Killing of Charlie Howard

Charles O. Howard (January 31, 1961 – July 7, 1984) was an American murder victim in Bangor, Maine in 1984. As Howard and his life partner, Roy Ogden, were walking down the street, three teenagers, Shawn I. Mabry, age 16, James (Jim) Francis Baines, age 15, and Daniel Ness, age 17, harassed, assaulted, and murdered Howard for being gay. The youths chased the couple, yelling homophobic epithets, until they caught Howard and threw him over the State Street Bridge into the Kenduskeag Stream, despite his pleas that he could not swim. He drowned, but his partner escaped and pulled a fire alarm. Howard's body was found by rescue workers several hours later.

This event galvanized the Bangor community in ways similar to the killing of Matthew Shepard, although the case never attained the same level of national notoriety. As an adult, Jim Baines later spoke to various groups in Maine about his involvement in the murder and the damage that intolerance can do to people and their community. His story was published as Penitence: A True Story with Edward Armstrong, although Baines received no royalties from the book. The Maine Lesbian/Gay Political Alliance, which later became EqualityMaine, was formed in part as a reaction to Howard's death.

The Bangor City Council and members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) community have erected a monument along the Kenduskeag Stream honoring the memory of Charlie Howard as the victim of a hate crime.