Date: Wed, 23 Nov 1994 07:34:10 -0500 (GMT-0500) From: "Thomas W. Holt Jr." Subject: Suspected Serial Killer Apprehended (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 22 Nov 1994 19:41:31 -0500 From: DENLEWIS@delphi.com To: Multiple recipients of list GLB-NEWS Subject: Suspected Serial Killer Apprehended Suspected serial killer Gary Ray Bowles, who is wanted in the deaths of gay men in Maryland, Georgia and Florida, was apprehended today (Nov. 22) in Jacksonville Beach, Fla., Jacksonville TV stations reported on their 6 p.m. newscasts. Bowles had been living under the alias of Tim Whitfield, according to the news reports. He confessed that he was Bowles during questioning by Jacksonville Beach police on the murder of Walter Hinton, 42, whose body was found Sunday in his trailer in the San Pablo section of Jacksonville, near the Intracoastal Waterway. WJXT-TV, Channel 4, reported that during the questioning Whitfield/Bowles had alluded to the fact that he wasn't who he said he was, and finally asked police "Do you really want to know who I am?" Both Channel 4 and WTLV-TV, Channel 12, reported that Bowles confessed to six murders, including the murder of a man in Atlanta in May. The reports said police were not aware of the Atlanta murder. Channel 12 said that Whitfield/Bowles worked in a labor pool at Jacksonville Beach and frequented Jacksonville Beach bars. The station did not say if one of those bars was Bo's Coral Reef, the only gay bar at the beach, but it did feature footage of the faded exterior of the Ritz bar and an interview with a woman at the Ritz who said Whitman/Bowles came across as "an average joe," but did admit one night that he was going to go out and "roll a guy." Channel 4 reported that Bowles had a legal Florida ID card bearing the name Timothy Whitfield, and that he had shaved off his mustache. (Bowles had a mustache in the photos distributed in the media and on his "wanted" posters.) Channel 4 also reported that Whitfield had filed complaints with the Jacksonville Beach Police Department in August and October, alleging *he* was assaulted in a bar. Channel 12 reported that Whitfield/Bowles had been taken in on Nov. 2 after a fight in a bar at the beach, and had earlier been taken in by Jacksonville Beach police for public drunkenness. (Again, the TV reports did not specify if the bar was Bo's or if it was one of the straight bars at the Beach.) Jacksonville Sheriff Jim McMillan said he was "relieved that he [Bowles] is off the street." Both TV stations included footage of interviews with patrons of the HMS, a small gay bar on Talleyrand Avenue in one of the city's less desirable neighborhoods. (Actually, the reporters may have chosen the HMS because it's the closest gay bar to the studios of both Channel 4 and Channel 12.) The FBI had put Bowles on its 10 Most Wanted List last weekend. Bowles is a suspect in gay-related murders in metropolitan Washington, D.C., Savannah, Ga., Hilliard, Fla. (near Jacksonville), and Daytona Beach.