Episode 138: Shauna Howe | The Town That Dreaded Sundown

True Crime Couple

The story I have for you today will be, just as they always are, hard to get through, especially because it involves a child. Just around Halloween in 1992 a vicious crime would shock the blue collar town of Oil City, PA, changing it forever. In fact, the town would put a ban on night time trick or treating for 16 years after the case I am about to tell you, and even now the time is restricted to not go past 8 PM. Halloween is a time of great excitement for children. It is electric in the air, kids playing innocent pranks, mischief nights, talking about what they are going to dress up as, and of course, the promise of mounds and mounds of candy after trick or treating. But lurking beneath all that fun is a terrifying truth, something the good people of Oil City had to learn the hard way, that monsters are real, and sometimes they are the ones you least expect.
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Sources:
https://law.justia.com/cases/pennsylvania/superior-court/2013/1266-wda-2012.html
https://www.wunderground.com/history/daily/us/pa/oil-city/KDUJ/date/1992-10-27
https://www.leagle.com/decision/inpaco20130722469
https://www.thederrick.com/ (Archives)
Lake Erie Murders (2018) Devil at the Crossroads
https://oig.justice.gov/reports/FBI/a0632/intro.htm#:~:text=CODIS%20Development%20and%20Design&text=CODIS%20began%20as%20a%20pilot,NDIS%20became%20operational%20in%201998.
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