For the Love of Cayley Mandadi

…

She was much more of a morning person, so I would get mine first thing in the morning.

But Monday morning, October 30th, 2017—no word from Kaye.

I didn’t get a Snapchat at 8:00 in the morning like I usually do, and that’s actually how I knew something was really wrong.

Both good students, they bonded in science class.

Taylor says she was instantly drawn to Kaye.

She had like a really infectious smile, and the big eyes, and like a loving heart.

The two separated to go to different colleges.

That October morning, Kaye was on Taylor’s mind.

As I’m working in the library, it’s in the back of my head like I haven’t heard from her.

Taylor didn’t know it, but just hours earlier, Kaylee’s mother Allison Steele and stepfather Lawrence Bittand were awakened at 4:00 in the morning with horrifying news.

“Your daughter has been involved in some incident, and she’s been LifeFlighted to Kyle, Texas.

”

They raced from their home in Houston to the hospital, praying Kaye was okay.

“What was it like when you entered that room? What did you see?”

I saw my daughter’s body smashed.

I could see that she was on a ventilator, and my heart just stopped, and I knew that it was bad.

Within hours, Kaylee’s parents were told there was no hope for recovery.

Their daughter, just 19 years old, once so full of life, was soon declared brain dead.

Lawrence and Allison want the world to know what happened to her.

All that potential had been destroyed, and not knowing how it happened or how it was even possible…

They invited Kaye’s friends to see her one last time.

Taylor sat with Allison as she held Kaylee’s hand and prayed.

I remember her repeating over and over, “This has to be for something.

This has to be for something.

”

Kaylee had previously requested that her organs be donated to help others.

As she was taken to surgery for that procedure, her parents said goodbye.

It was very emotional.

Of course, we didn’t want to let her go, but this is what had to be.

Just days before, things seemed to be going well for Kaye.

A sophomore Communications major at Trinity University in San Antonio, she had joined a sorority and was a cheerleader.

And she met a boy.

Kaye, at the time, was very much in love with the only serious boyfriend she had ever had.

His name was Jet Burcham.

Jet was a Trinity football player and fraternity brother.

Kaylee dated him freshman year, but they broke up.

What she told me was, “I don’t know that he wants a serious relationship.

” And she did.

I think that part of her life got very murky for her very fast.

There was another man in Kaylee’s life—Mark Howton.

He was 22 years old and had been a star high school baseball player.

“I’ve been a pretty good hitter.

I just keep my weight back and keep your eye on the ball—whack it.

”

Mark lived in Houston but was often on Trinity’s campus visiting friends.

That’s where he met Kaye.

I think that they’re both very beautiful people, and I think that that was the primary attraction.

John Hunter is Howton’s lawyer.

I think that there were problems with her relationship with Jed, and Mark was offering an alternative to that.

Both Jed and Mark knew Kaye was seeing the other man, and neither friends say liked the competition.

Then, just one month into this new relationship, Mark Howton rushes Kaye to a small rural hospital in Luling, Texas.

The chapel is actually really quiet, while medical staff tended to Kaye.

Police officers interviewed Howton in the quietest place they could find.

“Okay, so tell me—where were we all at today?”

Howton told officers that he and Kaye went to the music festival.

There, they drank alcohol and took MDMA, a drug known as Molly or ecstasy.

Christy Jack is an attorney based in Fort Worth.

We asked her to look at the files in this case.

She says things took a troubling turn at the music festival.

They saw Jet Burcham at some point and began to argue.

Howton says sometime after 4:00 pm, he and Kaye left in his Mercedes, still arguing after Kaye told him she still had feelings for Jet.

“I was pretty much saying you need to get over this dude.

He ain’t worth your time.

Your friends are fake.

I was just telling her all—I was trying to get it through her head.

”

Howton said they then stopped in a parking lot where they had makeup sex.

“We were having sex.

I shoved her, but it wasn’t like—killing her—it wasn’t like that rough,” said Howton.

“But consensual.

500% consensual.

”

After we had sex, she still talked to me for five or six minutes afterward.

That’s when she was like, “I’m not feeling too good.

” But then she just passed out.

But Howton told officers they got back on the road.

Hours passed.

Howton says at some point Kaye stopped breathing, and he tried to resuscitate her.

And at 10:30 at night, he sees a sign on the road that indicates a hospital—the next exit—and he pulls off.

Emergency medical workers told investigators they instantly knew Kaye was in bad shape.

She was nearly naked, bruised, and had no pulse.

“You have a paramedic or a nurse who says these bruises were on her when she arrived at the hospital in Luling.

Why isn’t she responding?”

Howton told the police officer Kaylee already had bruises on her legs earlier in the day.

“She bruises easy.

Look—seriously—she gets drunk and she falls over and she bruises.

”

Police interviewed Howton several times, but he was not charged with any crime related to Kaylee’s death.

Then, three months later, her autopsy report was released.

The medical examiner ruled that Kaylee had died from blunt force face and head trauma.

It was ruled a homicide.

Mark Howton was charged with murder.

He pleaded not guilty and was released on bail.

“There were a large amount of drugs taken over the course of this weekend.

Mr.

Howton brought the deceased to a hospital, which is something you don’t typically see.

Murderers don’t usually do that, no.

”

“All rise to the jury.

”

The idea that it was open and shut is a mistake.

As the trial begins, John Hunter says he has evidence that will surprise the jury.

In December 2019, two years after Kaylee Mandadi’s disturbing demise, Mark Howton is finally brought to trial for allegedly kidnapping, assaulting, and murdering her.

“All rise for the jury.

”

“I don’t want you—”

What was it like to see Mark Howton in the courtroom?

Like everybody else, I tried not to look at him too much.

The trial begins with prosecutor Alesandra Crenshaw’s opening statement.

“I think the best way to tell this story is to start where Kaye Mandadi’s life ended—and that’s in the car of this defendant.

”

Prosecutors alleged that Howton forcefully escorted Kaylee from the Maluna Music Festival to his car.

He then drove her to a parking lot, where he sexually assaulted and beat her, causing a fatal brain bleed.

These photos show Kaylee’s condition about 18 hours after she arrived at the hospital.

“I believe that you will have no reservations about finding this defendant guilty of the offense of murder.

”

Things are not always as they seem.

In his opening statement, defense attorney John Hunter attacks the very foundation of the prosecution’s case.

“Mr.

Howton did not cause Kaye Mandadi’s death.

No one saw anything that transpired between Mark Howton and Kaylee Mandadi that evening on the 29th.

There are no eyewitnesses.

”

The state begins its case with paramedic Cheryl Lane.

“Do you swear to tell the truth?”

She was driving an ambulance up to the Luling hospital that night when a vehicle suddenly appeared behind her.

“There’s a black car behind us, honking and flashing the lights.

”

Before I even get out, I see a gentleman that’s hollering and screaming.

I open the door—he’s telling me that his girlfriend is not breathing and he needs help.

When Lane looked inside Howton’s car, she saw a disturbing scene.

She was exposed.

Her pants and clothes were in the floorboard by her feet.

She had bruises on her—just multiple bruises that I just remember seeing.

That’s when I started CPR.

But Hunter says not everyone at the hospital believed Kaye had been attacked.

“The treating physician at the Luling hospital approached this as a drug overdose, wasn’t that because Mark had told them he thought she had overdosed?”

Correct.

“But the symptoms she was presenting were consistent with that patient history.

Was this woman beaten or not?”

No.

Hunter insists the photos showing bruising on Kaye don’t point to foul play.

By the time the sexual assault nurse examines her, she has been resuscitated six times—maybe eight.

She’s had a chest tube inserted.

She’s had IVs placed on both arms.

She’s been worked over by those physicians at the Luling hospital in a traumatic way.

While the medical team fought for Kaylee’s life, police interviewed Mark.

“I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on.

”

Police officer Chris Adams photographed Howton.

“While I was taking photographs, I noticed the tops of both of his hands.

”

“They look red to you?”

“Yes, sir.

”

“Unusually red?”

“Yes, sir.

”

Evidence investigators believe that Howton did hit Kaye.

“Those actually do look like they scabbed already on them.

”

Mark Howton, arrested after Kaylee’s death, was an enormously muscled, intimidating figure.

Kaylee’s friends say he used steroids.

Even in such a confined space, it would have been relatively easy for him to cause that kind of damage to her head.

Howton initially cooperated with investigators, allowing police to search his Mercedes, where they found a gun and marijuana.

“If he was worried about himself, he would have told the police to get a warrant instead.

”

Hunter says Howton was much more concerned about Kaye.

“I found out an update on her.

Please—is there anything else?”

The only person who could counter Howton’s story was dead.

Investigators hoped Kaylee’s remains might speak on her behalf.

Dr.

Susanna Dana performed the autopsy and says the evidence shows Kaylee was beaten to death.

She had a number of what I call blunt force injuries to her face and her head.

“And what is this that we see behind the ear?”

“That’s a bruise.

That’s a contusion.

”

But during cross-examination, Hunter gets Dr.

Dana to admit at least one of Kaylee’s injuries was caused by medical care.

“So CPR can cause a lot of different injuries, not just superficial ones, right?”

“Yes.

”

“In this case, the rib was broken—is that correct?”

“I believe so, yes.

”

The medical examiner says the cause of death is complications of blunt force face and head trauma, and the manner of death is homicide.

“Is the examiner wrong?”

“I believe the examiner is definitely wrong.

”

Whatever the jury thinks about how Kaylee died, they’re about to learn much more about her troubled relationship with Mark Howton.

In the agonizing final hours of Kaylee Mandadi’s life, her friends gathered to say goodbye.

Kaylee’s childhood friend Taylor Clement met her college friends for the first time.

Even in that situation, she was bringing people close that would have never met before.

Some of those friends now nervously wait to testify.

“Do you recognize this person? Who is this individual?”

Her roommate, Morgan Samson, told of a stormy history between Kaylee and Mark, including one particularly disturbing incident just weeks before her death.

She was planning to go to a party, and Mark got upset when she invited Kaye to come along.

Mark and Kaye were out on the balcony, and he had thrown her up against the brick wall.

Soon, neighbors reported hearing loud banging in Kaylee’s room.

Campus police officer Roderick Lewis was dispatched.

“When I arrived at the location, a male subject was exiting the room.

”

“So you’re in the room just waiting on her while she’s at a party?”

“Exactly.

”

“Any mind if I take a look in the room?”

“No.

”

Howton resisted.

When officer Lewis entered, he found the glass door to the balcony cracked, and Kaylee’s clothes scattered in the trees.

Friends say Howton later smashed Kaylee’s laptop.

The university barred him from campus.

Kaylee told her ex-boyfriend Jet that she wanted to get back with him.

She was really torn between two different people.

Jet told jurors it all came to a head at the music festival.

“She said she wanted to break up with him there because there would be plenty of witnesses around.

”

“Did she seem worried?”

“Yes.

”

Jet testified he saw Mark pulling Kaylee away.

“Kaye looked like she was trying to create space and get away.

”

“As she’s trying to step away, I see him reach out his arm and pull her in closer.

”

Defense attorney John Hunter attacked his credibility.

“You told police you saw him pick her up and put her in the car, correct?”

“Yes, sir.

”

“And that differs from your testimony today?”

“Yes, sir.

”

Jet admits he exaggerated.

Then comes a brutal cross-examination.

He takes the Fifth Amendment 30 times.

“The impact can’t be understated.

”

The defense presents Dr.

William Anderson.

He claims the bruising could be from resuscitation and organ donation.

He points to what he says is a skull fracture.

Hunter argues this could mean a fall caused the fatal injury.

But prosecutors challenge that claim.

“No, it’s not a skull fracture.

”

After 10 hours of deliberation, the jury cannot reach a verdict.

“I’m declaring a mistrial.

”

Prosecutors prepare for a second trial.

Kaylee’s parents begin their own investigation.

They study autopsy photos.

They identify a possible impact point near her ear.

They buy Mark’s old car.

They believe her head struck the door lock.

They create a reenactment video.

Years pass.

Appeals fail.

Finally, a second trial begins in May 2023.

This time, no Jet Burcham.

Prosecutors add a domestic violence expert.

The defense argues drugs caused her death.

They abandon the skull fracture theory.

Closing arguments end.

The jury returns.

“Not guilty of murder.

”

But then—

Guilty of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury.

Relief fills the courtroom.

Mark Howton is sentenced to 20 years in prison.

For Kaylee’s family, it is not enough.

“He’s a monster.

”

For her best friend—

“I miss my best friend.

”

Her parents say they have no regrets.

It helped us learn what happened.

Kaylee’s mother continues her fight to help others.

“What I would like is for her sacrifice to help other people.

”

“I have absolutely no doubt about that.

“