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2 Accused In Girl Scout's '92 Halloween Death

POSTED: 11:33 am EDT July 2, 2004
UPDATED: 12:13 pm EDT July 2, 2004

Two men already imprisoned on separate cases are now accused of murdering an 11-year-old girl who was abducted after a Halloween party in 1992.

State police said Friday that Timothy Michael O'Brien, 37, and James O'Brien, 32, will be charged in the death of Shauna Howe, of Oil City, Venango County.

Howe disappeared while walking home from a Girl Scout party in Oil City on Oct. 27, 1992. Her beaten body was found two days later in a creek under a railroad trestle.

James O'Brien was convicted in February 1996 on charges that he tried to kidnap a woman whom he met in a bar. He is being held in the State Correctional Institute-Greensburg.

Timothy O'Brien is incarcerated at SCI-Greene.

In 2002, anonymous law enforcement sources and James O'Brien's mother, Linda, told The Associated Press that a DNA sample taken from James O'Brien matched one taken from Howe. No charges were filed at that time.

James O'Brien has long denied any involvement in Howe's death.

It's unclear what led to charges finally being filed Friday.


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