Renee Bowman

Background

Renee Bowman was a foster parent to three adopted daughters. The children were identified as Jasmine Nicole Bowman and Minnet Cecila Bowman. A third adopted daughter survived and was later raised by foster parents in Calvert County after escaping.

The families were in multiple Maryland locations over time, including Rockville, Charles County, and Lusby in Calvert County. Bowman received subsidies paid to parents who adopt special-needs children in the District of Columbia, including $2,400 a month from a program that encourages adoption of children who are wards of the state. She later received a total of about $150,000 and was described as collecting $152,000 for raising the children, with many payments arriving after two of them had been dead and put in the freezer.

The offence

Two adopted daughters, Jasmine and Minnet, were found frozen in an upright freezer in a basement in Lusby. Prosecutors described the case as involving killing and storing their bodies in a freezer. A Montgomery County jury convicted Bowman on two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree child abuse.

Jurors deliberated on whether Bowman committed premeditated murder for Minnet. Prosecutors described evidence including that the slain girls were asphyxiated and that Bowman acted deliberately. The defence argued that there was not enough evidence to convict Renee Bowman of first-degree murder.

The surviving daughter testified that Bowman kept the children in a locked room, forced them to use a bucket as a toilet, and beat them with a baseball bat and the heel of a shoe. The surviving daughter also testified that Bowman choked her and choked her sisters, stating: “I can't remember, because she did it so often that I couldn't keep track.” and “I couldn't breathe.” She also said she would faint. She referred to Bowman as her “ex-mother.”

Investigators could not determine exactly when the girls were killed. Autopsies were described as concluding the girls died of asphyxiation. One report said detectives could not determine when they were killed but said they had been asphyxiated and that their bodies could have been in the freezer for more than two years.

Investigation

After the 7-year-old daughter escaped from Bowman’s home by jumping out of a second-floor bedroom window, police were summoned to investigate allegations of child abuse. While investigating, the Calvert County Sheriff's Department discovered two bodies in a freezer.

A Montgomery County homicide detective wrote charges and related documents supporting murder and child abuse charges against Renee D. Bowman. The Medical Examiner’s office determined the girls died of asphyxiation.

Prosecutors described that Bowman admitted to investigators that she stuffed the children into a freezer. Prosecutors also described evidence including e-mails and messages Bowman wrote as if nothing was wrong, and an audiotape of Bowman speaking to Calvert detectives.

In court, prosecution also addressed a recording and projection evidence from the freezer scene, including images described as showing a toe through a dark, plastic garbage bag surrounded by cubed ice, and the body of Jasmine Bowman.

Prosecutors said Bowman kept the bodies on ice for months while she continued to receive subsidies. They also presented evidence described as including e-mails Bowman had written in recent years. Among them, prosecutors quoted Bowman describing her disciplinary approach as: “I'm like the WARDEN . . . THEY HATE IT. hahaaha. How are you? You doing alright? How's your thyroid and stuff?” She also wrote to an adoption organization in South Carolina that she wanted to add a boy, stating: “I am very much interested in Cameron. He would make a lovely addition to our loving home.”

Deputy State's Attorney John Maloney suggested Bowman was preparing her defence. He asked jurors holding up a document: “Who has night reading of grand-jury testimony, over an inch thick, from a D.C. child abuse case?” and stated: “That's what she reads at nighttime, down in Calvert County.”

Detectives found evidence including Bowman's fingerprints on tape wrapped around one of the bodies in the freezer. Prosecutors also described finding a lengthy printout of testimony from a D.C. child abuse case in Bowman's house.

Cellmate testimony and confession

Janet Buchmiller, a former prison cellmate of Bowman, testified that Bowman confessed to suffocating them with a pillow. In testimony, Buchmiller said: “She smothered them,” and stated that in the cell Bowman told her what she did with the bodies. Buchmiller said Bowman told her: “She set them in the freezer and took the bike lock off the girls' bike and put it on there.”

Under cross-examination, one of Bowman's attorneys, Alan Drew, worked to establish that Buchmiller was motivated to try to improve her own standing with the system. Buchmiller acknowledged meeting with law enforcement officers and saying: “If I can get back in there with her, I can get you more details.” Buchmiller said she gained nothing from sharing the information and served her full sentence in jail.

Juror Alex Roberts described Buchmiller's evidence by stating: “She told Buchmiller the real secret.” and “She felt comfortable telling her what really happened.”

Arrest and charging

Bowman was in Calvert County jail after the discovery of the bodies. She was indicted in Calvert on attempted first-degree murder, child abuse and other charges related to the alleged abuse of her surviving daughter. Bowman was later charged in Montgomery County as well.

Montgomery police obtained a warrant charging Renee Bowman with murder in the slayings of two adopted children whose bodies were found in her Southern Maryland freezer. The warrant charged Bowman with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of child abuse resulting in death and one count of child abuse relating to the surviving girl.

Investigators thought Bowman killed the girls in May 2006 while leasing a home in the Aspen Hill area. Prosecutors and detectives said Bowman beat all three children while in Montgomery and, at times, kept her children in a locked room, forcing them to urinate in a bucket.

Trial

The trial took place in Montgomery County and included testimony from the surviving daughter, and prosecution evidence including autopsies, photographs or projections, audiotape, e-mails, and recordings.

Testimony of the surviving daughter

The surviving daughter testified against Renee Bowman. She held a Valentine's Day teddy bear in court. She told the jury that the children were kept in a locked room and that they used a bucket as a toilet. She testified that Bowman repeatedly beat her and her sisters with a baseball bat and a shoe and that Bowman also choked her and her sisters.

The surviving daughter testified about how many times Bowman choked her, saying: “I can't remember because she did it so often I couldn't keep track.” She also testified when asked about what it would do to her: “I couldn't breathe.” and “I would faint.”

When the prosecutor asked about the meaning of “used the bucket,” she responded: “There was a bucket where we went to the bathroom because we weren't allowed out of the room to use the bathroom.”

During cross-examination, defence attorney Alan Drew asked the girl about the term “ex-mother.” The girl said: “I just don't like calling her by her name.” The girl also told Drew: “You already asked that.” The courtroom erupted in laughter.

In one confrontation during the trial, Detective Ronnie Naughton asked in a questioning sequence: “Who wrapped them up in the blanket?” and Bowman said: “I did.” He then asked: “Who put them in the plastic bag?” and Bowman said: “I did.” He asked: “Who put them in the freezer?” and Bowman said: “I did.” He asked: “And who put the ice on them?” and Bowman said: “I did.”

Forensic findings and prosecution arguments

Prosecutors described that the girls died of asphyxiation and that their bodies could have been in the freezer for more than two years. Prosecutors also described that they were wrapped and placed in a freezer and that evidence included an audiotape of Bowman’s interview with Calvert detectives.

During the trial, prosecutors also described evidence including Bowman’s statements to detectives that one child was wrapped in a blanket and the other was wrapped in a trash bag. Bowman told Calvert detectives, as played to jurors: “The first one, the oldest one, was wrapped in a blanket, with ice thrown on top” and “was probably wrapped up in a trash bag, a green trash bag.”

Prosecutor John McCarthy said in closing argument: “This woman was in it for the money. And by killing the children, keeping them literally on ice, the money continued to flow,”.

Montgomery County prosecutor John McCarthy described the crime at sentencing as involving a “death chamber,” using the judge’s remarks and prosecutors’ descriptions.

Jury deliberations and verdict

A Montgomery County jury convicted Renee Bowman of two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree child abuse. The verdict included findings of first-degree child abuse of all three girls and first-degree murder of Jasmine. Jurors also deliberated whether to convict Bowman of premeditated murder for Minnet.

The jury foreman, Laurence Foley, described the evidence in court, stating: “What she did was absolutely horrendous,” and: “There was an overwhelming amount of evidence.” Foley also said: “She's a beautiful girl,” and: “The prosecutors called her 'the miracle child.' It was kind of over the top. But she really was.”

Defence attorney Ron Gottlieb was described as stating in opening: “There is not enough evidence to convict Renee Bowman of first-degree murder,”.

A juror described the discussion of premeditation by stating that a compelling witness who pushed them to a higher charge was Janet Buchmiller, and stated: “She told Buchmiller the real secret,” and “She felt comfortable telling her what really happened.”

Sentencing

On March 21, 2010, Renee Bowman was sentenced to two consecutives life term in prison without parole, plus an extra 75 years.

Montgomery County Circuit Judge Michael J. Algeo told Bowman before handing down the maximum sentence, stating: “You sentenced these two young innocent children in the dawn of their lives to a death chamber, and for you that option is not available,”. Bowman showed no emotion during the hearing.

Bowman told the judge: “I am very sorry for the abuse of the girls,” and said: “It haunts me. It haunts me every day.”

She had already been sentenced to 25 years in prison after pleading guilty to abusing the surviving daughter, who was now 9 and living with foster parents.

Prosecutors had asked for life in prison without the possibility of parole for the murder convictions. The crimes were described as not eligible for the death penalty in Maryland.

Appeals

Bowman's public defender, Alan Drew, said the defence would appeal the murder convictions, but he declined to comment further.

Outcome

The jury found Renee Bowman guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and three counts of first-degree child abuse. She was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without parole and an extra 75 years on March 21, 2010. She received the maximum sentences.

Other details

Renee Bowman showed little expression during trial proceedings. She sat impassively as the five-count verdict was read, her hands clasped on a table. She cocked her head slightly as one of the child-abuse findings was read.

The surviving daughter was described as being 9 at the time of trial and being raised by foster parents in Calvert County. She escaped by jumping out of a second-floor window about 17 months earlier.

The surviving daughter described that Bowman told her Jasmine and Minnet had gone to live with a friend, and she testified that Bowman told her her sisters had said “that I was stupid and dumb and they didn't want to see me anymore.”

Bowman’s lawyers maintained that Bowman did not kill the girls, though they acknowledged she was guilty of abusing them. During sentencing-related discussion, it was said that Bowman told detectives the children died by causes other than asphyxiation: Minnet after she stopped eating and Jasmine after she fell and hit her head.

John J. McCarthy, state's attorney for Montgomery County, was quoted describing Bowman’s conduct, stating: “Renee Bowman's crime was brutal almost beyond human comprehension,” and: “Given the opportunity as an adoptive parent to change the lives of three children, she violated that trust in unimaginable ways.”

Bowman wrote e-mails and messages about family matters while the bodies were in the freezer and continued to receive subsidies for all three children. She kept the girls in her Rockville house inside a bedroom with the door lock reversed.