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NEW BRITAIN, Conn. (AP) — A man who killed two women and two children in Connecticut is expected to be a key witness against another man who allegedly told prison fellow inmates about using his "murder mobile" while killing seven people in the state in 2003, according to court documents.
William Devin Howell allegedly told cellmate Jonathan Mills about the seven killings, according to documents filed last week. Mills is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for killing his aunt, her two young children and another woman in Guilford in 2000.
Mills' testimony is expected to play an important role for prosecutors in a probable cause hearing next week in New Britain Superior Court on whether there is enough evidence to take Howell to trial for six of the seven killings.
Howell, a native of Hampton, Virginia, is already serving a 15-year prison sentence for manslaughter for the one of the slayings and has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the other six. All seven victims disappeared in 2003 and were found buried behind a shopping mall in New Britain. Three bodies were discovered in 2007, and the others were found last year.
According to an arrest warrant affidavit, Howell told fellow prison inmates he killed seven people, including one whose body he kept for two weeks in a van he called the "murder mobile." The DNA of six of the seven victims were found in the van, police said.
Under a cooperation agreement with prosecutors, Mills may get all or part of a $150,000 reward offered in the seven killings, according to the new court filings.
Howell's lawyers filed a motion April 29 seeking to prohibit New Britain State's Attorney Brian Preleski from introducing Mills' cooperation agreement at the probable cause hearing.
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