The Dark History of Duane Owen: A Tale of Brutality and Murder

The early life of Duane Owen 

Life was far from kind to Duane Eugene Owen. Hailing from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1961 and growing up in the Midwest, Owen was raised amidst poverty and violence, where the clinking of beer bottles was the unsettling soundtrack of his childhood.

In this broken household, alcohol reigned supreme, leaving an indelible mark on Owen's formative years. One neighbour would later reminisce, "I'll never forget that house. It was the only one where beer was delivered straight to the door by a beer truck."

Trapped in this despair, young Owen found solace in the vice that plagued his family. At the tender age of nine, he too was drawn into the clutches of the bottle and drugs.

Tragedy, it seemed, held an unyielding grip on Owen's life. At the age of 11, his mother succumbed to the grips of alcoholism. Two years later, when he was just 13, his violently abusive father committed suicide. Left orphaned and adrift, Owen found himself discarded into the anonymity of a Michigan orphanage.

As he journeyed through his teen years, the cracks in his psyche deepened. Owen developed a history of mental illness and began to exhibit disturbing behaviour, which grew increasingly unsettling and led him in and out of juvenile detention centres.

Once he aged out of the care system, Owen clung to the hope of a fresh start, seeking solace in the sun-soaked streets of South Florida, where his brother resided. Alas, the new location did little to quell his insatiable appetite for crime.

Owen found himself caught in an unending cycle of lawlessness and showed no signs of remorse for his actions. He actually seemed to revel in his criminal activities.

By the time he was in his early 20s, he had already served time in prison for burglary, theft, and assault.

But soon, these paltry crimes no longer satisfied his insatiable hunger. No, Owen craved something more sinister that would send shockwaves through the very fabric of society.

The murder of Karen Slattery  

Karen Slattery, a bright and promising freshman at Pope John Paul II High School, was a remarkable young teenager. At only 14 years old, she was already a beloved and highly sought-after babysitter in her community and a gifted athlete with aspirations to represent the U.S. in diving.

Her journey, however, was abruptly cut short on March 24, 1984.

It was a Saturday night, and Karen was babysitting two young sisters in Delray Beach, Florida. The little girls, aged three and seven, were already sound asleep when Karen called her mom for a quick chat around 10 p.m.

Little did she know, an unexpected visitor had been watching her, quietly lurking in the shadows of the white house on the quiet cul-de-sac.

Owen would later tell detectives that earlier that evening, he had first entered the house through a bedroom window and seen Karen braiding the girls' hair. He then slipped in and out of the house completely unnoticed, biding his time until the children drifted off to sleep.

To kill the hours, he hopped on his bike and took a leisurely ride down to The Gipper, a local bar. Sipping on beer and indulging in a bit of marijuana, he steered his thoughts back to the house he had scouted earlier.

Once he returned to the house, he made his move.

Shortly after midnight, the parents of the young children Karen was babysitting returned home to a terrifying sight. Karen's hairbrush, shoes, and dental retainer lay scattered and abandoned on the living room floor.

As they walked into the kitchen, they were met with a shocking pool of crimson blood, silently screaming for attention.

Filled with dread and panic, the couple wasted no time contacting the authorities. When the police arrived, they cautiously entered the house and followed the bloody drag marks from the kitchen to the master bedroom.

There, the authorities discovered the lifeless body of Karen Slattery lying in a pool of blood. The young teenager had been stabbed 18 times. No part of her body was spared as the knife sliced through her back and neck, leaving a trail of unimaginable pain behind.

The medical examiner who conducted Karen's autopsy surmised she was still clinging to life after the brutal knife attack before Duane Owen callously dragged her to the master bedroom, raped her, and left her to die.

In one night, Karen's life had been mercilessly extinguished, her dreams and aspirations forever stolen from her. Yet, amidst the tragedy, a sliver of solace remained. The children she was babysitting emerged unscathed and slept through the ordeal.

The murder of Georgianna Worden

Just a few weeks later, Owen struck again.

This time, his victim was Georgianna Worden, a hardworking executive secretary and devoted single mother of two. Georgianna had relocated from Syracuse, New York, to sunny Boca Raton, Florida, in 1971 with her husband, John. However, the relationship took an unfortunate turn, and the couple split in 1977, leaving Worden to single-handedly care for their two daughters.

On the evening of May 28, 1984, Georgianna was sleeping peacefully in her Boca Raton home when she fell victim to a relentless attack. Unbeknownst to her, Owen had stealthily entered her home armed with a hammer.

As her children slept soundly nearby, Georgianna was violently roused from her slumber when the hammer mercilessly descended upon her head. In a swift and brutal attack, Owen struck her several times in the head and face with the hammer before raping her.

Early the following day, while getting ready for school, one of Georgianna's daughters found her lifeless body.

Georgianna Worden's tragic story shook the quiet community. The tight-knit neighbourhood where she lived transformed into a scene of confusion and disbelief. Everyone wondered who could commit such a heinous act against a loving mother. As the investigation unfolded, dark secrets and hidden motives began to surface, painting a chilling portrait of a cold-blooded killer.

Arrest and confessions 

On the same day that Georgianna's daughters discovered her body, Duane Owen, a then 23-year-old unemployed mechanic, was apprehended for unrelated burglary charges and outstanding warrants for failing to appear in court.

Over the next few weeks, Owen faced relentless questioning about various crimes. Owen spilt his secrets during these chilling interrogation sessions. Confession after confession, he revealed a dark world of burglaries, batteries, and murder.

He confessed to the investigators that on November 1, 1982, he broke into a room in the Peter Pan Motel on North Federal Highway in Boca Raton. While inside, he struck a woman with such cruel force that her skull fractured, with the fragments dangerously close to her brain. Then, in an act of callous audacity, Owen called the Boca Raton police to report his heinous crime.

Dectivites soon learned this was just the beginning of his reign of terror in South Florida. On February 9, 1984, Owen struck again, breaking into an apartment neighbouring the Boca Raton Regional Hospital. Inside was 18-year-old Marilee Manley. Owen had spotted her when he was outside the building, and like a predator stalking its prey, he meticulously counted the windows, making sure he found the right apartment.

Once inside, he subjected Marilee Manley to a horrifying rape and vicious beating that left her face disfigured and nearly ended her life. And to add salt to the wounds, he heartlessly stole and pawned Marilee's precious high school graduation ring.

However, despite confessing to the above harrowing crimes, he denied being the one behind the two murders. It wasn't until Boca Raton police confronted Owen with fingerprint evidence on June 21, 1984, that the truth finally broke free from Owen's lips, and he admitted to killing Georgianna Worden and eventually admitted to killing Karen Slattery.

Trial 

While on trial, Duane Owen faced a series of heinous crimes, including first-degree murder, sexual battery, and burglary of a dwelling with the intent to commit sexual battery. Each offence was treated separately, but the outcome remained the same. The jury, by a margin of ten to two, recommended the ultimate punishment: the death penalty.

During the trial and the subsequent years, Owen's legal team tried to squash his conviction using various methods. They claimed that Owen had haunting delusions and was suffering from schizophrenia. Yet, while prosecutors acknowledged Owen's mental health struggles, they maintained that his awareness of his crimes warranted the death penalty.

In another instance, the defence vehemently contended that Owen had dementia and gender dysphoria. Refusing to back down, state psychiatrists dismantled this claim, assuring the court that Owen had a sharp memory, showed no signs of identifying as female, and discredited the notion that gender dysphoria causes aggression or delusional thinking.

Ultimately, Duane Owen, age 62, was executed on Thursday, June 15, 2023, at 6:14 p.m. at the Florida State Prison. He had been on death row for 38 years.