The documentary didn't mention one part of the story that I remember vividly from the time of the search for Sharin'. The roominghouse on Brunswick, where Howe rented a room on the second floor, had a Vietnamese new immigrant family living on the first floor. Because they spoke no English, they did not know about the search for Sharin' or any of the media reports about Howe or the crime. However, when interviewed with a translator, they were able to give some horrific details: they had heard a lot of noise and thumping around and a child screaming on the night of Sharin's abduction. They had attributed it to a domestic dispute and didn't get involved (they did not know a crime was being committed). It was a chilling detail, to know that Sharin' had put up quite a fight and her ordeal had lasted for some hours.
The documentary mentioned Howe's half-brother Eugene (forget the last name), who was known to have given him money from time to time, and was the only family member who had regularly been in contact with Howe before the crime (and likely afterwards, too). He was the one who had made at least a dozen trips to the US but these trips stopped suddenly as soon as he learned the police were watching him. That strongly suggests that they were linked to getting money, supplies or whatnot to his brother. Of course, he could then have arranged other ways of getting money to Howe -- through a third party, a bank account in another name, even cash in the mail or via a courier. I wonder if anyone audited his financial affairs, to see if he made regular withdrawals of cash, or turned money into US funds, or had a US dollar account in a Montana bank, or anything of the sort -- or a credit card in his name that was used on the south side of the border. Lots of possibilities there -- and also what about his estate when he died. He might have arranged for money to go to Howe through a trust or bequest to a third party.
It does make you wonder. Howe could have obtained fake ID, and with his skills as mechanic and carpenter he could have worked cash jobs easily and stayed off the radar. He could easily still be alive. If smart, he would have kept his weight down, changed his hair colour, switched cigarette brands, and made sure he never used the word "turkey." Maybe AMW could profile him again , with drawings showing him as a thinner older man, with different hairstyles and with teeth fixed. He might even be incarcerated under another name -- men who commit sex crimes usually continue to do so.
I often see comments from Sharin's father ( now living in Vancouver), as he frequently sends letters to the editor to the online Globe and Mail. I wonder how her brother and sister turned out. They would be in their late 20's now.
