Dennis Bowman, 71, of Monterey Township, who admitted killing a woman in Virginia 40 years ago, was in Allegan County District Court to face charges of murdering his 14-year-old adopted daughter.
Bowman’s wife testified Monday that he also admitted he buried the remains of his adopted daughter in 1989. Allegan County deputies reported Bowman confessed in November 2019 to killing Aundria Bowman in 1989.
Bowman, 71, had pleaded guilty to raping and killing 25-year-old Kathleen Doyle in 1980. Doyle was the wife of a U.S. Navy pilot who was deployed at the time of her death.
Deputies said Bowman never revealed the location of Aundria’s remains until he told his wife, Brenda, a year ago. Brenda Bowman testified that her husband buried Aundria’s remains in a shallow grave covered by cement at Dennis Bowman’s home in Monterey Township.
Deputies discovered Aundria’s remains and Bowman was charged last August with one count of open murder, first-degree child abuse and mutilation of a dead body.
Deputies said Aundria disappeared from her home in Fillmore Township on March 11, 1989.
Brenda Bowman testified that Dennis told her in 1989 Aundria had run away from home, but she was never found.
She also said her husband last year told told her he buried Aundria’s remains in their back yard in Fillmore Township and removed them a year later in 1990 when the couple moved to Monterey Township.
Dr. Elizabeth Douglas, a medical examiner at the Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, said the skeletal remains found that February were dismembered. The cause of death was ruled as homicide.
Brenda Bowman also testified that Aundria accused her stepfather of molesting her when she was 13 and 14.
