Bobby Jack Fowler

Overview

Bobby Jack Fowler (June 12, 1939 – May 15, 2006) was an American who was a native of Texas and who was described as a serial killer and rapist active in the United States and Canada. He died in prison of lung cancer during a 16-year sentence after a conviction for rape, kidnapping and attempted rape in Newport, Oregon, in 1996, for an attack that took place in 1995.

He was described as a transient construction worker known to have travelled extensively across North America. He spent time "rabbiting around" North America to places including British Columbia, Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, Texas, Oregon, South Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee and Washington State.

He was described as an alcoholic, and as an amphetamine and methamphetamine user. His criminal record was described as ranging from attempted murder and sexual assault to firearms offenses. In 1969 he was charged with murdering a man and woman in Texas but was only convicted of discharging a firearm within city limits.

Bobby Jack Fowler was described as having a history of travelling in beat up old cars, frequently picking up hitchhikers and spending time in bars and motels. He believed that women he came into contact with hitchhiking and in bars wanted to be sexually assaulted.

The offence

Bobby Jack Fowler was convicted of kidnapping in the 1st Degree, Attempted Rape in the 1st Degree, Sexual Abuse in the 1st Degree, Coercion, Assault in the Fourth Degree, and Menacing.

The case followed an attack in 1995 involving a woman who escaped from a motel room in Newport, Oregon by jumping from a second-story window while naked and with a rope tied around her ankle.

Investigation

Bobby Jack Fowler was named as a suspect in Highway of Tears murders. He was identified by investigators as a person of interest and suspect in multiple deaths and disappearances associated with highways in British Columbia and Oregon.

Bobby Jack Fowler’s DNA was found on the body of Colleen MacMillen, one of the presumed victims.

Police said his DNA tests linked him to the 1974 killing of 16-year-old Colleen MacMillen. Her body was found on a logging road.

He was described as a strong suspect in two Canadian cases involving Gale Weys and Pamela Darlington and as a person of interest in seven others, but as having been eliminated as a suspect in eight cases.

RCMP believe he may have also killed as many as ten of the other victims in British Columbia and possibly as many as 20.

Potential Canadian victims were described as mostly First Nation girls reported missing from Highway 16, a 724 km roadway dubbed the 'Highway of Tears' due to a high number of murders and disappearances of young women beginning in the 1970s; however, three of these murders occurred after Fowler's imprisonment in 1996.

Arrest

On June 28, 1995, Fowler was arrested following an incident in which a woman jumped out of a Tides Inn motel in Newport, Oregon motel window with a still rope tied to her ankle. She survived the attack and reported her harrowing tale to local police.

Trial

On January 8, 1996, Fowler was convicted in Newport, Oregon. The conviction covered:

• Kidnapping in the 1st Degree
• Attempted Rape in the 1st Degree
• Sexual Abuse in the 1st Degree
• Coercion
• Assault in the Fourth Degree
• Menacing

Sentencing

On January 8, 1996, Fowler was sentenced to 195 months (16 years, 3 months) with the possibility of parole.

Appeals

No appeal information was provided.

Outcome

Bobby Jack Fowler died in May 2006 at the age of 66 in Oregon State Penitentiary from lung cancer, during the 16-year sentence.

Other details

Bobby Jack Fowler was described as having spent time in a Tennessee prison for sexual assault and attempted murder. An investigator was quoted describing that he "he tied [a woman] up, beat the hell out of her with her own belt, covered her with brush and left her to die."

In 1969, Fowler was charged with murdering a man and woman in Texas but was only convicted of discharging a firearm within city limits.

He was described as having a long criminal record in the United States and as having worked in Prince George, British Columbia in the 1970s. Police said he did not have a criminal record in Canada.

Highway of Tears murders involvement included three of the Highway of Tears murders that were associated with a suspect identification by Canadian police.

On 25 September 2012, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Lincoln County District Attorney Rob Bovett named Bobby Jack Fowler as a suspect in three of the Highway of Tears murders. His DNA was found on the body of Colleen MacMillen, one of the presumed victims.

The following quotations were given verbatim:

• Royal Canadian Mounted Police Insp. Gary Shinkaruk said: "Police called it the oldest DNA match in Interpol's history."
• MacMillen's brother, Shawn, described her as sweet and innocent and said: "We are simply stunned and very grateful for their hard work," MacMillen said.
• MacMillen said: "It has been a long wait for answers, and although it is a somewhat unsatisfactory result because this individual won't have to stand trial for what he did, we are comforted by the fact that he was in prison when he died and he can't hurt anyone else."
• Shinkaruk said: "Fowler remains a strong suspect in the killings of Gale Weys and Pamela Darlington, both 19."
• RCMP Staff Sgt. Wayne Clary said: "they believe no single killer is responsible for all the Canadian cases."
• Rob Bovett said: "He's a suspect in our 1995 case. I haven't linked him – he's a suspect."
• Rob Bovett said: "What makes him a suspect is his history, his M.O. and his location."
• Shinkaruk said: "He was of the belief that a lot of the women he came into contact with, specifically women who hitchhiked and women who went to taverns and drank, had a desire to be sexually assaulted."

Canadian cases and related individuals

Shinkaruk said Fowler was linked to the 1974 killing of 16-year-old Colleen MacMillen, who was last seen leaving home to hitchhike to a friend's house.

Shinkaruk said Fowler was a strong suspect in the killings of Gale Weys and Pamela Darlington:

• Gale Weys was last seen hitchhiking from Clearwater, British Columbia on Oct. 16, 1973 and was found dead six months later.
• Pamela Darlington was killed and found in a Kamloops, British Columbia park on Nov. 7, 1973.

Bovett said Fowler was a person of interest in four unsolved killings of teenage girls in Oregon in the 1980s and 1990s.

Oregon cases and related individuals

Bovett said Fowler was a person of interest in the 1992 deaths of Sheila Swanson, 19, and Melissa Sanders, 17. They disappeared in May 1992 and their badly decomposed bodies were discovered five months later in a wooded area near Eddyville.

Bovett said investigators may not be able to get DNA evidence in that case.

Two of the girls, Jennifer Esson and Kara Leas, both 16, were last seen walking on a street in the coastal city of Newport, Oregon, in 1995. Their bodies were found almost three weeks later in a wooded area north of town.

The following details were also provided:

• May 3, 1992, just after midnight, around 1:00 a.m.: Sheila Swanson, 19 and Melissa Sanders, 17 were last seen making a call from a payphone near the Beverly Beach State Park where they had been camping. Their bodies were later discovered on October 10, 1992, by hunters in a wooded area near Eddyville, Oregon.
• January 28, 1995 just after midnight, around 1:00 a.m.: Jennifer Esson, 16 and Kara Leas, 16 are last seen walking on NW 56th Street in Newport, Oregon walking toward Highway 101 near Moolack Beach after leaving a friends house. Their strangled bodies were later discovered on February 15, 1995, by loggers in a wooded area, covered up with brush.

Fowler was arrested in June 1995, five months after Esson and Leas went missing.

Other alleged or investigated killings

Fowler was a suspect or person of interest in at least 16 murders in British Columbia and Oregon dating as far back as 1969. Fowler was also strongly suspected to have killed both Gale Weys and Pamela Darlington in 1973.

He was also described as being a suspect in Highway of Tears murders.

The RCMP believed he may have killed as many as ten of the other victims and possibly as many as 20. It was also stated that three of the Highway 16 murders occurred after Fowler's imprisonment in 1996.

Timeline

• June 12, 1939 — Bobby Jack Fowler was born.
• 1969 — Fowler was charged with murdering a man and woman in Texas but was convicted of discharging a firearm within city limits.
• May 1992 — Sheila Swanson, 19, and Melissa Sanders, 17, disappeared.
• May 3, 1992 — Sheila Swanson, 19, and Melissa Sanders, 17, were last seen making a call from a payphone near the Beverly Beach State Park where they had been camping.
• October 10, 1992 — Hunters discovered the bodies of Sheila Swanson and Melissa Sanders in a wooded area near Eddyville, Oregon.
• Jan 28, 1995 — Jennifer Esson, 16, and Kara Leas, 16, were last seen walking on NW 56th Street in Newport, Oregon.
• February 15, 1995 — Loggers discovered the strangled bodies of Jennifer Esson and Kara Leas in a wooded area covered up with brush.
• June 28, 1995 — Fowler was arrested after a woman escaped from a Tides Inn motel window in Newport, Oregon with a rope tied to her ankle.
• January 8, 1996 — Fowler was convicted of kidnapping in the 1st Degree, Attempted Rape in the 1st Degree, Sexual Abuse in the 1st Degree, Coercion, Assault in the Fourth Degree, and Menacing.
• January 8, 1996 — Fowler was sentenced to 195 months (16 years, 3 months) with the possibility of parole.
• May 15, 2006 — Fowler died in prison of lung cancer at Oregon State Penitentiary.
• 25 September 2012 — RCMP and Lincoln County District Attorney Rob Bovett named Bobby Jack Fowler as a suspect in three Highway of Tears murders.