12/20/2007
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Staff photo by David Leamingfrom the Kennebec Journal
Rep. Pingree hears varied proposals for health-care solutions
HALLOWELL Fire that cut communications labeled arson
MONMOUTH Police defended after slim budget rejection
State's schools chief to parley
Wasser will lead newsrooms at KJ, Sentinel and in Portland
BRIEFS
Hockey still in picture for Harrington
Portland boxer to face legend's son
All of today's:
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from the Kennebec Journal
from the Morning Sentinel
$1.3 MILLION FOR HEALTHREACH
Families Matter grows to meet special needs
Chellie Pingree listens to ideas on health care reform
FARMINGTON Rain alters plans for 4th of July
District regroups after budget failure
Vote on county budget hits snag
Burnham driver wins checkered flag at 2 tracks on same day
Maine boxer gets unique opportunity
All of today's:
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from the Morning Sentinel
Bowen, 44, made his initial appearance on a fugitive-from-justice charge before District Court Judge Paul Cote and said he would voluntarily return to Indiana.
He is being held in the Franklin County jail without bail as Indiana authorities complete paperwork needed to extradite him to Gary.
Bowen has been quietly living in Portland for 25 years until he was tracked down by Indiana investigators in 2006. He had long been a suspect in the murder of 8-year-old Kenneth "Butch" Conrick whose mother reported him missing when he failed to return home from school on Oct. 13, 1979. Bowen was 16 at the time and lived in the neighborhood.
Thirteen days later following an intense search, the child's nude body was found with a cord around his neck and a rope tying his foot to a tree.
An autopsy determined he had been strangled and sexually molested.
Through new evidence and advances in DNA technology, Indiana police were able to charge Bowen on Monday with murder.
Indiana police, the U.S. Marshals Service and members of the Southern Maine Violent Crimes Task Force found Bowen Tuesday morning at a bed and breakfast in Kingfield. He and other employees of a Scarborough painting contractor were staying at the apartment while they worked at the new Poland Spring bottling plant.
Bowen had been under surveillance by Task Force members for months and police had intended to arrest him at his residence at 218 Park Ave., Apartment 13, in Portland on Monday, the same day Indiana authorities obtained the arrest warrant.
But according to Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal John Clark, Bowen never returned home Monday.
"That was unusual so (Task Force members) contacted his employer who said Bowen was working in Kingfield," Clark said.
According to the affidavit on file at Farmington District Court, Task Force officers and key investigators in the case from the Lake County Sheriff's Department and Gary Police Department traveled to the job site in Kingfield Tuesday morning and located the work crew.
"(The officers) were told Bowen did not come to work and was back at the bed and breakfast they were staying at," according to the report by a Task Force member, Portland Police Detective Mary Sauschuck.
One of the employees drove with Sauschuck, a U.S. marshal and a Lake County detective to the Robinwood Bed and Breakfast on Eagles Nest Road in Kingfield where the crew was staying. Other Task Force members stayed behind with the co-workers to make sure they did not contact Bowen to tip him off, Sauschuck wrote.
They arrived at the apartment and "could visibly see Bowen in the living room through a rear sliding glass door," she said.
They motioned him to come to the door and when he did, he was arrested.
In District Court Wednesday, Bowen, a slight, balding man with dark hair that fell below his collar, stood beside his court-appointed attorney, Kevin Joyce of Farmington.
Bowen was dressed in paint-spattered work clothes and a plaid work shirt and was bound in leg irons and handcuffs. He was accompanied into the courtroom by several Franklin County deputies and Maine State Police officers.
His jaw visibly clenching as he stood before Cote but showing no emotion, he answered the judge's questions and affirmed that he understood the extradition process and agreed to waive his rights and return to Indiana to face charges.
At the Franklin County Jail, Sgt. Rob Shufelt said Bowen is being housed in the general population until Indiana officers pick him up.
"We don't anticipate any problems and he has been very cooperative," he said.
Joyce, who spoke briefly to Bowen before the hearing, said his client knew the investigation was closing in for some time because detectives had spoken to him over the past months.
A DNA sample had also been taken from Bowen in Portland. Indiana police said it matched the genetic material found at the murder scene.
"He told me he was interested in going back to Indiana to contest the charge," Joyce said.
"We discussed his options and he did not want to contest his extradition and languish in jail for a month or two while it went through the courts."
"He could have contested it but there are murder charges in Indiana and he knew they were intent on taking the steps they needed to come and get him. He knew it was inevitable," he said.
Clark on Wednesday said he feels a sense of satisfaction knowing that officers here helped arrest a suspect in a 28-year-old murder case.
"The most important thing is that all the relatives and friends of the victim can now start on the road to recovery, knowing that someone is being held accountable for Kenny's murder," he said.
The Task Force is made up of officers from eight southern Maine law enforcement agencies along with the U. S. Marshals Office.
The Portland Police Department had been working with Indiana authorities since 2006 and referred Bowen's case to the Task Force in July when the Task Force first formed, Clark said.
"The Task Force kept loose tabs on him while everyone waited for the Indiana arrest warrant to be perfected," he said
Clark said Bowen had been married but divorced 15 years ago, was working as a painter and has been keeping a low profile.
He said there were two factors that played a huge role in making an arrest in the case:
technology and perseverance.
"There have been outstanding advances in technology that were not available to investigators in 1979. But it was the perseverance of the investigators who gathered the evidence," he said. "It is a tribute to the Lake County Sheriff's Department and the Gary Police officers for refusing to give up. They left no stone unturned."
Betty Jespersen -- 778-6991
bjespersen@centralmaine.com
Reader comments
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No need to apologize here. We're sick of reading about these LOSERS! Unfortunately there are more out there.
Good luck with getting them.report abuse
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