People Magazine Presents: Crimes of the '90s - What happened to Shauna Howe?

People Magazine Presents: Crimes of the '90s is ready to dive into the shocking case of Shauna Howe's assault and murder, which took place on Halloween in 1992. 11-year-old Shauna was returning from a Girl Scout Halloween party on October 27, 1992, when she was snatched from an Oil City street in Pennsylvania.

When she did not return home after several hours had passed, her mother informed the authorities. An eye-witness also allegedly saw a man forcefully putting a girl in a car. He reportedly described the suspect and his car. It took three days of intense search to find the battered body of Shauna Howe under a railroad trestle about six miles away in Rockland. It took years before the three perpetrators were finally rounded up.

Read on for more details about the shocking case of Shauna Howe and how it was solved.

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Who was Shauna Howe and what happened to her?

Born in July 1981, Shauna Howe was a Pennsylvania native who was 11 years old at the time of the crime. Described by loved ones as a very pretty and likable little girl, Shauna maintained a great relationship with both her parents, despite their separation. According to her family, Halloween was one of her favorite times of the year. Sadly, her joy was short-lived when Halloween came on October 27, 1992.

Shauna left her house at around 4:30 PM on October 27 to attend a Girl Scouts Halloween party. However, she did not return home until late. Her mother contacted the authorities later that night. It would later be discovered that, an eyewitness saw a "skinny, disheveled man" pick a little girl forcefully at the intersection of West First and Reed streets.

After three days of intense search, Shauna's body was found bruised and battered, under a railroad trestle about six miles away in Rockland. Authorities allegedly assumed that her killers tossed her over the side of the trestle into boulder-strewn East Sandy Creek.

An autopsy revealed that she died from blunt force trauma to her chest and head. Authorities also discovered that she had been assaulted before she was killed. Her injuries also hinted that she was alive when she was thrown off the trestle and tried to break her fall. Though Eldred “Ted” Walker was rounded up as a suspect from the description of the eyewitness, he was later let go because his DNA did not match the ones found on Shauna Howe's body.

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Who killed Shauna Howe?

After years of hitting dead ends, the police had a breakthrough in 2002 when a DNA profile matched the biological evidence that was collected from Shauna. It belonged to James O’Brien. Another separate DNA from Shauna's body matched his brother Timothy O'Brien.

Authorities reportedly did not suspect James because they wrongly assumed that he was in prison at the time of the crime. They soon established a connection between James, Timothy, and Ted Walker. When Ted was brought in again, he finally took a plea deal and revealed what happened that day.

He said that they initially decided to play a prank on the city police by kidnapping a child, but it eventually turned serious and the O'Brien brothers took Shauna. Ted did not rat his friends out but believed that whatever they did was wrong.

The jury found the O'Brien brothers guilty, and they were sentenced to life in prison. Ted was sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison.

People Magazine Presents: Crimes of the '90s will look at the case in detail in its upcoming episode airing on Wednesday, August 3, 2022 at 8 PM on Investigation Discovery.