Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - True Urban Legends: The Babysitter & The Man Upstairs, with Annie Elise

Episode Date: October 21, 2024

If you’ve babysat, you’ve heard this tale: While her charges sleep, a babysitter receives harassing phone calls telling her to “check the children”. But this urban legend has disturbing real-life parallels, including the case of 14-year-old Karen Slattery. The major difference between truth and fiction? Who dies. Keep up with us on Instagram @serialkillerspodcast! Have a story to share? Email us at [e-mail]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Happy October, listeners. All this month, we're bringing you a special series we're calling True Urban Legends. Every week will dissect one classic urban legend and the haunting true story that either inspired it or is eerily similar. As an added surprise, each new episode will be presented by a different host, including one with yours truly. All of us had a hand in choosing the urban legends we found the most compelling. But you'll have to tune in each week to find out which tales we chose and the true stories behind every legend. Due to the nature of this story, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, violence, sexual assault, harm against minors, suicide, and addiction.

To get help on mental health and sexual violence, visit Spotify.com slash resources. I want you to imagine something for me. Go back to high school. You're young, full of energy, and you need money, so you get a babysitting job. It seems like a sweet gig, since the kids are already in bed, and we all know that's the hardest part of babysitting, usually. Not tonight. When the house's landline rings, you jump.

You take a deep breath. After all, who doesn't get anxious talking to strangers on the phone? Steadied, you answer the call. Through the receiver, a creepy male voice tells you to check the children. What do you mean? Why check them? Who are you? You ask a flurry of questions keeping the stranger on the line as long as you can. In response to each, he just laughs and laughs. That's okay, as long as he doesn't hang up, because this isn't the first call from the creepy stranger. He's been harassing you all night, but this time, the police are tracing the crazy. call. And almost as soon as the creep hangs up, you get another call from the police. They say

grab the kids and get out, because the call is coming from inside the house. Hey, true crime besties, welcome to serial killers, the October special True Urban Legends. I'm your guest host, Annie Elise. Every week I cover the latest in true crime news on my YouTube channel, 10 to Life, and my podcast Serialessly. You can check out Seriallessly on Spotify, and you can find serial killers here every Monday. Today I'm taking over the serial killers feed with an all-new episode about an urban legend and the true crime case that is way too close for comfort. It's the story of The Babysitter and the Man Upstairs, and the real case of Karen Slattery, a babysitter who came face to face with a terrifying home invasion. You've probably heard the Ironsider. You've probably

heard the urban legend, but you might not have heard about the real serial killer who was executed just last year. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the lonely hearts killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels, but you don't need to break any laws to find your perfect business partner because you have Shopify. It's the commerce platform that can help you with literally everything. thing, website design, marketing, shipping, and more. So start your business today with the best partner, Shopify, and get that. Sign up for your $1 per month trial today at Shopify.com slash killers.

That's Shopify.com slash killers. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter. Whether you're hiring for a role or searching for a killer, the hunt can be exhausting. When detectives looked and searched to find any kind of evidence to find the person they were looking for, like Jack the Ripper, the Golden State Killer, the Unit Bomber. It's tedious work to find what you're looking for. So, if you're hiring, I've got news for you.

You can skip the lengthy investigation and the tiresome process of sorting through hundreds of resumes. Just use ZipRecruiter. Try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. Because not only does ZipRecruiter have the technology to match you with potential candidates quickly, it also just added a new feature that pushes candidates who are qualified and interested in your role to the top of the list. They can even tell you why they're interested, making it easier for you to get a sense of who they are. Cut through the standard and get to the standouts with ZipRecruiter. Four out of five employers who post on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day.

And now you can try it for free at ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. That's zipRecruiter.com slash killers. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. Every outfit starts with a choice. What am I wearing underneath? Something comfortable? And let's be honest. Something that keeps everything looking smooth.

That's where Vanity Fair lingerie comes in. Their new smoothing wireless bra has four-way stretch fabric for all over smoothing, soft lightly lined cubs for a natural shape, and no wire comfort that lasts all day. All over smooth, all-day comfort, vanity fair lingerie. yours at Target today. Most of us have either been a babysitter, a kid being babysat, a parent, or all three at different times. So today's urban legend is pretty relatable. I'll retell it as a refresher for anyone

who hasn't heard it since middle school. Or maybe you haven't heard it at all. The legend begins in your typical American suburbs. Our babysitter, let's call her Julie, is a friend of a friend. Julie wants a land. line extension for her bedroom. This is before cell phones. She's been begging for months. Her parents agree she's finally mature enough for her own phone extension, but they tell her that she has to earn the money to pay for it. Since she's only 13, Julie's options are pretty limited, mowing lawns, walking dogs, and babysitting. Julie picks babysitting. Before she knows it, she's in her first client's house, the Cooper's. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper rush out the door before.

for Julie can get her bearings. She's not even sure where the kids are. Now you know how everyone has one of those rich neighborhoods with giant houses in their town? That's where this is. This home sits on five acres. The neighbors are a distant speck through the triple-paned windows. The kids could be anywhere. So Julie tiptoes upstairs, carefully cracking doors to reveal a home gym, a movie room, an office, and a little boy's room, with one of the kids sound asleep in a race car bed. She watches his chest slowly rise and fall under the blankets. Then she hears a rasping, rattling noise. Julie hesitates.

She hears the noise again. It's a pattern. She cautiously cracks another door, revealing a little girl's room and a snoring ballerina princess. Julie closes the door twisting the knob so it won't click. With the kids asleep, the job should be easy. TV all night. And this family definitely has cable. Julie's figuring out their five different remote controls when the phone rings.

Probably Mr. and Mrs. Cooper calling. Great, she can ask how to work the TV. But when Julie answers, she hears an unfamiliar voice. Have you checked the children? Then the caller hangs up. Julie rolls her eyes. What a weird prank call. She returns to the remotes and figures it out herself. A blissful hour of cable television later, the phone rings again. Have you checked the children?

The laugh makes the hair on the back of Julie's neck stand up. The caller sounds older than the typical teen prank caller. But then again, it's Friday night. People are bored. Not everyone has cable. She sighs, helps herself to a soda, and flops back. on the couch. She sips slowly trying to ground herself. Maybe she should check on the kids, but what if she accidentally wakes them? Before she can decide, she hears the phone again. Julie sighs and answers. You aren't watching the children or you. You left them so alone in their rooms. Sleeping, vulnerable, what if I hurt them? Julie drops the phone in shock and then scrambles to pick it up. She hears an echoing laugh as she brings the phone back to her ear. But before she can

yell, stop calling, she hears the dial tone. Julie's stomach flutters with nerves, or maybe that's the soda. Either way, she checks the doors, which are locked, locked, locked. All the downstairs windows are shut, too. Julie picks up the receiver and dials 911. She tells the operator she's a babysitter, alone with two kids and she's being harassed. Aren't threatening phone calls against some kind of stalking law? The operator offers to trace the next incoming call. Once they know who's threatening her, Julie can decide if she wants to press charges for stalking.

Julie says okay. The operator instructs her to keep the caller on the line as long as she can. It can take at least 45 seconds to trace the call, sometimes longer. After she hangs up, Julie waits by the phone. Three agonizing minutes. Four.

Five. Six. Julie scrambles to answer the ringing phone and say hello. Julie cringes, but remembers her job. Keep the stranger on the line. She stares at her watch. Five seconds down. She asks what he wants.

He only laughs in reply. But that keeps him on the line. 15 seconds down. She asks more questions. Who is he? 23 seconds. Where is he? 32 seconds.

What does he want? 41 seconds. The stranger laughs and says, Are you looking for me? He hangs up. 57 seconds. Julie can barely breathe a sigh of relief when the phone rings again. She wants to cheer, I did it.

But the operator's voice holds fresh panic. The operator tells Julie to grab the children and get out. They traced the call. It's coming from inside the house. The caller has been using one of the extensions. Julie and the kids are in danger. Julie races upstairs, her eyes double-checking every shadow. She reaches the girl's room, panting.

It's quiet. She didn't realize it till now, but at some point, the little girl's snoring stopped. Julie opens the door to the worst-case scenario. The kids are dead. It's too late. That's the story of the babysitter and the man upstairs, or our version of it. Each retelling is a little different, because urban legends usually spread by word of mouth. They're always about someone's brothers, cousins, roommate,

a person you kind of know about but don't really know. Each teller embellishes their own spooky details. This particular urban legend has been floating around since at least the 1960s, maybe longer. It's hard to track because, again, word of mouth. It's spread for a couple reasons. First, it taps into a parent's biggest fear, something bad happening to your kids. I don't know about other parents out there, but I think about this more than I would like to, and I think that we all have that anxiety about leaving your kids with somebody else.

As someone in true crime or for you who listen to true crime, it's almost worse, because now we're all hyper-aware of all the bad people out there and all the awful things that can and do happen in real life. You know the worst-case scenarios, and all you want to do is protect your babies. That's another major part of this legend. Can you trust a babysitter to make the same choices that you would if something went wrong? Especially when young people are glued to their phones, whether it's a landline in the 1980s or social media now. How do you know that the babysitter is actually watching your kids and not their phone?

There's also the babysitter's perspective. What if someone comes to the house intending to harm you and the children? The fear grows even more real when you learn that there are multiple true crimes that sound eerily similar to this urban legend, with the difference of a few key details. There are at least four different cases that I could find. Jeanette Christman, Evelyn Hartley, Maria Hansel, and Karen Slattery. So while yes, this is an urban legend, it's also a criminal pattern, one that spans states and decades. Some of these crimes are still unsolved.

But in the case I want to tell you about today, not only was the crime solved, the killer was finally brought to justice last year in 2023. Stick with me. It's time for the true story of Karen Slattery. This episode is brought to you by Prime. Obsession is in session. And this summer, Prime Originals have everything you want. Steamy romances, irresistible love stories, and the book to screen favorites you've already read twice. Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime.

Transport your senses with Sol de Janeiro's limited edition perfume mist collection. At Sephora, spritz on lush notes of rainforest orchid and crisp seabries with Hefresco Paraiso. Embrace a floral and fruity scent inspired by Rio's nude beach with chiqui bikini. Or caps your sun-kissed bliss with limonada gelada, where zesty Brazilian lemonade accord meets coconut milk and golden brown sugar. Don't miss Solisdolid. The Ghanito's limited edition perfume mist collection only at Sephora. Our true crime story starts back in the 80s, but it doesn't finish until 2023. So even though it might seem like it's from a long time ago, it's still relevant today.

The case begins like the urban legend. This time with a teenage babysitter who is 14-year-old Karen Slattery. Karen's outgoing and athletic. Not only is she a popular local babysitter, she's also on her school diving team, And she's skilled enough that she qualified to try out for Team USA. It's impressive, but she's still a teenage girl. So Karen loves sleepovers, shopping, and this week, chewing gum. Karen just got her braces off, so now getting to chew gum again is a huge deal.

Karen lives with her parents and siblings in Delray Beach, Florida, the neighborhood's safe, sleepy, and wealthy. Karen attends Pope John Paul II high school in the next town over in Boko-Ritone. So that's Karen. Let's go to the Day of the Crime, March 24, 1984. For Karen, the day starts out great. It's Saturday, so Karen's mom takes her and her little sister Debbie out shopping. Their family has a tradition where they all get new outfits for Easter Sunday,

and Karen and Debbie have such a good time trying on different hats and dresses. That night, Karen goes to a babysitting job watching the Helms family's two daughters while the mom and dad go out. Karen arrives around 6.30 and the evening starts pretty normal. Karen plays with the girls who are 3 and 7, and at some point Karen and the kids might hear some weird noises, like someone is sneaking into the house through a ground floor window, because that's exactly what happens.

While Karen and the kids are in another room, a burglar pushes open a window in the primary bedroom, crawls through, and lands on Mr. and Mrs. Helm's bed. The burglar moves around the house. room sifting through the helm's possessions. He peeks out the door into the living room, where he spots Karen braiding one of the girl's hair. He stays quiet and hidden enough that none of them notice him. In the girl's defense, none of the neighbors or their dogs notice anything either. The houses in Delray Beach are fairly close together. It's a typical American suburb. So when someone's

creeping around the area, there are a lot of potential witnesses. But no one in the neighborhood notices the intruder. He just tiptoes around the house, peering through the Helms family stuff, and spying on Karen and the girls, extremely creepy. Then the burglar gets back on the Helms' bed and climbs right out the window. He leaves the property, seemingly without taking anything. But he leaves the bedroom window open, so he, or anyone else, can climb back inside. Meanwhile, Karen puts the kids to bed, then she calls her mom. But again, she's not worried. She wants to know if any of her friends called the house and left messages for her.

Karen ends up calling her mom four times that evening, all for the same reason, to see if she's missing anything with her friends. Karen's last call home is around 10 p.m. And as far as her mom can tell, there's nothing out of the ordinary. After Karen hangs up, she goes to the living room and watches some TV. About half an hour later, the burglar from before returns to the house. He climbs back in through that window. Then he checks on the children.

They're asleep. The intruder closes the bedroom door without waking them. He tiptoes to the entry to the living room, where Karen's still watching TV. We don't know exactly how long it is before Karen looks away toward the glass door and sees a face, the reflection of the stranger watching her. Karen freaks out, anyone would. She races to the landline, presumably to call 911. She grabs it, but before she can finish dialing, the intruder yells at her to hang up. At this point, she might see that he has a knife. Terrified, Karen drops the phone. The intruder charges at her, moving the phone and

raising his pocket knife. He stabs Karen. and he keeps stabbing, 18 times in total. Some of the early cuts puncture Karen's esophagus and vocal cords. So even though she's alive and conscious for all 18 attacks, she's physically unable to scream. The intruder stops stabbing, drags Karen to the parent's bedroom, and puts her on the bed. He leaves her there while he uses the shower.

Gross, I know. By the time he's done showering, Karen has died. The intruder sexually assaults her dead body. When the killer finishes assaulting Karen, he gets up and showers again. The entire time, the two little girls sleep in their rooms. With their babysitter dead, nobody can protect them from the murderer that is loose in their house.

When Mr. and Mrs. Helms get home around midnight, they walk into an absolute nightmare. The normal lights aren't on, and Karen doesn't greet them. They see that the phone's been moved. And there's also a trail of blood leading to their room. They follow the trail into their room, and they find Karen. You can only imagine their horror. Who did this to her?

Where are their kids? Are they okay? Is Karen's killer still in the house? Right away, they call the police. By 12.15 a.m., the authorities are at the Helms' house. Meanwhile, Mr. Helms checks his daughter's bedrooms, and thankfully, each child is asleep in her bed, completely unharmed, blissfully oblivious to the horror that occurred in their home that night.

The good news is the killer wasn't in their rooms hurting them. The bad news is he is on the run. Police begin their investigation, and they're baffled. It doesn't seem like robbery was a motive, especially when they consider how Karen was left, undressed, her face covered with a towel. It's obvious that she's been sexually assaulted, police find semen. they also find a man's bloody footprint inside the house. However, this is the 1980s, so neither clue is a surefire connection to a suspect.

Karen's murder feels completely random. And the investigation is at a dead end. But given the brutality of the crime, the police decide to ask the public for help. Perhaps someone saw something. No one comes forward immediately, but the community bands together to raise funds for a reward, hoping that it will finally draw out information. As police searched South Florida, it comes to light that Karen wasn't the only babysitter

mysteriously murdered on the job. This type of crime happened back in 1950, 1953, and 1977. In each case, someone broke into a home, killed a babysitter, and left the kids alive. The murders from 1950 and 1953 are still unsolved, which doesn't bode well for the investigators in Karen's case. Once the news is out, it sparks a new fear among babysitters.

That could happen to me. For weeks, all the teenagers in Del Rey are too afraid to babysit. Understandable. I'd also say thanks but no thanks in this kind of situation, and I don't think that I would be comfortable hiring a babysitter after news like this either. Everyone's terrified of a repeat offender. And that's exactly what happens, before they can catch it. he kills again.

In the spring of 1984, Georgiana Warden lives just a few minutes away from Karen Slattery's high school in Boko-Ritone. Georgiana's a 38-year-old single mom, and her daughters are her life. She works two jobs to support them. She's an administrative assistant at an architecture firm, and she teaches classes at a nearby college. People say Georgiana has a huge smile and an upbeat attitude on life. Not only is she a dedicated mom, she's close with her nephew too.

Georgiana often hosts out-of-state relatives and takes them to the beach and Disney World. On this particular Memorial Day weekend in 1984, she actually has some family in town, though they aren't staying at her house. So on the night of May 28th, she's able to relax in bed and read her library book. Eventually, her two young daughters come into her room to say good night, and by 1130 or so, everyone's asleep. That's when a man breaks into the kitchen window. He creeps through the house, digging through the warden stuff, and at some point he finds a hammer. He carries it with him. The intruder enters Georgiana's room.

First, he opens her purse and looks inside, but he doesn't take anything. Then he looks at Georgiana, who is still asleep. He hits her in the head with the hammer. Georgiana wakes up, so he hits her again, repeatedly. One of these blows crushes her neck, so it's impossible for Georgiana to scream, just like it was impossible for Karen Slattery. Georgiana loses consciousness fairly quickly, so she can't fight back. Once she's dead, her killer covers her face with a pillow and sexually assaults her. The next morning, Georgiana's older daughter finds her body.

It's left the same way that Karen Slattery's body was found, naked with her face covered. Another similarity to Karen's case, Georgiana's daughters were physically unharmed and slept through everything. When the Boca Raton police come to investigate, they uncover Georgiana's face, and they discover that she was beaten so brutally that her face and jaw are unidentifiable. DNA identification isn't available in 1984, so they formally identify her body based on the circumstantial evidence. She's in her own house, in her own bed. And this is wild to me because if Georgiana's killer moved her body, she would have been a Jane Doe. But the fact that she's found at her own home makes solving Georgiana's murder possible. It also makes solving Karen's murder possible.

Because while the Delray Beach police have been looking at Karen's murder as an isolated incident, the Boca Raton Police realized that they're hunting a serial killer. Are you looking for support in your weight management journey? Zepbound tersephotide may be. able to help. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with obesity, or some adults with overweight who also have weight-related medical problems to lose excess body weight and keep the weight off. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection. Zepound contains terseptide and should not be used

with other terseptide-containing products or any GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pens or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction.

Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreasic. or gallbladder problems. Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes before scheduled procedures with anesthesia if you're nursing, pregnant, plan to be, or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfonal urea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-99 or visit Zepbounds.lily.com. Want to support your gut health? Take Activia's gut health challenge by enjoying two Activia yogurt a day for two weeks and see if you feel a difference.

With billions of probiotics and 20 years of scientific expertise, Activia is one of the easiest and tastiest ways to start your gut health ritual. Try Activia today. Enjoying Activia twice a day for two weeks as part of a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle may help reduce the frequency of minor digestive discomfort, which includes gas, bloating, rumbling, and abdominal discomfort. It's May 1984 when the Boko-Ratone Police start investigating Georgiana Warden's murder, and they quickly realized this isn't an isolated incident.

They suspect her murderer also killed Karen Slattery, and that he could be a serial killer. Solving the murders will be difficult. There wasn't much evidence at either crime scene. Police couldn't find any visible fingerprints. Though at Georgiana's house, they were able to spray some items with a chemical that would reveal prints after several days, including the library book on her nightstand. And while they wait, they realize it's not just the two murders. There are other similar crimes.

I want to shout out the South Florida Sun Sentinel here. It's a local paper that reported these crimes as they happened, and a great source for this story. Okay, so two years earlier, in November 1982, a man broke into a motel office and attacked one of the managers, 28-year-old, Virginia, Sata. The intruder snuck in while she was napping, and bludgeoned her with a pipe wrench.

Virginia survived but needed reconstructive surgery on her skull. Then in February 1984, a man broke into 17-year-old Mary Lee Manley's bedroom. He beat her unconscious and he sexually assaulted her. She survived too but was hit so hard with a wrench that her ear almost became detached and she required brain surgery. In May 1984, the same month as Georgiana's murder, 26-year-old Monica Simpson was attacked. Her assailant hit her in the head with an iron. In each of these cases, the criminal broke in and attacked women with items that he found nearby. Now, this isn't uncommon in homicides, but it's worth noting that many variations of the babysitter

urban legend include the detail that the killer uses a knife found in the home's kitchen. Very, very eerie. Continuing the investigation, the police discover Georgiana's murder may not have even been the killer's first crime that day. While they're investigating Georgiana's crime scene, a woman named Dimmil Gorman comes to the police to report an attempted break-in. Around 10 p.m. on May 28, she realized the door to her back patio was open, so she closed it and locked it. Not long after, D'Mille heard noises from the patio. It was a man trying to open her door. It sounds just like Karen's murder, where the killer broke in, scoped out the place, then came back later to attack.

According to the Sun at Sentinel, DeMille yelled that he better leave or she would kill him. The man ran away, but not before she got a good look at him. D'Mille gives the police a description and picks a sketch of the man out of a lineup. The woman who was attacked with an iron is shown that same lineup. And she picks the same sketch. And here's where it gets wild, because the police have at least two other arrest warrants out on this man in the sketch. That's right, the suspected killer is already on the investigator's radar. His outstanding warrants include charges for failure to appear and also indecent exposure.

He's 23-year-old Dwayne Eugene Owen. Dwayne Owen was originally from Michigan, where he had an indecent. extremely troubled childhood. His parents were abusive and struggled with alcoholism. Dwayne himself was drinking alcohol and using drugs by age nine. Around that time, his mother died of cancer. Four years later, his father died by suicide, and Dwayne found the body. He and his brother were sent to an orphanage, where Dwayne was sexually abused. When he came of age, he joined the military for a stint, then moved down to Florida because his brother was there. In 1980s, he was in In 1985, while working odd jobs in the area, he exposed himself to two students at Florida Atlantic

University in Boca Raton. One of them reported the crime to the police. This victim helped create a composite sketch. While officers searched for the culprit, they also started using that sketch in lineups for other crimes, including the attacks on Dimmil Gorman and Monica Simpson in the last week of May, 1984. So the day after Georgiana's murder, May 29th, the Boca Raton police now have multiple warrants out for Dwayne Olin's arrest, and multiple open cases that are eerily similar. The Boca Raton and Del Rey Beach Police Department's join forces, and they put out a bolow. That stands for Be on the Lookout.

They put this out on Dwayne Eugene Owen. He doesn't drive, so they're looking for a 23-year-old white man on a bike, not exactly uncommon in a town on the beach. beach. On May 30th, officers stop a man on a bicycle matching Dwayne's description, but the man says that his name is Dana Brown. The officer doesn't buy it and calls for backup. The other officer agrees, this is Dwayne. They arrest him on burglary charges. They can't arrest him for the assault or murders yet. When the police search his apartment, they confirm that the man uses both names, Dana Brown and Dwayne Owen. During interrogation, Duane appears confident.

He even claimed to study law enforcement in school. Perhaps he thinks this will help him outwit detectives and get away with his crimes. He wouldn't be the first to think that. Both the BTK killer and the Golden State killer studied criminology before becoming serial killers. Throughout the interrogation, Dwayne plays cat and mouse games. He asks hypothetical questions, like how they'd handle a man who's been breaking and entering for over two years, or what's the punishment for smashing a woman's head with a cement block, but he doesn't say anything that can be construed as a confession.

At one point in the interrogation, he says, quote, I've got a little pointer for you, man, let me see. It goes roses are red, pigs are blue, start counting victims, there will be quite a few, end quote. I mean, talk about seriously messed up. But when asked to let the police take his footprint so that they could confirm or deny his connection to Karen Slattery, he refuses. Officers have to get a court order first, which takes a few days.

Then finally, a break. Remember the special chemical test for fingerprints at Georgiana's house? It turns out the library book she read before bed has a man's fingerprint. And it matches Dwayne. Finally, some hard evidence. In mid-June, less than a month after Georgiana's murder, Dwayne confesses. to both murders. On tape. According to Dwayne's confession, on the night of March 24, 1984, he biked to the beach and left his bike and shoes there. In just his socks, he crept around

the Helms' neighborhood. At their house, he cut open their window screen and put his socks on his hands so that he wouldn't leave fingerprints, though he did leave a pretty bizarre mental image, creeping through the house in just shorts and wearing socks on his hands. He spied on Karen and the kids, then left through the same window. Dwayne picked up his stuff from the beach and headed over to the Gipper Lounge, a local bar. He spent the next two hours drinking. Then he went to attack. He left his shoes and shirt with his bike on the beach again and entered the house the same way. In the Helm's bedroom closet, he found a pair of deerskin gloves that he put on, and he wore them the entire time, even when he showered. He snooped around.

around the house, even closing the kids' bedroom doors so that they wouldn't hear him, and after he killed Karen, he checked on the kids again, presumably to make sure that they hadn't woken up or heard anything. It's everything the police need to press murder charges, and it's not all. Dwayne also confesses that after he left, he hid the gloves, shorts, and socks that he wore during the crime. He even provides the police with the location. The next, day, officers find the bloody clothes right where Dwayne said. Soon after, they match the blood type to Cairns, and further blood tests can't rule out Dwayne's footprints or semen as a match to those of the crime scene. DNA technology isn't there yet, but the blood test that they run against

the seaman shows a higher statistical likelihood that it came from Dwayne. Even more damning, Dwayne tells one of his cellmates where he hid the murder weapon. He even draws a map. The cellmate turns him into the authorities who then takes a map. Sure enough, it leads police to a knife that lines up with Karen's wounds. The evidence keeps piling up, and not just in Karen's case. By the time Dwayne's first trial comes around, there are 11 separate criminal cases against him. According to reporting by the South Florida Sun Sentinel, those include two murder charges, three attempted murder charges, four sexual battery charges,

six burglary charges, and an attempted escape from custody charge from the time when guards found him hiding in a garbage can underneath the trash. Of course, Duane claims he wasn't trying to escape. He was just hiding in the garbage, you know, nothing to see here. In September 1985, Duane is convicted of the February 1984 break-in and assault, the one where his victims survived. Shortly after, in September, he goes on trial for Karen Slattery's murder. During the trial, jurors contemplate whether or not Dwayne deserves the death penalty for what he did to Karen. The jurors are only allowed to consider the crime against Karen when making their decision. However, they are presented with a list of so-called aggravating factors, including the fact

that the murder was especially heinous, atrocious, and cruel. The jurors also know that Karen's murder was an enormous loss. In the months after her burial, Karen's loved ones brought so many flowers to her grave. The family ended up getting in trouble with the cemetery and the city for making it too hard to mow around. That's how many flowers there were. The jury convicts Dwayne and recommends the death penalty. But first, he goes to trial for his other crimes. All in all, he receives six life sentences and two death sentences.

But here's why the case is still so relevant today. Despite having two death sentences, sentences, Dwayne doesn't get put to death when his trials are done in the late 1980s. While on death row, he lawyers up and starts using every possible loophole to try to stay his execution. Mostly, he claimed police didn't follow the proper legal procedures. He also attempted multiple insanity defenses. But the big thing here is that Dwayne never once says he's innocent. No one is doubting or questioning what he did to Karen, George,

Georgiana and his other victims, so the families are just stuck waiting for decades. Both of Karen's parents pass away before they can see their daughter's killer brought to justice. As Dwayne's appeals drag on, three psychiatrists evaluate him, and while they all agree that Dwayne had a traumatic life, they find that he knew full well what he was doing to his victims. The court finds him sane and mentally competent enough to be executed. Still, Dwayne and his legal team appeal his sentence for 37 years. But in 2023, Governor Ron DeSantis finally signs the paperwork for Dwayne's execution. When asked about the news, Karen's little sister Debbie Johnson says, quote,

He looked into my sister's eyes when she died, and I will look into his eyes when he dies. On June 15, 2023, Dwayne Eugene Owen is put to death. He keeps his eyes closed. denying Debbie's one request. Afterward, Debbie says, quote, he died with dignity, and unfortunately, his victims did not. And some of those victims may still be unknown.

Retired police Sergeant McCoy, who worked on the case in the 80s, believes that Dwayne may be responsible for other unsolved homicides. He also may be linked to multiple murders around the greater Denver, Colorado area, too. So that's the end of Dwayne Owen, but I want to also take

a second to talk about Karen Slattery's legacy. Though she died tragically and so young, her life left some lasting impacts. I mentioned the reward fund that the community raised to help find Karen's killer. It wound up being around 50 grand. That's in 1980s money, so even more today. But since the police solved the crime, the money went to fund an early childhood education program at Florida Atlantic University in Karen's name. Karen's love of kids impacted more children and teachers than she probably ever imagine. Similarly, Karen's friends planted a tree to remember her, which still stands in front of their high school as of 2023. And then there's Karen's influence on her little sister Debbie. Debbie watched police solve Karen's murder firsthand,

and she was inspired by the work that they did. Some of the officers became mentors to her, and she went on to become a deputy sheriff herself. She's dedicated her life to solving crimes and helping families just like hers. And we need people like Debbie. In the age of cell phones, caller ID, and home security systems, babysitters are technically safer than ever. But when it comes to our kids, we still have to watch out, not just if you have young kids, but if you have older kids who get babysitting jobs. Remember, this kind of crime is a pattern going back to the 1950s.

It evolves with technology. Today, home invasion murders still happen. And if you get a creepy call, like in the urban legend, or even a call where something just doesn't feel right, don't wait for them to call back. It's okay to ask for help. Because with technology like voice changers and AI deep fake photos and videos, you never know who's watching you. Or who's on the other end of the phone. Thanks for tuning in to Serial Killers, a Spotify podcast. Come back Monday for another episode.

I'm your guest host, Annie Elise. And if you liked what you heard today, check out my podcast. my podcast serialously and my YouTube channel tend to life. For more information on the murders of Karen Slattery and Georgiana Warden, we found contemporary reporting by the Palm Beach Post and South Florida Sun Sentinel, as well as WPTV's documentary, Bad Things Can Happen to Good People, extremely helpful to our research. Until next time, stay safe out there.

Be nice and don't kill people. This episode was written and researched by Maggie Admiere. edited by Mickey Taylor, T.T.U. and Ben Bishop. Fact-checked by Lori Siegel and sound designed by Alex Button. Our head of programming is Julian Bwaro. Our head of production is Nick Johnson. And Spencer Howard is our post-production supervisor. Want to hear something spooky. Some monster. It reminded me of Bigfoot.

Monsters Among Us is a weekly podcast featuring true stories of the paranormal. One of the boys started to exhibit. possession. Stories straight from the witnesses' mouths themselves. Something very snakelight lifted its head out of the water. Hosted by me, your guide, Derek Hayes. Somehow I lost eight whole hours. Listen now on Spotify or wherever you get your podcast. A beloved 75-year-old man washing up getting ready for bed is brutally beaten and killed. Despite an exhaustive investigation, the killer avoids arrest and then, I'm Global News crime reporter Nancy Hicks. You might listen to a lot of true crime podcasts this year,

but they're not crime beat. Search for and follow the award-winning podcast crime beat on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and wherever you find your favorite podcasts.