murdered. She described her daughter as “very excited and optimistic” about the upcoming interview, which made her daughter’s sudden non-responsive behavior to texts or calls alarming.
“It went right to voicemail, like it was powered off, and she never did that,” said her mother.
According to her mother, Ms. Scholten was prone to depression, and battled alcohol and drug problems throughout her life. Her beloved dog Luna had recently died prior to her moving to the Chatt Inn, which only worsened her depression.
After missing the job interview, and not responding to messages or calls the following day, Ms. Post became extremely concerned. It was at this point she and her son, Carl Scholten, drove down to the Chatt Inn.
When the manager and motel staff opened the door, they found Ms. Scholten’s lifeless body lying on the bed and somewhat covered.
“I saw her laying on the bed, and she was naked. Her left hand was swollen purple,” said her brother Carl. He told the court that his sister, who often slept at the family’s residence, often went to bed in her work clothes. He said the sight of his sister “sleeping” naked “looked completely wrong.”
The property manager who accompanied the family and opened the door described Mark Howard as “a little skittish, and always running from us.” He told the court Howard had been evicted from Chatt Inn a few weeks before the incident. Despite being evicted and banned from the premises, those restrictions would not stop Howard from returning to Chatt Inn, he said.
“He was banned from the property, but he came at night when we weren’t there. He’d go up to Jeanette’s room, as far as what the cameras show,” said the manager. When the manager saw the crime scene, he noticed a chair with string tied to it and hair on top of it. He described the sight as “odd, because she didn’t have a dog.”
The manager said Ms. Scholten was “a quiet, shy girl who’d stay to herself. She was kind of depressed, and she'd just lost a dog.”
One of her neighbors recalled hearing an argument coming from the direction of Ms. Scholten’s apartment the night of her alleged murder. While she did not have a relationship or friendship with either person, she was familiar with both parties.
“A couple of days ago (before police came), there had been a woman and man arguing, and it was coming from the direction of her room,” said the neighbor, “It sounded aggressive. It was muffled, but you could they were not happy……..it was an abrupt stop.”
Another Chatt Inn resident knew Mark Howard through connections with her ex-husband, and saw him the day after the alleged murder. She told the court he was at the bus stop early in the morning, somewhere she had never seen him before. She said Howard had two large duffel bags with him. And he had one topic of conversation he fixated on as the two conversed.
“He told me he would go in with Jeanene (assumed to be Jeanette) at night and she would give him a place to lay his head at night,” said the witness, “He said, ‘I’m never going back there again’ and he said she’s crazy, that she’s acting crazy.”
He allegedly referred to Jeanette as “the little red-headed girl,” which was Jeanette’s moniker to the residents of Chatt Inn. When the neighbor got home later that day and saw a news report of what had happened, she called the police and told them about her encounter with Howard.
Jeanette’s ex-boyfriend was also required to answer some very personal questions as it pertained to their relationship. He characterized the relationship as romantic in nature, but short-lived. The two dated for around 10 months, and only lived together for three or four of those. While he told the court Ms. Scholten would ask him to choke her and tie her up, he said he did not choke her.
“It was about placement and the fantasy of control, but there was no asphyxiation,” said the witness, who said he would not choke her. Rather, he would place his hand over her throat during sex. Throughout time on the stand, the witness continually said he did not remember much of what happened during this time, including things he said during a later interview with the police.
“Sincerely, there’s a lot of things I don’t remember in this regard. There’s been a lot of therapy,” said the witness. He confirmed Ms. Scholten’s affinity for drinking, and told the court she also struggled with depression and often went through mood swings.
While the witness gave answers, he was clearly agitated at points, especially as attorney Newman asked more and more questions about the couple’s sexual life, and how Ms. Scholten was or was not pleased with it.
She would get angry if I put the wrong sheets on the bed. She suffered from mood swings,“ said the witness, ”You’re asking me to detail all of the ways I sexually disappointed someone who is now dead.”
The trial continues at 9:30 a.m.