GUILTY PA - Shauna Howe, 11, raped & murdered, Oil City, 27 Oct 1992

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James Eric O'Brien, 32, an inmate at the state prison in Greensburg and his brother Timothy Michael O'Brien, 37, an inmate at the state prison in Waynesburg, were arraigned Friday on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and kidnapping.

Listen to what their Mother said :bang:

O'Brien's mother, Linda, told the paper that her son had nothing to do with the abduction and any DNA that police obtained from the scene likely came from a bottle or other trash left by her son, a frequent camper in the area.

http://www.thederrick.com/stories/07032004-6002.shtml
 
Oh Im sure everytime her son went camping he would innocently leave SEMEN on bottles AND it just happened to end up on a dead CHILD,my bad!!:doh:

Im sure no Mother no one wants to admit they raised not one but TWO deviants who rape and kill little girls but give me a break!!!!!!!!!! :bang:

Next she'll claim LE planted it!! This woman needs a clue!
 
3rd person arrested:

Eldred “Ted” Walker, 44, was escorted quietly from his Laurel Avenue home late Saturday morning and placed into a waiting unmarked police cruiser, witnesses said.

Walker, a night stocker at Wal-Mart for the past five years, was charged with second degree murder and kidnapping — both felonies. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment.

Walker’s arrest came just one-day after police charged two Oil City brothers with the death of the shy Oil City girl snatched from the intersection of West First and Reed streets as she walked home after a Girl Scout Halloween party in 1992.



http://www.thederrick.com/stories/07052004-1004.shtml
 
Brothers have extensive criminal records:

http://www.thederrick.com/stories/07032004-6003.shtml

I haven't found information to verify yet, but I suspect these recent arrests for Shauna Howe's rape & murder in 1992--a 12 year old case-- stemmed from a DNA data-base "hit". I believe that JonBenét Ramsey's sexual assault and murder will eventually be solved in the same manner.
 
One of the three men accused of the 1992 kidnapping and murder of a Girl Scout pleaded guilty to a lesser charge yesterday and agreed to testify against the remaining defendants.

Eldred "Ted" Walker, 46, of Oil City, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder and kidnapping in the death of 11-year-old Shauna Howe, and prosecutors dropped charges of second-degree murder and criminal conspiracy against him. Third-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison, while second-degree murder carries a mandatory life term.

Walker's attorney, Neil Rothschild, said his client must testify against brothers James O'Brien, 33, and Timothy O'Brien, 38, both of Oil City, who were charged with first- and second-degree murder, rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and kidnapping.

Walker told the court yesterday that he grabbed Shauna from a street corner as she walked home from a Girl Scout Halloween party on Oct. 27, 1992. Shauna's body was found three days later under an abandoned railroad trestle.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05257/571344.stm
 
In Lucy Mae Brown's eyes, the man who admitted to snatching her daughter from an Oil City street nearly 13 years ago is just as guilty as the two other men who, he said, actually killed her.

But by admitting and agreeing to testify about his involvement in the abduction and slaying of 11-year-old Shauna Howe in 1992, Eldred "Ted" Walker will bolster the case against those two men when they stand trial next month, Brown said.

Allowing Walker to plead guilty to lesser charges is an acceptable trade for testimony that could persuade a jury to convict the other two suspects of assaulting and tossing her daughter off a railroad trestle, she said.

"I hold [Walker] just as responsible. On the other hand, he is testifying against the others, so he is trying," Brown said yesterday, one day after Walker pleaded guilty in Venango County Common Pleas Court to charges of third-degree murder and kidnapping in Shauna's death.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05258/571866.stm
 
JURY SELECTION BEGINS MONDAY IN A CRIMINAL CASE THAT BEGAN THIRTEEN YEARS AGO.

JAMES AND TIMOTHY OBRIAN, WILL BE TRIED IN VENANGO COUNTY COURT.
ANOTHER DEFENDANT, ELDRED WALKER TOLD AUTHORITIES HE WAS GUILTY OF THIRD DEGREE MURDER AND KIDNAPPING IN HOWE`S DEATH.
HIS PLEA COMES IN EXCHANGE FOR TESTIMONY AGAINST THE O`BRIEN BROTHERS..
THE JURY WILL BE SELECTED IN INDIANA COUNTY AND BE BROUGHT BACK TO VENANGO COUNTY FOR THE TRIAL WHICH IS EXPECT3ED TO GET UNDERWAY OCTOBER 10TH.
http://www.wjettv.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=5691
 
Did this take place in Indiana or is that just the county?

Did they have so little evidence on the two guys who raped and murdered this young girl that they HAD to have the testimoney of the guy who grabbed her off the street?

I hate these plea bargains. The guy that grabbed her knew what he was doing and why. He knew what they were all going to do to this girl. He is as guilty as the other two. If he hadn't grabbed her nothing would have happened to her yet he got to plea and get away with it. Did he rape her too?

If LE had evidence on all three of those guys there never should have been a plea bargain for the one guy. Prosecutors do this all of the time and it just isn't right. A lot of the time it is just so there won't be a trial yet it is a win for the Pros. Looks good if an election year is coming up...just another win even if it was because of a plea deal. Burns me up.
 
FRANKLIN, Pa. (AP) — DNA evidence will link an 11-year-old girl abducted and killed as she walked home from a Girl Scout Halloween party 13 years ago to two brothers charged in her death, a prosecutor said Monday as the trial began.

Shauna Howe disappeared on Oct. 27, 1992, and her body was found three days later in a riverbed under a railroad trestle. Authorities said she died from head and chest injuries that may have resulted from the 30-foot fall from the trestle.

But it's DNA evidence found on the girl's clothes and in her mouth that Venango County District Attorney Marie Veon says tells the real story.

"The person who knows exactly everything that happened over those two-and-a-half days is Shauna and she cannot be here to tell us what happened. But Shauna has indeed shown us what happened," Veon said in her opening statements.
http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/topstories/index.ssf?/base/news-31/1128963542325780.xml&storylist=
 
I grew up in Oil City on West First Street. Shauna was taken from the corner of First Street and Reed.

This case haunted EVERYONE in Oil City. Oil CIty is a very quiet place and I have wonderful memories growing up there.

My best friend from high school lived next door to the O'Brien's and even then those boys were known as T-R-O-U-B-L-E! I can't believe it took those bumbling cops of OC this long to catch them!
 
Detective Mom said:
I grew up in Oil City on West First Street. Shauna was taken from the corner of First Street and Reed.

This case haunted EVERYONE in Oil City. Oil CIty is a very quiet place and I have wonderful memories growing up there.

My best friend from high school lived next door to the O'Brien's and even then those boys were known as T-R-O-U-B-L-E! I can't believe it took those bumbling cops of OC this long to catch them!

Welcome to WS! Thanks for your information, it is always interesting to get local information. Is there anything more you can tell us that isn't being reported by the media, or further information on the O'Briens? Is there a history of violence toward women with them, or other rapes or anything?
 
GRACE: Yes, go ahead, dear. Bring me up-to-date.

SCHATTAUER: It was 13 years ago, October 27, 1992. Shauna Howe was walking home from a Girl Scout Halloween party at the time. She was almost home. She was two blocks away when she was abducted.

She was found three days later, I believe. Two days later, her body suit that she was wearing -- she was wearing a leotard at the time. It was part of her costume, because it was a Halloween party, was found in a remote area of Rockland Township, which is in Venango County.

The next day, her body was found beneath a railroad trestle 300 yards away. Right now, we`re at the point where we`re getting to the trial.

The trial started this week, two men accused, two brothers. There are three defendants all together. The third one has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and third-degree murder.

GRACE: Hey, Erin, hold tight.

Everybody, with me, reporter from "The Derrick," Erin Schattauer bringing us up-to-date on a 13-year-old murder mystery. We`ll be right back with Erin and the little girl`s uncle.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0510/13/ng.01.html
 
This is so horrible, why did they have to throw that poor child over the bridge like that?
 
mysteriew said:
Welcome to WS! Thanks for your information, it is always interesting to get local information. Is there anything more you can tell us that isn't being reported by the media, or further information on the O'Briens? Is there a history of violence toward women with them, or other rapes or anything?
Thank you mysteriew! Shauna's mom, Lucy, is such a nice woman.

The O'Brien's lived up on Central Ave. Horrible bunch! Since 1992, the O'Brien boys, Jim and Tim, have ALWAYS been suspect in this crime. Both were known as trouble-makers and there was always talk that they "did things" to little kids.

I always read the Derrick every morning to catch up on my home town, which I still have family living in OC

www.thederrick.com
 
But the three small stains on the back of the 11-year-old's leotard remained a mystery for years.

Those stains have since been determined to be semen, and they were expected to be at the center of testimony when the trial of Oil City brothers Timothy O'Brien, 39, and James O'Brien, 33, continued Saturday in Venango County court.

The O'Briens are being tried on charges they murdered Howe sometime after their friend, Eldred "Ted" Walker, snatched her off the streets of Oil City on Oct. 27, 1992 as she walked home from a Girl Scout Halloween party. Shauna had been dressed up as a gymnast.
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15392973&BRD=2212&PAG=461&dept_id=465812&rfi=6
 

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