Murder of Shauna Howe

Following Howe's murder, the Oil City Council voted to prohibit night-time trick-or-treating. The ban remained in place for 15 years, before being lifted in time for Halloween 2008.

In September 2006, Walker, as part of a plea bargain, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and third degree murder and agreed to testify against the O'Brien brothers. In court, he admitted grabbing Howe and passing her to the O’Briens who were waiting in a parked car. He also admitted knowing the brothers were upstairs in his house with the girl as he heard her crying. He, however, denied any involvement in her death. In October, as the trial ended, the brothers were found guilty of kidnapping, conspiracy and second and third-degree murder, but were acquitted on charges of first degree murder and rape.

The mystery of Howe's disappearance and murder continued for nearly ten years until the investigation had a major breakthrough. In 2002, a DNA sample taken from Oil City resident James O'Brien, who was serving a prison sentence for attempting to kidnap an Oil City woman in 1995, matched a sample of seminal DNA found on Howe's body in tests run by the FBI lab in Washington, D.C. O’Brien had not been a suspect earlier as investigators mistakenly believed he was in jail at the time of the attack, and neither of the brothers fit the eyewitness description.

Shauna Melinda Howe (July 11, 1981 – October 27, 1992) was an 11-year-old girl from Oil City, Pennsylvania, who was raped and murdered on October 27, 1992. Howe's kidnapping and killing by being thrown from a bridge became a cause célèbre in Pennsylvania, receiving widespread media attention for over a decade. In September 2006, Eldred “Ted” Walker, James O'Brien, and Timothy O'Brien were convicted for participation in Howe's murder.