Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 2, 1994 TAG: 9407040113
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
Detectives in Henrico County, a suburb of Richmond, are investigating Gary R. Bowles as a suspect in the recent fatal shooting of antique dealer Henry W. Weatherford Jr.
First-degree murder warrants have been issued for Bowles in Nassau County, Fla.; Savannah, Ga.; and Montgomery County, Md., said Detective Michael Turner of the Montgomery County Police Department.
The FBI also has an interstate warrant accusing Bowles of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, according to an FBI investigator tracking the trail of slayings that apparently began in Florida and continued along the Interstate 95 corridor.
Bowles, 32, is a transient construction worker who was born in Clifton Forge. Police tracking Bowles, who also has used the name Joey Pearson, describe him as a street hustler and confidence man.
``He's not a very nice guy,'' Turner said.
Investigators said all of the victims have been white men, most of whom Bowles met in gay bars. Bowles befriended the men and apparently moved in with them before killing them, the investigators alleged. In at least two cases, the victims' cars were taken.
``Some of these look [like] mirror cases,'' said Lt. Harold Ragan of the Savannah Police Department. ``Older homosexual, took his car, credit cards. This guy has got it down pat.''
Rick Valentine of the Henrico County Division of Police is investigating the slaying of Weatherford.
``We're certainly looking very hard at [Bowles],'' Valentine said. ``We're looking as hard at him as we are anyone else ... being as he is accused of murdering people up and down I-95.''
Weatherford's car, a 1983 Oldsmobile with Virginia license plate ZWT-7320, is missing. So is his wallet. Police said he apparently knew his killer and let his killer into the house.
Investigators said the violence began shortly after Bowles was released in December from a Florida prison, where he served a two-year sentence for robbery and probation violations.
The murders that followed:
John H. Roberts, 59, of Daytona Beach, Fla., found dead at his home March 15 ``from a blunt-force trauma to the head,'' said Al Tolley, a spokesman for the Daytona Beach Police Department.
David A. Jarman, age unavailable, of Montgomery County, Md., found strangled in his apartment April 14.
Milton Bradley, 72, of Savannah, Ga., found May 5 near a golf course utility shed. He had been beaten and strangled.
Albert Morris, 37, of Nassau County, Fla., found May 19 at home. Morris had been strangled and shot.
Weatherford, 50, of Richmond found shot to death June 13 at his home.
by CNB