Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 29, 1995 TAG: 9509290083
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MOUNT AIRY, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Some people think Dennis Stockton was executed Wednesday for a murder committed by another man.
But not Surry County Sheriff Connie Watson.
Watson had the evidence that refuted allegations made just days before Stockton was put to death for the 1978 killing of Kenneth Arnder.
Arnder's body was found near Mount Airy in July 1978, but investigators determined that he was killed by Stockton in Patrick County, Va. Arnder, 18, was shot in the head and his hands were hacked off at the wrist.
Last week, allegations surfaced that the prosecution's key witness during Stockton's 1983 trial, Randy Bowman of Mount Airy, was the actual murderer.
Bowman's ex-wife and a former friend filed affidavits saying they had heard Bowman admit to the killing.
But Watson and one of his investigators, Johnnie Belton, found those claims impossible to believe.
According to Surry County Sheriff's Office logbooks, Bowman has an alibi: He was in jail from July 3 until Aug. 16, 1978.
Arnder was murdered sometime between July 20 and July 25.
"I can say without reservation that [Bowman] didn't kill [Arnder]," Watson said Thursday while flipping through the yellowing pages of a log book dating back to 1978.
Deputies at that time recorded inmate counts and names by hand.
In the 1978 book, Randy Bowman's name pops up on June 26 - the day he began serving a six-month sentence for speeding, reckless driving and resisting arrest, Watson said.
Two days later, "work release" is written beside Bowman's name and jail sentence.
That cast doubt on Bowman's whereabouts later in July, but Watson explained why he says that doubt is unfounded.
Bowman was released to do some work for a local business or individual on June 28, 1978, Watson said.
The work release designation stays beside Bowman's name in the log book until July 3, 1978.
On that day, Watson says, Bowman failed to report to the sheriff's office and an arrest warrant was issued for escape. Bowman was apprehended that day at a local motel, Watson said.
From July 3 until August 16, when he was bonded out of jail, Bowman's name is listed in the logbook without the work release tag.
Other inmates, Watson pointed out in the logbook, continued to have the words "work release" written beside their names after Bowman was arrested on July 3.
Surry County investigators double-checked the log book. So did a handful of top ranking Virginia State Police investigators sent to North Carolina by Gov. George Allen the day before Stockton's execution.
The logbook was then cross-referenced with Surry County court records to make sure dates matched.
One court order - to assign Bowman a lawyer on the escape charge - was filed on July 5, 1978. The document wouldn't have been entered if Bowman hadn't been arrested and placed in custody at the time, a court clerk said.
Court records also show that was one of a slew of charges brought against Bowman from 1976 until this year. The charges include breaking and entering, making threats, writing bad checks and failing to support his child.
Bowman was convicted of many of the charges and received jail time.
But he's free now.
"We haven't had a whole lot of problems out of Randy in a while," said Surry County Detective Roger Cook, a veteran of the department who is familiar with Bowman.
Thursday evening, Bowman drove up to the apartment he shares with his mother on a working class side street in Mt. Airy.
He got out of his Ford van with a faded Tasmanian Devil sticker on the side and rebel flags hanging in the windows that read: "The South will rise again."
He grabbed a paint can out of the back; he's been working as a house painter.
He didn't have much to say about the Arnder case.
"It's caused a lot of trouble," he said. "I'm thinking about suing some people - and that includes newspaper people."
Asked who those newspaper people might be, he replied: "I don't know. There's been so much written about all of this. It takes a while to get back to you."
Back at the sheriff's office about an hour before, Detective Cook said he knows that Bowman didn't kill Arnder.
"You just have to know Randy," he said.
by CNB