Tennessee woman who shot dead daughter, 5, and blamed 2-year-old son charged with murder and child neglect
KNOX COUNTY, TENNESSEE: A woman has been charged for the murder of her five-year-old daughter who was killed in September 2019. Robin Howington allegedly fatally shot Destiny Oliver in the chest on September 14, before giving conflicting stories about the incident to investigators. She also reportedly tried to put the blame of the murder on her two-year-old son. The 37-year-old mother has been indicted by a grand jury, nearly a year after Destiny was shot. Howington is facing charges of first-degree murder, child neglect, false reporting, tampering with evidence, and attempted tampering with evidence. She was taken into custody on Wednesday, July 8, and held on a $500,000 bond.
According to reports, on the day of the killing, when investigators responded to the Howington's Fountain neighborhood home, they found that Destiny had been shot. The young girl was soon rushed to the University of Tennessee Medical Center where she was pronounced dead. When investigators interrogated Howington regarding the murder, she first said that an unknown man broke into their house and killed her daughter before escaping in a black Chrysler 300. Later, she blamed Destiny’s father, Antoine Oliver, for the murder and alleged that it was he who escaped in the black Chrysler 300. Howington also alleged that Antoine killed their daughter after a tense argument between them. However, when authorities found a handgun hidden in a bush outside the mother’s home, she accused her boyfriend, Daniel Hensley, who is not Destiny's father, of hiding the weapon. But her lies did not work since surveillance footage from a neighbor showed Howington stashing the gun in the shrubbery.
Upon confronted by the investigators, Howington again changed her stance and claimed that she cleaned the gun and hid it outside after her 2-year-old son had found it in a closet and shot the girl in the chest. But Howington’s boyfriend later told investigators that he witnessed the woman pulling a gun on Destiny's father in the front yard on the day of the shooting. Antoine reportedly took away the gun from her.
The indictment against Howington alleges she "did unlawfully kill [Destiny Oliver] during the perpetration of aggravated child neglect." The tampering with evidence charge is related to the woman reportedly trying to destroy her cell phone on the evening of Destiny’s killing. The indictment stated that Howington told investigators that she did not want them to learn of illegal marijuana sales she had done. Reports also claimed that the mother tried to destroy the cell phone placing it under running water, while a witness told investigators that the suspect gave her the phone and even offered money to take it. Howington has not yet entered a plea to the charges against her.
In another incident, a Maryland mother was charged with first-degree murder after she reportedly admitted to starving her 15-month-old baby daughter t. Kiearra Tolson then allegedly threw the child's body in the trash. The 23-year-old was arrested on July 8 after an acquaintance called 911 saying that Tolson had told her that she killed her daughter.