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‘I Think He’s A Serial Killer’: Michigan Man Arrested For ’80s Murder, Now Accused In Adopted Daughter’s Killing
The skeletal remains of Dennis Lee Bowman’s adopted daughter Aundria were found in a shallow cement grave in February.
A Michigan man, who was arrested last year on murder charges in a Virginia cold case, is now also suspected of killing — and mutilating — his adopted daughter who was reported missing more than 30 years ago.
Dennis Bowman, 71, is accused of killing Aundria Bowman and burying her in a cement-covered grave in his Michigan basement, according to the Allegan County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Her skeletal remains were previously found underneath a layer of cement in a Monterey Township home in February, NBC affiliate WOOD-TV reported.
The girl, who went missing on March 11, 1989, was 14 years old at the time of her disappearance. She reportedly went missing after accusing her adopted father of sexual abuse, according to the Charley Project. Bowman has since been charged with murder, mutilation of a body, and child abuse.
“I also want to assure Aundria's family and friends that even though this has been a very long road, this is the first step to seeking justice for her,” Allegan County Prosecutor Myrene Koch said.
Bowman was extradited to Virginia earlier this year to face murder charges in a separate homicide investigation. He’s accused of killing Kathleen Doyle in Norfolk, Virginia in 1980. She was reportedly the wife of a Navy pilot.
The investigation into Aundria Bowman’s disappearance picked up steam after his November arrest, the Detroit Free Press reported.
“It’s horrifying and sad and disgusting and everything that you can think of,” Aundria’s biological mother, Cathy Terkanian, told WOOD-TV. “I think [Bowman’s] a serial killer, to be honest with you. I think the family courts in Virginia gave my child to a serial killer.”
A private investigator, who’s been following Bowman’s alleged criminal activities for upward of a half a decade, appeared to also agree.
“I think there is a lot more to this story than what’s come out,” Cindi Kolean told Grand Rapids television station WXMI. “I think he’s probably responsible for several other abductions or murders or crimes, I really do... if you look at the circumstances it seems like he is probably a habitual offender.”
In 1999, Bowman pleaded guilty to felony breaking and entering after he unlawfully entered a co-worker’s apartment and stole her lingerie, according to the Grand Rapids television station. The now-71-year-old told detectives he had stopped at the woman’s home because he needed to use her bathroom. However, police later found a duffle bag containing a sawed off shotgun, a black mask, and several pairs of women’s underwear at his residence.
"I am the father of two lovely daughters, one 25 and the other 11, and feel that being a parent is one of the most important and sobering things a person can undertake," he wrote in a letter to the judge ahead of his sentencing in the case, WXMI reported.
He was also found guilty of sexual assault in Ottawa County in 1981, the outlet said. Bowman was sentenced to five to 10 years behind bars; however, he later appealed the ruling, which was also struck down.
“The psychologist indicates that he presents the clinical picture of a rapist; and we conclude that he is a danger to women if he is not confined,” a judge said at the time, according to WXMI.
Prosecutors said Bowman will later be returned to Michigan to face murder charges in his adopted daughter’s death.
