When the FBI field agents were notified of the Roundhouse letter, it was thought that Howard was possibly playing a prank on them; or Howard was in the process of leaving the country, but was still ensconced in his south of Santa Fe home.
Wanting to know what this Roundhouse note meant, the Santa Fe G-Men were ordered by their superiors in Washington D.C. to search the house on Verano Loop and arrest Howard.
As the manner was searched, it dawned on the FBI’s high sheriffs that Howard had made good his escape. Depending on the source, the double agent had a thirteen to twenty-five hour head start over his pursuers; never the less, airports were put on alert
According to FBI post escape reports, Howard hop-scotched from airport to airport during his escape. From Albuquerque Howard flew to Tuscon, then to, St.Louis, New York, London, Copenhagen and then Helsinki. From Finland Howard somehow went to Hungary and then nine months later the ex-CIA agent arrived in the Soviet Union.
Oddly, a Federal arrest warrant was not issued for Howard’s capture until Monday morning.
Other sources have Howard flying from Albuquerque to Dallas and then to Austin, hours after his Canyon Road getaway by way of American Airlines. How Howard left to Finland from Texas in this scenario is hazy?
What is Federal cannon: The spy wizard defected and claimed sanctuary in the Soviet Union. It was later found out that Howard had $150,000 in a Swiss bank account.
During a sweep of the Verano Loop property, Howard’s wife Mary showed the G-Men where a large amount of money, silver bars, and gold coins; had been buried in the nearby scrubland. One wonders what else Howard buried in the fields and gullies that dot the Eldorado landscape and was never discovered? Did Howard share all his secrets with wife Mary? I think not.
It seems Santa Fe’s dirt is honeycombed with bodies, money, and clandestine information? When it comes to Santa Fe mayhem, one never knows what secrets a vacant lot, arroyo cliff, or backyard contains.
Before Howard got into trouble and was put under surveillance, the crazy as a fox Santa Fean did a lot of solitary jogging and flew his model airplane in the wilds near Arroyo Hondo, which is close to Eldorado or south of Santa Fe.
Was Howard meeting his Soviet contact while jogging or while flying his plane?
According to Santa Fe lore, before getting his hobby plane airborne, Howard would mark the trees he stood by with either red, yellow, or blue ducting tape. Was Howard marking his take off areas for references points, in case his plane went down amongst some trees?
I dare say, the Santa Fe spy was up to his ears in espionage and drug deals. The colored tape was a signal.
KID SHELEEN’S WORDS
Actor Lee Marvin, who played Kid Sheleen a drunken gunfighter in the movie Cat Ballou (1965), repeatedly claimed that Howard sat next to him on a passenger jet, as the spy fled from Tuscon to New York. The authorities and public believed this yarn; but is it possible the Oscar winning thespian was telling a very tall tale?
Marvin’s alcoholism had turned the fine actor into a real-life Kid Sheleen, a drunken, no-limits liar at the end of his life. How brazen were Marvin’s whoppers? On national television, Marvin attested that he saw combat on Iwo Jima in 1945, and was wounded. For his actions in eliminating an enemy hot spot he was awarded the Navy Cross. Fighting alongside Marvin was the bravest Marine he had ever seen. That man was Bob Keeshan who later went on to play television’s Captain Kangaroo.
Military records show Marvin was a Marine during World War II, but he was never on Iwo Jima, and was not awarded the Navy Cross. As for Captain Kangaroo, Bob Keeshan did not know Marvin in or out of the service.
If the FBI based their conclusions about Howard’s escape on Marvin’s testimony, then they fumbled again. Lets hope legitimate evidence linked Howard to a jet flight to Finland.
Santa Fe sleuths thought Howard exited the United States by crossing the border at El Paso, Texas. Escape by way of Mexico would make more sense than Howard catching flights at major American airports and risk being caught due to flight delays.
From Mexico, Howard could head for points unknown. Furthermore, Mexico was in a tizzy during Howard’s escape. On the 19th of September, Mexico City suffered a 8.1 richter scale quake, the loss of life was estimated to be around 10,000 people. Mexican authorities were focused on getting aid to their capital city, the apprehension of an American spy would rate a low priority.
I disagree with this well thought out idea, because on the night of his escape Howard was rolling in vanity. I think the authorities are correct in that Howard exited the United States by way of international flights, even though Mexico was only a few hours away.
After Howard’s defection, the KGB began rounding up the CIA’s undercover operatives that the “Judas” had not previously named. The captured agents were tortured for information and executed. The Moscow station, along with many other posts, were wrecked or wiped out.
Weapons engineer Adolf Tolkachex, who was the CIA’s key spy inside the Soviet Union, was arrested and killed by a bullet to the temple.
How could the FBI’s and CIA’s highly trained sentinels, be tricked by a man that is high on drugs and alcohol? Howard’s missteps and escape reads like a Peter Seller’s movie script.
WHY NOT?
Howard’s treasonous wife Mary was not prosecuted by the Federal authorities. What were the CIA and FBI potentates thinking? Mary was an accomplice in the collaborator’s escape and in the deaths of many spies. The Femme Fatale Yupster should have been held accountable for her actions.
On May 31, 1988, Mary moved from Santa Fe, to live with her family in Barrett, Minnesota. Years later the State Department let Mary and her son Lee, visit Howard in Moscow. How can this be? Mary’s partisans claim, the lady from Minnesota, did not know that her husband was selling secrets to the Soviet Union.
It seems the wives of criminals always claim, they never knew that their spouse was evil, and they never bothered to think how their lavish lifestyles were being financed. Hench-wenches never have a clue that there are bodies under the floorboards or can never smell the odor of their rotting souls.
WHO DID IT?
On July 12, 2002, it was reported that ex-CIA agent Howard had died at his house in Moscow. The reports out of Russia had Howard falling down a flight of stairs. The Santa Fean died of a broken neck; he was fifty years old.
Did Howard fall by accident? Was the blundering spy pushed? Did he commit suicide? Or was the Santa Fean killed by some other means and the stair story was a red herring?
I wonder who killed Howard and how did he really die, don’t you? Had Howard outlived his usefulness; did the bad guys liquidate him? Or did a deep undercover CIA hitman avenge his fellow comrades?
Howard’s advocates think the CIA man was a hero. The Santa Fean was not a traitor but a mole that masqueraded as a turncoat. Inside the Soviet Union, Howard gathered information for Uncle Sam.
What is not speculation, after his defection Howard lived in a two-story brick dacha on the outskirts of Moscow. The spy did not lack for comforts or money and was always guarded by KGB men. But no amount of pampering could bring peace to Howard’s tortured soul.
Photos of Howard taken before he died, showed a tired, stooped, overweight man, with a pudgy alcoholic face. The strain of his deeds, weighed heavily upon the spymaster’s shoulders.
No matter how the stars lined up; I doubt that vain Howard was one of the good guys. The spy from Santa Fe was a hedonistic sociopath, who had moneyed ambitions. In attaining his pleasures, Howard would work for anybody that would pay his high price.
Howard was