VENANGO CO., Pa. (EYT) – The murder case of Shauna Howe will be featured on national television on Monday, February 27.
A&E’s will reboot its “Cold Case Files” series with an episode tonight focusing on the investigation of the 1992 murder of Shauna Howe, of Oil City, who disappeared after a Halloween celebration.
Shauna’s death remained a mystery for years before her killers were finally brought to justice.
The show airs at 9:00 p.m., with Danny Glover as the narrator.
About Shauna Howe’s Murder Case
At 10:00 p.m., on October 27, 1992, Shauna’s mother, Lucy Brown Howe, worried that her daughter hadn’t returned home and called the Oil City Police Department.
Shauna left for school earlier that day dressed in a gymnast’s costume. After school, she joined her Girl Scout Troop to sing to residents at a home for seniors.
Oil City Police had already received a call a few hours earlier from a person who saw a little girl grabbed off the corner of West First and Reed Streets by a tall, shaggy-looking man.
A few days later, a piece of Shauna’s gymnast costume was found near an abandoned railroad bed in a rural, wooded area in Rockland, Pa. Shauna’s body was located the next morning about 200 yards from where the clothing was found. Her abductors had thrown her from a railroad trestle into a dry, rocky creek bed near Coulter’s Hole, along East Sandy Creek, in Rockland.
Shauna was the victim of a sexual assault and murder.
Following the crime, the Oil City Council halted many Halloween activities and trick-or-treating was only allowed in the afternoon.
Major Break in Case
In 2002, the Shauna Howe investigation had a major break when a DNA sample was taken from James O’Brien, a man who was serving a prison sentence for attempting to kidnap an Oil City woman. The DNA sample matched a sample of DNA on Shauna’s body. As the case developed, Shauna’s killers – Eldred “Ted” Walker and brothers James and Timothy O’Brien – were eventually brought to justice.
In September of 2006, Walker pleaded guilty to kidnapping and third-degree murder and agreed to testify against the O’Brien brothers. In October of that same year, the brothers were found guilty of kidnapping, conspiracy, and second- and third-degree murder.
Treat-or-Treating Ban Lifted
The ban on night-time trick-or-treating in Oil City was lifted in time for Halloween 2008.
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