Man Found in a Freezer Leads to a Double Tragedy for a Family

Some families must face the agony of knowing their child has been murdered. To bury your child is horrific; to do it because someone took their life must be unimaginable.

This was precisely what happened to the Potters in 1999 when their daughter went missing and was murdered. However, twenty years later, they face the same heartbreak due to their thirty-seven-year-old son.

Tabitha Potter

On 3rd September 1999 at 2 pm, a woman walked her dog through Lowell’s Shedd. The park was considered relatively safe and a crime-free zone. As they walked their route, the woman remembered passing leaflets stapled to telegraph poles looking for missing eleven-year-old Tabitha Potter.

That was when the dog wandered off the trail; she followed to see where he was going. Twenty-five yards into the woods, she found the body of a little girl partially buried with leaves.

Rushing back along the trail, she called for the aid of a nearby jogger as she summoned the police. The police quickly identified the body of the missing girl.

In life, Tabitha was just five foot, freckled with pale red hair and blue eyes. She had disappeared earlier in the week and was last seen wearing jeans and a grey shirt with pink sleeves.

Conviction

Two weeks after her death, James Howley was identified as her killer. Howley was thirty-two and was considered a drifter. However, when examined, police discovered he had a lengthy police record.

However, the police never arrested him as they found that he had committed suicide in the park, close to the first crime scene. The police took blood samples and fingerprints from the dead man.

Starting in 1985, he had many crimes starting with traffic violations and including a trial for assault and battery on a police officer in 1994. In addition, Howley had spent time in jail for probation violations in 1997.

Although police had concluded that Tabitha had not been raped, they did find semen on her clothing. It proved a perfect match for Howley.

John Wayne Potter

In a double tragedy on 2nd December 2022, a man’s body was found in a freezer in a house two miles from Shedd Park. Although the police have not formally released the victim’s name, the family have confirmed that it was thirty-seven-year-old John Wayne Potter. He was the brother of Tabitha.

Two of his housemates, Michael Burke, thirty-eight and Samantha Perry, of the same age, were arrested and charged with kidnapping.

The family had reported John Wayne missing when he failed to turn up for Thanksgiving dinner. A missing person report was filed on 1st December. The police then received an anonymous tip-off from someone who claimed they’d seen the victim, ‘duct taped to a chair, hurt or dead. They further suggested he might be buried in the backyard.

During a search in response to the missing persons found, a body in the freezer. The body also showed signs that it had been restrained and kept in the freezer for a week.

Third Party

Burke and Perry have been charged with kidnapping and restraining a person against their will, but not murder. Instead, they blamed a third party for strangling him.

Burke and Perry told investigators “that on 23rd November, they attacked the victim — with whom they lived — before binding him to a chair and duct-taping his mouth.”

It is alleged that the couple had forced the victim into a wooden chair and bound him using wire and rope. They also applied duct tape to his mouth.

Whether the third person will be identified and charged remains to be seen. Many thoughts are now with the family who has faced this double heartbreak.

Originally published at https://www.murdermayhem.uk on December 12, 2022.