In June 2005, a Venango County jury of six men and six women deliberated for 16 hours before finding the O’Brien brothers guilty of second-degree murder and third-degree murder, following a two-week trial. The ban remained in place for 15 years, before being lifted in time for Halloween 2008.

In 2002, a DNA sample taken from Oil City resident James O'Brien, who was serving a prison sentence for attempting to kidnap an Oil City woman in 1995, matched a sample of seminal DNA found on Howe's body in tests run by the FBI lab in Washington, D.C. O’Brien had not been a suspect earlier as investigators mistakenly believed he was in jail at the time of the attack, and neither of the brothers fit the eyewitness description. She was a student at Seventh Street Elementary School at the time her body was found below a 30-foot drop train trestle, just … James E. O’Brien and Timothy M. O’Brien were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Shauna’s relatives later joined in on the search, and when they did, her uncle — Keith Sybil — discovered a piece of her green costume on a hiking trail near a highway, about 8 miles from the town.

She was laying facedown, pinned between a rock and a log. They spent 12 years living their lives.

State Trooper Kirt Snyder told The Titusville Herald in 1992 that “her feet were partially submerged in a shallow stream.”, Her body was transported to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s Office for an autopsy to determine the cause of death. O'Brien were convicted Wednesday of killing Shauna Howe. Afterward, she went to a Halloween party nearby at Free Methodist Church on Wilson Avenue. when he protested the idea. In 2002, investigators got a break in the case when the “DNA from the semen found on Shauna’s leotard” matched the genetic fingerprints of James O’Brien, who was incarcerated at the time for attempting to kidnap a woman in Oil City, Walker added that he didn’t want to kidnap Shauna Howe, but he said he “was scared” and “didn’t know what to do” as Timothy and James. When DNA evidence linked the O’Brien brothers to Shauna Howe’s murder, they were arrested in 2014. "[1] An early suspect, Walker and one of his vehicles had resembled those provided by the witness, but the investigation at the time stalled as his DNA did not match.

The mother of the O’Brien brothers — Linda O’Brien — and their sister, Nancy Deeter, were present in court, but they did not have a reaction.

However, Oil City police officers said he changed his story at least 15 times.Â. Two days later, a member of Howe's family found a piece of her gymnast costume near an abandoned railroad bed in a rural, wooded area in the nearby township of Rockland. [5], "The True Story of "The Town That Banned Halloween, "Brothers guilty in killing of 11-year-old girl", "Real Halloween Back for Long Traumatized Pennsylvania Town", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_Shauna_Howe&oldid=959693902, Articles with dead external links from October 2010, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, This page was last edited on 30 May 2020, at 03:38. [4] He, however, denied any involvement in her death. It was during that time that detectives went back and re-interviewed a man named Eldred “Ted” Walker, who had confessed to taking part in Shauna Howe’s abduction.

For nearly a decade, Shauna Howe’s murder remained unsolved. For two days, FBI agents, police officers, and volunteers searched for the missing Oil City girl. Pic credit: Oil City Police Dept. True Crime Halloween story of the abduction and murder of Shauna Howe in Oil City, Pennsylvania. She wore it again later that day when she went with her Girl Scout Troop to sing for senior citizens in the area.Â. Shauna Melinda Howe (July 11, 1981 – October 27, 1992) was an 11-year-old girl from Oil City, Pennsylvania, who was murdered in October 1992. “I still have a hole in my heart but I needed it to be solved. The story of Shauna Howe is something that every person in Oil City and its neighboring towns know about. Timothy purportedly told Heath that he and his brother drove to Coulter’s Hole with Shauna in the trunk of their car.

She was a student at Seventh Street Elementary School at the time her body was found below a 30-foot drop train trestle, just several miles from her home in Oil City, Pennsylvania.Â, On October 27, 1992, Shauna went to school dressed in a gymnast costume — a turquoise and black leotard.

They spent 12 years living their lives.

The mystery of Howe's disappearance and murder continued for nearly ten years until the investigation had a major breakthrough. James and Timothy were charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, and murder. All images are used with permission or licensed.

Walker agreed. He said he placed his hands over her mouth to prevent her from screaming, then shoved her into a vehicle with the O’Brien brothers. Timothy and James were also found guilty of kidnapping, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping.

“I still have a hole in my heart but I needed it to be solved.

Despite a search of the area the day before, Howe's body was found about 200 yards from where the clothing was found the next morning. My mother told me about what had happened to her in 2006, I was eight years old.

He also stated that they taunted him and called him “chicken” for not wanting to follow through with his own plan.

Shauna Howe disappeared on Oct. 27, 1992, and her body was found three days later in a riverbed under a railroad trestle. He also stated that they taunted him and called him “chicken” for not wanting to follow through with his own plan. After nearly 17 hours of deliberations, an Indiana County jury found both Oil City brothers guilty of second-degree murder, ... Shauna's family sat nervously, awaiting the jury's decision.

A local resident, Dan Paden, however, witnessed the kidnapping, thereby providing investigators with details of the circumstances, the abductor and the getaway vehicle used. Shauna Howe’s murder remained unsolved for 12 years.

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Around 8pm on October 27, Howe was walking home from a Girl Scouts Halloween party in Oil City, Pennsylvania, when she was abducted at the corner of West First Street and Reed Street, two blocks from home. In 2002, investigators got a break in the case when the “DNA from the semen found on Shauna’s leotard” matched the genetic fingerprints of James O’Brien, who was incarcerated at the time for attempting to kidnap a woman in Oil City, NY Daily News reported. Walker told the Oil City police that when he spotted Shauna walking down the street, he approached her and questioned her about Girl Scout cookies before grabbing her. Walker said he was in the kitchen cooking spaghetti when he heard Shauna screaming “get off me.” That’s when he told James and Timothy to leave her alone.

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When two hours went by and the shy, blue-eyed brunette hadn’t made it home, her mother — Lucy Brown Howe — contacted the Oil City Police Department and reported Shauna Howe missing.

It was during that time that Heath claimed Timothy explained what they had done to Shauna Howe.Â.

In October, as the trial ended, the brothers were found guilty of kidnapping, conspiracy and second and third-degree murder, but were acquitted on charges of first degree murder and rape.

Detectives launched an investigation, interviewing several individuals in the area, but it didn’t get them any closer to finding out who killed Shauna Howe.

Her kidnappers would finally be convicted in 2006, Timothy and James O’Brien.

On the morning of October 30, 1992, Shauna Howe was found dead, three days after she vanished without a trace. Timothy forced her into the backseat before they drove away, and Walker said he left in a separate vehicle.Â.

[1][2] A local resident, Dan Paden, however, witnessed the kidnapping, thereby providing investigators with details of the circumstances, the abductor and the getaway vehicle used.[3]. Shauna Melinda Howe was 11 years old when she was murdered in 1992 by two brothers, James E. O’Brien and Timothy M. O’Brien.

They ultimately made a deal with him, stating that if he testified against the O’Brien brothers, he could plead guilty to third-degree murder and kidnapping and receive a sentence of 40 years in prison. When he left the house and returned, they were gone. Howe's abductors had thrown her alive from a railroad trestle bridge into a dry, rocky creek bed near Coulter's Hole in Rockland, and she had died of blunt force trauma to the head and chest caused by the fall. Following Howe's murder, the Oil City Council voted to prohibit night-time trick-or-treating.

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