A Florida judge sentenced a man to life in prison on Wednesday for the brutal murder of a woman he met on a dating app because she wasn’t “following his relationship rules.”
Daniel Stearns, 35, was convicted in October, WESH reported.
Stearns was arrested in March 2023 after police followed him to an undeveloped Palm Bay neighborhood known as “The Compound,” where they found the body of 44-year-old Nancy Howery, as CrimeOnline reported.
Howery, a mother of two young children, was reported missing on February 18 when she failed to pick up her children from school. Her car was later found abandoned.
Stearns’ arrest warrant said he and Howery had been arguing days before her disappearance. Police tracked Stearns going from his home to The Compound.
The warrant said that police believe Stearns shot Howery during an argument on February 15, then dismembered her and burned the remains. Howery’s remains were found in at least five locations in the 12-square-mile Compound.
At the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, prosecutor Samantha Barrett told the judge that Stearns “was angry at Ms. Howery,” Law& Crime reported.
“He was jealous, because she was seeing other men and that their relationship was not exclusive,” the prosecutor said. “She was not, to quote him, ‘following his relationship rules.'”
Howery’s ex-husband, Todd Howery, also spoke at the hearing.
“What he has done to Nancy was demented and defective,” he said. ” … It wasn’t just a murder, okay? It was a savage slaughter.”
Stearns was sentenced to life in prison for murder and more than 22 years extra for abuse of a corpse and tampering with evidence.
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[Featured image: Nancy Howery and Daniel Stearns/police handout]