A Palm Bay man has been convicted of murder for shooting Indian Harbour Beach mother Nancy Howery and hiding her remains in an undeveloped area known as the Compound. 

A Brevard County jury found DANIEL L. STEARNS, 35, guilty as charged on Oct. 6 of second-degree murder, abuse of a dead human body, and tampering with or destroying evidence. Stearns now faces life in prison.   

During a five-day trial, prosecutors Samantha Barrett and Trevor Persenaire made the case that Stearns arranged to meet Howery – whom he had dated – in February 2023. Witnesses and evidence showed Stearns shot her in the head with a handgun, dismembered her, then burned and buried her remains in the unincorporated area west of Palm Bay.

Stearns had met Howery online and was angry that Howery wouldn’t date him exclusively, according to witnesses and records obtained from their mobile-phone accounts. Howery was reported missing Feb. 18, 2023, by her ex-husband after she failed to pick up her children from schools in Satellite Beach. Her Honda minivan was discovered abandoned in Southwest Palm Bay the next day.

Within a week, agents with the Brevard County Sheriff’s Department had questioned Stearns, and the sheriff’s GAME OVER Task Force began surveilling Stearns’ nighttime trips to and from the Compound in his black Chevrolet pickup truck.  

Agents detained Stearns as he was disposing of something from a bucket along the C-54 Canal. Deputies found shovels in the bed and rear seat of Stearns’ truck. A K9 deputy’s human-remains detection dog alerted to the presence of decomposition around those areas.

At trial, a forensic anthropologist testified that skull fragments recovered from the burial sites showed a bullet exit wound in the victim’s forehead. A woman’s middle finger recovered by crime scene investigators had a fingerprint that matched a known print from Howery.

The jury deliberated three hours before returning its guilty verdict. Circuit Judge Kathryn Speicher scheduled Stearns’ sentencing for Dec. 3.