Howe trial testimony focuses on DNA

By ERIN SCHATTAUER

An FBI examiner testifies for prosecution.

Shauna Howe slipped on a leotard.

She wanted to look like a gymnast for her fellow Girl Scouts.

She had no idea she wouldn't make it home that night or that the leotard she carefully chose to be part of her costume would be found two days later soiled with semen.

Nor did she know it would take 10 years to find the person who left the fluid there and in her mouth.

It was James O'Brien whose semen was found in Shauna's mouth and on her gymnast costume, an FBI examiner said Saturday.

There is a one in a quadrillion or 1,000,000,000,000,000 chance that the DNA found on the leotard and in Shauna's mouth is not James O'Brien's, Jennifer Luttman said.

James O'Brien, 33, along with his older brother Timothy O'Brien, 39, is on trial for Shauna's 1992 kidnap, rape and murder.

A third defendant, Eldred "Ted" Walker, 46, pleaded guilty to kidnapping and third degree murder last month. He told a jury last week that he grabbed Shauna from the corner of Reed and West First streets and handed her over to the O'Briens.

Shauna's leotard was found near Coulter's Hole in Rockland Township on Oct. 29, 1992, two days after she was kidnapped. The next day her body was found about 300 yards away under an old train trestle in a rock-strewn creek.

At the beginning of the trial, Venango County District Attorney Marie Veon said DNA evidence would link 11-year-old Shauna to the brothers.

DNA found on the leotard and in the girl's mouth did not match samples provided by Timothy O'Brien and Walker.

Luttman said her laboratory received the leotard and oral swabs on Feb. 8, 1999.

The leotard had already tested positive for semen but the oral swabs had not.

A forensics expert testified Friday that swabs were taken of Shauna's mouth but didn't test positive for seminal fluid in 1992. He added that since that time, science has progressed.

When tests were run on the oral swabs again in 1999, three of the six swabs tested positive for semen, Luttman said.

DNA taken from seminal stains on the leotard matched DNA found on the oral swabs, meaning the same person who deposited the semen in Shauna's mouth was the same person who deposited it on her leotard, Luttman said.

Testing was done and it was determined that there was a female and a male DNA profile on each oral swab.

The female profile was confirmed to be Shauna's - her DNA probably came from the cells in her mouth, Luttman said.

But it took a few more years before a DNA match was made for the male profile.

The male profile was tested against known samples at the lab.

"Every one was excluded. The DNA didn't match," Luttman said.

Then, on Jan. 16, 2002, the lab received a saliva sample from James O'Brien.

It was a match, Luttman said.

"Timothy O'Brien and Ted Walker are excluded from the all the DNA samples that were processed," Luttman said.

Wayne Hundertmark, an attorney representing James O'Brien, asked Luttman if she knew when the oral swabs were taken from Shauna's mouth, where her body was when they were taken and who took the swabs.

Luttman said she did not.

Virginia Sharp, an attorney representing Timothy O'Brien, read aloud her report dated April 8, 2003, concerning the older brother.

"Timothy O'Brien is excluded from DNA found on the bodysuit.and oral swabs," Luttman read.

Another piece of evidence also points a finger at James O'Brien, a forensics examiner testified Saturday.

A hair found on Shauna's shirt also came from James O'Brien, Lara Gioeni, a FBI forensics examiner said.

In 2003, a saliva sample given by James O'Brien was tested against a small hair found on Shauna's shirt, Gioeni said.

It matched, she said.

Other FBI scientists also testified Saturday.

Over the years, tests were done on clothing and carpet fibers, hair, fingernail clippings and other materials.

Walker's home was searched March 12, 2002.

Another forensics examiner, Sandra Koch, said another hair found on Shauna's clothing was similar to a head hair taken from Walker. Walker testified last week that the O'Briens brought Shauna to his house after the kidnapping.

But Walker added his involvement in the crime ended after he grabbed the girl.

The trial resumes at 9 a.m. today.