In a tragic incident from 1984, a 14-year-old girl named Karen Slattery met a horrifying fate when a disturbed killer broke into the house where she was babysitting two children.
Karen, a high school freshman with a bright future, was a popular babysitter and an accomplished diver at Pope John Paul High School, aspiring to join the U.S. team. Her life took a tragic turn when, while looking after two children, aged seven and three, a man named Duane Owen entered the house by cutting through a bedroom screen and confronted her in the kitchen.
Despite making a phone call to her mother at 10pm, by 12:30am, the parents of the children found Karen’s lifeless body in their home. She had been raped and brutally stabbed 18 times by the intruder, while the children remained unharmed.
During the subsequent legal proceedings, Owen alleged that he was not properly informed of his rights by officers, leading to a retrial in 1999. He claimed to be “insane” at the time of the murder, stating he was seeking hormones for a gender transition that night.
Despite his defense, the jury convicted him and sentenced him to death. Owen appealed, arguing that his lawyer failed to present evidence of his childhood trauma. His troubled upbringing, with an alcoholic mother who died when he was 11 and a father who later committed suicide, was highlighted during the trial.
Owen’s legal battle continued over the years, including appeals based on changes in death penalty sentencing laws. Just two months after Karen’s murder, Owen struck again, fatally attacking Georgianna Worden in her home. Surviving victims in Boca Raton attested to similar attacks by Owen using blunt objects.
Despite mounting evidence, Owen’s legal journey spanned decades, marked by various appeals and trials.