The killer of 87-year-old Barbara Howe remains on the loose more than three months after police discovered the Monroe woman’s body in the trunk of her red Cadillac parked at a Middletown apartment complex.

Monroe police say they are continuing to receive tips and have collected more than 100 DNA samples from people they have interviewed. They are closely guarding information about the cause of Howe’s death. So much so that police did not allow Howe’s family to view her body before she was buried and they have not been permitted into her home, a cottage at Mount Pleasant Retirement Village.

“We are very tight-lipped even in the police department,” said Monroe police Lt. Brian Curlis. “Some things are on a need-to-know basis.”

The police aren’t even releasing where Howe was killed. Investigators are processing evidence from at least three crime scenes — Howe’s home, her car and the parking lot of Woodridge Apartments in Middletown.

Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser said “there is potentially another crime scene,” though he would not disclose the location.

“I have a high probability of where it (the homicide) occurred,” Gmoser said, declining to elaborate further.

Gmoser said authorities are keeping information close to the vest for good reason.

“It is a complicated case. When you have a lot of forensic matter, you do not want to give anything away,” Gmoser said. “We do not want to have a prosecution complicated by information that could have been utilized by the public sector.”

Donna Wesselman, Howe’s daughter, said at times she would like more information from investigators, including the cause of her mother’s death.

“But I understand why they don’t say anything,” she said. “It could hurt the investigation.”

Wesselman said she doesn’t know when her family will be allowed back into her mother’s home, but they long to be able to have some of Howe’s possessions to feel closer to her.

“Just to be able to smell her and feel her around me,” she said.

Wesselman said she finds herself looking at pictures of her mother and saying, “tell me something. What happened?” She said she feels robbery may have been a motive.

Curlis said the DNA samples collected are being processed quickly through the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation, but the shear volume makes it time consuming. Detectives are matching DNA with friends and family who were in Howe’s home and car, as well as, looking for any matches to DNA that may have been found at the crime scenes.

“It is also helpful for us to gauge the response from people when we ask for DNA,” Curlis said. So far, no one has refused to cooperate, he said.

Howe, who was born in Hamilton, dedicated her life to her husband, Bill, and three daughters, and enjoyed cooking, sewing, traveling, playing tennis and reading. She was a lifelong member of First Presbyterian Church, Middletown Symphony Women’s Association, Cotillion Mixers, and a former member of Brown’s Run Country Club and Wildwood Golf Club.

Her husband of 51 years owned and operated Howe Motor Co. in Middletown.