Man charged in attack that killed stepson, injured wife in Northeast Albuquerque

An 87-year-old man has been charged a week after allegedly shooting and killing his adult stepson and choking his wife at their home in Northeast Albuquerque.

William Pierce Howell was charged Dec. 27 with an open count of murder and aggravated battery in the Dec. 20 death of Rastko Starcevic, 37.

He was booked at the Metropolitan Detention Center on Dec. 28 and is represented by the public defender’s office, which did not respond to a request for comment as of Tuesday afternoon.

Prosecutors filed a motion to keep Howell behind bars until trial, calling him “dangerous.”

“(Howell) claims he has no memory (of the incident), which, if we take him at his word, means he became so enraged he cannot remember murdering someone and trying to kill someone else,” according to the motion.

Howell’s detention hearing has been scheduled for 3:45 p.m. Thursday.

About 7:15 p.m. Dec. 20, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call about a 68-year-old woman standing in the road covered in blood in the 11000 block of San Bernardino NE, near Browning and Palomas, according to a criminal complaint filed with Metropolitan Court.

Deputies said they contacted a man sitting in a black vehicle outside a nearby home who also was covered in blood. He told deputies he was shoveling gravel all day and did not remember what happened, according to the complaint.

Deputies then looked inside a house to see if anyone else needed help and found the woman’s son, Rastko Starcevic, dead with a gunshot wound to the chest, the complaint states.

About an hour later, according to the complaint, BCSO searched the house, where they found broken windows and blood on the walls and floor leading to a hallway where Starcevic’s body was found. In the bathroom, they found a revolver with three spent rounds.

When deputies initially talked to the woman at a local hospital, the complaint states, she made a gun with her hand and a “poof poof” sound. When asked who hurt her, she said “Pierce,” which is Howell’s middle name.

During a second interview at the hospital, the complaint states, she told deputies Howell was “jealous or upset” because she and Starcevic were spending a lot of time together and he did not like Starcevic and asked when he would move out.

According to the complaint, Howell accused his stepson of being gay before pulling out a small black revolver and shooting Starcevic twice. Deputies said Howell proceeded to choke the woman, who then “gouged” his eyes in self-defense and jumped out of a window and yelled for help.