Loadeye879

Gary Ray Bowles, 32, was arrested on Tuesday, November 22, 1994, at an employment office in Jacksonville, Florida, for the strangulation murder of 47-year-old Walter Hinton six days before. At the time, Bowles was using the name Tim Whitfield. He allegedly had been living with Hinton for several months and continued to live in his mobile home for two days after the murder. Hinton's body was in a back room the whole time.Under questioning, Bowles admitted his true name and reportedly confessed to six murders in four states. Police had been searching for him for nine months. The Friday before his arrest he was put on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list.The odyssey began in Daytona Beach, Florida, when Bowles allegedly beat and strangled his roommate John Hardy Roberts, 59, to death.The next murder in the alleged series took place in Wheaton, Maryland. On April 14, 1994, Bowles allegedly strangled David Jarman and stole his credit cards, his money and his car.From there the scene moved to Savannah, Georgia, a few weeks later. Bowles was taken in by 72-year-old Milton Bradley. Bradley was found dead on a golf course near his home. He had been gagged, strangled and robbed.Two weeks later the trail came to Hilliard, Florida, where Albert Morris was gagged, beaten, blasted with a shotgun and strangled on June 13.In each case, the alleged killer hung out in gay bars. When he met a likely prospect, he would offer household chores and sex in exchange for a place to stay. Then, after a short period, he would violently kill his benefactor and steal money and, if possible, a car to take him away from that locale.In each case, the violence used was far more than needed simply to kill the victims. Though they were usually robbed, there's reason to doubt that as a motive. The killer was skillful enough at gaining the trust of potential victims to make their deaths unnecessary.Police identified Bowles as a suspect early on, but by keeping on the move, he stayed ahead of them.The case was profiled on America's Most Wanted in July, 1994. At that time Bowles was sharing a house with several others, who called police when they saw his picture on TV. Incredibly, a tan and a mustache had changed Bowles' appearance enough that police thought he was the wrong man and let him go. They apparently failed to check him for identifying marks; he has three tattoos and old knifing scars.It's easy to see from this example that communication between localities that would not have been possible a hundred years ago aided in identifying a possible series of killings and came very close to capturing the alleged killer. It's likely, too, that the decision to confess was influenced in part by the certainty that he would have to face the charges anyway. Computers and telecommunications have made the anonymity serial killers depend on almost obsolete.Bowles has been charged with five of the six murders he is said to have confessed to and awaits trial.