The year was 1998, President Bill Clinton was in quite the scandal at the White House, denying allegations he had an affair with intern Monica Lewinsky. Apple released the first I Mac and everyone wanted them, the search engine Google was launched changing the way people searched the internet to this day. Frank Sinatra, one of the all time great crooners passed away from a heart attack at the age of 82. Nissan introduced the Cube Car. Kids everywhere were lined up and waiting to get their hands on a copy of the all new Resident Evil 2 for PlayStation, before grabbing some burgers and fries and racing home to play with their friends. In science the FDA approved the erectile dysfunction medication Viagra and the first human trials of the AIDS vaccine were taking place. Titanic was the highest grossing film of all time at $585 million, and if you were not watching this movie with your friends it was because Dawson’s Creek had premiered and everyone was hooked after the first episode. The Crowe family would not have time to enjoy the awesome things 1998 offered as they were in a living nightmare, their daughter was murdered and the police believe their son did it. The Crowe’s were in a fight to save their son and find out who really murdered there precious twelve year old daughter.
The Crowe Family.
Stephanie Ann Crowe was born on April 12, 1985, to Stephan and Cheryl. Stephanie had one older brother Michael and one younger sister Shannon. Stephanie grew up with her family in Escondido, California. She was very close with her family, a loving kind soul who would do anything to help others. She was very popular and smart. Judith Kennedy, her grandmother also lived with them and she had a close relationship with her because of this. Stephanie had a smile that could light up any room she entered and people loved her. When the news broke that the sweet girl with the long flowing dark hair had been murdered it sent a shock wave throughout the community. Who would do such a thing to someone so young and innocent. The police were determined to find out, but some would say they botched the whole investigation. The family was on a quest to find who had done this and why.
Stephanie, Michael, and Shannon.
On Tuesday January 20, 1998 (some articles say the 21st the court documents say the 20th.) Stephanie came to her parents room around 9:30 pm to tell the goodnight and she loved them. Her parents said goodnight and they loved her as she headed off to bed, not knowing they would never get the chance to speak to their child again. Cheryl would lay in bed until 11 pm as she could not sleep. Earlier her 14 year old brother Michael had not been feeling well, he woke up around four thirty am with a headache, he headed off to the kitchen and poured himself some milk, grabbed a couple Tylenol finished up and headed back to his room. (NOTE: His bedroom is directly across from Stephanie’s room.) It would later be reported that Stephan and Cheryl heard some bumps and bangs in the night but thought nothing of it as they have three children who could have been moving around for various reasons, and they went back to bed. Wednesday January 21st, Judy (grandma) wakes up and wonders where Stephanie is, as it is unusual for her not to be up already. Judy walks to her granddaughter’s room, she stated on a television interview she pushed Stephanie’s door the rest of the way open (indicating it was partially closed) and saw Stephanie lying on her bedroom floor covered in blood. She screamed in horror and yelled for Stephan. When Stephan saw his daughter lying in her own blood he picked her head up to see if she was still breathing and then frantically called the police. It would be determined Stephanie was stabbed nine times and had died from blood loss. Who would do such a thing to a 12 year old child?
The police arrived on scene along with paramedics. The police searched the home and noted the sliding door in the master bedroom was unlocked, Stephanie’s window was unlocked, and a side door by the garage that led into the home was unlocked. Police found no signs of forced entry into the home and they believe either someone in the home did this or the doors and windows being open was an opportunity for someone to come inside. The family also had a dog who never barked that night. (NOTE: Could not find any articles that said what kind of dog this was.) Police noted there was no indication an intruder had been in the home, nothing was out of place nor was anything missing. Detective’s would show up to ask the family some questions, they would note Michael was not acting like the rest of the family, who were very distraught and upset, he was quiet and withdrawn, playing a handheld video game. (NOTE: Everyone deals with tragedy differently, this could have been his way of keeping things normal in his mind as the pain of losing his sister was too much for him.) Micheal would tell the detectives how he was up at 4:30 am getting Tylenol from the kitchen, he told detectives he thought all the doors were closed including his sisters. (NOTE: I highly suggest watching the documentary done on YouTube posted by Missing Kids Rescued Kids, it shows Michael’s bedroom and Stephanie’s and honestly he could have gone to his room and never looked at his sister’s he was fourteen and more than likely didn’t care to look in that direction.) Michael told the detectives he did not hear or see anything strange that night. Cheryl would tell the detectives she was up laying in bed with Stephan until 11 pm. The parents reported they heard bumps and bangs in the night and thought nothing of it because of their children. The corner had already determined Stephanie had been killed between 10 and 11 pm. Detectives wanted to ask more thorough questions and brought everyone living in the home to the police station. The family would all be strip searched and then photographed, Stephan (dad) was photoed fully nude, Cheryl (mom) was photoed with her bra on only, Michael was photoed in his underwear, and Shannon was photoed with no bra on and in her underwear. In the court documents it does not say how or if the Grandma was photographed. The police did this to see if anyone had wounds on them indicative of being involved in the murder. This would be the start of a long and tortuous nightmare for the Crowe family.
On the same night Stephanie would be brutally murdered, police were receiving multiple calls about a local transient named Richard Tuite. Neighbors of the Crowe family would call and report a man either drunk or high on something banging on doors and windows and on at least one occasion that night entering a home and looking for a woman named Tracy. It would later be discovered Tracy Nelson was a woman Richard was obsessed with, the two had been friends and at the time she was involved in drugs and the party lifestyle. Her and Richard would get high together and she reports he would get very paranoid and believe people were after him. (NOTE: It is not said what drug they used together but the assumption is Meth.) The last call before police would be dispatched was from the Crowe’s next door neighbor who Richard had knocked on his door and he answered to which Richard said he was looking for the girl. The neighbor said there was no girl here and he better leave. Richard did so and the man called the police. Around 9:45 pm an officer was looking for Richard when he shined the light on the Crowe’s home. He then reported he saw the door near the garage close, but did not see who shut the door. He thought no more of it as it was more than likely someone in the home. (NOTE: If the officer was out looking for a transient entering homes why not take the extra time to knock on the Crowe family door and make sure they are ok?) Richard would be picked up by police on January 21st and brought to the station. Here he was fingerprinted, photographed. Hair and nail scrapping were taken from him as well. However police failed to run a background check on him. Richard had a criminal history and was a diagnosed schizophrenic. Police would release Richard after they deemed he could not have logically in their minds gotten into the Crowe home undetected and committed a murder without anyone seeing or hearing him. (NOTE: There was a dog in the home if someone unknown came in shouldn’t the dog have barked? At the very least shouldn’t Richard’s clothing have dog hair on them?) A picture of Richard Tuite will be posted later on in the blog, at the time he had very bushy unkempt hair and a full beard.
After detectives were done with their questioning for the night, Stephan and Cheryl were sent to a hotel and Michael and Shannon were sent to the Polinsky Children’s Center. This is a center for children who are in danger and their parents can not care for them. At this point the police believed it was an inside job and someone from the family had killed Stephanie. Michael would be interrogated four times by the detectives. The first time was on January 21st, at the Escondido police station, the second time was at the Polinsky Children’s Center on January 22nd, the third time was later on the 22nd at the police station and the interrogation lasted more than three hours. The final time was on January 23, 1998 and this time the Reid Technique was used and a clinical psychologist was asked to sit in. This technique has a very high rate of producing false confessions especially in minors. The entire time Michael was questioned it was without an attorney present and his parents were never informed he was being questioned. Over the days of questioning and not being able to see his family Micheal broke down and would confess to killing his sister, however if you watch the documentary you can see in the interviews he is distraught and upset and says what he is saying is a complete lie. Micheal would be arrested and read his Miranda rights at the end of the last interrogation, police believed he had killed his sister. The police wanted to speak to Micheal’s friends; he only had two close ones and the police wanted to see if they thought he was capable of doing this; detectives had also lied to Michael to get him to confess telling him they had evidence proving his guilt, when they had no evidence linking him to the crime. Detectives would go to the home of Aaron Hauser, when he answered the door he told them his parents were not home, this would not stop them from questioning him for nearly 40 minutes. Aaron told detectives he believed Michael could have killed his sister. At this time Aaron reported one of his knives was missing from a medieval collection his grandpa had given him as a gift. The knife missing was confirmed by Aaron’s mom when police finally talked to her. Detectives would next go to the home of Joshua Treadway, he too would tell them his parents were not home and like before detectives entered his home and questioned him. The detectives saw a knife under his bed, Josh told them it was his brothers, however his brother said it was Josh’s. Detectives would leave to obtain a search warrant and on January 27th would come back and execute it. Police would find the knife in question under Josh’s bed. (NOTE: Aaron would say this was the same knife missing from his collection.) Josh was taken to the Escondido police station and interrogated for 13.5 hours. During this interrogation Josh was never read his Miranda rights until the very end when he, like Micheal was arrested. All three of the teen boys were into fantasy video games and role play. Police believed they may have brought the video games and fantasy world to real life.
Josh was telling police more than anyone at this time, the detectives convinced Josh on January 31, 1998 to call Aaron and let them record while he tried to get him to tell his involvement in the crime. Aaron would deny any involvement in the murder during this call. The information Josh was telling police was inconsistent with the information they had already obtained. However it would not stop them from believing all three teens were involved. Josh would tell the detectives that Michael had mentioned to Aaron he wanted to kill his sister, and Aaron said ok he would help him plan it. Josh was the lookout that night, Michael was supposed to go in and make sure his sister was quiet and Aaron was going to finish the job. When it was over and Aaron came to the kitchen and said everything is ok it’s done (or something to that effect) Josh knew he never wanted to be alone in a room with Aaron again, he was afraid of him. In fact in later recorded interviews you hear Josh say Aaron would kill him if he told any of this. Aaron never fully admitted to anything he instead gave a hypothetical version of how the murder would have happened. Michael would admit in interviews he was jealous of his sister, she was popular and hung out with kids his age. He also said anything he did she would outshine him with something better and it made him feel worthless. The three teens would eventually recant their confessions but it did not matter to detectives. With all of the hours of recorded interrogations and what little evidence police had they took to the Grand Jury and on May 22, 1998 all three teens were indicted on murder and conspiracy to commit a crime. A trial date was set for January 1999.
On October 27, 1998, Joshua Treadway’s lawyer had found out only one article of clothing taken from Richard Tuite was ever tested and demanded all of his clothing be sent out for forensic testing. On the first day of the trial a call came in and the results were back three small droplets were found to be of Stephanie’s DNA. On February 25th the prosecution filed a motion to dismiss the indictments on the three teens with the contingency the charges could be refiled if necessary. Richard Tuite’s red shirt was heavily soiled with many things including the blood of Stephanie Crowe. How did this blood get there as when his shirt was taken it was not seen by anyone. This is what his lawyers would have to find out. Richard would be arrested and put on trial for the murder of Stephanie Crowe. It was not looking good for Richard, he was a known transient seen in the neighborhood on the night of the murder, his clothing had Stephanie’s DNA on it, when he was photographed he had cuts and scrapes on him. In May of 2002 Richard would be indicted for Stephanie’s murder. It would take two more years for jury selection to begin. While in the holding tank in the courtroom, Richard would get out of his handcuffs and escape while everyone was at lunch. A manhunt was underway and three hours later he was apprehended, additional charges were added. In May of 2004 Richard Tuite would be found guilty of manslaughter of Stephanie Crowe the judge sentenced him to 13 years in prison plus four extra for fleeing. The Crowe family finally thought their nightmare was over, however Richard would appeal and eventually get his sentence overturned. There was no evidence against Richard, no fingerprints were left behind. At the time Richard had bushy hair that was dirty. Why were none of his hairs found at the scene? It would be determined that one of the detectives had knelt down in Stephanie’s blood while investigating the crime scene, when he got back to the station he was asked to retrieve Richard Tuite’s clothing, the investigator did so while still having Stephanie’s blood on him, thus transferring the three tiny droplets onto Richard’s shirt. This would get all charges dismissed against Richard Tuite. It is interesting that no dog hairs were found on Richard if he was truly the one to murder her, as even Stephanie had dog hair on her when found. The three teens were eventually found “factually innocent” and went on with their lives. Four suspects, one conviction overturned and still no justice for Stephanie. The families of the teens believe to this day Richard Tuite is responsible for Stephanie’s death. The detectives still say it could go either way, and online sleuths have their own opinions. The only thing for certain is a 12 year old beautiful child was taken from a family and the world far too soon. As always if you have any information on this case call the number below.
Escondido Police Department
760-839-4722
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