- Jerry Bowen fled before sentencing of the murder of Brenda Breckenridge. Bowen erased his fingerprints with acid and befriended homeless men to assume their identities. After 7 yrs, detectives were able to find enough remaining prints to declare a match.—Anonymous
- On January 28, 1997, Brenda Breckenridge Bowen went missing from her upscale home in rural Westover, Alabama. Shelby County Sheriff's deputies interviewed her ex-husband, Jerry Bowen, but he claimed to know nothing and was released.
Two months later, Brenda's decomposed body washed up on a riverbank and the Sheriff's Department knew they had a homicide investigation. Almost a year after the disappearance, authorities got an indictment for Mr. Bowen. After a highly publicized trial, he was convicted of the murder. Bowen failed to appear for sentencing, and authorities found a note indicating that he was on the run. He said that he was not going to prison for a crime he had not committed. The FBI was immediately brought on to the case.
Bowen purchased books on how to disappear and how to create false identifications. He decided to erase his fingerprints with acid from a pool supply store. He then befriended homeless men and assumed their identities. This way he could get both an ID and a job.
Bowen found work as a contractor. he found comfort in a relationship with a woman. His girlfriend, however, had a best friend who disliked Bowen. When the relationship ended, Bowen moved on. But his ex-girlfriend's pal did not.
On December 22, 2004, the friend spotted Bowen's picture on the "Unsolved Mysteries" and contacted authorities.
Detectives brought Bowen to the station and compared his prints to those obtained from Shelby County. They were able to find enough remaining prints to declare a match. Confronted with the similarities, Bowen immediately confessed.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content