NEWS4U JULY 2021 | ENTERTAINMENT
TRUE CRIME JUNKIE WITH JOHNNY FLETCHER
THE MURDER OF STEPHANIE CROWE File this case under: Crazy Twists & Turns. Nearly 25 years
Police also brought in two of Michael's teenaged friends,
after the murder of 12-year-old Stephanie Crowe in
Aaron Houser and Joshua Treadway, for questioning.
Escondido, California, we're still no closer to learning the
Suspiciously, Houser possessed a huge collection of knives
truth - though four individuals (two of whom confessed
- one of which was missing but turned up at Treadway's
but later recanted) were charged with the crime only to
home. Now viewed as a co-conspirator in Stephanie's
be released due to a lack of sufficient evidence. The fourth
murder, Treadway was interrogated for a total of over 20
suspect, Richard Raymond Tuite, a
hours before confessing. Houser
28-year-old transient, spent years in
was then arrested and questioned
jail for Stephanie's murder before
as well; however, he never admitted
being granted a retrial courtesy of
to any involvement in the crime.
the Supreme Court of California.
Regardless, all three boys were
He was ultimately found not guilty
charged and jailed. And that's when
in 2013.
things got really interesting.
So that's the abridged version
Six
months
of how the legal process played
the
start
out. In short, justice still has not
belated DNA testing found three
been served for Stephanie who
drops of Stephanie's blood on
lost her life on the evening of
a shirt belonging to Tuite, the
January 20, 1998 as she slept in
aforementioned
her bedroom. Her body - which
He'd been seen in the Crowes'
suffered eight stab wounds - was
neighborhood on the night of
discovered the following morning
the murder; in fact, several calls
by her parents and grandmother.
were made to the police when the
Investigators noted that there were
diagnosed
no obvious signs of a break-in -
later, of
just
before
Treadway's
fourth
schizophrenic
trial,
suspect.
began
knocking on doors and looking
though Stephanie's window was found to be unlocked as
in windows. Tuite quickly became the sole focus of the
well as a sliding glass door in her parents' bedroom. Still,
investigation, was charged with murder and went to trial
the lack of evidence supporting an intruder theory meant
in 2004. Ultimately, he was convicted of a lesser charge
that Stephanie's 14-year-old brother Michael became
of voluntary manslaughter and began serving a 13-year
an immediate person of interest and was subsequently
sentence... and then this crazy case took another wild turn
subjected to hours of intense interrogation - without an
as the appeals process resulted in a retrial based on errors
attorney or his parents present - during which he reportedly
made by the prosecution and a lack of evidence tying Tuite
confessed.
to the Crowe home. He walked free in 2013. To date, no one else has been charged for the murder of Stephanie Crowe.
40 | JULY 2021
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