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The Murder of Shauna Howe · Gone in a Blink

0:08
[SPEAKER_00]: in October 1992.
0:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Halloween was approaching in the small town of Oil City, Pennsylvania.
0:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Nestled along the Allegheny River, roughly 80 miles north of Pittsburgh.
0:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Will City was a working-class community where families knew their neighbors and children routinely walk through familiar streets without much concern.
0:31
[SPEAKER_00]: For 11-year-old Shana Howe, Howeween was something to look forward to.
0:37
[SPEAKER_00]: There were costumes to plan, friends to spend time with, and a celebration with a girl scout
0:45
[SPEAKER_00]: On the evening of October 27th, Shana attended a Halloween gathering with her friends.
0:51
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the kind of ordinary childhood experience that rarely gave parents reason to worry.
0:58
[SPEAKER_00]: After the party, shortly after eight o'clock, Shana began walking home.
1:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Her house was only a few blocks away.
1:06
[SPEAKER_00]: She knew the neighborhood, and she had made the walk through those streets before.
1:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Shana's family began to realize something was wrong.
1:18
[SPEAKER_00]: She hadn't arrived home.
1:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Noah knew where she was, and what should have been a short walk after a Halloween party would become the beginning of a tragedy that changed Will City for years to come.
1:34
[SPEAKER_00]: This is the murder of Shana Hal, and this is gone in a blink.
1:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey true crime fans, I'm your host Heather, and welcome to episode 84 of Gone in the Blink.
1:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to thank you all for being here with me today, so today's case is out of oil city Pennsylvania.
2:03
[SPEAKER_00]: It's one that changed the way Halloween was celebrated for the entire community.
2:08
[SPEAKER_00]: and it's one that still haunts oil, city, and surrounding communities to this day.
2:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Today, we are talking about the murder of Shana Hau.
2:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So, if you're ready, let's jump right in.
2:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Shana Hau was born on July 11, 1981, and grew up in oil city, Pennsylvania.
2:28
[SPEAKER_00]: The town was home to approximately 12,000 people nestled among the hills of western Pennsylvania along the Allegheny River.
2:37
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a working-class community where generations of families had established their lives and familiar faces were a regular part of everyday life.
2:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Shana was growing up in that environment.
2:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Those who knew her remembered a bright and bubbly girl with a warm smile.
2:53
[SPEAKER_00]: She enjoyed spending time with her family and participating in activities with a girl scout troop.
2:59
[SPEAKER_00]: At 11 years old, her life revolved around school, friends, and the ordinary experiences of childhood.
3:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Shana lived with her mother Lucy and her stepfather John.
3:10
[SPEAKER_00]: She also maintained a relationship with her biological father whom she sometimes visited.
3:16
[SPEAKER_00]: By October 1992, Shana was looking forward to Halloween, like most kids were.
3:22
[SPEAKER_00]: She had been planning her costume and was especially excited about
3:28
[SPEAKER_00]: On Tuesday, October 27th, she talked with her mother about the celebration and spinning the evening with her friends.
3:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The gathering was taking place only a short distance from her house.
3:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And for Shawna, it was simply another opportunity to enjoy time with the people she knew.
3:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So that evening, she got dressed in her Halloween costume and she headed out to meet with her friends.
3:51
[SPEAKER_00]: At around 8 p.m. Shawna Howe was ready to leave the Halloween party.
3:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Although her home was only a few blocks away like I mentioned, Shawna was afraid of the dark and didn't want to walk alone.
4:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So she asked the friend to accompany her.
4:06
[SPEAKER_00]: The two girls left together making their way through the familiar streets of oil city.
4:12
[SPEAKER_00]: They walked as far as central street where their routes separated.
4:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Shawna's friend continued toward her own home while Shawna headed west along first street.
4:22
[SPEAKER_00]: it would be the last time her friend would see her.
4:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Around the same time, a man named Dan Patton was walking through the neighborhood when he noticed something unusual.
4:33
[SPEAKER_00]: A young girl was walking along the street, followed by a tall, scruffy-looking man, smoking a cigarette.
4:40
[SPEAKER_00]: As Dan watched, the man suddenly approached the girl.
4:44
[SPEAKER_00]: than he grabbed her, and hurried around a corner.
4:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Moments later, Dan heard a scream.
4:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Then, a small, boxy red sedan, sped around the corner with its tires screeching.
4:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Dan noticed that the car had Pennsylvania license plates, but he couldn't make out the registration number.
5:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Alarm by what he'd witnessed, Dan hurried to a nearby house and asked to use the phone.
5:07
[SPEAKER_00]: He called the police and described the man, the young girl, and the red vehicle.
5:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Initially, investigators weren't certain what to make of the report.
5:17
[SPEAKER_00]: They considered the possibility that it had been a prank, but they agreed to look into it.
5:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Meanwhile, Shana's family was beginning to worry.
5:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Her mother Lucy was working that evening when she received a call from her husband, John,
5:35
[SPEAKER_00]: At first, Lucy tried to determine whether there might be a simple explanation.
5:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Shawna sometimes visited her biological father, so Lucy called her ex-husband to see whether their daughter was with him, however he had not seen her.
5:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Lucy then contacted one of Shawna's friends.
5:53
[SPEAKER_00]: The girl confirmed that Shawna had attended the Halloween party and that they had left together around 8pm, but they had parted ways on the walk home.
6:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Panicked and visibly upset at this point, Lucy hurried home and began searching for Shana.
6:09
[SPEAKER_00]: By approximately 10 pm, Shana had been reported missing.
6:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And suddenly, Dan Patton's earlier call took on a much more troubling significance.
6:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Police now had a missing 11-year-old girl, and an eyewitness who had reported seeing a child forcibly taken from the street around the same time.
6:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Investigators began to believe Dan had witnessed Sean's abduction.
6:34
[SPEAKER_00]: His description of the man and the red sedan provided their first potential leads, but he hadn't been able to identify the man or record the license plate
6:50
[SPEAKER_00]: As police began investigating, word of shana's disappearance spread through oil city.
6:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Soon, residents would join the search for the missing girl hoping to find her before it was too late.
7:02
[SPEAKER_00]: By the morning of October 28, 1992, the search for shana how was underway.
7:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Police were joined by residents of oil city who began searching neighborhoods,
7:12
[SPEAKER_00]: backyards, parks, and wooded areas.
7:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Others checked along the river banks and surrounding countryside hoping to find some indication of where Shana had been taken.
7:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Investigators had a description in the man, Dan Patton had seen, and the small red sedan but neither had been identified.
7:32
[SPEAKER_00]: For the moment, their priority was finding Shana.
7:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Then approximately two days after her disappearance, searchers discovered something near
7:42
[SPEAKER_00]: which is a popular swimming spot in the rockland area of Pennsylvania.
7:46
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a turquoise, leotard, with black stripes.
7:50
[SPEAKER_00]: The same costume, Shawna had been wearing when she left the Halloween gathering.
7:56
[SPEAKER_00]: The discovery shifted attention toward Colter's hole and surrounding terrain.
8:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Shawna's clothing had been found some distance from the oil city neighborhood where she disappeared, but there was still no sign of her.
8:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Search teams continued combing the area looking through wood aground and along the creek.
8:15
[SPEAKER_00]: The following day, they made a devastating discovery.
8:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Shana's body was found approximately 300 yards from where her leotard had been recovered.
8:26
[SPEAKER_00]: She was 11 years old.
8:28
[SPEAKER_00]: There was something particularly troubling about the location.
8:32
[SPEAKER_00]: The area where Shana's body was discovered had already been searched.
8:36
[SPEAKER_00]: During the previous days, search teams had worked their way through the surrounding terrain looking for any sign of the missing girl.
8:44
[SPEAKER_00]: But when Shana was finally found, she was lying in a location that they had supposedly already checked.
8:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Investigators believed this raised the possibility that her body had been placed there after the initial search.
8:58
[SPEAKER_00]: If that was the case, whoever was responsible may have returned to Colter's hole, while police and volunteers were still looking for Shana.
9:07
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a disturbing possibility, but investigators couldn't establish exactly when her body had been left there.
9:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And the discovery still provided no immediate answer as to who had taken her from oil city.
9:22
[SPEAKER_00]: The condition of Sean is clothing also raised questions.
9:26
[SPEAKER_00]: She was wearing shorts and socks that did not appear to belong to her.
9:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Her t-shirt was inside out and her feet were partially submerged in the creek.
9:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Investigators document in the scene and collected physical evidence, including biological samples from Shana's body and clothing.
9:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Those samples would eventually become crucial to identifying the people responsible.
9:50
[SPEAKER_00]: But in 1992, they did not immediately lead to an arrest.
9:55
[SPEAKER_00]: For Shana's family, the discovery had put an end to any hope that she might be found alive.
10:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Her mother Lucy continued making public appeals urging anyone with information about her daughter's murder to contact police.
10:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Investigators followed tips from the community and began looking more closely at individuals who might have been involved.
10:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Among those who attracted their attention was a local pizza delivery driver by the name of Ted Walker.
10:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Ted Walker worked as a delivery driver for a local pizza shop in oil city.
10:28
[SPEAKER_00]: He was familiar to many people in the community, including Shawna Howe and some of her friends.
10:33
[SPEAKER_00]: But Walker had developed a reputation for behavior that made young girls uncomfortable.
10:39
[SPEAKER_00]: He frequently asked them for hugs, which is super, super creepy.
10:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Shana and her friends had discussed his behavior before, and they sometimes avoided the pizza shop when they knew he was working.
10:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker was also associated with two brothers who had attracted the attention of local law enforcement, as well.
11:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Timothy and James O'Brien.
11:03
[SPEAKER_00]: During the investigation into Sean's murder, police questioned Walker about his relationship with the brothers and what he knew about their activities.
11:12
[SPEAKER_00]: He offered an unusual account of something that had supposedly happened inside his home.
11:18
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Walker, he had returned home one evening when his son told him that the O'Brien brothers had someone upstairs.
11:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker claimed he didn't know who the person was.
11:29
[SPEAKER_00]: He went into the kitchen and began preparing spaghetti.
11:33
[SPEAKER_00]: But while he was cooking, he heard a female voice shouting from upstairs.
11:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Get off me, let me up, let me go.
11:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker said he went upstairs and confronted the brothers telling them to leave his house.
11:47
[SPEAKER_00]: According to his account, Timothy responded by telling Walker to worry about his own son.
11:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker interpreted that statement as a threat.
11:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Rather than confronting the brothers further, he went outside and waited until they left.
12:02
[SPEAKER_00]: That was the account he initially provided investigators.
12:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker didn't identify the girl he claimed to have heard and police couldn't establish that the incident involved Shana.
12:17
[SPEAKER_00]: investigation continued.
12:19
[SPEAKER_00]: But in 1995, James O'Brien was involved in yet another disturbing incident.
12:26
[SPEAKER_00]: According to reporting by the Associated Press, James followed a woman after she left a bar and attempted to force her into the trunk of his car.
12:35
[SPEAKER_00]: When she resisted, he tried to slam her head against the concrete.
12:39
[SPEAKER_00]: James was charged with attempted kidnapping and convicted the following year.
12:44
[SPEAKER_00]: The incident raised additional concerns about someone whose name had already surfaced during Sean's murder investigation.
12:51
[SPEAKER_00]: but a conviction in another case was not proof that James had been involved in Shana's death.
12:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Investigators still needed evidence connecting him directly to the crime, and as the 1990s continued, that evidence remained elusive.
13:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Despite numerous tips and interviews, no one was arrested for Shana's murder.
13:12
[SPEAKER_00]: For Lucy and the rest of Shawna's family, the years passed without the answers they had been seeking.
13:18
[SPEAKER_00]: The case remained open, but investigators had been unable to establish who was responsible.
13:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Then, in September 2001, nearly nine years after Shawna disappeared, an unexpected conversation took place inside
13:34
[SPEAKER_00]: the Venango County jail in Franklin, Pennsylvania.
13:37
[SPEAKER_00]: What one inmate claim to have heard would eventually lead investigators back to the O'Brien brothers.
13:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And this time, they would discover something that had been overlooked for years.
13:50
[SPEAKER_00]: In September 2001, the Venango County jail in Franklin, Pennsylvania was under lockdown following the terrorist attacks of September 11th.
14:00
[SPEAKER_00]: During that time, two inmates were playing cards.
14:03
[SPEAKER_00]: one was Ryan Heath.
14:05
[SPEAKER_00]: The other was Timothy O'Brien.
14:08
[SPEAKER_00]: As they talked, the conversation turned to their criminal histories, and at some point Timothy reportedly began discussing the murder of Shawna Howe.
14:17
[SPEAKER_00]: He told Heath that he had been involved in the crime.
14:20
[SPEAKER_00]: More specifically,
14:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Timothy allegedly said he had taken Shana from a vehicle and thrown her from a bridge near Colter's hole.
14:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It was the same area where Shana's body had been discovered in October 1992, so disturbed by what he had just heard, Heath contacted authorities.
14:40
[SPEAKER_00]: The information eventually reached Detective Rich Graham, who had been assigned to investigate Shana's
14:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Both had attracted attention during the original investigation, but police had never established their involvement.
14:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Timothy had allegedly admitted to another inmate that he played a role in Sean's death.
15:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Graham decided to look into it.
15:06
[SPEAKER_00]: While investigating an unrelated case, he arranged to speak with Timothy, who was incarcerated at the time.
15:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Near the end of their conversation, Graham asked him to provide a DNA sample.
15:19
[SPEAKER_00]: By then, collecting samples from potential suspects had become a regular part of the effort to solve Sean's murder.
15:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Investigators had preserved biological evidence from the original crime scene and hoped advances in forensic testing would eventually lead to a match.
15:35
[SPEAKER_00]: But Timothy's reaction to the request caught Graham's attention.
15:39
[SPEAKER_00]: He appeared startled.
15:41
[SPEAKER_00]: He began talking about needing to consult his attorney.
15:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Despite his hesitation, Timothy eventually agreed to provide the sample.
15:50
[SPEAKER_00]: The results came back negative.
15:53
[SPEAKER_00]: His DNA did not match the biological evidence recovered from Shana.
15:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But Graham, he remained interested in the brothers.
16:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometime later, Graham was discussing the investigation with the parole officer named Ed Flick.
16:08
[SPEAKER_00]: He mentioned Timothy's unusual reaction to the DNA request.
16:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Flick told Graham that he had long suspected Timothy and James O'Brien might have been involved in Shana's murder.
16:20
[SPEAKER_00]: but there was a problem.
16:22
[SPEAKER_00]: The investigative files indicated that both brothers had been incarcerated when Sean had disappeared in October 1992.
16:29
[SPEAKER_00]: If that information was correct, neither could have participated in her abduction.
16:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Graham had inherited the case from a retired investigator and had relied heavily on the information already documented in the files.
16:44
[SPEAKER_00]: But after his conversation with Flick, he decided to take another look.
16:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Rather than relying on the existing notes, Graham went back to verify the brother's custody records himself and what he discovered changed the direction of the investigation.
17:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Timothy and James O'Brien had indeed been arrested around the time of Sean as murder.
17:05
[SPEAKER_00]: That part of the information was correct, but there was another detail investigators had overlooked.
17:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Both brothers had subsequently been released on bail.
17:15
[SPEAKER_00]: They weren't sitting in jail.
17:17
[SPEAKER_00]: On October 27, 1992, they were free.
17:21
[SPEAKER_00]: For years, investigators had been working from the assumption that the brothers couldn't have participated in shan's abduction because they were incarcerated.
17:30
[SPEAKER_00]: but the records told a different story.
17:33
[SPEAKER_00]: The two men were excluded by the timeline at all, and suddenly Graham had a reason to revisit suspects who had attracted attention during the original investigation, but had never been connected to the crime through physical evidence.
17:48
[SPEAKER_00]: But just as the investigation began gaining momentum, he was transferred to another unit.
17:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Before handing over the case, Graham made one final request.
17:58
[SPEAKER_00]: He asked another officer to visit James O'Brien who was incarcerated on an unrelated matter and obtained a DNA sample.
18:07
[SPEAKER_00]: The request was carried out and James's sample was submitted for testing.
18:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Approximately one month later, Graham received a call from the forensic laboratory.
18:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Although he was no longer assigned to the case, he had asked to be kept informed for any developments.
18:24
[SPEAKER_00]: The results come from Dematch.
18:27
[SPEAKER_00]: James O'Brien's DNA matched biological evidence recovered during Shawna's murder investigation.
18:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Nearly a decade after her death, investigators finally had physical evidence connecting one of the brothers to the crime, and there was another development.
18:44
[SPEAKER_00]: In 2002, Dan Patton, the witness who had reported seeing Shana abducted, saw Ted Walker being interviewed on TV.
18:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Patton recognized Walker as the man he believed he had seen, grabbing the young girl that October evening.
19:00
[SPEAKER_00]: so he contacted police again.
19:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Investigators now had James's DNA match, Timothy's alleged admission to a fellow inmate, and an eyewitnesses identification of Walker.
19:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Those developments brought renewed attention to the account Walker had provided years earlier.
19:19
[SPEAKER_00]: He had claimed the O'Brien brothers brought an unidentified girl into his home, but he never acknowledged that the girl was shana.
19:27
[SPEAKER_00]: With the investigation now pointing toward the three men, police brought Walker in for questioning again.
19:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And this time, he told a very different story.
19:38
[SPEAKER_00]: He described a plan that he and the O'Brien brothers had discussed on the night shonna disappeared, a plan they supposedly intended as a prank, and won the ultimately lead to the abduction and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
19:54
[SPEAKER_00]: When investigators questioned Ted Walker again, he finally acknowledged that the girl he had described hearing inside his home was Shawna Howe.
20:03
[SPEAKER_00]: But his new account went much further.
20:06
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Walker, the events of October 27, 1992 began with a plan he had discussed with Timothy and James O'Brien.
20:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker described the idea as something the men had discussed almost casually.
20:21
[SPEAKER_00]: The three men wanted to embarrass the oil city police department.
20:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Their idea was to kidnap a child, hold them for an hour or two, and then release them unharmed.
20:31
[SPEAKER_00]: They imagined police scrambling to locate the missing child only for this supposed prank to end with everyone returning home.
20:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker claimed their intended target was originally a young boy who was friends with the sun.
20:49
[SPEAKER_00]: but instead, they encountered Shawna Howe.
20:53
[SPEAKER_00]: She had just left a Halloween gathering with her girl scout troop and was walking home alone after parting ways with a friend.
21:00
[SPEAKER_00]: According to Walker's account, the men decided to change their target.
21:05
[SPEAKER_00]: At the intersection of first and read streets, the O'Brien Brothers spotted Shawna and told Walker to approach her.
21:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker was someone Shawna had encountered before the local pizza shop, as I mentioned,
21:18
[SPEAKER_00]: He approached her and began asking about girl scout cookies.
21:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Then, without warning, he grabbed her.
21:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker covered Sean's mouth to muffle her screams and carried her toward the waiting red sedan, Timothy O'Brien pulled her into the car.
21:35
[SPEAKER_00]: The brothers drove away with Sean a while Walker hurried to his own vehicle.
21:39
[SPEAKER_00]: He took a different route home and arrived before them.
21:43
[SPEAKER_00]: When Timothy and James reached Walker's house, they brought Sean inside and took her upstairs.
21:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker claimed he remained downstairs.
21:52
[SPEAKER_00]: He acknowledged hearing Shana cry and calling out for help.
21:56
[SPEAKER_00]: His earlier statement about confronting the brothers and being threatened by Timothy was now part of a much more disturbing account.
22:03
[SPEAKER_00]: But Walker continued to deny participating in what happened upstairs.
22:08
[SPEAKER_00]: He said that eventually the O'Brien brothers left the house with Shana.
22:13
[SPEAKER_00]: and according to Walker, he never saw her again.
22:16
[SPEAKER_00]: His statements did not establish every detail of what Shawna experienced after being taken into the house, but the physical evidence recovered during the investigation helped prosecutors reconstruct what followed.
22:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Biological evidence connected James O'Brien to the sexual assault of Shawna how.
22:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And Timothy's reported admission to fellow inmate Ryan Heath provided an account of how she ended up near a colders hole.
22:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Timothy had allegedly described taking Shana from the vehicle and throwing her from a railroad trestle.
22:49
[SPEAKER_00]: The bridge stood approximately 33 feet above the rocky creek bed below.
22:54
[SPEAKER_00]: The injuries documented during Shana's autopsy were consistent with a fall from that height,
23:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Shawna died from extensive blunt force trauma.
23:07
[SPEAKER_00]: What began as a plan the men supposedly considered as a prank?
23:11
[SPEAKER_00]: had ended in the abduction, sexual assault, and murder of an 11-year-old girl.
23:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker admitted taking Shana from the street but maintained that he had no role in her death.
23:23
[SPEAKER_00]: The O'Brien brothers denied responsibility and attempted to place the blame on Walker.
23:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Those conflicting accounts would eventually be examined in court.
23:34
[SPEAKER_00]: For Shana's family, the investigation had finally produced answers about who was involved and how their daughter had been taken, but learning those details also meant confronting the terrible circumstances of her death.
23:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Nearly 12 years after Shana disappeared, authorities were finally prepared to bring charges against the men they believed were responsible.
23:57
[SPEAKER_00]: In July 2004, nearly 12 years after Shawna Howe was abducted, Timothy and James O'Brien were arrested and charged in connection with her murder.
24:07
[SPEAKER_00]: For Shawna's family, it marked the first major step toward justice after more than a decade of unanswered questions, but there was still another person involved.
24:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Ted Walker had admitted participating in Shawna's kidnapping while maintaining that he had nothing to do with her death.
24:25
[SPEAKER_00]: As prosecutors prepared their case against the O'Brien brothers, Walker eventually agreed to cooperate.
24:32
[SPEAKER_00]: In September 2006, he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and third-degree murder.
24:37
[SPEAKER_00]: In exchange for his testimony against the brothers, he received a sentence of 20 to 40 years in prison.
24:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Walker's testimony became an important part of the prosecution's case.
24:48
[SPEAKER_00]: He described the original kidnapping plan and acknowledged hearing Shana crying while she was inside his home.
24:56
[SPEAKER_00]: But he continued to deny participating in her murder.
24:59
[SPEAKER_00]: The O'Brien brothers maintain their innocence, attempting to place responsibility for Shana's death on Walker.
25:06
[SPEAKER_00]: The trial drew considerable attention through oil city.
25:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Shawna's family and other members of the community filled the courtroom as prosecutors presented the evidence gathered over nearly 14 years.
25:20
[SPEAKER_00]: The jury heard about the DNA evidence connecting James O'Brien to Shawna.
25:25
[SPEAKER_00]: They also heard testimony concerning Timothy's alleged admission to a fellow inmate, and medical testimony provided one of the most difficult details of the proceedings.
25:36
[SPEAKER_00]: A medical examiner who reviewed Sean's autopsy determined that despite the severity of her injuries, her death had not been instantaneous.
25:46
[SPEAKER_00]: She had survived for several minutes after the fall from the railroad Tressel.
25:51
[SPEAKER_00]: For her family, hearing those details meant confronting the suffering Shawna had endured.
25:56
[SPEAKER_00]: But the testimony also helped establish the circumstances of her death.
26:02
[SPEAKER_00]: After weeks of testimony, the case went to the jury.
26:06
[SPEAKER_00]: On October 26, 2006, almost exactly 14 years after Shana's disappearance.
26:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Timothy and James O'Brien were convicted of second and third-degree murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy.
26:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Both brothers received life sentences.
26:24
[SPEAKER_00]: During sentencing, the judge condemned their conduct and their lack of remorse, emphasizing the need to protect society.
26:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Ted Walker remained incarcerated under the terms of his plea agreement until his death from natural causes in 2022.
26:40
[SPEAKER_00]: The convictions brought a measure of justice to Sean's family, but the consequences of her murder had extended far beyond the courtroom.
26:59
[SPEAKER_00]: In the years following Shana's death, Halloween and oil city had changed.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Before 1992, children routinely went trick or treating through their neighborhoods after dark.
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[SPEAKER_00]: In the immediate aftermath of Shana's murder, oil city effectively canceled a Halloween celebrations and placed a ban on nighttime trick or treating.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The holiday that children had been looking forward to was suddenly associated with fear and grief.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Residents who had once felt comfortable leaving their doors unlocked begins securing their homes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And the parents who had routinely allowed their children to walk through familiar neighborhoods began reconsidering how much freedom they could actually safely give them.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The restrictions on nighttime trigger treating remained in place until 2008 when oil city finally allowed their tradition to return.
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[SPEAKER_00]: by then many years had passed since Shawna's murder.
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[SPEAKER_00]: For the how family, however, no change in tradition or criminal sentence could bring Shawna back.
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[SPEAKER_00]: She had been a bright, cheerful girl who loved spending time with her family and participating in Girl Scouts.
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[SPEAKER_00]: On October 27, 1992, Shawna had simply wanted to enjoy a Halloween gathering with her friends before returning home.
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[SPEAKER_00]: She was 11 years old, with an entire life still ahead of her.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And while the men responsible for her death were eventually brought to justice, Shawna how would never have the opportunity to grow up in the community that she called home.
28:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to another edition of Gone Weekly.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Beyond the lookout, 13-year-old Taz Franklin Richardson was reported missing in Richmond, Virginia, on October 10th, 2026.
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[SPEAKER_00]: His whereabouts remain unknown.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Taz was last seen where in a blue hoodie,
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[SPEAKER_00]: a white t-shirt and black sweatpants.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Anyone who recognizes TAS or has information that can help locate him is urged to contact the Richmond PD at 804-646-510-0.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Next up we have 16-year-old Jayana Connelly.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Jayana Connelly's disappearance has prompted an appeal for information from the Providence Rhode Island area.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The 16-year-old was reported missing on October 15, 2020, and the search depends on accurate info that could help establish where she may be.
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[SPEAKER_00]: She has been missing since October 15, 2020, and anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Providence PD
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[SPEAKER_00]: 3-1-2-1.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And last, certainly not least, we have 14-year-old Alexander Humphrey.
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[SPEAKER_00]: The California Highway Patrol has activated an endangered missing advisory on behalf of the Lake County Sheriff's Office for 14-year-old Alexander Humphrey.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He was last seen on October 9, 2020, at approximately 12 pm in Lake
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[SPEAKER_00]: He is described as 5 feet 7 inches tall weighing approximately 115 pounds with blonde hair and blue eyes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He was last seen wearing a black shirt, gray pants, and white shoes.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Again, he is believed to be on foot and anyone who has any information on his whereabouts must call 911 immediately.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Let's bring these kids home.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to another episode of Gone On A Blink.
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31:04
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31:15
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31:20
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31:26
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[SPEAKER_00]: And as always, please remember, be safe, be smart, and try not to blink.