Surprising loss. Below Deck’s Captain Mark Howard’s death sparked an investigation following the discovery of “suspicious” evidence on the scene.
News broke on Friday, October 29, that the season 1 Below Deck Mediterranean captain, who led the Ionian Princess, had died.
In a police report obtained by Us Weekly at the time, the Fernandina Beach Police Department confirmed that Mark’s wife, Susan Howard, was the first one to report him dead after coming home to find his body on Wednesday, October 27.
The report noted that there were “blood droplets on the floor that appeared suspicious in nature” next to his body upstairs in the room above the garage. The late Bravo personality had “blood coming from the area of the right side of his face” and appeared to have died several days prior.
According to the docs, the scene was turned over to investigations department after Corporal Carey, who was one of the officers to arrive at the house, questioned why some of the “blood evidence at the scene could not be explained initially.”
The responding officers, who received a call around 9:00 p.m. ET on Wednesday of a deceased person, stayed at the scene to help the investigators finish documenting the area with photos before uploading them to the evidence server. Us confirmed on Friday that the investigation is still ongoing.
Following the news of Mark’s death, many fans of the show shared heartfelt tributes to the former captain.
“I am so saddened to hear of Captain Mark Howard’s passing. He was very kind,” one Twitter user wrote on Friday in response to Tiffany Copeland’s confirmation of the former Bravo star’s passing.
Another user tweeted: “Oh no 🥺💔 how incredibly sad. Really liked him on below deck. Thoughts and love to his family and friends. RIP Captain Mark.”
Scroll down to learn everything we know about Captain Mark’s death and the investigation: