Officials at Mount Pleasant Retirement Village are expected to announce today a reward for clues in the disappearance and homicide of one of its residents.

Barbara Howe, 87, who lived at Mount Pleasant for five years, was found in the trunk of her 2005 Cadillac STS on Nov. 1, five days after she was last seen in her cottage, where she lived alone. Her car was discovered by Middletown police parked in the Woodridge Park East Apartments, about 5 miles from her home.

Her death has been ruled a homicide by the Butler County Coroner’s Office, but no cause of death or date of death have been released.

Monroe police have released few details in Howe’s death, saying only it was a homicide, said Lt. Brian Curlis. Her homicide was the seventh this year in Butler County and first in Monroe, according to reports.

Representatives from the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation are assisting the investigation, police said.

Butler County Prosecutor Mike Gmoser also refused to release additional details. He said “much” evidence was collected and it was being processed, though he wouldn’t say where the evidence was collected. He called it “a meticulous process.”

He refused to say whether there were any suspects in Howe’s death.

At 1 p.m. today, a press conference has been scheduled in the Activities Building at Mount Pleasant, 225 Britton Lane, said Monroe Police Chief Gregory C. Homer.

Howe’s visitation will be from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday at Wilson-Schramm-Spaulding Funeral Home, 3805 Roosevelt Blvd. The funeral will begin at 1 p.m. Friday with the Rev. Timothy Doty, pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Middletown, where Howe was a longtime member, officiating.

Howe graduated from Hamilton High School in 1943, attended DePauw University at Green Castle, Ind., and was a member of Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority. Her late husband, Bill, was the owner of Howe Motor Co. in Middletown. They were married in 1947.

She was a lifelong member of the First Presbyterian Church, Middletown Symphony Women’s Association, Cotillion Mixers, Panhellenic Dances at The Manchester, and former member of Brown’s Run Country Club and Wildwood Golf Club.

Howe was responsible for scholarships for students at Miami University Middletown and helped with the fund raising to build the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C.

Howe is survived by her three daughters, Nancy Howe (Richard) Fruechtenicht, Barbara Laspina, and Donna Howe (Jim) Wesselman; sister, Patricia W. Marshall; five grandchildren, Jennifer (Frank) Garamy, Rick (Catherine) Fruechtenicht, Barbara Bontempo, Hannah Wesselman and Sam Wesselman; four great grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.