Ryan Howard
(Becky Campbell / Johnson City Press)
September trial date set in double-murder case
By Sue Guinn LeggPress Staff Writer
slegg@johnsoncitypress.com
A Johnson City man charged with fatally stabbing two men in the Keystone housing complex in February 2009 was given a September trial date on two counts of murder Friday in Washington County Criminal Court.
Judge Lynn Brown scheduled Ryan James Howard, 34, formerly of 158 Rockhouse Road, to stand trial Sept. 20 one count of first-degree murder, or killing committed with premeditation, and one count of felony murder, or a murder committed during the commission of another felony.
Ryan is charged with killing Ted Gregg, 24, 1957 Dave Buck Road, and Robert C. Brown, 30, W. G St., Elizabethton, on Feb. 5, 2009, at a Keystone apartment. Police were called to the apartment complex around 6 a.m. after neighbors found Howard’s body on the Keystone playground. Gregg’s body was later discovered in a pool of blood in the kitchen, police said.
According to investigators, the argument between Howard and Gregg started after the three men and Howard’s girlfriend had been out drinking at Numan’s in downtown Johnson City and then went to the apartment in Keystone.
While there, Howard and Gregg got into an argument about money in the kitchen area. Howard allegedly stabbed Gregg twice in the neck area, according to police.
When Robert Brown heard the altercation, he ran into the kitchen and Howard swung the knife around and stabbed him once at the base of the neck, police said.
Brown turned and ran out of the apartment and Howard chased him, according to the court affidavit.
Robert Brown’s body was found the next morning lying in the playground. Both Brown and Gregg died.
Howard was arrested later the same day at his home where police found him hiding in the attic. The knife investigators believe Howard used in the killings was found in a wooded area less than 100 feet from his home.
Investigators originally charged Howard with one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder, or a killing committed without premeditation, but Criminal Court Judge Robert Cupp amended the charges before signing the warrant for his arrest.