OIL CITY, Pa. (EYT) – Halloween is a time for kids to have fun, getting dressed up, getting plenty of candy and other treats.
But in the 1990s, the murders of two young girls made the holiday something much darker for residents of Oil City.
On October 27, 1992, 11-year-old Shauna Howe (pictured above) left a Halloween party at a church a few blocks from home and was on her way by 8:00 p.m.
At 10:00 p.m., her mother, Lucy Brown Howe, worried that her daughter hadn’t come yet 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 Street and Reed Street by a tall, shaggy-looking man.
A few days later, her costume was found on a trail, and her body was found the next day at Coulter’s Hole along East Sandy Creek. Howe was the victim of a sexual assault and murder.
Following the terrible crime, Oil City halted many Halloween activities and trick-or-treating was only allowed in the afternoon.
Then, on October 29, 1997, it unbelievably happened again.
Four-year-old Shenee Freeman was abducted while playing with friends near a wooded area.
Freeman was also found dead.
The case renewed hope that Howe’s killers might be found, but after Nicholas Bowen was brought to justice, there was found to be no connection between him and Howe.
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 an effort to restore trick-or-treating to its normal schedule, Elizabeth Roess, who was a fifth-grader at the time, gained community support to bring back the area’s Halloween activities in 2008.
“When I wanted to do this, my little sister was a toddler and now, she’s trick-or-treating, so I am glad it’s reflecting in a good way,” said Roess, now 18-years-old. “My parents have always taken us, and they were very supportive of me from the beginning in everything and they were helpful in what I wanted to do.”
“City council wanted me to write an essay about why Halloween should be changed,” Roess said.
She went to a city council meeting eight years ago with a petition with 175 signatures, and her list of reasons Oil City should allow night time trick-or-treating.
Roess explained that she had never been able to trick-or-treat in her home town because few people were home to take their kids, and she and her friends had to go to neighboring towns to celebrate Halloween.
City council relented, and night-time trick-or-treating was restored 16 years after Howe’s murder.
Roess’s story garnered national headlines, and she was interviewed by Katie Couric on CBS Evening News.
“They wanted to fly us to the show, but my dad was recovering from surgery, so we spoke on the phone,” Roess said.
Today, Roess (pictured below) is working with children in Oil City in Keystone Smiles AmeriCorps and as a waitress at Famoore’s Family Restaurant. She will enter school at the Precision Manufacturing Institute in Meadville next year with plans to become a welder.
