ID's Your Worst Nightmare: What happened to Karen Slattery?

Karen Slattery was only 14 when she was brutally murdered while baby-sitting for William and Carolyn Helm in Delray Beach, Florida. An intruder entered the Helm home and stabbed Karen multiple times before s*xually assaulting her body and leaving the teen to die.

Although detectives couldn't find much about who killed the teen and the case went cold, they made some revelations that helped them locate the killer. They identified Duane Owens as the intruder and convicted him of murdering Karen and another woman, who was killed in a similar manner later.

Trigger warning: This article contains mentions of murder and r*pe that may trigger some. Discretion is advised.

Karen Slattery's murder will be detailed in Investigation Discovery's true crime series Your Worst Nightmare on January 19, 2023, at 7 pm. Titled He's Out There, the synopsis of the episode reads:

"Florida teenager Karen Slattery gets brutally murdered while babysitting a neighbors' children; the violent intruder vanishes without a trace, and the case goes cold."

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Karen Slattery was stabbed 18 times by an intruder, Duane Owen

As mentioned earlier, Karen was babysitting for Carolyn and William Helm on March 2, 1984, when an intruder entered the house. He stabbed her 18 times all over her body and r*ped her unconscious body before leaving her to die.

When the couple returned home after midnight, they found Karen's belongings lying around the house and a large pool of blood in the kitchen. The blood could be traced back to their bedroom, and the couple immediately called the police, who found Karen's body in the bedroom.

When police arrived at the Helm house, they noticed that Karen had been stabbed multiple times across her body. Upon further investigation, they discovered that she was stabbed 18 times in all - eight times in the back, six times in the neck and had four stab wounds cutting her throat.

They also discovered that although Slattery was stabbed so many times, she was alive but unconscious and the killer dragged her body from the kitchen to the bedroom. They revealed that she had also been r*ped while she was unconscious. The teen died due to excessive blood loss after all her stab wounds.

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An unrelated confession led the investigators to Slattery's killer

Although the investigators tried their best to locate the killer, the investigation soon went cold as they didn't find any evidence that led them to the killer. However, a few months after Karen's death, it was a confession that made it easier for investigators to zero down on a person.

Duane Eugene Owen was arrested on Mary 29, 1984, in connection to an unrelated burglary case. On the same day, a murder had also taken place and investigators had a hunch about it having a connection to Owen and questioned him about it.

Although he denied at the time, a month later, police found an inked footprint at the Helm house, where Karen was murdered. Upon comparing it to Owen's footprint, they found that it matched and they arrested him.

Owen had also previously told police that he was ready to make a confession if they found evidence. Since the footprint counted as evidence, Owen had no choice but to confess to the murder of Karen Slattery and 38-year-old Georgianna Worden, the woman found murdered in May 1984.

Duane Owen was charged with first-degree murder and convicted in both cases separately.

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As mentioned earlier, the Your Worst Nightmare episode will be aired on January 19, 2023, at 7 pm