Luke and Lela Howard

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I have heard that my husband's family has some kind of distant relation to these people and that they were killed by a family member in 1997. Does anyone have any info. This was supposed to have happened in Albemarle, NC.

-- Peggy Austin (plaustin@vnet.net), December 14, 2000

Answers

Peggy, Luke and Lela Howard were my great uncle and aunt. Luke Howard was my Grandmother's brother. My grandmother was the late Ollie Mae Howard Smith. She passed away in December 1997. I live in Aquadale where my grandma and grandpa Smith lived when they were living. I can see Luke and Lela's home from my backyard. That's how close they lived to me. I was raised in the house right beside of where I live now. I have lived in Aquadale all of my life. There's something that you should know about Luke and Lela. They were wonderful, loving people. I loved them and thought very highly of them. They were both sick the last couple of years of their lives. Unfortunatley They were shot and killed by their grandson, who had been living with them since the age of about 2. Let me give you a littl background on him. His name was Phillip Comer. His parents are Gorden Comer and the late Josie Howard Comer. Josie was the only child of Luke and Lela. Josie just recently passed away in 2002. Phillip has a brother named Scotty Comer. I don't know every detail of what went on that night because it has been and still is kept pretty quiet. The main thing that I know is that Phillip shot Luke and Lela and then he shot himself. It was such a shock to us all. My grandmother was devastated. Phillip left a note, but like I said no one knows what it said except his mother, father, and brother. It was so tragic. I still don't have a clue to this day why he did it. I think about it every day and I just don't know. Every time I look at their house it makes me sad. Some say that Phillip may have had a mental illness, but that was never confirmed, that's just rumor. We used to go see them alot and take them cookies at Christmas. Josie was even my babysitter when I was a little girl, so I knew these people very well.

-- Jennifer Smith Rhodes (rjjrhodes@ctc.net), January 19, 2003.

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