Judge will review investigator’s testimony to grand jury in Potsdam murder case

Witnesses at the scene of Ms. Howell’s murder near the Crane School of Music told police they heard three shots fired from a gray four-door sedan, and they directed responding officers to the victim, who had fled a short distance on foot.

Ms. Howell was found unconscious at 5:51 p.m. that day, and responding officers initiated lifesaving measures. She was then taken to Canton-Potsdam Hospital, where she died just before 7 p.m., officials said.

On April 17, St. Lawrence County Chief Public Defender James M. McGahan filed the motion asking Judge Craig P. Carriero to review the grand jury minutes and determine whether “a material statement withheld to the extent the grand jury was misled.”

The issue at hand is state police investigator Kyle J. Otis’s testimony about two searches of Snow’s car last year which turned up a total of five spent .22-caliber bullet casings and one .22-caliber bullet.

According to Mr. McGahan’s motion, Mr. Otis told the grand jury that a search of the car at the St. Lawrence County jail on Feb. 19, 2022, yielded three spent .22-caliber shells and one .22-caliber bullet that hadn’t been fired. The three casings were respectively found on the front passenger floor, on the rear passenger seat and on the rear driver’s side floor. The intact bullet was also located on the rear driver’s side floor, the documents say.

That document says state police searched the car again, at the Ray Brook garage on Feb. 22, 2022, and found two additional spent .22-caliber casings on the front passenger side floor. The court documents note that state troopers from the Massena station discovered the car “on roadside” on Feb. 18, 2022.

The motion filed on Snow’s behalf notes that a judge has already reviewed the minutes.

“The court’s initial review of the minutes was not conducted in response to a motion filed by the defendant,” the motion says. “Instead, the court reviewed the minutes on its own without hearing the defendant’s specific arguments or requests.”

The initial review was conducted by Judge Gregory P. Storie, who recused himself from the case on Jan. 18 after both the prosecution and defense questioned his ability to impartially preside over the case.

“This court is in no way questioning Hon. Gregory Storie’s review and decision regarding the grand jury proceeding. However, considering the recusal, the court finds it important to conduct its own inspection of the minutes to determine the issues raised in the defendant’s motion.”

Judge Carriero is expected to issue a written ruling after he completes his review of the grand jury minutes.

St. Lawrence County District Attorney Gary M. Pasqua declined to comment.

Snow was arrested Feb. 19, 2022, the day after Ms. Howell was killed. A grand jury heard the prosecution’s case starting on March 24, 2022, and handed up an indictment on March 31 last year on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, first-degree assault and first-degree criminal use of a firearm. Snow was arraigned on the indictment on April 22, 2022, and pleaded not guilty. He’s been held without bail at the St. Lawrence County Correctional Facility in Canton since his arrest. If convicted of murder, Snow faces up to a life sentence in state prison.

Mr. Pasqua has stated previously that the murder weapon hasn’t been located, but that it won’t be necessary to secure a conviction if the case goes to trial. Last year, state police investigators searched rivers for the gun Snow allegedly used to kill Ms. Howell, along the route Snow is believed to have taken after the shooting near the SUNY Potsdam campus.

He went east on Route 11B to Malone, north on Route 37 to Akwesasne and west on Route 37 to Massena. State police divers the week of Aug. 22 searched the Raquette and St. Regis rivers below bridges that cross those waters along Route 37 in Akwesasne. In May, state police divers searched the west branch of the St. Regis River below a bridge along Route 11B.

A report in the April 17 motion outlines three pieces of evidence collected from Ms. Howell’s body at Glens Falls Hospital during an autopsy conducted on Feb. 20, 2022. It lists a “projectile removed from right shoulder,” a vial of blood taken from her chest cavity and a DNA sample taken from her mouth.

Other collected evidence listed in the motion includes the clothing Ms. Howell was wearing and personal effects she had with her when she was shot, two automatic external defibrillators taken from the Crane Snell lobby and Hosmer Hall near the crime scene, and a denim face mask found on the roadside near the scene. It also says a tablet and two journals were recovered from her Potsdam residence, along with a memory card containing security camera footage that was taken from a Main Street residence near the scene.

The documents also list evidence including a kit testing Snow for the presence of gun shot residue; a jacket, other clothing items and a rosary found inside his car; as well as swabs taken from his hands and a kit containing fingernail scrapings that investigators collected.

Among evidence seized from Snow’s apartment at 250 Main St. in Massena are a New England Firearms 12-gauge shotgun, six .22 caliber bullets, 14 shells for a 12-gauge shotgun, a shell taken from the shotgun’s chamber, “a black and gray bag containing a quantity of shotgun shells and .22 caliber ammo,” a holster, a magazine pouch and two bandoliers. When Snow was arraigned last year, Mr. Pasqua told the court that the shotgun was sawed off and isn’t believed to be connected with Ms. Howell’s murder.

A Times reporter was given access to Snow’s Main Street apartment on Feb. 21, 2022. There were dozens of spent nitrous oxide mini-canisters and boxes of unspent mini nitrous canisters littered around the living room. Nitrous oxide is a commonly used propellant for things like canned whipped cream or keyboard cleaner. When huffed, the gas can cause audio hallucinations.

Although Snow was arrested at the Main Street apartment, during his arraignment he told Judge Storie that he lives at 50 Park Ave. in Massena. He inherited the Park Avenue house from his mother, Paula N. Snow, after she died there on April 1, 2019. Her death was ruled a suicide. A friend of Snow’s, 30-year-old Raymond G. Lancto III, also died in the 50 Park Ave. house, allegedly from a fentanyl overdose on Oct. 8, 2020.

In February, Snow fired Mr. McGahan and represented himself after telling the new judge, Judge Carriero, that he wasn’t happy with Mr. McGahan’s representation. In early April, Snow changed his mind about representing himself and is again represented by Mr. McGahan.

Ms. Howell was studying music education at the Crane School of Music. Mr. Pasqua has previously said he’s not aware of any prior connections between her and Snow.

Her parents, Joe and Ann Howell, spoke about their daughter’s murder with The New York Post in February 2022 at the family’s home in Patterson, Putnam County, about 60 miles north of New York City. They said she was likely “a random victim in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The couple described Elizabeth, called Beth by family and friends, as “a talented musician, a dear friend, an all-around great person.” She was a cellist who performed with the Crane Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Howell said his daughter was “always willing to help you out.”