Coffman worked in the maintenance department of Mount Pleasant Retirement Community with French, which is also where prosecutors say Howe was killed, but French’s connection with her family began before she was born.
“He worked with my dad at Smurfit,” Coffman said, crying, “I have known him all my life.”
Coffman said “Danny” — as she referred to him — talked with her daily while they worked together for four years at Mount Pleasant. He often talked to her about crime scene investigation books he was reading and movies, including a documentary about serial killer Ted Bundy.
“I borrowed movies and books because I was interested,” she said. Coffman termed their conversations as “fascinating.”
“He was a smart guy … an easy learner,” Coffman said. She added that he went to specialized training while at Mount Pleasant and did well in those courses.
French would hang out with her father, working on cars and four-wheeling, she said. Coffman said he was always willing to help out and once helped the family move a couch into her residence at Woodridge Apartments in Middletown. That is the some complex where Howe was found dead in the truck of her red Cadillac on Nov. 1, 2012, said Butler County Assistant Prosecutor Brad Burress.
But while at Mount Pleasant, Coffman said she saw French’s health decline after he hurt his back and suffered two heart attacks.
“I could tell the neck issues were getting the best of him,” Coffman said. She helped French fill out disability papers in January 2012 and then did not see him for months.
“He would call every couple of weeks to see how we were doing,” Coffman said. “I asked him to come see us for my birthday in October.”
Coffman said French said he was going to make a trip to Ohio to renew his car license and he would drop by.
“He said he would, but he never showed up. I was heartbroken,” she said.
Prosecutors say French killed Howe at her Paxton Circle residence on Oct. 28, 2012.
Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation Special Agents Bryan White and Tish Schuler were on the stand much of the day recalling the scene on Nov. 1, 2012 when they processed both Howe’s home and then her Cadillac after she was found in the trunk.
White said after seeing the injury to Howe’s body — the gash in her neck — it was his opinion death did not happen in the car.
“I thought why is there not any blood in the trunk,” White said. He said he did see what appeared to be vacuum cleaner debris throughout the interior of the car and on Howe’s body.
After the car was towed to the Monroe fire station for processing, White joined police and BCI agents at Howe’s house.
Drips of blood were found in some locations of Howe’s tidy residence, which White said did not accurately compare to the massive wound she had.
Then White saw what appeared to be a picture frame in the floor of a utility room. When it was pulled up, a crawl space was revealed and there were blood smears on the lip.
White said he crawled into the narrow opening and found a large pool of blood four feet below in the concrete floor.
On Thursday, Dr. James Swinehart, forensic pathologist, testified Howe’s cause of death was a hemorrhage caused by the slicing of her neck.
Prosecutors say French, 57, hatched a plan to rob Howe using the ruse of repairing her medical alarm system. Once he gained entry to her home, Daniel French shocked her with a stun gun, but when she didn’t go down, he choked her, then slit her throat with a double-edged knife.
During opening statements, the defense said French did cause Howe’s death, rather it was accidental after she didn’t fall when shocked with a stun gun. The defense said French then choked Howe and only cut her throat when he thought she was already dead.
The trial will continue Monday morning at 9 a.m. in Butler County Common Pleas Judge Charles Pater’s courtroom. Monroe Detective Gregg Myers, who investigated the case from the beginning, has yet to testify. The prosecution has also not yet played for the jury French’s recorded confession.
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