Speaker 1: This episode may contained content of a graphic nature, including
Speaker 1: descriptions of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals.
Speaker 1: Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2: Hi I'm Shannon. Hi I'm Tanya, and we are Crimes
Speaker 2: and Consequences, a hardcore true crime podcast. Ay Shannon A, Tanya,
Speaker 2: how are you doing? I'm doing great. It's a Friday.
Speaker 2: I mean, what is the going to complain about? Nothing?
Speaker 2: Thank god, it's Friday. I don't want to complain about
Speaker 2: the weather. There is nothing to complain about. All is good, exactly.
Speaker 2: It's February fourteenth. Actually it is so happy Valentine's Day. Hey,
Speaker 2: Valentine's Day, Valentine. When aren't you and how you going
Speaker 2: to do anything tonight? Dinner plans? No, we're having nachos
Speaker 2: for dinner. I did not make a fancy meal. I
Speaker 2: don't think we're not going anywhere. I did get a
Speaker 2: gift this morning. It was in the waiting for me
Speaker 2: when I woke up. So that's what we usually do,
Speaker 2: is just exchange like a card and a gift. And yeah,
Speaker 2: which is anything? After how long you've been married? Twenty
Speaker 2: plus years? Yep, this year will be thirty. Oh my gosh,
Speaker 2: that means we've known each other for thirty years. I
Speaker 2: know thirty. I want you just before I know, right, Yes,
Speaker 2: thirty blissful years of marriage. All right, well, no, and
Speaker 2: that is good because it takes some stamina to make it. Girl.
Speaker 2: If I don't survive this, I can survive anything I'm cooking.
Speaker 2: It's been a wild ride. Oh please, anyone who I
Speaker 2: would imagine, anybody who has as much time as you
Speaker 2: know exactly how powerful those simple words are. We've been
Speaker 2: through some stuff. Yeah yeah, marriage isn't easy, but we
Speaker 2: have weathered many things. But that's awesome. Well, and it's
Speaker 2: Valentine's weekend. That'll be good. It'll be great. So anyway, well,
Speaker 2: I know you have an episode for us, so before
Speaker 2: we get into it, I would just like to remind
Speaker 2: everyone to hit the subscribe or follow button on what
Speaker 2: app you're listening to because it really helps us out.
Speaker 2: And Shannon, what do you got for us today? Well, today, Tanya,
Speaker 2: I do have any crime against children? Of course, all
Speaker 2: terrible children. It's the worst. This is the story the
Speaker 2: murder of Shauna how Shawna Melinda Howe. She was born
Speaker 2: on July eleventh, nineteen eighty one. Cancer, sweet girl to
Speaker 2: her parents, Lucy and Robert Howe, who were from Oil City, Pennsylvania,
Speaker 2: and at the time of her abduction, she lived with
Speaker 2: her mother Lucy and her stepfather, John, and John was
Speaker 2: a really good father figure in Shawna's life. Now, Shawna
Speaker 2: seemed to have lived an ordinary life for a girl
Speaker 2: who grew up in the eighties and nineties. She loved
Speaker 2: playing outside and hanging with her friends, but she was
Speaker 2: a really shy child. Shawna was part of the Girl
Speaker 2: Scouts and she loved Halloween. Oh Yes. Sadly, Halloween was
Speaker 2: the holiday that was being celebrated at the time of
Speaker 2: her murder, and it would be the last holiday that
Speaker 2: she ever shared with anyone. Although the initial crime against
Speaker 2: Shawna was labeled by the perpetrators as a prank, her
Speaker 2: murder completely shook the entire community of Oil City, and
Speaker 2: due to the murder of Shauna, other hapless circumstances, and
Speaker 2: the murder of another little girl, the longtime citizens of
Speaker 2: the oil town will never feel the same way about
Speaker 2: Halloween again. Oh It's terrible. In nineteen ninety two, Shanna
Speaker 2: was eleven years old who just wanted to celebrate Halloween
Speaker 2: at an annual party with her fellow Girl Scouts. Were
Speaker 2: you in Girl Scouts? I was in Girl Scouts for
Speaker 2: a short period of time. The only reason I wanted
Speaker 2: to join was so that I could get the outfit. Yes,
Speaker 2: the sash. Yeah, I wanted the little blouse. I wanted
Speaker 2: the beret. I wanted the whole kitten kaboodle. The catalog
Speaker 2: was just filled with great wag oh yeah. And then
Speaker 2: I was all excited because you got your little book
Speaker 2: of how to get all your patches and stuff. Right. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I love getting catches. I was Brownies Girl Scouts. So
Speaker 2: here's Sean. But the field and the where I can
Speaker 2: wear a sash, I'm there. And Shawna was there for
Speaker 2: her Girl Scouts troop in nineteen ninety two, but after
Speaker 2: the annual party, she never returned home to enjoy all
Speaker 2: the candy that she had collected for Halloween. At the time,
Speaker 2: she was a student at Seventh Street Elementary School, and
Speaker 2: on October twenty seventh, she went to school that day
Speaker 2: dressed as a gymnast, sporting a black and turquoise leotard.
Speaker 2: I love that. All that's cute. I'm a gym I
Speaker 2: do later That same day, still wearing the same leotard,
Speaker 2: Shawna was heading out with her fellow Girl Scouts to
Speaker 2: sing for the community's senior citizens. I love the Girl
Speaker 2: Scouts and I know the Boy Scouts to too. They
Speaker 2: help elderly. Oh that's just adorable. Absolutely. After the troop
Speaker 2: was done performing, Shauna, along with her friends, went to
Speaker 2: the annual Halloween party at the close by Free Methodist
Speaker 2: Church on Wilson Abaue. When the party was over around
Speaker 2: eight pm, her ride fell through and Shauna was forced
Speaker 2: to start walking home, but she never made it home.
Speaker 2: The party was only half a mile from where Shauna lived,
Speaker 2: but nobody in her family was able to pick her
Speaker 2: up from the party that night. Now, even though Shauna
Speaker 2: could have easily walked home, she was afraid of the dark,
Speaker 2: and her parents did not want her walking home alone anyway.
Speaker 2: Even though nobody could pick her up from the party, Lucy,
Speaker 2: her mom told her daughter not to worry and that
Speaker 2: she would set up a ride to take her home
Speaker 2: when the party was over. Shauna dreaded the thought of
Speaker 2: having to walk home alone in the dark, so when
Speaker 2: her mother guaranteed that a ride would be there to
Speaker 2: take her home, safely and soundly. She felt nothing short
Speaker 2: of relief. She was able to enjoy the party without
Speaker 2: having to worry about a thing, and by the time
Speaker 2: eight pm rolled around, Shawna's mom called home to make
Speaker 2: sure that everyone was all right since she was still
Speaker 2: at work. John, Shawna's stepdad, said that everything was okay,
Speaker 2: but he informed Lucy that Shawna had not come home
Speaker 2: from the party yet. As it turned out, with the
Speaker 2: cast with work, Lucy her mom completely forgot to set
Speaker 2: up a ride to get her daughter home, so by
Speaker 2: this time she knew that Shauna had to be walking
Speaker 2: home now. John waited at the house for Shauna to
Speaker 2: arrive home, and at a thirty she still had not
Speaker 2: come through the door. So John did what he thought
Speaker 2: was best. He got in his car to search for
Speaker 2: Shauna because something in his brain told him that something
Speaker 2: just wasn't right. That Girl Scout party would be the
Speaker 2: last time that anyone saw Shauna alive, and this story
Speaker 2: of her case is gruesome as well as frustrating. The
Speaker 2: facts show what happens when the police in charge of
Speaker 2: the case failed to follow up on leads the way
Speaker 2: that they should have. Killers rapists and crucial details slipped
Speaker 2: through the cracks that forced a case to stay open
Speaker 2: for way longer than it should. So, worried out of
Speaker 2: her mind, Lucy called Shanna's close friend in her troop, Joey,
Speaker 2: and asked her if she knew where Shauna was or
Speaker 2: might have been. Joey explained that Shawna was at the
Speaker 2: party having a great time, but when the party ended
Speaker 2: and she realized that nobody was coming to pick her
Speaker 2: up to take her home, she and Joey began to
Speaker 2: walk home together. Somewhere along the way to their individual homes,
Speaker 2: they needed to part ways, but before then, Shawna told
Speaker 2: Joey that she was really scared to walk home alone,
Speaker 2: and Joey, like a good friend, then suggested that the
Speaker 2: two girls walk to Joey's house and then Joey's dad
Speaker 2: would drive Shauna to her house, but Shauna refused and
Speaker 2: the girls parted ways. Now after hearing all of this
Speaker 2: from Joey, Lucy knew what needed to be done next
Speaker 2: and contacted the Oil City Police Department so that she
Speaker 2: could report set a missing. Her daughter was supposed to
Speaker 2: be home two hours ago at the time she had
Speaker 2: made the call. This phone call was the beginning of
Speaker 2: the now retired FBI agent Tom Carter's long career, and
Speaker 2: this case was one that Carter would not soon forget.
Speaker 2: Carter was moved to a different division before the case
Speaker 2: was eventually solved. While on the phone, Lucy gave a
Speaker 2: timeline of what her daughter's plans were. But before Lucy
Speaker 2: even made this call, another concerned citizen phoned the police department.
Speaker 2: The caller said that they had seen a little girl
Speaker 2: get grabbed off the corners of West First in Reed Streets,
Speaker 2: and the person who took the girl was tall and
Speaker 2: shaggy looking. At around eight po six pm, a man
Speaker 2: named Dan pay Eaton was walking down the street mining
Speaker 2: his own business when he saw a young girl dressed
Speaker 2: in a Halloween costume walking all alone. Dan then noticed
Speaker 2: a man walking on the opposite side of the street
Speaker 2: from where he and Shawna were. The man crossed the
Speaker 2: street and began chatting with Shawna. According to Dan, this
Speaker 2: man was very tall in stature, skinny, and was wearing
Speaker 2: a jacket. The next thing that Dan saw was the
Speaker 2: man pick up Shawna, picking her up taking her away quickly.
Speaker 2: She was literally abducted right in front of him. Dan
Speaker 2: was noticed by the tall, lanky kidnapper, but who would
Speaker 2: think it was smart to kidnap a kid with a
Speaker 2: witness right there? Shawna let out a yelp loud enough
Speaker 2: for Dan to hear it. Dan had no clue what
Speaker 2: to do, but he had a feeling that Shawna was
Speaker 2: in trouble, so he ran towards the screen. But by
Speaker 2: the time he got there, the only thing he saw
Speaker 2: was a little red car driving away. So he did
Speaker 2: what anybody else should do in that situation. He called
Speaker 2: nine one one. Thankfully, he saw the man's face and
Speaker 2: gave the police an accurate description in his report. The
Speaker 2: police took these two calls very seriously, knowing that Lucy
Speaker 2: and Dan's calls were related due to how Shawna was dressed,
Speaker 2: and recruited volunteers, FBI agents, and police officers to look
Speaker 2: for Shawna. Roadblocks were set within a one hundred mile radius,
Speaker 2: and police departments within the radius were on the lookout
Speaker 2: for that little red car. While the search continued for Shawna,
Speaker 2: Oil City canceled Halloween for the unforseeable future. The city
Speaker 2: thought that it was wise to cancel since someone else
Speaker 2: could use this holiday as an opportunity to abduct someone else,
Speaker 2: and they were not about to risk that. There were
Speaker 2: still a few more days until the thirty first, so
Speaker 2: they needed to make sure that that they covered all
Speaker 2: of their bases. Shawna's uncle formed a huge group of
Speaker 2: volunteers to search for his niece. On day two of
Speaker 2: the search, something of Shawna's was found. While a lot
Speaker 2: of Shawna's family members joined in on the search, it
Speaker 2: was her uncle who found evidence that his eleven year
Speaker 2: old niece was once where they were standing, and this
Speaker 2: location was so far from home. Shawnas leotard was found
Speaker 2: near an abandoned railroad track bed near a hiking trail
Speaker 2: located in a heavily wooded area in Rockland, Pennsylvania. Her
Speaker 2: costume was found eight miles from town, and her family
Speaker 2: knew that there was no way Shawna got there on
Speaker 2: her own. Police extensively searched the area where her costume
Speaker 2: was found. They were unable to locate her or anything
Speaker 2: else of hers in that same area. The leotard was
Speaker 2: sent to the crime lab and the analysts were able
Speaker 2: to find evidence left behind on the crotch area of
Speaker 2: the costume. Shauna had been sexually assaulted, and now the
Speaker 2: police had the DNA of the person who took her.
Speaker 2: Two days later, the case would go from an abduction
Speaker 2: case to a full fledged homicide investigation. The following morning,
Speaker 2: on October thirtieth, Shawna's dead body was located two hundred
Speaker 2: miles from where her costume was recovered. Her body was
Speaker 2: found under a railroad bridge in East Sandy Creek. Shawna
Speaker 2: was found face down and jammed in between a log
Speaker 2: and a rock, with her feet slightly submerged in the
Speaker 2: shallow creek. A man who had been out camping in
Speaker 2: the woods noticed that something was in the water, and
Speaker 2: he was shocked that it turned out to be the
Speaker 2: remains of a person who has just so happened to
Speaker 2: be the missing little girl from Oil City. When Shawna's
Speaker 2: body was found, she was wearing shorts, an inside out
Speaker 2: T shirt, and socks that didn't belong to her. This
Speaker 2: was the same area that was searched by the police
Speaker 2: the day before, so this means that the killer came
Speaker 2: back to dump Shawna, leaving her there to die. At
Speaker 2: the time, the investigators automatically assumed that Shauna was thrown
Speaker 2: over the bridge into the shallow creek. From the bridge
Speaker 2: to the creek is a thirty foot drop, so it
Speaker 2: made sense to them based on how her body was wedged.
Speaker 2: An autopsy was done on her lifeless body and it
Speaker 2: showed that she was raped and that she was severely
Speaker 2: abused before she was murdered. Shawna's face had a shoeprint
Speaker 2: on it the killer stepped on her face. Her cause
Speaker 2: of death was blunt forced trauma to her head and
Speaker 2: chest from the fall, and she was either pushed or
Speaker 2: thrown off the bridge, falling over thirty feet to her death.
Speaker 2: This fall also caused multiple rib fractures along with lacerations,
Speaker 2: bone bruising, and hemorrhaging. The medical examiner concluded that Shawna
Speaker 2: was definitely alive when she was falling due to the
Speaker 2: severe damage to her hand, wrist, and shoulder. These injuries
Speaker 2: indicated that she tried to break the fall. Forensic evidence
Speaker 2: was taken from her body since more DNA was discovered
Speaker 2: on her mouth and was sent to the Pennsylvania State
Speaker 2: Police Crime Laboratory and to the FBI laboratory. The DNA
Speaker 2: analysis unit collected two hairs from her body One hair
Speaker 2: was located on Shawna's girl scout sash and the other
Speaker 2: was found on her sock. The DNA found on her
Speaker 2: mouth and leotard are critical to this case and a
Speaker 2: lot of abduction cases. The person who kidnaps is usually
Speaker 2: someone who knows the victim, usually a family member. The
Speaker 2: police obtain warrants to take DNA samples from every member
Speaker 2: in Shawna's family, which included her her own brother. The
Speaker 2: forensic analysts got a foreign DNA sample from Shawna and
Speaker 2: they needed to compare it to whoever had access to
Speaker 2: Shawna within the days leading up to her killing. None
Speaker 2: of the DNA taken from her family members matched. The
Speaker 2: FBI began to get involved in the case and they
Speaker 2: were able to come up with a psychological profile of
Speaker 2: the person persons who killed Shawna. Profile determined that the
Speaker 2: killer was a white Caucasian male in their twenties, and
Speaker 2: the killer likely had a prominent shift in their behavior
Speaker 2: after the murder. For example, after Shawna was thrown a
Speaker 2: push to her death, the killer would have began to
Speaker 2: drink more or had a rapid life change, such as
Speaker 2: leaving his home or quitting his job. This information was
Speaker 2: published to the community and the police asked if anyone
Speaker 2: in the town could think of anyone who fit this
Speaker 2: profile description or knew of anyone who had suddenly experienced
Speaker 2: an intense life modification. With the release of information like
Speaker 2: this comes a lot of leads, and one of the
Speaker 2: people who called told the investigators to look into a
Speaker 2: man named Ted Walker. He fit the description to a tea. Coincidentally,
Speaker 2: Ted Walker actually knew Shawna because she and her friends
Speaker 2: would always go into the pizza shop where Ted worked
Speaker 2: to hang out and grab a bite to eat. He
Speaker 2: also owned a little red car. Ted was known as
Speaker 2: the town creep because anytime that younger girls would come
Speaker 2: into the shop for something to eat, he would always
Speaker 2: try to hug them. Oh gross right. Although he did
Speaker 2: fit the profile for the killer, the DNA found on
Speaker 2: Shawna's clothes did not match his. To law enforcement, this
Speaker 2: detail was big. In nineteen ninety five, another investigator was
Speaker 2: brought in and added to the case, and once the
Speaker 2: investigator took a look at the case, he immediately concluded
Speaker 2: that the kidnapping, rape, and murder of Shawna had been
Speaker 2: done by more than one person. To everyone else this
Speaker 2: made complete sense. Shauna had been held by her kidnappers
Speaker 2: for a few days, but she had no ligature marks
Speaker 2: from being restrained. Once these facts were taken into consideration,
Speaker 2: two more suspects were added to the mix, brothers Tim
Speaker 2: and James O'Brien. The O'Brien boys had been looked at
Speaker 2: within the investigation from the jump. Tim and James grew
Speaker 2: up in town and they both had records that were
Speaker 2: not limited to sex crimes against adults and children. Although
Speaker 2: the brothers were seasoned criminals, neither of them matched the
Speaker 2: FBI profile or description at all. In addition, investigators said
Speaker 2: that they were both in jail around the time Shawna's
Speaker 2: life was taken and because of this, their DNA was
Speaker 2: not tested and because of that they were not considered suspects.
Speaker 2: The case would be at a standstill for almost a decade,
Speaker 2: and a fifteen thousand dollars reward was offered to anyone
Speaker 2: who had information about Shawna's murder. In the early two thousands,
Speaker 2: eight years had passed since Shawna had been murdered, and
Speaker 2: Tim O'Brien was arrested again for another crime, and while
Speaker 2: he was being interrogated for the crime he committed. The
Speaker 2: detectives thought to ask Tim about Shawna. Up to this point,
Speaker 2: Shawna's case was incredibly high profile, and due to this,
Speaker 2: any man that was taken into custody in town was
Speaker 2: asked about Shawna. While still being interrogated, an investigator asked
Speaker 2: Tim if they could take a DNA sample, since they
Speaker 2: had not done so many years prior now. Tim anxiously
Speaker 2: agreed and seemed very nervous about the results, but the
Speaker 2: DNA did not match. The detectives knew that they still
Speaker 2: had to test against James's DNA his brother. Since any
Speaker 2: man that was taken into custody was asked about Shawna's case,
Speaker 2: detectives began carrying cotton swabs on them at all times,
Speaker 2: just in case they caught and break in the case.
Speaker 2: I think that's so smart too. I know I got
Speaker 2: swabs right now. Up to this point in the investigation,
Speaker 2: eight whole years have gone by since eleven year old
Speaker 2: Shauna was brutally killed, and come to find out, the
Speaker 2: O'Brien brothers were not in jail at the time. During
Speaker 2: the time frame of all this taking place, with Shawna
Speaker 2: they were in custody for some reason, but they were
Speaker 2: quickly released. Someone didn't have their facts straight and that
Speaker 2: really fucked this whole big time. So because someone said, oh,
Speaker 2: I think they were locked up at the time Shawna
Speaker 2: went in disappearance, just hearsay. That is so fucking lazy, right,
Speaker 2: It's yeah, definitely disgusting. Yeah, So the investigators took the
Speaker 2: DNA samples from James and it came back to be
Speaker 2: an exact match for the foreign DNA found on Shawna's
Speaker 2: mouth and leotard. At the time the DNA sample was
Speaker 2: taken from James, he was already locked up and was
Speaker 2: serving a prison sentence for attempting to kidnap another woman
Speaker 2: in Oil City. It was now obvious to everyone involved
Speaker 2: in the investigation into Shawna's murder that Tim and James
Speaker 2: O'Brien were both involved, but everyone was stumped on why
Speaker 2: they didn't match the initial profile, But they forgot that
Speaker 2: someone did match Ted Walker. At the time of the murder,
Speaker 2: Tim and James actually were living with Ted and when
Speaker 2: the police initially went to Ted's home, he did tell
Speaker 2: them that he had a red car, but the car
Speaker 2: wasn't working and the police took Ted at his word.
Speaker 2: Really yep, and they never lies to the police. Shannon, nobody, Yeah, nobody,
Speaker 2: So yeah, tell me that it doesn't work. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: we'll note it down. The car drove just fine. In
Speaker 2: two thousand and two, Ted was brought back in for
Speaker 2: questioning and he admitted to the police that he had
Speaker 2: originally kidnapped Shauna as a joke, as a joke, just
Speaker 2: a joke. This was all going to be really funny
Speaker 2: in the end, hilarious. Before he told the truth about
Speaker 2: the brothers. He changed his story many times, police said
Speaker 2: at least fifteen and back on the night of Shawna's disappearance,
Speaker 2: Ted teamed up with Tim and James O'Brien to initially
Speaker 2: plan to kidnap a friend of his son's as a prank.
Speaker 2: But according to Ted, that was all it was meant
Speaker 2: to be. They were supposed to pick up a child
Speaker 2: and then later drop them off at home. Apparently that
Speaker 2: plan fell through and one serious thing led to another,
Speaker 2: and the sick joke finished with a child being raped
Speaker 2: and killed. Ted was the tall, lanky dude who Dan
Speaker 2: saw picked Shawna up after he crossed the street and
Speaker 2: started talking to her, and after he picked her up,
Speaker 2: he handed her over to Tim and James, who drove
Speaker 2: off with her in the car. Tim told the detectives
Speaker 2: that he did hear a meek female voice begging get
Speaker 2: off me, let me up, let me go from Tim
Speaker 2: and James's bedroom later that night. Although Ted did not
Speaker 2: turn his friends into police, he claimed that he allegedly
Speaker 2: did not approve of what was going on in that bedroom.
Speaker 2: He did not approve of that, and he did not
Speaker 2: approve of the murder. So Ted is some you know,
Speaker 2: in his head, some hero sounds like okay, yeah, exactly,
Speaker 2: He's gonna let it go on. He's gonna hear the
Speaker 2: girl struggling in the room, and he's not. He just
Speaker 2: gonna stand and not approve it or nothing. Tim O'Brien
Speaker 2: apparently liked to run his mouth while he was locked up,
Speaker 2: and he actually admitted the murder to his cellmate Ryan
Speaker 2: Heath in two thousand and one. He told Heath that
Speaker 2: he and his brother drove out to Cultur's hole while
Speaker 2: Shawna was in the trunk of the car. Tim never
Speaker 2: revealed if Shauna was alive before she was tossed over
Speaker 2: the bridge, but he did disclose that he was the
Speaker 2: one who threw her body over the bridge. The preface
Speaker 2: for the joke had to start somewhere, right, Yeah, Apparently,
Speaker 2: in the days leading up to what happened to Shawna, Tim,
Speaker 2: Ted and James had been talking about how shitty the
Speaker 2: Oil City Police Department was, and to these three dickwads,
Speaker 2: the force was a complete joke and they were going
Speaker 2: to prove it. The three hatched a plan to abduct
Speaker 2: someone as a joke, and they needed it to happen
Speaker 2: in front of a witness. After the person who was
Speaker 2: taken in front of the witness, the person would then
Speaker 2: be released to prove that the cops would still not
Speaker 2: be able to find or identify the abductors. So from
Speaker 2: men who are pedophiles, this is their joke. Yeah, we're
Speaker 2: to play a joke that involves a child. Yeah, abducting
Speaker 2: a child? Okay ugh. Originally the prank was supposed to
Speaker 2: be them kidnapping a little boy who happened to be
Speaker 2: friends with Ted's son, but they quickly changed their minds
Speaker 2: and decided to kidnap a little girl since that would
Speaker 2: get a lot more attention. So when Ted spotted Shawna.
Speaker 2: He knew that in order to grab her, he had
Speaker 2: to stop her in her tracks and make her feel
Speaker 2: comfortable enough not to run away screaming. He saw that
Speaker 2: she was wearing a girl Scout sash and took advantage
Speaker 2: of that by asking her about girl Scout cookies. This
Speaker 2: made shawn A comfortable enough to chat. He then placed
Speaker 2: his hand over her mouth to her from screaming while
Speaker 2: he forced her into the little red car where the
Speaker 2: O'Brien brothers were waiting. Tim O'Brien then forced her in
Speaker 2: the backseat of the car before they took off, and
Speaker 2: Ted drove home separately. Ted added that he didn't want
Speaker 2: to kidnap her, but when he went against the brothers,
Speaker 2: they threatened to kill his son, so he did what
Speaker 2: he had to do to keep his own son safe. Allegedly,
Speaker 2: Tim and James made fun of him by calling him
Speaker 2: a chicken when he said that he didn't want to
Speaker 2: follow through with this twisted plan. Well, don't call me names.
Speaker 2: I'm just gonna stop because that's mad. I am. I'm
Speaker 2: a man. Ted said that he eventually left his house
Speaker 2: while James and Tim took Shawna to the upstairs bedroom.
Speaker 2: And his reasoning for leaving was because she was begging
Speaker 2: them to stop assaulting her while he was trying to
Speaker 2: cook spaghetti, So I gotta get out of here. When
Speaker 2: he came back to the house, the brothers and Shawna
Speaker 2: were gone. After Ted finally said what happened, his house
Speaker 2: was investigated and his disgusting face was all over the news.
Speaker 2: Once the public became aware of the person who was
Speaker 2: responsible for Shawna's kidnapping and murder, Dan the original witness,
Speaker 2: called the police and told them that Ted was in
Speaker 2: fact the man who he saw take young Shawna. He
Speaker 2: could not forget that face. The police had acient ton
Speaker 2: of information now after almost a decade later, but they
Speaker 2: were still struggling to get their ducks in a row.
Speaker 2: They had all of this proof that James was the
Speaker 2: one who raped her, but they had no physical proof
Speaker 2: that James, Tim or Ted killed her. But they weren't
Speaker 2: giving up. They were still fighting to find any proof
Speaker 2: that Ted, Tim and James had something to do with
Speaker 2: Shawna's murder. During this time, Tim O'Brien was racking up
Speaker 2: more prison time, convicted of two more crimes. This time
Speaker 2: he sexually assaulted an eleven year old boy and a
Speaker 2: six year old girl. The police eventually made a deal
Speaker 2: with Ted in exchange for his testimony against the brothers,
Speaker 2: he would need to plead guilty to third degree kidnapping
Speaker 2: and murder charges to get a reduced sentence of forty
Speaker 2: years in person. All, yeah, that's the reduced yeah right,
Speaker 2: and he agreed. Ted did agree, So in two thousand
Speaker 2: and four, James and Tim were arrested in charge with kidnapping,
Speaker 2: sexual assault, and murder. In October of two thousand and five,
Speaker 2: the child began. Images of the murder scene were shown
Speaker 2: to the jury via movie screen. The screen was similar
Speaker 2: to ones that are used in elementary schools for presentations.
Speaker 2: On the screen, many crime sceen photos were shown of
Speaker 2: Shawna's battered body and face. The scrapesenter, knees, and face,
Speaker 2: along with her broken test were extremely visible to the
Speaker 2: court and it was obvious that this girl suffered before
Speaker 2: she died. A smaller version of the images were passed
Speaker 2: from juror to juror, and this photo was the one
Speaker 2: used to convey the sexual assault. According to a forensic pathologist,
Speaker 2: the wound presented in the smaller photo would only happen
Speaker 2: if the victim resisted, and it was clear she gave
Speaker 2: it her all to fight back. But two men can
Speaker 2: obviously overpower an eleven year old little girl. The prosecution
Speaker 2: did present a lot of physical evidence that Shawna was
Speaker 2: murdered by the O'Brien brothers, her body, fibers from her
Speaker 2: clothes found on the pier, evidence left on her body,
Speaker 2: and clothes from the sexual assault. All of this is
Speaker 2: known to be enough when tied to testimony from witnesses.
Speaker 2: After so much time, the prosecution needed this to be
Speaker 2: able to convict James then aged thirty three, and Tim
Speaker 2: then aged thirty nine, of kidnapping, raping, and throwing Shauna
Speaker 2: to her death. And this is exactly what District Attorney
Speaker 2: Marie Bian told the jurors. She also said in her
Speaker 2: opening statement, it may have taken thirteen years for law
Speaker 2: enforcement and the prosecution to hear what Shauna was telling
Speaker 2: us through the circumstantial evidence she had for us, but
Speaker 2: we finally listened and heard. The defense did not dispute
Speaker 2: the condition of Shauna, but the defense did try to
Speaker 2: get the blame away from Tim and James and tried
Speaker 2: to have it all thrown on Ted Walker since he
Speaker 2: had already played guilty to third degree charges. According to
Speaker 2: the defense attorney, all of the evidence had to do
Speaker 2: with whoever pleaded guilty. The O'Brien's lawyer, Wayne hunder Mark,
Speaker 2: said that Shawuna did not die from being thrown over
Speaker 2: the railroad bridge because she was murdered by Ted. While
Speaker 2: making this state hunter Mark pointed to the physical evidence,
Speaker 2: the statements that Ted made to others, and even the
Speaker 2: smell of flesh rotting that one person smelled in Ted's car.
Speaker 2: The opening statements by the defense ended with the statement
Speaker 2: about the prosecution They've made a deal with the devil
Speaker 2: and now they've got to live with it. And this
Speaker 2: is meant as an insult to the prosecution for cutting
Speaker 2: a deal with Ted Walker. Please, I know, so whah
Speaker 2: shut the fuck up, honestly right. The first person to
Speaker 2: take the stand was a forensic pathologist who went through
Speaker 2: Shawna's autopsy report. Tim and James were being charged with
Speaker 2: first and second degree murder, rape, kidnapping, involuntary deviot sexual intercourse,
Speaker 2: and criminal conspiracy of abduction and connection with Shawna's death.
Speaker 2: The courtroom was packed since everyone in the Unity had
Speaker 2: been stunned by the horror that took place. Shawna's family
Speaker 2: was there and filled the first two rows of the courtroom,
Speaker 2: but they struggled to hear all of the gruesome details
Speaker 2: surrounding their young loved ones murder. Shawna's great aunt, Alice
Speaker 2: noted that listening to what happened made her feel half sick,
Speaker 2: but she felt relief in the fact that this was
Speaker 2: all coming to an end. Parents of fellow Girl Scouts
Speaker 2: also were an attendant, which was so thoughtful. One mother
Speaker 2: said that if her daughter was the one who was murdered,
Speaker 2: she would want someone there showing how much they cared.
Speaker 2: As the trial went on, Ted Walker's testimony was brought
Speaker 2: into question. He was questioned by police from nineteen ninety
Speaker 2: two and two thousand and four, and he originally denied
Speaker 2: even knowing of Shauna, and then he admitted the plan
Speaker 2: between himself and the O'Brien brothers. Ted also heard the
Speaker 2: brothers sexually assaulting the victim while in the other room
Speaker 2: as she bagged for them to stop. The inmate who
Speaker 2: Tim O'Brien confessed to while incarcerated at the Venango County Prison,
Speaker 2: Ryan Heath, he took the stand to testify. He came
Speaker 2: forward on his own in favor of Ted to corroborate
Speaker 2: his story. Heath testified that Tim O'Brien admitted that he
Speaker 2: was the one who threw Shawna over the railway bridge,
Speaker 2: and directly under that bridge was where her lifeless body
Speaker 2: was found. The jury hung onto every word that was said,
Speaker 2: regardless of who was on the stand, testifying their town
Speaker 2: was not the same safe place as it once was. Next,
Speaker 2: the prosecution turned the court's attention to the seminole body
Speaker 2: fluid that was found on Shawna's leotard and her mouth,
Speaker 2: and the district attorney reminded the court that James O'Brien's
Speaker 2: DNA profile matched with it. Went on to compare this
Speaker 2: case and circumstantial evidence to a jigsaw puzzle with a
Speaker 2: few missing pieces and said, if you have the right pieces,
Speaker 2: you can still recognize the picture. She went even further
Speaker 2: to say that just because they didn't have all the
Speaker 2: pieces to the puzzle, they aren't needed to know that
Speaker 2: the O'Brien brothers were guilty of murder, sexual assault, and abduction.
Speaker 2: The district attorney was known for speaking to the jurors
Speaker 2: in a calm, low and even tone, but the defense
Speaker 2: attorney spoke in quite the opposite. Hunter Mark immediately went
Speaker 2: back to point the finger at Ted Walker by saying
Speaker 2: that he is a murderer and a child molester. He
Speaker 2: spoke louder and said that Ted was evil and cruel sadistic,
Speaker 2: while he noted to the jurors how the prosecution had
Speaker 2: already made a deal with someone of his caliber. The
Speaker 2: defense was certain that the evidence would point to the
Speaker 2: fact that Ted acted alone and he only turned on
Speaker 2: the O'Briens when the police pressed him. The fact that
Speaker 2: Ted had seen Shawna and her friends in the pizza
Speaker 2: shop many times where he worked was brought up again,
Speaker 2: and according to defense, the evidence would show that he
Speaker 2: stopped her and waited for her on her last walk
Speaker 2: home alone. He was the town creepy after all. Even
Speaker 2: though Ted said that the O'Briens sexually assaulted her in
Speaker 2: the other room while he was cooking dinner. There was
Speaker 2: apparently a call that Ted made to his ex wife
Speaker 2: that was brought into question. On that call, Ted told
Speaker 2: her that there was a kidnapping in Oil City and
Speaker 2: that there would likely be a body found that Colter's Hole,
Speaker 2: which is exactly where Shawna's body was found. The first
Speaker 2: witness to take the stand was a forensic pathologist. He
Speaker 2: was hired to review the autopsy and said that Shawna
Speaker 2: fell from the bridge, hit a concrete pier on the
Speaker 2: way down, which scraped side of her face. Then she
Speaker 2: put her arm out in front of herself to break
Speaker 2: her fall before hitting the creek bed below. Her shoulder
Speaker 2: was dislocated due to the impact that her arm took,
Speaker 2: and this left Shawna with fatal injuries both to her
Speaker 2: chest and her head. He ended his testimony by saying
Speaker 2: that the victim had to have been conscious as she
Speaker 2: fell because she clearly stuck her arm out to brace
Speaker 2: her fall. After seventeen hours of deliberation, the jury found
Speaker 2: both Tim and James O'Brien guilty of second degree murder,
Speaker 2: third degree murder, involuntary deviot sexual intercourse, kidnapping, and criminal
Speaker 2: conspiracy to commit kidnapping. The two were sentenced to life
Speaker 2: in prison without the possibility of parole, since second degree
Speaker 2: murder felony murder carries the same weight. They were acquitted
Speaker 2: of first degree murder along with rape and to find
Speaker 2: a defect and guilty of first degree murder. The jury
Speaker 2: needs to be absolutely sure that the killing was premeditated
Speaker 2: and deliberate, so apparently they couldn't find that, but the
Speaker 2: second degree they yeah. Yeah. This verdict ensued the day
Speaker 2: before the thirteen year anniversary of Shawna's disappearance. Annoyingly yeah,
Speaker 2: the Jew defendants showed zero remorse in court and they
Speaker 2: were seen laughing among one another as they waited for
Speaker 2: their verdict. This trial took two weeks and the verdict
Speaker 2: was read by the jury foreman. The how families celebrated
Speaker 2: quietly to themselves and hugged one another, letting tears stream
Speaker 2: from their eyes. Lucy Howe was very pleased Shawna's mom
Speaker 2: with the sentencing and said, this is justice. They knew
Speaker 2: that the O'Briens would never have another chance to hurt
Speaker 2: anyone again. Even though this justice took almost thirteen years
Speaker 2: to come to fruition, even though the people responsible for
Speaker 2: Shawna's death were behind bars, Oil City waited a few
Speaker 2: more years to allow trick or treating to happen again
Speaker 2: in their community. And for good reason. The town was
Speaker 2: and still is known as the Town that outlawed Halloween,
Speaker 2: but in two thousand and eight, all of the kids
Speaker 2: trussed as ghost, goblins, ballerinias, gymnasts, and even characters from
Speaker 2: their favorite show or movie. They were finally allowed to
Speaker 2: dance their ways down the streets of the town, yelling
Speaker 2: trick or treat. It was something that the town had
Speaker 2: forgotten for sixteen years. No more, real life monsters were
Speaker 2: roaming the streets, haunting the community of eleven thousand people. Now,
Speaker 2: Shadaw was not the only victim whose life was taken
Speaker 2: around Halloween. In nineteen ninety seven, another Halloween tragedy struck
Speaker 2: the community. Shane Freeman, who was four years old at
Speaker 2: the time of her disappearance, went to play outside, but
Speaker 2: she never came home, and her remains were later found
Speaker 2: after a long search. The person responsible for Shanet's brutal
Speaker 2: murder was seventeen year old Nicholas Bowen. He was one
Speaker 2: of the one hundred volunteers who assisted in the search
Speaker 2: for the little girl. He was later arrested for rape
Speaker 2: and murder. He pleaded guilty and received the same sentence
Speaker 2: as the O'Brien brothers, life in prison without the possibility
Speaker 2: of parole. Needless to say, the town of Oil City
Speaker 2: truly felt that Halloween haunted this town, so they did
Speaker 2: what they thought was right and banned the holiday altogether
Speaker 2: because this shit could not keep happening. The authorities didn't
Speaker 2: know what else to do. With everyone behind bars and
Speaker 2: no more children being raped and murdered, the community finally
Speaker 2: felt somewhat safe again, and in two thousand and eight,
Speaker 2: the holiday was reinstated, and this brought some normalcy back
Speaker 2: to Oil City, Pennsylvania. So that is one hell of
Speaker 2: a story. Yeah, family, this girl, I'm telling you. In
Speaker 2: the eighties, seventies, I remember it just seemed everyone's, Oh,
Speaker 2: these are the good old days. Yeah, Like I don't
Speaker 2: always I think we were being gaslighted. Yeah, I do
Speaker 2: too a little bit because I don't remember it being
Speaker 2: a great time. So, I mean, I don't know, but
Speaker 2: not where kids can just be you know, swept. Oh,
Speaker 2: it's just frustrating, but I'm glad that it finally got justice.
Speaker 2: That was a long time coming. Oh my god, I
Speaker 2: know that was so long her poor family. I just
Speaker 2: can't even imagine, like losing a child. I just I
Speaker 2: can't imagine the heartbreaking. No, it's unnatural you're not supposed to.
Speaker 2: And these guys are fucking pediphile, like you know, I'm saying,
Speaker 2: I can't even believe like their attorneys trying to put
Speaker 2: in their face probably is too. Yeah, however, your guys
Speaker 2: have already been fucking convicted of sexual devians and offense
Speaker 2: of eleven year old and a six year old. Yeah
Speaker 2: right now, and you have nothing to do with Shauna. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: you think anybody's gonna believe that? Okay, how dare you?
Speaker 2: How dare you waste our time? So that is my
Speaker 2: story this week, Sweet Shanna. How we of course good
Speaker 2: energy to our family and the stories we share. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they're heavy, they are all heavy. They're they're all heavy
Speaker 2: in their own way, you know, absolutely, yes, for sure,
Speaker 2: some stick with you and some are like incredibly disturbing,
Speaker 2: and they're all horrible stories. So anyway, well, thank you
Speaker 2: Shannon for this week's pleasure. And before we go, we
Speaker 2: would just like to remind everyone to hit the subscribe
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Speaker 2: some fun, affordable entertainment. Some fun affordable entertainment. And you
Speaker 2: can go to our website Crimes Andconsequences dot com. And
Speaker 2: I think that's about it. So you have a fabulous weekend, Shannon,
Speaker 2: and I will say that's my Valentine. You have a
Speaker 2: wonderful weekends to you. Yes you well, I know you
Speaker 2: have a good one, and I will talk to you soon.
Speaker 2: And everyone have a great luck and I will see
Speaker 2: you soon. Bye bye,