2012– Frank Howard Hired a Family of Misfits to Kill His Wife (Carrollton)

 

 

 

Frank and Nancy Howard had been married since 1983. Along the way, they had two daughters, Ashley and Brianna, and a son, Jay. The couple settled their family in Carrollton, Texas. Frank was an accountant with a small firm and a healthy client base in Dallas, and Nancy called herself a “domestic engineer.” The Howards were actively involved in their church, hosting youth groups and singing in the choir. The family was known for being a close-knit group, and they enjoyed spending time together.

Nancy and Frank had their difficulties, but certainly more ups than downs. In  2003, Nancy had begun to struggle with depression and fibromyalgia. A few years later, Frank and Nancy battled his prostate cancer. Nancy and Frank told friends that the health issues had strengthened their bond, and their lives had smoothed out by 2008. In fact, that year, Frank surprised his wife, children, and parents with a trip to the Olympics in Beijing.

 

 

In May 2009, Frank told Nancy he was taking on a new client, Raley Holdings, LLC, parent company of American United Logistics, which ships military hardware and other equipment to the Middle East. The new role would require more travel, which surprised Nancy. In the past, Frank had consulted her on major business moves. This time, he didn’t.

The new client offered Frank office space in Grapevine, use of his private jet, and later made him the company’s chief financial officer.

Nancy and Brianna traveled to Africa on a mission trip in July 2009, and Frank went to Lake Tahoe for a softball tournament. It was during that time that Frank met Suzanne Leontieff, a dental hygienist from Santa Cruz, California, at a casino in Lake Tahoe. Suzanne told Frank that she was separated and working on her divorce. Frank lied and told Suzanne his marriage was not going well … it was a marriage in name only, he said. They exchanged numbers and met in Reno the following weekend. Frank started talking about divorce constantly to everyone except Nancy within a week of meeting Suzanne.

 

Don’t Divorce—Hire a Hit Man (2010)

A tiresome story these days, the modern go-to problem-solver of idiots … a man wants to be rid of his wife, but he’s too much of a Christian to get a divorce. What would his church friends think? Pretty soon, Frank Howard decided he didn’t want a divorce; he wanted Nancy dead. His wife was faithful to her Christian beliefs, so it would be difficult to get her to agree to a divorce, and besides, divorce would make him look bad.

That’s when Frank discovered a fellow who might do the deed … it was career criminal Billie Earl Johnson, fresh out of prison, someone Frank heard of through a connection at the office of one of his accounting clients, Van Tone, a flavor manufacturing company in Terrell, Texas. Frank visited the Van Tone office every few weeks to handle the books.

Billie Earl Johnson had dated a woman named Valerie who worked for Van Tone. Valerie broke up with Billie, and he was stalking and harassing her. Billie Earl Johnson had been in prison for hitting his daughter in the face with a pistol, and Valerie was afraid of him. Valerie also told Frank Howard about Billie.

Good ol’ Frank Howard, an accountant who had never been one for confrontations, asked around for Billie’s number in August 2009, claiming he could stop the harassment. At some point between August 2009 and February 2010, Frank bought a burner phone and called Billie, a career criminal with a penchant for methamphetamine and motorcycles, reaching him at his home near the East Texas communities of Van and Ben Wheeler in Van Zandt County.

Frank  introduced himself by his actual first name, “John,” stating he had heard of Billie and hoped he could help with a “job” — which was to kill his wife, Nancy, and to make it look like an accident … and by the way, John told Billie Earl he wanted it to happen in a carjacking or robbery.

Billie Earl knew not to look a gift horse in the mouth and said he’d take the job for $60,000 cash. The hired gun always said he never intended to kill for John (Frank). He just wanted the money. They agreed on a meeting place and time.

During their first meeting in front of Shepler’s Western Wear in Mesquite, John (Frank) gave Billie Earl Johnson $60,000 in cash. The money was contained in a brown envelope and was accompanied by a photo of Nancy Howard.

Billie Earl Johnson did what any good meth addict would do. He took the money and spent most of it on drugs and big-ticket items. Billie Earl also handed out money to the other ne’er-do-well friends and family he had around Van and Ben Wheeler. Billie Earl always said he never intended to kill anyone (and he didn’t). He planned to “string this guy along for money.” Billie decided to keep getting as much money as he could from Frank, and Billie Earl’s girlfriend, Stacey Serenko, played a significant role in the murder-for-hire plot orchestrated by Frank Howard.

Stacey was present the first time John called Billie Earl to propose killing his wife in February 2010. Billie said he would do it, and as soon as Frank gave him the money, Billie and Stacey partied like crazy for several days straight and went shopping.

A little later, Billie Earl was arrested for possession in a Best Western hotel room; and police confiscated the remaining $10,000 in cash. Billie Earl and Stacey had enough methamphetamine for felony trafficking charges. While in jail, Stacey told an FBI agent about the elaborate plot to kill Nancy, but the story was so outlandish, the agent didn’t believe her. After bonding out, Billie called John for more money. Billie and John met again at a Texaco gas station and convenience store off I-635, where Billie received an additional $35,000. Guess what … Billie Earl spent that cash as fast as he had the $60,000.

Stacey and Billie were arrested multiple times while the hitman plot was underway.

After another arrest, Stacey called John (Frank) from jail, crying and telling him she wouldn’t “last long in here.” She tried to reassure him, “We can still make it happen if I’m out tomorrow. Everything is still ready. It will still go forward,” showing her continued commitment to the plan if bailed out. John (Frank) got her out of jail … and he would bail out Stacey and Billie Earl multiple times over the next two years.

After that, Stacey decided she needed some insurance from John. She snapped a picture in secret and gave it to her mother for safekeeping … just in case something came up and she needed something from John (Frank), or if Stacey herself went missing.

Paying by Wire Transfer (Late 2010)

Several months later, the job still had not been done. John (Frank) was using his burner phone to send wire transfers to pay Billie Earl Johnson and his associates because, yeah, now there were more people involved, and he was paying them with traceable electronic funds. Billie and Stacey did not have bank accounts, so Billie recruited family members (his children and Stacey’s mother) to receive the transfers, letting them keep 10%. Over $750,000 was transferred to the hit folks by wire over two years … and that does not account for the estimated cash payments and bail bonds totaling millions!

[Author’s note: You’ve probably got the point that “John” is Frank Howard, and don’t need me to keep putting Frank’s name in parentheses, so I will stop and  just refer to him as “John” when dealing with Billie Earl and his family.]

Billie always had plenty of reasons for John to explain why he couldn’t get the job done. Some of Billie’s excuses were:

“Stacey slowed me down.”

“We got too wasted to leave the hotel room.”

“I was in jail.”

“I’ve got a brain tumor.”

“I’ve been having seizures.”

“I had done too many drugs … too high to do it.”

“People are getting in my way.”

These excuses are part of what makes this story so memorable. They were given each time a plan was in place but something went wrong, and John seemed to believe the excuses … or at least he tolerated them, despite growing increasingly frustrated.

An Off-the-Grid Family Business (2011)

A year had gone by. It was 2011, and Frank was still paying Billie, delivering money via wire transfers to family members, including Stacey’s mother. Stacey’s mother, for instance, received $20,000  several times over two years. And the family members were keeping 10% every time money came into their accounts from John.

Billie Earl Johnson’s older brother died in 2011, and he used some of John’s money to pay for his older brother’s funeral. Another family member joined the plot when Michael Speck, Billie’s nephew, heard about the gifts and money Billie had given his sister, Michael’s mother. Michael Speck high-tailed it to Texas from California to get in on the action.

Billie arranged a meeting with John at Bass Pro Shops in Grapevine. Stacey, Michael Speck, and Stacy’s son, Dustin Hiroms, all attended the meeting. John proposed a plan involving Michael tracking Nancy in San Marcos, where she was visiting her mother. He offered $100,000 (from a life insurance policy) and $5,000/week for life.

There was another criminal involved in the East Texas ring that Frank Howard had brushed up against by way of Billie Earl Johnson. His name was Charlie Louderman. He was tall, muscular, and intimidating. Charlie grew up with a friend of Billie Earl Johnson’s, and they had met for the first time in 2011 so Billie could ask Charlie if he could help him get some guns. That day, Billie also offered Charlie $700 a week to be his bodyguard and runner. Since then, Charlie had been an up-close witness to the chaos and misadventures of Billie and his band of East Texas misfits.

Perhaps thinking he should be near his bodyguard, Billie lived with Louderman at one point, and Louderman, Billie, and Stacey used drugs together. For the money Billie paid Louderman, he let Billie store some of his property—including his trailers and boats—at Louderman’s house and for Louderman to “protect” the property.

Charlie says he often went with Billie to pick up sizeable sums of cash, all from this mysterious John. They met outside a Walmart, in a corporate parking garage, and at a Grandy’s. Charlie recalls counting out $83,000 on his bedroom floor once. He watched as Billie traded stacks of money for bags of meth. He says that Billie told him early on that he was a hitman, but when he found out Billie was being hired by John to kill a woman, Charlie said he declined to be involved. Charlie didn’t like John.

That same year, the so-called “hitman’s” so-called “bodyguard” told authorities about the plot while spending time in the Woods County jail. Charlie Louderman described to them how Billie was “milking John” and how eager this wealthy man was to have his wife murdered, but no one believed Charlie Louderman. It was the second time the hit was reported to authorities.

 In late May 2012, Billie and Stacey were arrested again, but Frank didn’t bail them out that time. After Billie and Stacey’s arrest, Dustin Hiroms (Stacey’s son) moved in with Michael Speck and began communicating directly with John about bail money for Billie and Stacey. At that point, Dustin agreed to take on the hit.

On July 4, 2012, Dustin met with John and received $24,000. John instructed him to use a baseball bat to kill Nancy at the Mothers of Preschoolers convention at the Gaylord Texan hotel in Grapevine. Dustin agreed and promptly spent all the money on meth and on giving away cash and lavish gifts.

Nine days later, Dustin Hiroms and his friend, Jason Rendine, were pulled over for traffic violations in Nancy’s Carrollton neighborhood. Dustin gave conflicting stories to the officer, eventually blurting out that he was a hitman hired to kill a man’s wife. For a third time, authorities were advised of the planned hit on Nancy Howard. The confession went nowhere. Police dismissed it as the “crazy ramblings” of a meth user. Dustin was arrested and released a day later.

This is my favorite caper of the Van Zandt County gang … back at home, Jason Rendine told his wife, Stephanie Delacerda, about Dustin’s hitman confession and showed her John’s phone number. They decide to get in on the action. Stephanie and Jason (using aliases “Wes” and “Tiffany”) contact John, and attempted to blackmail him. John meets them at a Whataburger, giving Jason $3,000. Days later, he gives them $12,000 cash, followed by a $20,000 wire transfer.

 Frank started actively calling Jason and Stephanie, thinking he was calling “Wes” and “Tiffany.” He offered them a $50,000 finder’s fee and $100,000 for the hit. Stephanie, who had been Tiffany a couple of weeks earlier, decided to try to get a little more money. She told John that she was Tiffany’s sister, Stephanie. Stephanie dyed her hair, met up with John, and used her real name that time. Frank didn’t question it and gave her another $10,000 in cash.

 In the same month, John was also communicating with Michael Speck. Billie called John from jail for bail money, and John told him he had given the last of his money to Michael and he didn’t bail out Billie Earl that time.

On August 14, 2012, Michael Speck sent $1,000 to his former cellmate, Michael Lorence. He invited Lorence and his girlfriend, Misti Ford, to join him in Ben Wheeler, Texas. They drove Misti’s Honda to Texas and rented a silver Nissan upon arrival because the Honda had a bad tire.

Back on the West Coast …

Frank Howard was spending money hand over fist on his girlfriend. He paid a portion of the tuition for Suzanne’s oldest daughter’s college and bought a boat for Suzanne for $30,000. In January 2010, Frank paid cash for a house for Suzanne in Santa Cruz worth $900,000 and he bought a condominium in Tahoe worth nearly $380,000.

Frank brought Suzanne to a suite at a Mavs game in 2010 and to a Steelers game in Pittsburgh. He took her to the Super Bowl the following year. There were tickets for Suzanne and her daughters to a Giants game in San Francisco and a vacation to the Bahamas for seven days. When he could, he flew her on the private jet, and when he couldn’t, he paid for her commercial flights, and for their food and hotel rooms. And he always stayed with her, even when she came to Dallas.

Frank also started an IRA for Suzanne, he sent her a check for $500,000 and a wire transfer for $200,000. He put her on the payroll of Raley’s company so he could put her on Raley’s insurance. Since Nancy never came to his office, he kept a photo of Suzanne and him in his office.

He was stealing from his employer to fund this craziness.

 The Shooting of Nancy Howard

On August 18, 2012, Nancy Howard had attended a women’s tea and then a baptism service at First Baptist Church in Carrollton. Michael Speck, with Michael Lorence as a passenger, followed Nancy from the church to her home. Nancy stopped at Taco Bueno to pick up dinner at 7:32 p.m.

The targeted homemaker drove straight home after that and pulled into her garage at her home on Bluebonnet Way. As soon as she exited the car, Michael Lorence grabbed Nancy from behind, put a gun to her head, and demanded her purse. Nancy, in a panic, handed him a Taco Bueno bag before shoving her purse at him.

Michael Lorence shot Nancy in the left temple with a .380 caliber bullet. He left with her purse, leaving her bleeding on the garage floor.

Nancy regained consciousness and crawled to her car. OnStar would not work because the keys weren’t in the car; they were in her purse with the shooter. She made her way into the house and disarmed the security alarm. Nancy found her way to the kitchen and dialed 911, desperately calling out, “Lord Jesus, help me!”

Her prayer was answered because the police and ambulance arrived in time to rush her to Parkland Hospital in Dallas, where doctors fought to save her life. Nancy Howard had severe damage to her left eye, throat, hard palate, and a collapsed lung. She narrowly avoided brain damage, vital organ damage, and vocal cord damage.

Hours later, her loving husband appeared by Nancy’s bedside. He had been on a business trip when it happened and got the first flight that he could back to Dallas.

Frank Howard had actually been with his girlfriend, Suzanne, in a casino at Reno, Nevada. A police officer who knew the family through church called Nancy’s children. Ashley called her father and told him her mother was in critical condition. When she reached him, Suzanne was gambling and Frank was at the bar, watching a Cowboys’ preseason game.

When Ashley told him that Nancy had been shot, Frank began to cry and carry on like he really didn’t want his wife murdered. And it gets better! This part is so rich: Frank collapsed by the casino door and needed Suzanne’s help to walk. She drove him to the airport, but there were no more flights to Dallas that night. Frank called Richard Raley, explained the situation, and asked if he could use the private jet. But Raley’s pilots were already back in Texas.

While Frank was clutching his pearls, grabbing for his smelling salts, and exhibiting his hysteria over Nancy’s plight, Suzanne had to figure out how to get him home. Eventually, Suzanne drove him four hours to the San Jose airport, where he caught the first flight out the next morning.

When he landed, Frank rushed to his wife’s bedside. Soon, law enforcement began asking questions, but Frank never mentioned his secret girlfriend to police—but his phone told them everything. Frank sat down with his kids and with Nancy, who was still in the hospital, and admitted the truth: he’d been having an affair for over three years. But he swore he had nothing to do with the shooting.

Nancy was shattered by the betrayal of Frank having a girlfriend, but she believed that he didn’t have anything to do with the attack in her garage. When officers showed up to arrest her husband for his murder for hire plot against his wife, Nancy insisted it had to be a mistake.

 

The Investigation and Frank’s Trial

Police investigators had watched the church’s surveillance footage, and they saw a silver Nissan tailing Nancy out of the church parking lot. After that, the facts fell into place … almost locking together like puzzle pieces.

And then, a wild police report surfaced—it was about the night Dustin was pulled over in Nancy’s neighborhood claiming to be a hit man. Dustin was hauled in and, after three days of interrogation, spilled everything about a twisted murder-for-hire plot.

Meanwhile, a jailhouse tipster—Billie Earl Johnson—was tired of the jail life. He claimed to have information on the shooting.

And when detectives finally saw the photo of the so-called “money man,” sent by Stacey to her mother to keep for her as “insurance,” they recognized him instantly. The man standing behind the gray Lexus was none other than John Franklin Howard. And then,  authorities located a jail phone call from July 31, 2012 between Billie Earl to John, which solidified their theory that Frank Howard was involved with the nest of misfits in Van Zandt County, and he wanted his wife dead. You can listen to that jail call here. (But be forewarned, you’ll have to watch an advertisement.)

Misti Ford decided to talk to detectives and tell them what she knew. That’s when police could, for certain, connect the silver Nissan to Michael Speck and Michael Lorence, who were both in the Denton County jail. Both Michaels were originally charged with aggravated robbery and conspiracy to commit capital murder, but Lorence was re-indicted for aggravated assault only.

The accusations shocked people who knew Frank. He’d always seemed so trustworthy. “We thought he was the epitome of a good Christian man,” is the way Nancy’s aunt said it. During his bond hearing, the courtroom was packed with supporters; Frank was released on bond pending his trial.

When the trial came in August 2014, the courtroom was packed with family members. Nancy’s on one side and Frank’s on the other. Their three children sat behind their father when they were in the packed courtroom.
More than 10 attorneys were involved.  There were dozens of witnesses called to the stand—investigators, phone experts, motel staff, even the 911 operator who took Nancy’s call. Nancy also testified.

Nancy told the jury how her marriage had turned sour. Suzanne Leontieff, Frank’s mistress, giggled nervously on the stand; it was the first time she’d seen him since driving him to the airport years before. Nancy’s family shook their heads.

Jailhouse players Billie Johnson and Stacey Serenko came and testified … so did Billie Earl’s ex-bodyguard Charlie Louderman, who told the jury about hearing Frank repeatedly plot his wife’s murder.

Also testifying were Dustin, Stephanie, Jason, and Misti Ford—each witness stripping back another layer of the tangled murder-for-hire plot, while the defense team painted Frank as the victim of blackmail. His children Ashley, Jay, and Brianna stood by him, testifying to the kind father they said they’d always known.

The trial lasted nearly three weeks, but the jury needed only two hours to convict.

During Frank’s sentencing, multi-millionaire Richard Raley took the stand. As luck would have it, Frank’s old boss took the witness stand in chains and orange scrubs—he had been in jail on a prescription pill-related charge after violating the terms of his probation. Raley, who had dealt with a pill addiction, told the jury that over a three-year period, Frank had systematically embezzled more than $30 million from him. There was a representative from Van Tone in the courtroom, too. He told anyone who would listen about how Frank had stolen money from them as well.

Prosecutors concluded the trial by telling the jury that Frank had built up a disdain for his wife of nearly 30 years and Frank also knew that a divorce would have exposed his financial misdeeds. Frank thought he had to kill her to keep all his secrets hidden.

The jury sentenced Frank to life in prison. All three children were angry, leaving the courtroom without saying goodbye to their mother, as if Nancy caused any of Frank’s problems.

One more little fact about Frank stealing from his client, Richard Raley: Frank was beloved in the First Baptist Church of Carrollton. Maybe that was because he had allegedly given the church over $200,000 of Raley Holdings, LLC’s money. In 2014, Raley’s attorneys asked the church to turn over the funds Frank had so benevolently given the church, but they didn’t. Raley sued the church in 2016. (I don’t know the outcome.)

Nancy’s wounds healed.

She still deals with anxiety issues because of the trauma she went through, but she’s getting through it. Nancy changed her name back to her maiden name of Shore, sold the home in Carrollton, purchased a smaller home for just herself, and found a job with a law firm. Nancy is doing just fine, all things considered.

 

At present, Frank remains incarcerated at the James V. Allred Unit in Iowa Park, Texas, about four miles northeast of Wichita Falls.

 

 

ONE MORE THING —- Although I can’t seem to find out  any more information other than Nancy remarried, I found a picture of Nancy and her new husband.

May God bless you, two! We hope you have an abundance of happiness ahead.

 

SOURCES

I had three main sources for this story.

1) Dateline – Season 23, Episode 4 in 2018. (Title: The Carrollton Plot) I saw that episode and it was the most unique (and ridiculous) murder for hire story ever. I revisited it in September – October 2025 to write about it here. If you don’t have Peacock streaming, try https://watch.plex.tv/show/dateline-nbc/season/23/episode/4 (you will have to set up a free account) or  https://archive.org/details/MSNBCW_20220430_070000_Dateline/start/60/end/120

If you haven’t seen this on Dateline, watch it! You can hear Nancy’s girls speak in glowing terms about their father and say he could not have arranged such a thing. They are in denial and were shocked when he was sentenced to life for six counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Only because the children mean the world to this kindhearted, well-meaning lady, who deserved none of this, I’ll say no more about them and you can draw your own conclusions.

Another reason to watch this on Dateline is that it might make you laugh to see what a fool the Ben Wheeler misfits made of John Frank Howard and his silly F. Scott Fitzgerald 1920s parted-in-the-hairstyle. The Dateline hosts also referred to Billie Earl’s clan as “the Hee Haw Gang.”

2) D Magazine – this is a wonderful place to read long true crime articles! Title: How Not to Get Away with Murder by  Michael J. Mooney – 2014

https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2014/december/how-not-to-get-away-with-murder/

3) Source: A book by Nancy Shore and Dr. Alice Mathews

Title: The Shooting of Nancy Howard: A Journey Back to Shore 

Another source I used is Nancy’s book. I found it on Archive.org after I saw it was priced at $99 on Amazon and only one copy was available. To use Archive.org’s library, you’ll need to set up an account for borrowing books. I read it in two or three hours; it’s not long, and it’s interesting. There are themes of Christianity, so if that will bother you, you’ve been warned!  Link: https://archive.org/details/shootingofnancyh0000math/