Stephanie Crowe Research Papers

On the night of January 20th, 1998 in Escondido, California, the lives of the family of 12 year old Stephanie Crowe were turned upside down. Stephanie’s body was discovered lifeless on her bedroom floor by her parents and grandmother. Stephanie had been stabbed 9 times, and there was no sign of forced entry into the house. The young girl’s window was unlocked that night but there was a screen in place and there was no evidence showing there was an entry through the window. The sliding glass door in the parent’s, Steve and Cheryl Crowe, room was also unlocked but they claimed they would’ve heard if someone had came through the door because of the blinds on the door. With no weapon found at the scene, and no real trace of who could’ve committed

It may seem like another black and white sibling rivalry murder, but it’s the farthest thing from it. The investigation of the murder of Stephanie Crowe may have started in 1998, but to this day they still don’t have any real justice for the young girl who was senselessly murdered in her sleep. That morning after the crime they took the Crowe family into custody and interviewed them each separately.The night of the murder, the grandmother reported to have heard several loud noises and heard her bedroom door open and close. Yet, she ignored them and did not get up until 6:30am when she heard Stephanie’s alarm clock going off down the hall and found the young girl in the doorway of her bedroom, with blood all over her bed and the floor. The police confiscated the family’s clothing as evidence, and the parents were sent to a motel while the two surviving children, Michael and Shannon, were sent to the county’s shelter for children. The young, mentally scarred children were not only separated from their family, they were not allowed to see them for two days. Without parental consent or attorneys present, Michael and Shannon were taken to the police station to be questioned about the murder of their sister. The police took Michael several times, and was singled out by the Escondido police because of how distant he seemed after his sister's body was discovered. Michael was now the prime suspect in his sister's brutal

No broken windows, no broken locks, no outside evidence to prove that anyone else could have entered the home undetected. The police refused to believe it could’ve been anyone other than Michael. That same night there was a homeless man, Richard Tuite, who had been wandering the streets, was reportedly knocking on doors and peering through windows of homes in the Crowes’ neighborhood asking for a girl named Tracy. Tuite had also been seen standing in the Crowe family’s driveway staring at the house by a neighbor. Tracy had a very strong resemblance to Stephanie. Tracy Nelson was a girl that Richard was obsessed with seven years prior. At that time the two were into drugs together. Tuite, when on drugs, would often become paranoid and think he was being followed by people. Tuite was the reasoning behind two separate 911 calls just hours before Stephanie’s murder. Twice there were Escondido police officers dispatched to the area, but Tuite was not arrested. The morning after the murder he was picked up by police at a laundromat, he was briefly questioned, his clothes were confiscated, and he was released. Tuite had a long history of drug abuse and was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 20, which made the police believe he was mentally unable to kill. Tuite still had an outstanding police record with arrests for drug use, assault with a deadly weapon, and attempted