A New Orleans Catholic priest, Gerard Joseph "Jerry" Howell, 87, was found dead after apparently falling in his Texas apartment on September 8. Austin police responded to a welfare check on the block where he was living and found him unresponsive. Emergency medical services were called, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. The Austin medical examiner’s office was still determining the cause of death, though police said it was "not being investigated as a homicide." Howell's death comes after decades of allegations of sexual abuse against children in the local deaf community. The New Orleans Roman Catholic archdiocese became aware of the abuse in the 1980s and reported him to law enforcement in 1980. Despite this, he remained an active priest and was publicly exposed by WWL Louisiana in 1992. The archdiocese continued to provide him with retirement benefits until at least 2020. The archdiocese learned of his death later that same week and updated its website listing of clergy removed from ministry for abuse to include Howell as deceased. Kathleen Austin, one of Howell's most outspoken survivors, expressed relief at his death, stating he would no longer be able to harm another child. Efforts to contact Howell's family for comment were not immediately successful. Howell's case remained in the public eye for decades, despite his continued avoidance of punishment. Records show that the then New Orleans archbishop, Philip Hannan, reported Howell to the district attorney in 1980, but no charges were filed. After the WWL report in 1992, the next archbishop, Francis Schulte, told Howell to "quit and get a job," but Howell appealed to the Vatican, who ordered Schulte to allow him to continue as a priest with full financial benefits. In 2010, the archdiocese sent Howell for mental health treatment, with a psychologist diagnosing him as "high risk" and noting at least 24 child victims. The archdiocese continued to support Howell financially until a federal judge halted the benefits in 2020, following the archdiocese's bankruptcy filing due to the clergy abuse scandal. A 2020 letter from then New Orleans archbishop Gregory Aymond to a Vatican official called the cancellation of Howell's benefits "unjust and painful." Aymond directed Howell to seek aid from a non-profit group, the Men of Melchizedek, which had previously been shut down for misusing donations. Howell was named in nine claims of sexually abusive or grooming behavior as part of the archdiocese's bankruptcy. He was the second most named abuser among eight living clergymen on the archdiocese's list of those removed from ministry for abuse of a minor. The archdiocese agreed to a $305 million settlement to resolve its bankruptcy, with compensation amounts based on a complicated rubric. The New Orleans archdiocese is among 44 US Catholic religious institutions to have filed for bankruptcy protection in the course of the worldwide church's clergy abuse scandal. A spokesperson for the archdiocese stated that it did not restart Howell's retirement benefits once they were discontinued. Howell's abuse of Austin was one of several clergy abuse cases studied by the 2025 documentary film "God As My Witness," which scrutinizes the New Orleans archdiocese's bankruptcy. Austin recounted meeting with Hannan to discuss Howell's abuse and being told to "kick him in the balls" the next time she saw him, which she found shocking. Austin expressed empathy for relatives of Howell, whose late brother and fellow priest Rodney is also considered by church officials to be credibly accused of child molestation. She described Howell's death as "a miserable way to go," but added that his death put her at rest and hoped his punishment in the afterlife would exceed what he did to children.