Howell Court Hearing Delayed Until September

Wednesday, May 9, 2001
by Associated Press

The post conviction relief hearing for one of six convicted murderers in the 1997 Lillelid shootings in Greene County has been delayed.

Criminal Court Judge James Beckner ordered the hearing for Karen Howell, which had been scheduled for next Wednesday, delayed until September 26th.

Howell and five other young people from the coalfields of eastern Kentucky pleaded guilty and were sentenced to life in the killings of three members of the Knoxville family.

Vidar (VEE'-dahr) and Delfina Lillelid (LIHL'-eh-lid) and their six-year-old daughter Tabitha died as a result of injuries sustained in the shootings near I-81 off the Baileyton Road. Two-year-old Peter Lillelid survived critical injuries and lives with aunts in Sweden.

Howell is now 20. She was 17 when the murders occured after the family was kidnapped at an Interstate 81 rest stop.