Trail of Blood /// Part 1 /// 416 | Forensic Files

foreign [Music] [Applause] welcome to True Crime garage wherever you are whatever you are doing thanks
for listening I'm your host Nick and with me as always is a man who bought his mother shotgun shells and cigarettes
for her birthday he is the captain was Hoban should kill my siblings it's good to be seen and it's good to see you
thanks for listening thanks for telling a friend [Music] this week we are very excited to be
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[Music] everywhere [Music] [Music] in 1995 criminologist and political scientist
John delulio was invited to the White House to attend a working dinner on juvenile crime
that same year de lulio wrote an article on the subject matter titled the coming
of the super Predators he says the article is a much needed reality check on the incredibly frightening picture
that emerges from recent academic research on youth crime and violence he says all of the Research indicates
that Americans are sitting Atop A demographic crime bomb and all of those who are closest to the
problem hear the bomb ticking he says big city prosecutors inundated him with war stories about the
ever-growing numbers of hardened remorseless juveniles who are showing up in the system
quote they kill or maim on impulse without any intelligible motive likewise a veteran police officer told delulio I
never used to be scared now I say a quick Hail Mary every time I get a call at night involving juveniles
I pray I go home in one piece to my own kids on a visit to a New Jersey Maximum Security Prison
he spoke to a group of inmates one prisoner told him I was a badass Street Gladiator but
these kids are Stone Cold Predators he goes on to cite a soaring rise in youth crimes of violence
stating between 1985 and 1992 the rate at which males ages 14 to 17 commit murder dramatically increased and while
most violent youth crime is committed by juveniles against juveniles of late young offenders have been committing
more homicides robberies and other crimes against adults there's even some evidence that
juveniles are doing homicidal violence in wolf packs citing a 1993 study that said juveniles committed about a
third of all homicides against strangers often murdering their victim in groups of two or more
moreover the crimes are becoming more violent and more serious for example aggravated assaults rather than simple
assaults and attacks involving guns rather than weaponless violence according to the article the youth crime
wave has reached horrific proportions 1994 in Los Angeles there were believed to be some 400 youth street gangs with
known members alone committing 370 murders and over 3 300 felony assaults the criminologist goes on to say
what is really frightening is what's just around the corner namely a sharp increase in the number of
Super crime prone young males at the time nationally there were about 40 million children under the age of 10.
the largest number in decades in a decade the then four to seven year olds will become 14 to 17 year olds
to which he says it's simple more boys begets more bad boys this spike in the young male population
means big trouble ahead he pointed to quote scientific Kitty crime literature study of ten thousand boys who lived in
Philadelphia between their 10th and 18th birthdays over one-third had at least one recorded arrest
most of the arrest occurred when the boys were ages 15 to 17. half of the boys who were arrested were
arrested more than once but the most famous finding of the study was that six percent of the boys
committed five or more crimes before they were 18. accounting for over half of all serious crimes and about
two-thirds of all the violent crimes this six percent do 50 statistic was replicated in a series of studies in
several cities it is on that basis that James Q Wilson and other leading crime doctors
predicted that the additional 500 000 boys who will be 14 to 17 years old in the year 2000. will mean at least 30 000
more murderers rapists and muggers on the streets according to delullio what was on the horizon
was tens of thousands of severely morally impoverished juvenile super predators who were perfectly capable of committing
the most heinous acts of physical violence for the most trivial reasons they fear neither the stigma of arrest
nor the pain of imprisonment they live by the meanest code of the meanest streets
a code that reinforces rather than restrains their violent hair trigger mentality
in prison or out the things that super Predators get with criminal Behavior sex drugs money
are immediate Rewards Nothing Else Matters to them so for as long as their youthful
energies hold out they will do what comes naturally murder rape Rob assault burglarize deal
deadly drugs and get high Mansfield B Frazier's book warned of a Sharp cataclysmic increase in youth
crime and violence and what he called the coming Menace it is speeches articles and reports like
delulios the cites flawed statistics and study results that led to the growing panic in the U.S of exaggerated
inflation of Youth gang violence and a new political phrase the juvenile super predator
[Music] Somerville Massachusetts a beautiful place located directly northwest of
Boston the population at the time of our story is about 77 000 people now our day in question will
be or should be a beautiful Sunday a summer's day in July this is July 23rd 1995. the kids are out of school but 15
year old Eddie O'Brien is getting up early Eddie works a part-time job he's had this job for over a year Eddie is
pretty much your ordinary average 15 year old kid in almost every way save but one
Eddie is big and he's not just big for his age he is big for any age Eddie is six foot four inches tall and weighs
about 250 pounds that's a lot of lbs for a 15 year old there captain now the best
way to describe Eddie other than big I would say is baby-faced and the close-up photos from 1995 the headshots
where you can't see his large frame his face looks kind and boyish looking younger than 15 in my opinion but as
said Eddie is pretty much a normal kid he has lots of friends he's on the football team at school he's a big
sports fan and I mean come on Boston is one of the great Sports towns in all of America so what does he play running
back I think he might have been a lineman so of course his favorite team you know being in the Boston area is
going to be the Pats and his favorite athlete is one of the all-time greats Mr Larry Joe bird on this Sunday Eddie has
to be at work at 7 A.M this is to put together the Sunday papers he works at a carryout so the big sellers are things
like newspapers magazines soda that kind of stuff it's important to note a couple of
things the store where Eddie works is not very far from his home he could easily walk there and did often
Eddie has several friends close friends in the neighborhood and they hang out all of the time and they are in and out
of each other's houses all of the time kind of like our old white Road Keller farms connection for us back in the day
now Eddie goes to the store where he works but he even goes there when he's not working so this is not
just a workplace for him this is also somewhere that he frequents in his free time
as we said he's a big sports fan so he likes to go there and read the magazines in the newspapers
his friends from the neighborhood they like to go to this store there often as well Eddie spent the entire morning
working he got a ride home from his older sister he brought home from the store two newspapers the Boston
Globe and the Boston Herald and he also brought home some candy for his little sister
the newspapers were for his parents and since we mentioned it Captain the Boston
Globe is by far and away one of the better one of the best resources actually for this case and if anyone has
not seen the movie Spotlight which is about the Boston Globe it's a must see fifteen-year-old Eddie O'Brien he lives
with his parents Patricia and Edward senior Okay so even though Eddie Jr is six foot four
250 pounds his dad is known in his family and to the neighborhood as Big Ed okay so Eddie is the 15 year old big kid
and Big Ed is Eddie's father there are five kids in Eddie's family and he's the only son it's also
important to note that across the street from Eddie's house is his best friend's house
this is Ryan Downing the Downing household consists of Ryan's mother Janet who is 42 years old and single and
her four children around 5 PM Eddie leaves his house with his sister and Ryan downing's twin brother Paul
they're going to go to the Catholic Church to attend the 5 30 Mass Eddie's sister Jeannie will be driving the group
of teens as they get closer to the church Genie drops Eddie off at Union Square this is
near his place of work he sees someone he wants to talk to at his work and he goes in there and he
hangs out for a while he leaves there on foot heading in the direction of his house
Eddie stops off at a park and sees his best friend Ryan Downing at this park they chat for a bit and decide to walk
home with two other friends together now so all of them are going back to their neighborhood the group decides to go to
Ryan's house okay Captain this is important as we are about to have several moving pieces here
and I want to make sure this portion of the story comes out clear and that it is
easy to follow because the events and the movements in regards to a a group or groups of teenagers will be very
important to the rest of our story so to be clear we are now just after 6 30ish and we have four teenage boys all very
good friends this is Eddie O'Brien Joey Dion Chris Ford and Ryan Downing they are all going to Ryan's house they have
all been there I don't know a hundred times before they hung out there until almost 8 pm
this is when the group is leaving to go swimming at a friend's house in the neighborhood Eddie is the only one in
the group that does not want to go swimming yeah he's a bigger boy so right sometimes bigger boys don't want to go
swimming well you're right you think back to when when you're a kid everyone knows someone
for any number of reasons that was uncomfortable swimming in a group or with girls or with guys maybe or you had
a friend that always had to swim with his shirt on yeah I had to swim with his shirt on but I preferred to swim without
pants on well and it was actually known to his closer friends that Eddie was uncomfortable about his weight right so
not only did he choose to not go swimming on this occasion I'm guessing that was probably a pretty regular thing
for him well his his overall size as well I mean 6'4 you're a giant compared to your your friends you're you're
bigger than most of your friend's parents so he's going to opt out on the swimming for the evening now again
Eddie's house is right across the street so he just walks home the Edward O'Brien house did not have
air conditioning so on a summer's day or night and this was pretty typical of the
neighborhood in general his family they might hang out on their front porch for hours and hours so his father
and Eddie and his little sister were all chilling on the porch some neighbors dropped by periodically
to hang out and chat now just before 8 30 Eddie's sister Jeannie and Paul Downing came home
they said they were going to go to the beach and swim Paul went to his house across the street
to change and then was seen leaving the house around 8 30 P.M note that at this time just around 8 30
p.m Paul is believed or was the only one seen going into the Downing house at this time right at 9 15 PM Eddie decides
to go out for a little bit before the night is over here's his plan he's going to walk to the Burger King grab a snack
and then walk to his friend his friend's name is Garvey he's going to walk to garvey's house
this is at 9 15. okay so we're all on board so far we're going to move ahead in this timeline just a few minutes
this is between the minutes of 9 45 to 10 p.m when the following takes place Ryan Downing returns home
he finds his mother Janet Downing and a pool of blood on the dining room floor Ryan runs from the house to get help
he runs across the street and gets Big Ed Big Ed goes running with Ryan back to his house
just before they go inside big Ed yells to the neighbors this is Barry in Virginia reckley he yells for some kind
of assistance from Barry so now entering the home all behind Big Ed we have the Reckless and Ryan during this time they
call 9-1-1 to report what they saw from their own house correct on July 23rd 1995 Janet Downing age 42 and mother of
four is found stabbed to death in her Somerville Home she was murdered sometime between 8 and
10 p.m that Sunday night this July 23rd this 8 P.M to 10 pm marker comes from Margot Nash's fantastic book the
politics of murder the Boston Globe says she was killed between 8 30 and 9 15 p.m I'm guessing
other outlets probably reported similar times likely more to the 8 30 to 9 15 pm
time frame I say that because we have Paul Downing who entered the home sometime around 8 15 and left just
before 8 30. shortly after 10 pm Eddie calls police from the midnight convenience store where he works and he
says he was attacked by two men with a knife he tells them he was mugged and had cuts
to his right hand police speak with Eddie briefly at the store they go there and speak with him
they take down the report and the paramedics are there too they examine his Cuts I wonder if these actually look
like defensive wounds because we know that somebody trying to use a knife the knife could become slippery and cause
wounds to their hands but it also didn't seem like he was covered in blood right so what we have
go down here at the midnight convenience store Captain the police speak with him
they take down his report the paramedics examine his cuts at the at this time the
paramedics don't believe that he needs much medical attention and like you said he's clearly not covered
in blood or the police are going to have a different reaction to the the sight of
this young man but we also have to go through what Eddie told the police but this is not at
the midnight convenience store this is later that same night when Eddie was treated at the hospital for these same
injuries the cuts to his right hand and also some minor abrasions to Eddie's Shins
one of the officers that participated in the safety sweep at the Downing house this is the murder scene the crime scene
at the Downing house was later dispatched to go to the Somerville Hospital he was dispatched
or so we're told this to interview a boy about an incident that took place earlier that day the boy Eddie who said
he was mugged and injured during that crime so two officers arrived at the hospital
around midnight they spoke to Eddie for a while his father and his uncle were present
Eddie was photographed during this meeting he was wearing a white Above the Rim t-shirt which was turned inside out
Eddie was also wearing green shorts and black tennis shoes police took blood swabs from Eddie's
Shins they found a small drop of blood on one of Eddie's shins and later this would be
tested we should keep in mind that the O'Briens believe that Eddie is being talked to because he was mugged
earlier that day the evidence that is being collected at this time is Eddie's clothes
fingerprints blood they're taking photographs of the young boy and such and again they believe this is necessary
for the mugging incident Eddie and his father filled out and signed the consent forms for collection
of this evidence after collecting the evidence and the photographs were taken it was time for
the officers to have a nice long chat with all the parties so they went to the Somerville police station
foreign [Music] [Music] cheers mates cheers to you there Mr Captain cheers to everybody out there there we go we just
covered everybody yeah everybody in the world at the Somerville police station so on our timeline it is now just after
2 A.M the officers have Eddie sign a Miranda waivers form this is protocol at the time in
Massachusetts for persons over the age of 14 but under the age of 17. this is not typically done when you are about to
interview a victim so this is where Captain us on the outside looking in can see that the
officers here do not fully consider the 15 year old boy to be a victim they think of him in such a manner that
requires them it requires the consent form before questioning Eddie's father went with one of the
officers into another room for questioning of his own and then Eddie and his uncle and now we have Eddie's
mother present as well remained in this room during the questioning and several officers are questioning Eddie at this
time so I don't I want everybody to be clear this this boy this 15 year old boy was
not left alone with officers yes he has no attorney present with him but he has his mother and his uncle in this room
with him so he's got parental supervision or you know the the backing of his family Eddie was asked to recall
his day and he said when he arrived at his best friend's house Ryan's house that the groceries were already in the
house this is because Janet the mother went to the grocery store just prior to Eddie arriving
he said he did not help bring them in because there was no need to do so he and a boy named Joey Dion went into
the den this with the intent to play video games but Ryan's mother was asleep in that room so they went into the
kitchen instead they did this so they would not wake her up there in the kitchen were other the
other boys hanging out soon everyone left all at the same time and Eddie went home
later Eddie said he was on his front porch when he saw Paul Downing go into his home and then saw Paul leave after
he says 10 maybe 15 minutes and Paul leaves with three girls they get in a vehicle they drive off right then Eddie
said he walked down the street and went to Burger King this is I I had to laugh about this Captain because we just spoke
a few weeks ago about how McDonald's always seems to weasel its way into 60 or so of our cases well now we have
Burger King trying to step in on old Mickey D's action right the Whopper that's right so Eddie says he walks to
the Burger King and he said that the the restaurant was quite busy and then the food that he ate
there upset his stomach a bit so he decided to leave so not a good showing out of Burger King right but do we have
a receipt for this visit that's that's interesting that you say that I don't we don't have a receipt for this what's
interesting is the Burger King thing does not so much come into question because of other information that will
later come out he says after this experience at the old BK that he decided to walk down to Union
Square to this area because he wanted to go to a place called Jimmy's this was like another
food establishment on his way there is when he said he got mugged he was mugged he said when he walked down Somerville
street after this he went to his work which was nearby remember this would be a safe place for Eddie right he's just
been mugged where are you going to go you ain't gonna go to Jimmy's now and get something to eat in fact the people
that mugged you stole all of your money so you're going to go to your work you're injured and he said that he said
he never returned to the Downing home after he left with the group when he said he was going home because they were
going swimming and he didn't want to go swimming right what's interesting here we say that
they're questioning this boy but really all they do is ask him to recall his day
he's not being asked specific questions even about the mugging or specific questions so much about Janet Downing
who was murdered who lived across the street from him he's just being asked to record his day recall his day and really
it appears to me that the majority of this visit seems more about photographing him right
and taking his fingerprints and taking his blood getting that stuff getting collecting evidence from him
well two days later on July 25th 1995 15 year old Eddie O'Brien he is arrested and charged with the
murder of his best friend's mother who lives almost directly across the street from the O'Brien home
one month later on the 25th of August a grand jury indicts Eddie for first degree murder
so what the hell happened police said they didn't believe Eddie's story they believed that the cuts to his hand
was not from the knife attack during the mugging incident that Eddie said took place
but that the cuts were from his knife attack that he committed on Janet Downing and he had either injured himself while
killing his best friend's mother or when she fought and tried to fight for her own life causing the cuts to his hand
right also police said that they had physical evidence that Eddie committed the crime
police said they matched a bloody fingerprint from a beam in downing's seller to Eddie O'Brien
the prosecutor said they had Eddie's blood and fingerprints at the crime scene and Eddie had blood consistent with that
of Janet Downing on his shin this was a small drop they also said that they had three
eyewitnesses that saw Eddie fleeing the murder scene their claim is that Eddie fabricated the mugging story as an alibi
for the cuts suffered during the commission of the murder right and some of his family members were out on the
porch you would have think they would have noticed him going in and out of the neighbor's house yeah this story doesn't
really heat up and get really interesting and into the nitty-gritty of the details
until the whole thing gets to trial this is what's coming out in the papers at the time the police and the
prosecutors saying this is what we have against this this 15 year old boy we're going to arrest him we're going to
charge him with first degree murder and it looks on the surface from what they're putting
in the papers to be what could amount to a mountain of evidence against this boy
yeah like I said if if he used a knife and there was that many stab wounds that there would be a lot of blood that knife
becomes slippery the handle becomes slippery they normally can injure themselves by attacking somebody else
so Eddie O'Brien is arrested and charged as we said Janet Downing was laid to rest
Eddie's parents were invited by neighbors to attend the funeral and the mass for the services for Janet Downing
the neighbors said that they did not want this tragedy to tear the neighborhood split right down the middle
as one neighbor put it though Brian's not only believed their son's story and believed that he was innocent of the
charges they were very vocal about this belief they did interviews with the globe
and on August 2nd 1995 just a a little more than a week after the murder the O'Briens announced a five thousand
dollar reward for information leading to the men they believe mugged their son now two days later and I
I believe that this should give everyone some insight into the character of this
boy of Eddie O'Brien or what those around him thought about him at the time even though this kid's been charged with
murder the owner of the store where Eddie worked he added ten thousand dollars to
the reward offered by The O'Briens then you don't do that if you think this kid is scumbag
well that's the thing he's you know I I know this term is well overused and it is say it it's tired but he's he's
described as a gentle giant or a big teddy bear well like you said his face makes him
look younger than he actually is he's got a kind face and I I hate that phrase too but really when I saw pictures of
him that's that's what I think of he's he's got boyish looks he's got a baby face
and people said that he was not an aggressive person he didn't argue with people he didn't get angry he didn't you
know fly into fits or anything like that in fact his parents and some of the coaching staff on his football team
would get angry and upset with him because he wasn't aggressive enough on the football field
he even told his father according to Big Ed anyway that he was worried that he would hurt the kids he didn't want to
hurt the kids because he was so much bigger than most of them right so he kind of hold back when he'd play against
people yeah so we have Eddie who says I was mugged we have his parents and now his employer
who are looking for the people that mugged him but see Eddie's got a secret and it's a really big secret and it's
about to come out two weeks after Eddie O'Brien was arrested and charged with murder he gave
his attorney a note that said he was at the crime scene the night that Janet Janet Downing was murdered
Eddie says the following is the real story let's remind everyone of Eddie O'Brien's
plans for that night he's going to walk to the Burger King grab a snack and then
walk to his friend garvey's house but before doing this this is the part that is new to everybody but before
doing this at the last minute he said he decides he's going to go across the street to see if his best friend Ryan
had returned from swimming and if so he wants to see if Ryan wants to tag along with him for that night
and I really want to hit home this time stamp of 9 15 p.m right at 9 15 p.m three Witnesses
Place Eddie O'Brien at his house this is his father this is his sister and this is also the grandfather Eddie O'Brien's
grandfather was living with them at the time they would later say we all were aware
that he was there at 9 15 because we heard him yell to Big Ed hey I'm going out I'm going down to the I'm leaving
the house to go to Burger King so this was not just him going to his father and asking this is him kind of yelling it at
the house and asking for permission but announcing it at the same time so Eddie says he went across the street
to the Downing house he knocked on the window which was typical he says he noticed that the front door
was unlocked so he went inside he said most of the lights in the house were off he said he saw blood and places as he
made his way through the house he noticed the bathroom door was closed he says he saw Janet Downing laying on
the living room floor she's lying it on her side he says he ran over to her to see if she
was all right he put his hand on her and he said Janet was not conscious and Eddie said that there was blood all over
the floor he says he didn't understand what had happened to this woman he turned her over so now she is on her
back he says that he saw all the cuts to her neck Janet was covered in blood and she
wasn't breathing Eddie wanted to get help so he said he started to go back to the front door
he says before he got to the door someone grabbed him from behind he described this person as a tall man
with dark hair the man was wearing a nylon stocking over his face in some kind of what Eddie
called latex gloves as tall as Eddie or as he's shorter than Eddie there was no height description given in the
information that I found the man put a knife to Eddie's throat and told him if you tell anyone about
this I will kill you and I will kill your family and I will have plenty of time to do it before the cops can catch
me right then Eddie said he heard something and he believes it was a knock at the door
the man then told Eddie to get out of there so Eddie ran to the seller and out the
Cellar Door so he's he doesn't run out the front door he runs to the seller down the steps to
the seller and out the Cellar Door he said when he got to this portion of the house that the Cellar Door was already
open so he's just running outside once outside he stumbled and fell into some bushes if you look at a map of the
the neighborhood you will see that there is a large amount of bushes or what even
some were calling a wooded area that is described to be I would describe it as behind the Downing home I have seen some
reports that say it's beside the Downing home so I mean I don't want to whatever words people want to use go for
now do we have a map that we can put on the website or Instagram uh we might um check our Instagram because we might
have I'm looking at one right here I do want to point out something too before we move on that I found this to be
interesting and it is somewhat part of the case but it should be noted the the home the Downing home is a duplex
so they share a wall with somebody else right the Downing family purchased this home in the late 70s her Janet Downing
and her ex-husband purchased this duplex in the late 70s and they lived in one side and rented out the other side
so at the time in 1995 Janet who is now single divorced she's living there with her four kids on one side and they've
rented out the other side the people living at the other side are The Reckless the ones that follow Big Ed
into the crime scene right The Reckless had rented from Janet Downing for like five years and they
didn't hear anything they heard some things and we can get into that during the trial but some of the things they
heard I personally I questioned them um there's been a lot made of what they might have heard at 8 15.
which is difficult because we have Paul who's in and out of the house at 8 15. back to uh Eddie's story okay so he runs
out the Cellar Door says the Cellar Door was already open when he got to that point of the house once outside he said
he stumbled and fell into those bushes that I am saying are directly behind the house
he says he doesn't remember getting scratched or injured during this fall he said then he went to the sidewalk and
started walking away from the house he believes that he heard someone or maybe some people calling out to him but
he says he just kept going so now he is fleeing from the house and he's running down if you're looking at a map he's
running down Hamlet Street toward Highland Avenue away from the Downing home he said he then walked to the Burger
King and he went into the bathroom washed his face and some of his body because he
says he was sweating profusely by this time not only is it summer and it's probably hot out right but if his story
is truthful he's probably scared to death and he's been moving quite quickly through the neighborhood to get down to
the Burger King and he said he didn't know what to do he said he wanted to go home
that's your natural thought I guess but he said he was afraid to remember social
right across the street right across the street and taking a very long detour yeah
so well no he he says he it wasn't until he got to the Burger King that he could
kind of clear his mind my my guess is that when he's running from the Downing house he's just running from the Downing
house once at the Burger King he's that's where he's saying once there I didn't know what to do I wanted to go
home but because it was right across the street from where the man threatened my
life and my family's life he didn't feel like he could go home he says he left the Burger King
and it was then that he was approached by what he describes as two boys most of the newspaper articles say two men but
his description was that of two boys and he said one of them had a knife these two boys were the ones who he claims
mugged him he said that he gave them all of the money that he had which was seventeen
dollars he said one of the boys threatened him and told him that he was going to cut him
and this kid was coming at Eddie and Eddie says he kind of sidestepped him you know steps back and he stuck out his
hand in his arm to try to Shield himself with his hand he doesn't remember getting cut at this time but he put his
hand out to block the knife from there he decides to go to his work the midnight convenience store
there he told one of his co-workers that he had just been jumped the worker picked up the phone and
dialed 9-1-1 and handed Eddie the phone and that is when police and EMTs arrived
at the midnight convenient store about 15 minutes later right and that's where they're going to check his person and
and the injuries take him to the hospital and that's kind of where the conversation between him and
please start happening yeah so here's what they observe at the midnight convenience store there is a cut on
Eddie's pinky finger there is a larger cut on the palm of his hand and a cut going down his thumb all three of these
Cuts were to Eddie's right hand right so after the EMTs were done with Eddie the
Somerville police who responded to the call they drove Eddie home now once he was home
his grandfather is recommending hey you should probably go to the hospital and get a tetanus shot
[Music] and get this hand examined one more time remember the EMTs when they examined in
his hand they didn't really they didn't do anything they just kind of you know cleaned it up
well and like we said and I think I've brought up twice already if he is using a knife himself
thinking about what would happen if a knife slipped through your hands you're going to be cut possibly on your thumb
your index finger your your palm so it doesn't those wounds don't have to be multiple stab wounds it could be one
injury for one slippage of of a knife that you're in control of yes it was a cut a cut to his thumb a cut to the palm
and a cut to his pinky finger now they decide that that his family decides that Eddie probably should have
got stitches they think he should get a tetanus shot they take him to the hospital and then that is where we know
that police really first started questioning Eddie because think about this for a situation now yeah there's 77
roughly 77 000 people living in this area but you get a call at just before or right around 10 o'clock
that a woman's been stabbed to death in her home and then uh shortly after 10 o'clock you
get a call that a boy 15 year old boy and depending on which route you take which is her neighbor yeah depending on
which route you take it's 0.4 to point five so less than a half a mile away this kid
is involved in a knife attack so not only proximity in far as location but proximity in time as well two knife
attacks take place or at least the finding of one victim and then the reporting of another victim yeah friends
with her kids knows the victim the neighbor of the victim was in the victim's house earlier that
day many times it seems like kids frequent that address um what I wonder though is
what was he wearing before he went home instead of going swimming before going home
and not hanging out with his friends what was he wearing well see that is where a big problem happens for they're
the big problem the police and for later the prosecutor okay there are there there's like a dozen witnesses that say
Eddie O'Brien was wearing the same thing that morning that afternoon that evening
before and after the murder and then he's photographed by police right twice [Music]
white shirt white shirt it's Above the Rim shirt remember people from the 90s will remember the Above the Rim
uh brand I don't know if they're still around everything's below the rim now uh very sad but uh he had a white Above the
Rim t-shirt on which was turned inside out and he was in again this was not uncommon and it's not like he was
wearing the shirt right side out and then later it's inside out no every person says he was
wearing an Above the Rim shirt that morning that afternoon that evening that night he was wearing green shorts
and he was wearing his black tennis shoes now you point out something that's very interesting it's the yes if if this
giant of a boy was using a knife to to murder this woman and stab her repeatedly it very easily could have
slipped and he could have cut himself during that attack or she's fighting him off and he loses control of the knife
and cuts himself but then you have a problem where this woman was brutally attacked and yeah
he's got cuts to his hand well let's stay at the crime scene but where's the blood on his on his body or on his
clothing yeah because how many stab stab wounds do we have oh man this was see that's the other thing too this was a
horrible horrible so what's the motive for this kid uh because because he thought she was a
attractive well so then when the motivation be sexual in nature do we have any sexual
assault that happened no sexual assault she was stabbed believed to be 98 times 98 times 98 times and that's not the
extent of her injuries we can get into that during the trial portions of this story but I mean you're talking 98 times
that's a brutal attack the the general thought was that she that Eddie O'Brien became
obsessed with this woman and that he was some kind of sexual sadist and he decided to attack and kill her
and he went in there with the knife and stabbed her 98 times and then he fled the scene made up this whole story of oh
I was attacked I mean did he stab her like really slowly to make sure that he didn't get any blood on his shirt well
see that's the part of the story that there's all these question marks happen Captain Captain there's there's a ton of
what's Happening cabin um his new name is cabin there's all these question marks there are things that
make this young man appear to be guilty but there are also things that you go well if he did in fact kill her why are
we not seeing this type of evidence well people will go well he went to the Burger King he said by his own
his own admission that he went to the Burger King and he washed his face he washed his hands and he washed portions
of his body well yeah good luck getting that amount of blood off of you and how did he get the blood off of his clothes
right the one thing I don't like about his story though Captain is that it's not that Eddie called 9-1-1 it's that he
gets to the store and it's it's the uh the the store clerk working at the time that goes
what the hell happened to you oh I was jumped that store clerk dials 9-1-1 hands him the phone it's almost like he
was forced to do it he was forced on the spot to come up with an excuse for why he was cut
right and maybe boom that's his his Alibi maybe he wasn't intending on going home for several hours after he killed
him though the problem you have is you have a store clerk that knows him that doesn't tell you he's covered in
blood so unless you can find a bloody shirt somewhere that he changed out of and like you said there's multiply
eyewitnesses saying he wore the same shirt that's not to say he lives right across the street well I'll just take
this uh shirt I'm going to pull this one off I'll wear this shirt I go in commit
the crime I got blood all over me I have to discard the the shirt now I put back
on my old shirt again a big bloody mess and you're going to put on a white shirt
a lot of other colors you could go with that that just doesn't make a lot of sense to me 98 times
like if I was wearing a white shirt and I was eating spaghetti I took 98 bites I'm going to get more spaghetti sauce on
me than this kid that supposedly just stabbed this lady 98 times violently because he was so obsessed with her got
any blood on his shirt [Music] so much more to get to make sure you stick around join us again tomorrow in
the garage until then be good be kind and don't let her foreign

Trail of Blood /// Part 1 /// 416

Part 1 of 2 www.TrueCrimeGarage.com

The city of Somerville is full of tight-knit neighborhoods. In 1995 a woman was brutally murdered in her home. Evidence led the Somerville police to the unlikeliest of suspects. Beer of the Week - Tropical Hazy by Zaftig Brewing Co. Garage Grade - 4 and 3 quarter bottle caps out of 5

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Brief Summary

Eddie O'Brien, 15, is accused of murdering Janet Downing in 1995, raising questions about juvenile crime and justice.

Key points

The Coming of the Super Predators. John Delulio warns of a demographic crime bomb due to rising juvenile crime rates.
Eddie O'Brien's Ordinary Life. Meet Eddie O'Brien, a 15-year-old boy living a typical life before tragedy strikes.
Murder in Somerville. Janet Downing is found murdered in her home, sparking a community crisis.
The Mugging Incident. Eddie recounts being mugged after leaving Burger King, but details raise suspicion about his claims.
Eddie's Arrest. Eddie O'Brien is arrested and charged with the murder of his best friend's mother, Janet Downing.
Eddie's Alibi Unravels. Eddie claims he was mugged, but police suspect otherwise. They believe he fabricated the story as an alibi for the murder of Janet Downing.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

I pray I go home in one piece to my own kids.

A police officer's fear regarding juvenile crime.

4:15WatchNov 12, 2022

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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