More than a month after 87-year-old Barbara Howe was found dead in the trunk of her red Cadillac outside of a Middletown apartment complex, Monroe police say they have “tons of suspects” in the woman’s homicide but no solid person of interest.

Investigators have been tight-lipped about the case, keeping Howe’s cause of death under wraps. Butler County Coroner Dr. Lisa Mannix said Tuesday that Howe’s death is still an ongoing investigation and declined further comment.

Monroe Lt. Brian Curlis said keeping certain information close to the vest is aiding police in their investigation.

“There are lots of rumors and speculation out there,” Curlis said. “But only the killer knows what we know.”

That exclusive information makes sorting through viable leads much easier, Curlis said, and it also cuts down on the possibility of a copy cat killer or someone falsely confessing to the crime.

“We just don’t see the need to tell the public (about the cause of death),” Curlis said. “She was murdered. And the public is in danger because there is a killer on the loose.”

A veil of fear

But the lack of information from the police and the lack of an arrest has created a veil of fear for many in the area.

A longtime resident of Mount Pleasant Retirement Village, where Howe lived for several years, said he was “scared to death” because there was a murderer on the loose. The man, who wanted to remain anonymous, said he has no idea if the killer is a neighbor, a person across town or a stranger.

“The sooner they find this person, the better for everybody,” he said while eating lunch in a Monroe restaurant. “This isn’t good for anybody. The entire town is on edge.”

Stan Kappers, executive director of Mount Pleasant, said the retirement community is trying to “move forward” after her death. While he didn’t want to speak for the residents, he said Howe’s death remains on “everybody’s mind.”

Howe was last seen Oct. 28 at her home in Mount Pleasant Retirement Village. Police searched for days for Howe and her vehicle, before Middletown police found the car on Nov. 1 in the parking lot of Woodridge East Apartment on Roosevelt Avenue.

Shortly before Thanksgiving, Monroe police asked for help in finding anyone who may have been seen walking Oct. 29 near the apartment complex. The information likely means Howe died shortly after she left her home. Investigators also do not believe she was killed in Middletown.

Curlis said the plea has turned up leads that the department, aided by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and Middletown police, are pursuing. Posters are displayed prominently in Middletown and Monroe businesses and surrounding areas offering a $10,000 reward — $5,000 each from Mount Pleasant and the Hamilton High School Class of 1943 where Howe graduated — for information leading to an arrest and conviction of her killer or killers.

One of those posters hangs on the front door of Marie Ververis’ restaurant, Grecian Delight, which is located between where Howe lived and where her body was found. Ververis said Howe frequently visited her restaurant and always ordered a quart of lentil soup to go.

She called Howe “an elegant lady,” who, when she walked in the door, “you knew it was Barbara by the way she carried herself.”

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.

She was on the scholarship committee at Miami University Middletown and helped fund raising to build the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C.

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

‘The worst is yet to come’

Donna Wesselman of Cincinnati, one of Howe’s daughters, described her mother’s death and the month that has followed as “a surreal nightmare.”

It’s like she’s watching a detective show on TV, only she can relate to every character in the episode, she said.

“I just don’t understand how this happened or why it happened,” she said Tuesday in her first newspaper interview. “This woman did nothing mean to anyone. She was the most selfless woman, a wonderful mother and wife.”

But unlike some of those TV dramas, Wesselman said her mother’s story features “no secret life. This is nothing there.”

There are times, Wesselman said, when her mind becomes cluttered with scenarios of how and why her mother was killed. Then, just as quickly, she stops thinking about her mother’s death.

“It’s too painful,” Wesselman said. “I just can’t go there, if you know what I mean. I feel the worst is yet to come for this family.”

She has had limited conversations with the Monroe police department and other agencies. She said she’s “very impressed” by the Monroe police department and how quickly the officers reacted when they were informed of her mother’s disappearance.

Wesselman said she tries not to visit Middletown often because she doesn’t want to hear the rumors circulating around or read what’s posted on Facebook. She won’t make any judgment until the police have made an arrest, she said.

“We are going to find out what happened,” Wesselman said. “Until that happens, we can’t have ‘true mourning.’ Right now we’re befuddled, numb. It’s the weirdest feeling I’ve ever had.”

Wesselman understands the longer the investigation continues, the less likely her mother’s killer will be located. She doesn’t want the investigation to become “cold” and for people to forget about her mother.

“That makes me sick to think about,” she said.

Wesselman is home trying to return her life to a normalcy. But when she goes to the grocery store or vacuums, she feels “guilty.”

“It’s hard to do anything when you know there are a lot of things going on,” she said.

Recently, Wesselman’s daughter, and one of Howe’s five grandchildren, moved into a new home. For a split second, Wesselman said, she was excited to call her mother and tell her the news because she loved hearing about her grandchildren.

“That’s what kills me,” said Wesselman, who visited her mother weekly. “She had many good years left.”

One last day

Wesselman last saw her mother on Oct. 25, Wesselman’s birthday and one week before her mother was found dead. Taking advantage of a beautiful fall day, the two drove to Cincinnati because Mrs. Howe, a longtime Cincinnati Reds fan, wanted to see Great American Ball Park, tour the Reds Hall of Fame and see the Banks Projects. They dined at Moerlein Lager House, spent time in the hall of fame and drove around downtown.

Howe always had a disposable camera in her purse, and on that day, she took several pictures with her daughter. Wesselman said the camera has not been located and she told police she’d like to have it returned. There are pictures of their last day together.

They were in Cincinnati for most of the afternoon, but Mrs. Howe wanted to get home in time for a wine tasting that night at Mount Pleasant, her daughter said.

The next day, Wesselman said, her mother had lunch with a friend from Hamilton in Fairfield and on Sunday, a gentleman friend from First Presbyterian Church in Middletown, had lunch with Howe. That was the last time she was seen alive, Wesselman said.

Once Howe’s body was found and the coroner ruled her death a homicide, Wesselman was surprised family members weren’t considered suspects earlier by the police.

“That’s what you see on TV,” she said.

She said police have collected DNA from all the family members.

Wesselman has no idea why her mother was killed or whether she was “targeted or it was a random act,” she said.

The holidays have been hard on the family, she said.

“We feel very lost,” she said.

She described her mother as “the rod that pulled us together.”

So for Thanksgiving, Wesselman said, the family went “separate ways.” Her sister, Nancy Fruechtenicht, was in Atlanta; her sister, Barbara Laspina, was in Middletown; and Wesselman had Thanksgiving with her husband, Jim and children, Hannah and Sam.

And at Christmas, Wesselman said her family will “celebrate like we always do.”

That includes setting a place for a mother.

“She’s going to be looking on,” Wesselman said. “There is a void there.”

Then she quietly added: “I wish she’d tell me something.”