THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 22, 1995 TAG: 9509220481
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOE JACKSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 111 lines
Virginia authorities are apparently investigating claims by the son of Randy Bowman, key prosecution witness in the capital murder case of Dennis Stockton, that Bowman bragged of killing and hurting people.
The allegation is echoed by two other witnesses who claimed Bowman said he, not Stockton, was the real killer of Kenneth Arnder.
At the same time, Stockton's lawyer charged Thursday that North Carolina and Virginia officials' refusal to search Bowman's apartment may have doomed any chance of retrieving a journal in which Bowman allegedly chronicled those crimes.
The journal, described in the affidavit of Bowman's son, Timothy Crabtree, ``has almost certainly been destroyed by Randy Bowman,'' said Steve Rosenfield, the lawyer. ``It could have been a key piece of exculpatory evidence. We pleaded with authorities to issue a search warrant, but they just weren't interested. Now it may be too late.''
The allegations against Bowman - detailed in sworn statements by Crabtree, 16; Bowman's ex-wife, Patricia Ann McHone; and former friend Kathy Carreon - were filed in the state Supreme Court on Tuesday, along with a plea for a new hearing. The statements raise the possibility that Stockton may have spent the past 12 years on death row due to the false testimony of the real killer.
Stockton is scheduled to be executed by lethal injection Wednesday. In 1983, he was sentenced to death for the Southside Virginia murder-for-hire of Arnder, 18.
On Thursday, a North Carolina state investigator visited Crabtree's adoptive father, James Crabtree, to arrange a meeting between Timothy and Virginia investigators, James Crabtree said.
It could not be determined Thursday if investigators are also seeking interviews with McHone and Carreon. ``We do not comment on investigations,'' said Donald Harrison, spokesman for the Virginia attorney general's office.
From December 1994 to April 1995, Timothy visited with Bowman, his biological father. During that time, Bowman ``told me many stories about people he beat up or about people he killed,'' the boy's affidavit said. ``I also read about people he hurt from a journal he kept in a composition book. He never mentioned names.
``He told me of one incident where he killed a boy and disposed of the body with the help of some friends,'' the affidavit said. ``He showed me where they left the body, and I remember it was near a stream in or near Mt. Airy, N.C. He said this happened before I was born.'' Arnder, whose body was found near Mt. Airy, was killed shortly before Timothy was born.
Timothy's affidavit was corroborated by Carreon's, who said, ``Randy Bowman told me that he killed Kenny Arnder with the help of two friends.'' McHone's affidavit said, ``Randy came home one evening and told me that he had just killed Kenny Arnder.''
On Thursday, James Crabtree gave more details about the journal.
``Tim said his dad was gone one day . . . so he went into his bedroom,'' Crabtree said. ``He was just plundering around - I don't think he knew it was there.''
Timothy found the ``wire-bound school composition book'' containing ``a list of the things he (Bowman) had done to people,'' Crabtree said. ``It went into all sorts of detail - pages and pages. One thing was a time he supposedly raped a girl and killed her boyfriend.''
Timothy's affidavit was notarized Sept. 15, records show. The next day, Rosenfield contacted North Carolina state investigator Ron Perry. ``I told Perry about the affidavits and asked for a search warrant, but he said he wasn't interested - the case was closed,'' Rosenfield said.
Perry has been involved in the case since Arnder was killed. ``Ron Perry felt like I should be an informant and help him solve'' the case, Stockton recently said.
Bowman testified in 1983 that he heard Stockton agree to kill Arnder for $1,500 - testimony that allowed prosecutors to seek the death penalty. Yet in April 1995, Bowman told a Virginian-Pilot reporter that he never heard Stockton take the deal.
A month later, Bowman signed an affidavit claiming that he never recanted his original story. Perry was one of two officers who took that statement. On Thursday, Perry did not return a reporter's call.
The same day Rosenfield talked to Perry, his private investigator asked the Surry County Sheriff's Department to issue a search warrant. ``They said they would not,'' Rosenfield said. ``They gave no reason.''
On Monday, Rosenfield faxed a request for a search warrant to James Coman, director of the State Bureau of Investigations in Raleigh. In the letter, Rosenfield described the new evidence and his discussion with Perry.
``I suggested that Agent Perry could secure a search warrant and execute it before we file our petition for habeas corpus, which might tip-off Bowman about our knowledge of his diary,'' Rosenfield's letter said. ``Incredibly, Agent Perry told me that he could and would do nothing with this information since the case was in court and was being handled by Virginia authorities. . .
``I am writing to put your agency on notice that once this matter breaks in the media later this week, the evidence contained in Bowman's diary may vanish because of your failure to act,'' the letter said.
Rosenfield said he was told by a deputy chief that the agency had no jurisdiction unless it was invited into the case by Virginia officials.
So Rosenfield contacted Alan Black, the commonwealth's attorney for Patrick County, where Stockton was convicted. Black also refused, he said.
On Tuesday, Black told a reporter he would not issue a search warrant unless invited to do so by North Carolina authorities. He called the affidavit ``uncorroborated statements,'' and said he had contacted the state attorney general.
Stockton's lawyers filed the affidavits on Tuesday afternoon. The next day, the story was published in newspapers across the state. ILLUSTRATION: Photos
Randy Bowman kept a journal listing ``things he had done to
people,'' his son said.
Dennis Stockton's lawyers say officials have refused to search for
the journal.
by CNB