Detectives had plenty of worries as they entered a home near Olney, Md., last week.

       The 75-year-old owner, in poor health, hadn’t been heard from by outside family members or doctors since last year. His son, who ostensibly took care of him, had given what police would later describe as evasive answers.

       Support our journalism. Subscribe today ArrowRight

       Almost immediately after stepping foot into the house, an overwhelming odor hit them. And moments later, in a back bedroom and under a filing cabinet that was on its side, they found the decomposing body of Gary Windsor Howes, according to court documents released Wednesday by authorities as they announced the arrest of his son, Gary D. Howes. He was charged with neglect of a vulnerable adult resulting in death or serious physical injury and remained jailed on $10,000 bond, according to court records.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       Allen Wolf, the head public defender in Montgomery County whose office represents the younger Howes, declined to comment.

       A jury deadlocked in a murder trial as pandemic shut down courts. With trials rebooted, a new jury returned a conviction.

       Based on the condition of the older Howes’s body, police say, he had been dead for at least several months. Medical examiners are investigating an exact cause of death.

       “Oh, God, it’s terrible,” said Eddie Gregg, a longtime neighbor of Howes along Bready Road, about two miles west of the intersection of Georgia Avenue and Route 108.

       Gregg said that the older Howes had retired from a career training drivers for Montgomery County’s Ride-On bus service. Gregg said he’d known the older Howes for about 40 years and remembers years ago that Howes would periodically walk over with peaches and apples to share. The two would talk in Gregg’s garage, where he worked on old tractors and other vehicles. One big subject of interest for Howes: Betting on horses in Charles Town, W.Va.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       “He was a horse man,” Gregg said. “He was a nice guy. He stuck to himself.”

       On Sept. 6, police received a call from the sister-in-law of Gary Windsor Howes. She’d had frequent telephone contact with him until the cellular service and landlines were disconnected, according to arrest records filed in Montgomery County District Court.

       The sister-in-law said she and other relatives had gone to his home along Bready Road but that the only other occupant — Gary D. Howes — either wouldn’t answer the door or give them access to the house.

       The sister-in-law said the son, who lived in the home, was responsible for taking his dad, who suffered from diabetes, hypertension and heart disease and used a walker, to appointments with doctors, as well as picking up his prescriptions and buying him groceries. But no one other than the son — not professionals or family members — had seen Gary Windsor Howes since at least December, according to court records.

       Advertisement

       Story continues below advertisement

       On Sept. 7, Police went to the Bready Road house and found it locked, with the windows covered, according to court records. One officer was able to peer inside and saw “cleaning supplies and plastic wrapping material,” detectives said in court papers.

       Investigators spoke with Gary D. Howes over the phone. He said his father was visiting a family friend in West Virginia. But detectives learned that friend had died in 2016.

       Judge: Nonverbal adult charged in fatal beating at group home may not be aware of what he did

       As they turned their attention to the younger Howes, investigators said, they learned that he had been spending a lot of time at an antique store in Olney selling various items for cash. He told a store employee that his father had passed away, detectives said in the court filings.

       Story continues below advertisement

       “Gary D. Howes also gave away numerous items, including firearms, to different people and, at times, posed as store security,” detectives wrote. “Due to his unusual behavior, associates for the store have asked Gary D. Howes not to return.”

       Advertisement

       Detectives began speaking with neighbors along Bready Road. None had seen the elder Howes over the last eight months.

       Detectives got a search warrant and went into the house on Sept. 9. That same day, they said, the son told them they were wasting “valuable public resources” searching for his dad and that he’d soon be back from West Virginia.

       Upon entering the home, though, detectives immediately smelled the odor of human decomposition. The door of a back bedroom, detectives said, “had a rug rolled up to block the smell from coming into the living area.” Behind that door, detectives saw a body under a filing cabinet. The face, with a gray beard, bore a resemblance to Gary Windsor Howes, police said.

       Story continues below advertisement

       Gregg, the neighbor, said it was evident in recent years that the older Howes was having trouble moving on his own. Gregg hadn’t seen him about a year.

       Advertisement

       During that time, though, Gregg said he did hear from Howes’s son, who came over one evening screaming and accusing him of trying to kill his dad with noises coming from Gregg’s garage — a recollection confirmed by police charging documents. Gregg said the younger Howes made a similar accusation to Gregg’s son.

       “He accused us of trying to kill his daddy,” Gregg said.

       Alice Crites contributed to this report.

       A dark parking lot, an off-duty officer and the night one man saw his friends die

       A teenager was drowning. 911 sent help to the wrong place

       Letting Noah go: Md. officer’s parents channel grief to fight drunken driving