The Voices of Serial Killers Read online

  Time on the run was now running out for Gary. On Friday, June 7, 1991, he got himself so worked up that he committed another grand theft. What he stole is unknown, but it earned Gary five years in prison when he was sentenced on July 18, 1991.

  Bouncing in and out of prisons like a rubber ball on elastic string, Bowles was once again released on December 30, 1993. He surfaced, penniless, on the eastern seaboard in Daytona, Florida, in 1994.

  John Hardy Roberts

  On Tuesday, March 15, 1994, police were summoned to the residence of 59-year-old John Roberts, whose brutally beaten body had been discovered on his living room floor. The cause of death was determined to be strangulation, no doubt facilitated by a rag found stuffed down his windpipe. The victim’s head had been severely beaten. With eyes like saucers, Roberts’s face wore an inextricably confused and terminal expression, and one of his fingers was almost severed from his hand. Gary Bowles’s fingerprints were found at the crime scene, and telephone records showed that Gary, in a brilliant attempt to cover his tracks, had made numerous phone calls to his mother from the dead man’s home.

  A nationwide manhunt was launched, and the FBI became involved. But although the authorities were able to recover Roberts’s car in Nashville, Tennessee, their quarry was nowhere to be found. Yet all was not lost, for Gary’s trail led police to Silver Springs, Maryland, where another homicide with a similar modus operandi had taken place.

  David Jarman

  On the very same day that Roberts was found bereft of life, a maintenance man stumbled across the decomposing remains of 39-year-old David Jarman in the dark basement of Jarman’s Wheaton home. Like Roberts, Jarman had been badly beaten about the head before having his mouth stuffed and strangling to death. The victim’s car and wallet were missing. Police soon learned that on Tuesday, May 17, the night before his death, Jarman had been seen in a gay bar in Washington, D.C., with a man who matched Gary Bowles’s description. The two men were seen arguing; some say they were actually fighting.

  Your MO is like a trail of shit. Like deer hunters would use to track a deer. If you change your MO all the time, you won’t get caught.

  —SERIAL KILLER HENRY LEE LUCAS

  The police also learned that the victim’s credit card had been used by Bowles after the killing. Roberts’s car was recovered on April 22 in Baltimore. Gary Bowles then found his name on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, yet still he evaded capture. Below is the FBI’s VICAP (Violent Criminal Apprehension Program) Alert:GARY RAY BOWLES

  AKA: Gary Ray Boles, Gary Ray Bowels, Mark Ray Bowles, Gary Bowle, Joey Pearson (also used James, Mike, and Mark as first names)

  DOB: 1/25/62 (also used 1/25/63 and 1/25/59)

  POB: Clifton Forge, VA

  SSAN: 338-58-7859 (also used 338-56-5709, 338-58-5878, 330-58-7859, 448-58-7859)

  FBI no.: 561 161 V10

  Height: 5’9”

  Weight: 150 pounds

  Tattoos: Heart and ribbon on left arm, cross/star on left wrist

  Scars: Inside of left hand, left side of nose, right wrist, left side of chest

  Periods of Incarceration: 6/5/82 to 12/28/83; 10/31/85 to 12/28/85; 10/7/86 to 12/27/86; 7/10/87 to 4/3/90; 8/10/90 to 1/30/91; 2/18/91 to 12/30/93

  Occupation: Carpenter, construction worker, and agricultural worker

  Education: Grade school dropout but completed GED in 3/83 while incarcerated in a Florida State prison

  Other Descriptors: Smokes cigarettes (usually Marlboros or Kools), uses marijuana on a regular basis, admitted in previous probation reports as having an alcohol problem

  Milton Bradley

  The hunt for Bowles then led to Savannah, Georgia, where the decomposing remains of 72-year-old Milton Bradley were discovered behind a golf cart shed on Thursday, May 5. The reason Bradley and Bowles had found themselves compelled to visit a golf course during the night is open for speculation. Thwacking a little white ball around 18 holes in total darkness is not recommended by any pro. Nonetheless, like the two previous victims, Milton had been beaten around the head, his mouth was stuffed with material, and he had been strangled to death.

  This murder shocked the city of Savannah because Bradley had been a well-known World War II veteran. According to Bob Morris of the Savannah Morning News : “Milton was a quiet and gentle man who was generous to a fault.”

  The old soldier had suffered a severe head injury during the war, which later resulted in his receiving a lobotomy. The procedure caused slight mental impairment, which undoubtedly made him vulnerable prey to Gary Bowles. During the crime scene investigation, police officer John Best discovered a palm print matching that of Gary Bowles. Furthermore, Bradley had been seen several times in the company of a man matching Gary’s description in the days leading up to the murder.

  Albert “Alcie” Morris

  On Thursday, May 19, 1994, the body of 37-year-old Albert Morris was found in his trailer-park home, in Hilliard, Nassau County, Florida. He had been beaten around the head with a blunt instrument, shot in the chest, and strangled with a rag stuffed down his throat. The victim’s car and wallet were missing.

  According to Gary Bowles, he was working on Morris’s property, “ . . . fixing the house and doing the grass,” when both men, drunk, had gotten into a fistfight. Morris picked up a cutlery fork and menacingly poked it in Bowles’s direction. For his part in the proceedings, Gary picked up Morris’s 12-gauge shotgun and discharged both barrels into his host.

  “I shot him in self-defense,” claimed Bowles, smiling thinly. “I was protecting myself, and some people say I am antisocial. I think I’m quite a social person.”

  Bowles would later claim that he had lost his mind for a “temporary period . . . six times over a temporary period.”

  Alverston Carter

  That May there was another murder; 47-year-old Alverston Carter Jr.’s body was discovered in his Atlanta home. It was Gary’s MO all over again. In an interview, Bowles said:He was a big dude, much bigger than me. We got kinda drunk, and back at his place he got kinda rough with me. He was trying to dominate me. I picked up a big butcher knife and stabbed him to death through the heart. But there was no sex involved.

  In July 1994, the popular television program America’s Most Wanted filmed a segment about the crimes. Following its broadcast, the producers received numerous calls from viewers who claimed to have knowledge of Gary’s whereabouts, yet still he evaded capture.

  Walter Jamelle “Jay” Hinton

  In November 1994, on the Jacksonville Beach, Florida pier, Gary met Jay Hinton. The long, wooden structure (now demolished) was a favorite fishing spot for anglers and gays. The latter enjoyed “companionship” and “playing” among the dunes. Although Gary denies this, there can be no doubt that the two men engaged in some form of homosexual activity at this local spot appropriately named Sandy Head.

  After spending a couple of days in each other’s company, Jay moved into a trailer home at 13748 Coral Drive,2 Jacksonville, about four miles west of Neptune Beach and the foaming surf of the Atlantic Ocean. Gary helped Jay move some of his belongings from Georgia into the trailer, and by way of thanks, Jay generously invited Gary to stay with him, though on a very temporary basis.

  This suited Gary Bowles fine. All went smoothly for two weeks until Gary made a crude pass at one of his host’s female friends who was staying with them at the time. On Saturday, November 12, Sharon Ann, also known as “Jo Ann,” complained to Jay about Gary’s lewd behavior. An argument ensued, and Gary was ordered to leave, which he did. The next day, Gary was arrested for being drunk in the street, but for some unknown reason, he was released from jail on the following Monday. Had the local cops taken a moment to run a fingerprint check, they would have been ecstatic to learn that they had one of America’s most wanted men in their custody. But they didn’t, and with the tiff between the two men soon settled, Gary moved back into the trailer.

  On Wednesday, November 16, 1994, Gary was partying with Jay and a friend named
Nick. When Jay took himself off to work in the afternoon, the two other men carried on drinking beer and smoking pot. When Jay returned later, the threesome continued getting drunk and high.

  Around 8 p.m., Jay drove Nick to the railway station with Gary sitting in the back seat of the car. While they waited for the train, the men drank more beer and smoked even more dope. Nick later testified that at the time of his departure to the station Gary was “heavily inebriated from the alcohol, yet coherent”—a remarkable feat of observation in itself because Nick was so drunk he didn’t even know which planet he was living on.

  After sending Nick down the tracks, Gary and Jay made their way back to the trailer, where they drank more beer. At some point, Jay went to his bedroom to sleep, leaving Gary in the living area “to finish off six quarts of Magnum beers.” When the cans were empty, Gary—using his own terminology—“flipped.”

  For reasons known only to Bowles, he suddenly decided to venture outside, where he located a 40-pound concrete paving slab. Struggling under its weight, he managed heave it into the trailer home where he placed it down onto a table while he caught his breath. Meanwhile, Jay was asleep, almost dead to the world, and soon to be dead in every physiological sense.

  Exactly what went through Jay’s mind moments later—apart from the impact of the 40-pound slab of concrete, of course—will always remain a mystery, but one thing is for sure: He woke up somewhat stunned by the blow. As one might expect, a brief struggle ensued, during which the inconsiderate Gary stuffed a rag into Jay’s mouth, followed by some toilet tissue, before the poor man was strangled to death. It was estimated by the medical examiner that, “from the time of being struck by the concrete slab to the intervention of death, just under a minute elapsed, maybe a bit more than that, but not much more . . . maybe five at best.”

  Reasoning correctly that Jay would have no further use for his car or the time of day, Gary drove off in his victim’s vehicle, taking the deceased’s wristwatch with him, only to return shortly thereafter. Gary stayed in the trailer for two more days and, at one point, picked up a homeless girl named Ginger Moye. She was sick, and he knew her quite well. He brought her to Jay’s home, had sex with her, then took her back where he’d found her. The girl was apparently unaware that a dead body was in the bathroom, which doesn’t say much for her powers of observation or personal hygiene. Ginger would later testify that every time she had seen Gary Bowles, he was “drinking, drunk, staggering drunk regardless of whether it was 7 a.m. or 2 p.m.”—this coming from someone who had been pickling herself in alcohol since the age of eleven.

  On Friday, November 18, Jay’s sister Belinda was celebrating her birthday with her fiancé, William. Late that afternoon, Bill went to Coral Drive to check up on Jay and ask why he hadn’t attended Belinda’s party. Although the lights were on and Gary Bowles was there, nobody answered the door, and Jay’s Cadillac was nowhere to be seen. Bill left, only to return with Belinda several times over the next two days. They also learned that Jay had not been going to work, so they returned to take an even closer look on the following Sunday. This time they forced their way into the place by breaking a back window. Upon entering, Bill was met by a “foul odor,” and the bedroom was a mess. In the bathroom he noticed a “large mound covered by blankets.” It was Jay’s bludgeoned, decomposing corpse, and blood was splashed wall-to-wall. The couple summoned neighbors who, in turn, called the police.

  A thorough search of the premises revealed the victim’s wallet and personal papers strewn on the bed. On the floor was a large concrete stepping-stone. It had come from the front yard. Police also discovered miniature liquor bottles and numerous beer cans scattered throughout the home. A receipt in the name of “Timothy Whitfield” was found. Jay’s car and watch were missing. Gary Bowles’s fingerprints were everywhere.

  An autopsy determined that Jay had suffered serious injuries to his head. His forehead and cheekbone had been crushed, but the trauma by itself had not been sufficient to have caused his death. He also had five broken ribs. There were abrasions on his right forearm and one leg. The cause of of death was asphyxiation from strangulation, which was further facilitated by the toilet tissue and rag lodged in Jay’s windpipe. Time of death was estimated to be between two to four days before the body was discovered.

  Determining a suspect for Jay’s murder would not prove difficult. Several neighbors and friends of the dead man gave a good description of the victim’s house guest, so the police started looking for Gary Bowles, aka “Mr. Timothy Whitfield.”

  First Jay’s Cadillac was found abandoned. Then police learned that a “Mr. Whitfield” had checked in at a Jackson Beach motel on the Friday following the murder. In fact, it took a mere 48 hours for the authorities to find their man, who was arrested at the Ameri-Force labor pool in Jacksonville Beach.

  Suffering from the delirium tremors, “Mr. Whitfield” soon admitted his true name as being Gary Ray Bowles. Furthermore, the police discovered that he was wanted by the FBI in connection with a series of other brutal slayings, all of which had been committed along Interstate 95, from Maryland to Florida. Then Bowles admitted killing Roberts and Morris. He claimed that he had moved into Roberts’s home, where they had sex. Several weeks into his stay the two men had a dispute over a woman. Gary was asked to leave. Blinded by rage, he said, he attacked Roberts with a vase. In his attempt to escape, Roberts tripped over a glass coffee table and fell to the floor where he was strangled to death.

  “I think I lost my mind,” he told his interrogators. “That’s the only way I can describe it. I lost my mind. I kept beating and beating him. There was blood everywhere. An’ it took me several minutes to realize what I had done. Then I knew that my own life was completely over with.”

  Bowles then explained that he stole Roberts’s watch and fled in his victim’s car.

  On Thursday, December 8, 1994, with the Hon. Jack M. Schemer presiding, Gary Bowles was indicted on two counts—the robbery and first-degree (aggravated) murder of Jay Hinton. In mitigation, Bowles’s legal team offered:Serious substance abuse problem

  Physically and emotionally abused by two stepfathers

  Lived in an abusive, violent home

  Never had a positive male role model in his life

  Never finished junior high school

  Helped the Tampa sheriff’s office obtain a conviction

  of a person who had committed sexual battery

  Confessed to the police and FBI

  Pled guilty

  All of this carried little weight, and the jury was compelled to recommend the death sentence by a vote of ten to two.

  Bowles has since been convicted of three more counts of first-degree murder, and at the time of this writing he continues to petition the state courts, hoping that one day he will be granted a new sentencing hearing that will relieve him of the threat of execution by lethal injection. He is currently imprisoned at the Union Correctional Institute in Raiford, Florida, where he will remain, in all probability, until his death.

  In the Jay Hinton slaying, Bowles was convicted of murder in the first degree, which, in the state of Florida, and without jury-acceptable mitigation such as proven insanity, carries a mandatory death sentence. Nonetheless, Gary’s appeal against this sentence, particularly the aggravating factor, was argued by his defense attorney. In a nutshell, his attorney’s argument can be paraphrased:While Bowles had strangled Hinton, and he died from asphyxiation, the murder was not explicitly heinous, atrocious, or cruel. The victim was asleep when Bowles started his attack, and Hinton quickly lost consciousness. His struggling was feeble and for a short time. His death was not especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.

  If the state’s case was flawed in any way, however, it was concerning the argument that Gary murdered Jay for financial gain; that it was a premeditated act of murder and deserving of the death sentence for that reason alone. There was also the consideration that Bowles was on probation during the time of the murders. But the defense maint
ained that there was no evidence that financial gain was Mr. Bowles’s motive.

  Or was there?

  During the commission of the other homicides attributed to Bowles, he most certainly had a set pattern of stealing the victims’ motor vehicles, money, and credit cards. He most certainly used Hinton’s car after the murder. He most certainly stole a sum of money from Hinton’s wallet, and he most certainly disposed of the dead man’s watch. In simple terms—and this allegation was used many times throughout the trial and subsequent appeals—Gary Bowles hustled and robbed homosexuals for their money. His own testimony that he was most always smashed out of his mind on booze and drugs, which “made the killing easier for me to do,” is worth consideration, too.

  Finally, and to be fair to Gary, the prosecution constantly maintained that Bowles killed the men because “they were homosexuals, and the defendant had a deep hatred for homosexuals.” It was an emotive argument, one almost guaranteed to win favor from any liberal jury, which this one was. Assistant Public Defender David A. Davis had his work cut out in proving otherwise. In fact, Dr. Elizabeth Mahon, a psychiatrist retained by the defense, claimed that Bowles was “a reservoir of hatred,” adding, “he was probably not working with what we would say is an intact brain, and he has a mild dysfunction.”