Sometimes contradictory pictures emerge of slaying suspect

Published reports characterize D'Andre Howard, of the 900 block of Evanston Street in Hoffman Estates, as a troubled young man with a history of mental illness and criminal arrests.

A former high schoolteacher and a teammate describe the 2006 Mundelein High School graduate as personable and well-liked.

Such impressions contradict the far more sinister picture held by authorities who say the 20-year-old murdered 18-year-old Laura Engelhardt, her 57-year-old father Alan, and her maternal grandmother, Marlene Gacek, 73, in their Hoffman Estates home last week.

Howard has also been charged with the attempted murder of Shelly Engelhardt, 52, also badly injured in the attacks. Doctors at St. Alexius Medical Center in Hoffman Estates removed her ventilator and moved her out of the intensive care unit, but hospital officials continue to list her condition as stable but critical.

Some who knew Howard have a hard time reconciling the teenager with the defendant who could face between 20 years and life in prison or a death sentence, if convicted.

Mundelein High School teacher and school spokesman Ron Girard had Howard in a psychology class several years ago. He recalled his former student as above-average and personable and said he was not a trouble maker.

However, in early 2007, less than a year after Howard graduated from high school, a former girlfriend filed an order of protection against him after she said he threatened her and entered her home without her permission. The misdemeanor trespassing and disorderly conduct charges against him were dropped.

Howard ran track and played varsity football during high school, Girard said.

Fellow Mustang Ryan Olson played on the school's football team with Howard. Both were members of the offensive backfield with Olson playing fullback and Howard playing running back.

"He was a cool guy," said Olson, a 2007 graduate. "Everybody liked D'Andre."

Only a few of his close friends knew about Howard's troubled past, said Olson, who said he was shocked when he heard about the murder and Howard's arrest.

Records indicated that the teenage Howard resided for a time at the Alternative Behavior Treatment Center, a Mundelein facility that treats young people who have experienced a great deal of trauma, said chief executive officer Robin McGinnis. Almost all the center's clients have been victims of violence, she said, including sexual abuse. Some suffer psychological and behavioral disorders and/or have been sexually abusive. The center works closely with Illinois' Department of Children and Family Services, McGinnis said, and has treated hundreds of people in the 12 years since it opened.

"Our goal is to get them safe and back into the community," McGinnis said.

Howard left the facility two years ago against medical advice and without completing the program, McGinnis said.

Unless a court orders otherwise, an individual can sign himself out of the facility at age 18. However, the center assists patients for as long as they require services, McGinnis said.

Prohibited by law from discussing cases, Kendall Marlowe, spokesman for Illinois' Department of Children and Family Services, declined to comment on Howard except to say that he is a ward of the state, a designation whereby the state becomes a child's legal parent.

A child becomes a ward of the state after he or she is "placed into the care" of DCFS following a substantiated claim of abuse or neglect. The agency typically attempts to place a child with immediate or extended family so long as that placement benefits the child. If such a placement isn't possible, DCFS attempts to place the child into foster care or a group home.

In some cases, depending on the type of services a child requires, DCFS may place him or her in a residential facility like the one Howard attended.

The state's obligations to a ward do not necessarily end when he or she turns 18, Marlow said. In some cases, it extends to 21 or 23 if the ward is attending college.

"There is a drive behind both federal and state policy to create a sense of permanency in children's lives," Marlowe said. "When that cannot happen for a child, or when a child is 'aging out' of the child welfare system without a permanent family connection, we need to do everything we can to help make a successful transition to adulthood."

•Daily Herald Staff Writers Russell Lissau and Tony Gordon contributed to this report.