Bowman Murder Trial & verdict(Cold Ohio Case)

[Lady Cop]

TOLEDO, OH (WTOL) - Robert Bowman, 75, joined an "offbeat" religion and mutilated dolls after he kidnapped and killed a 14-year-old Toledo school girl back in 1967, that's according to the opening statements in his murder trial Thursday.

Assistant Lucas County Prosecutor Chris Anderson told the jury Eileen Adams, 14, was supposed to go to her sister's west Toledo home after school on December 18 of 1967 – but she never got off the bus.

Adams' sister Mary Ann Brimmer testified that their father came to her place to pick Eileen up at 3:45pm. When Eileen wasn't at the school or the bus stop, her father filed a missing person's report.

"He was getting very, very jumpy. It was making me nervous. She was never late," Brimmer testified.

A month and a half later, two Michigan brothers found a rolled up rug tied up with a lamp cord in a field. Prosecutors say Adams was inside wearing the suit she had on the day she disappeared. She had a three inch nail drilled in the back JESUS!! of her heard and cord wrapped around her neck.

"Around her neck, down her back and to her ankles were bound," Anderson stated. An autopsy concluded Adams had been strangled.

Prosecutors say police at the time went to the media and released information on the murder to gain leads. They say no leads turned credible and the case grew cold in April on 1968.

In 1981, prosecutors say Bowman's ex wife went to police and said Bowman killed Adams and she was a witness. Officers found Bowman in Florida living in a shell of a burned out building. His attorney stated he joined a religion in which he was to possess no material things.

They say he quit his job as a businessman and spent all of his money. Inside the burned out building, officers found Bowman had suspended a Spider man doll from the ceiling upside down with string binding the dolls ankles. The string was also wrapped around the doll's neck and down its back. There was also the head of a Ken doll.

"That Ken doll had a nail in the back of his head," Anderson stated.

Police went to prosecutors who said there wasn't sufficient evidence in the case. The case went cold for another 15 years.

In 2006, police reopened the case again at the request of Adams' parents. This time, detectives tested for DNA. The conducted a reverse paternity test on Bowman's daughter to come up with Bowman's DNA and compared that to semen found on Adams' skirt.

Prosecutors said it was a partial match. Bowman was found in 2008 in California living in the desert, underneath a tarp. Officers checked him for warrants, discovered his murder warrant and placed him under arrest.

Bowman's attorneys started there were other suspects in this case including Adams' father. Retired Detective Merritt Higbie testified he went to the father's workplace and checked his alibi.

He testified Adams' father was ruled out as a suspect. Bowman's attorneys also questioned Higbie about one of the brothers who found Adams' body, Larry Knaggs.

"Larry Knaggs made the remark that he was going to drive a nail in someone's head, " Defense attorney Pete Rost said.

Rost also questioned Higbie about an anonymous note sent to Brimmer's addressed to Adams, sent after her disappearance but before her body was found.

"Dear Eileen. I'm glad my plan worked but after I thought about it I think it would have been better if you were to jump in the river and drown yourself," Higbie read the note on the stand.

It also discussed money, sticking to the plan and meeting at a certain place and time. Higbie did not call the note credible to the investigation.

Testimony resumes in the case Friday morning.



Bowman's old house