Merced man was killed 40 years ago this week. His family still seeks answers
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Family members continue seeking answers and urge anyone with information to come forward.
- Merced Area Crime Stoppers offers $25,000 for info leading to arrest and conviction.
- The case remains unsolved 40 years later while family members seek answers.
Forty years after his killing, Stanley Howard’s family is still searching for answers.
Howard was fatally stabbed in his home at 631 E. Gerard Ave. in Merced on June 22, 1986. The case remains unsolved.
In the four decades since his murder, Howard’s family has continually asked anyone with information about the case to come forward, though each family member has had to process the grief in their own way.
Merced Area Crime Stoppers has the case in its spotlight section this week and is offering a reward of $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the killer.
Bradley Howard, Stanley’s younger brother, told the Sun-Star that he will “never give up on this.” For him, “justice would just be knowing.”
“As a Christian … at some point, there’s forgiveness,“ Bradley Howard said. “I want justice. I want them to be tried … but also, you know, forgiveness can start once I know who the person is. I can’t start forgiveness unless I know who they are.”
Stanley Howard’s daughter, Rachel Howard, is an author who has written about the murder in her book “The Lost Night: A Daughter’s Search for the Truth of Her Father’s Murder.”
She was in the house the night her father was killed. On the National Public Radio show “This American Life,” she talked about her decision to stop investigating the case.
“I had reached a point where it didn’t really matter to me anymore, looking for who killed him,” she said on the program. “And that what I was doing now — he would rather see me not thinking about it every day and just moving on.”
Asked on the show if she thought it was “heartless” not to continue the crusade to solve the case, Rachel said, “If you want to talk me about my father, I love him. I’ll tell you all kinds of things about him. But why should it sound heartless to not have to keep looking for who killed him?”
According to Bradley, his brother was a “rock and roller,” who played drums in a few local country and bluegrass bands. “He just had a heart for people,” he added, “... I think he was more concerned about making sure everybody around him was happy more than his happiness.”
Bradley has concerns about the initial investigation, including that though he ran a business with his brother, he doesn’t remember being interviewed by investigators until two years after he was killed.
He also recalled that evidence stored in a refrigerated locker was ruined over a decade ago during a power outage.
The Merced Police Department Investigations Division can be reached at 209-769-6742 or at its tip line 209-385-4725. Those who wish to share information anonymously can do so through Crime Stoppers at 855-725-2420 or through the website at www.mercedareacrimestoppers.org
Bradley Howard’s message for anyone with information about his brither’s killing is: “Please come forward, talk to detectives. If you want your identity to be known, that’s good. If you want it not to be known, that’s fine, too. Anything will help. Any kind of information.”
This story was originally published June 24, 2026 at 11:08 AM with the headline "Merced man was killed 40 years ago this week. His family still seeks answers."
