39 years after the murders of innocents, Duane Eugene Owen is scheduled to be executed by the state of Florida
By Robert A. Waters
Duane Eugene Owen stalked women by night. A career criminal, he rarely worked, so he had plenty of time to slink into ritzy neighborhoods and peep through windows. Sometimes, if no one was home, he’d break in and steal items he could sell for booze and drugs. If a pretty female was home alone, he would often break in and assault her. Within a span of a few months, he brutalized at least six girls and women in south Florida, murdering two. Those who didn’t die survived only to battle life-altering injuries.
On the evening of March 24, 1984, in Delray Beach, Florida, 14-year-old Karen Slattery babysat the two daughters of the Helm family. At ten o’clock, as the kids slept, she called her mother. They spoke briefly, then Karen’s mom hung up. A pretty girl, she’d just had braces removed from her teeth—she told her mother she was happy because now she could chew gum, even though she wore a retainer. Karen attended Pope John Paul High School where she was a straight “A” student and a star diver on the swim team.
Shortly after midnight, William and Carolyn Helm returned home. As he walked to the front door, William sensed something was wrong. Lights in the living room were turned off, which was unusual. The television would usually be going, but now it sat mute. And the lights in the kitchen were on, which was not normal. An appeals court document recounted the scene: “Mr. and Mrs. Helm walked up to the house; [As he entered], Mr. Helm called for Karen, but there was no response, he then saw the pool of blood, and the hammer laying (sic) next to it. Mr. Helm also noticed the trail of blood into the master bedroom, where he noticed the doors closed, and could tell the light was on in the room as it was shining through the bottom of the bedroom door.” Alarmed, he told his wife to go to their neighbor and call 9-1-1. Then he took his daughters from the residence and waited for help.
Police found Karen’s shoes and retainer scattered about the kitchen. The phone was “askew.” Detectives discovered the master bedroom window had been cut. Because leaves and mud were on the screen and nearby bed, police determined the killer had entered there.
A court report read: “Officer Ernest Soto of the Delray Beach Police arrived at 12:15 a.m. on March 25, 1984 at the Helm's residence at 1221 Harbor Drive, Delray Beach, Florida. The officer saw a pool of blood and a hammer next to it; and a trail of blood leading to the master bedroom. When he opened the doors to the bedroom he found the naked body of Karen Slattery, with her blouse and bra pulled up to her shoulders, and a towel covering her head; her legs were spread open.” She wore pearl earrings and a gold chain around her neck.
Medical Examiner Dr. Frederick Hobin performed the autopsy. His report confirmed that Karen had been sexually assaulted: “The doctor determined the cause of death to have been multiple stab and cut injuries, a collapse of lung tissue, as well as internal bleeding. The autopsy revealed Karen had been stabbed and cut 18 times—14 stabbings and 4 incisions.” The victim had been stabbed in the back, the face, and the neck. The Medical Examiner stated that “there was one very deep cut to the throat which exposed the muscle on the neck and cut all the way through the esophagus.” For some reason, the hammer had not been used in the assault.
In court, Dr. Hobin testified that Karen’s heart was still beating when all the injuries were inflicted, but she was not conscious at the time of the sexual assault.
In late May, Duane Owen had been identified by two different burglary victims as the person who had broken into their homes. He was also picked out of a lineup by numerous students at Florida Atlantic University for exposing himself. (He was not yet suspected of Karen’s murder, nor of a similar murder, that of Georgianna Worden.) Police sent out an order to street cops to hold Owen if they found him. In nearby Boca Raton, Officer Kathleen Petracco, patrolling Country Club Boulevard, encountered a man who looked similar to Owen. She stopped him and he gave her a phony name and ID, but she was sure he was lying. She called her supervisor who arrived and determined the suspect was indeed Owen.
During interviews with Owen, the burglary suspect dumbfounded investigators by confessing to the Slattery murder. He told detectives where they could find several items from the residence he’d hidden after fleeing the scene. These items included a pair of blood-stained gloves he’d taken from the home and used during his attack on Karen. Other items were his undershorts (he’d taken most of his clothes off before entering the Helm residence) and his bloodstained socks. Cops hurried to the location and collected the items. Owen told investigators that while looking in windows, he saw Karen braiding the children’s hair. He said he went to a nearby bar and drank a few beers until he was sure she had put the kids to bed.
In 1984, DNA had not yet become a tool in the arsenal of law enforcement. However, a few years later, cops sent several items from the case to the FBI for testing. DNA from semen matched Owen while the items found with blood on them corresponded with Karen’s DNA profile.
In a matter-of-fact voice, Owen told investigators that after entering the home, he blitzed Karen. He’d come in through the master bedroom, he said, and ran straight toward the terrified girl. Karen stood in the kitchen holding the phone, he said. He yelled at her, demanding she put the phone down, but possibly from the shock of seeing a nearly-naked intruder running toward her, she held onto it. Owen struggled with Karen for the phone and he said he knocked it out of her hand and put it back in its holder. He said he thought she was trying to call 9-1-1, but it’s likely she was just starting to hang up after talking with her mother.
Owen said, “She kind of went to grab ahold of me or something trying to punch me away. And I think that’s when I came up from behind her...I thought I only stabbed her in the back probably more than once. When Karen fell to the floor she fell on her back. She didn’t fight…anymore…and didn’t talk.”
Angry cops could only imagine Karen’s terror when Owen suddenly appeared in the kitchen. She fought briefly until he began stabbing her.
Karen Slattery, living a life filled with wonder and promise, had been reduced to a lifeless corpse, splayed out in an obscene sexual pose.
Other Crimes Committed by Duane Owen
Owen was born in Gas City, Indiana. His mother was an alcoholic and his father a brutal drunkard. After his mother died of cancer when he was 10 and his father committed suicide, he and his brother became wards of the state. While in his early teens, Owen racked up several arrests. As soon as he turned 18, he enlisted in the U. S. Army under an assumed name. After 29 days, he was discharged and moved to Delray Beach to live with his brother.
Here is a list of a few (not all) crimes committed by Owen.
Shortly after moving to Florida, in February, 1982, police arrested him for indecent exposure. In July, he was also arrested for two burglaries. The arresting officer recommended “counseling for deviance” when stolen women’s undergarments were found in Owen’s apartment. Whether he received counseling is unknown.
On November 1, 1982, Owen attacked Virginia Sada, manager of the Peter Pan Hotel in Boca Raton. After breaking into her live-in office/home, he attacked her with a plumber’s wrench. Owen clubbed her so hard that a portion of her skull broke off and penetrated her brain. The attack left Sada with permanent brain damage. After disabling her, Owen raped his victim.
In 1983, Owen moved back to Michigan where he was soon arrested for “substance abuse” and several burglaries. While in jail, he received treatment for drug addiction. After being released, he came back to Delray Beach.
On February 9, 1984, Owen broke into the home of 17-year-old Marilee Manley in Boca Raton and beat her nearly to death with a wrench. She underwent brain surgery, but doctors informed her family she would never fully recover.
According to the Boca Raton News, on May 24, 1984, while Monica Simpson slept in her apartment, Owen broke in. He found a steam iron in the apartment and beat her unconscious. Fortunately, Simpson survived.
Dumille Gorman also survived an attempted break-in at her home. She prepared a composite sketch of Owen which helped to lead to his arrest.
In December, Owen climbed into the ceiling of the University Bowl and Recreation Center and crawled to an area above the women’s bathroom. When arrested, he told police he “wanted to watch girls.”
Somehow, he escaped serious punishment for his many crimes.
The Georgianna Worden Murder
Worden taught at Boca Raton Community College and worked a second job with an architectural firm. Her two children found her body as they prepared for school. After confessing to the murder of Karen Slattery, Owen confessed to Georgianna's slaying.
In an odd twist, investigators found Owen's fingerprint on a library book in Worden's home. (The book was Mistral's Daughter by Judith Krantz.) He was charged with first degree murder, sexual battery and burglary.
In 1985 and 1986, jurors convicted Owen of all charges for killing both Karen Slattery and Georgianna Worden. The courts imposed death sentences for each murder.
In 1990, the Florida Supreme Court overturned the verdicts on a technicality. Owen was retried for murdering both victims and again sentenced to death. For decades, he launched appeal after appeal, dodging justice.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently signed a death warrant for Owen. The killer is currently scheduled for execution at 6:00 p.m. on June 15, 2023. One thing is sure: if he is indeed stretched out on a gurney and given a cocktail of death-dealing drugs, his passing will be easier than that of his victims.
No comments:
Post a Comment