Boy killed, dad's throat slit in Phenix City home invasion Father survives burial; two men arrested
BY MEG PIRNIE AND CHUCK WILLIAMS
Staff Writers
A Phenix City father climbed out of his grave to help solve his son's murder early Monday morning.
Forrest "Butch" Bowyer survived a slit throat to lead police to the two men he said shot and killed his 12-year-old son, Brett Bowyer.
Bowyer dug his way out of a shallow, makeshift grave near Yuchi Reservation, where his abductors left him and his boy for dead. He flagged down a passing motorist on U.S. Highway 431 to beg for help.
Police arrested Michael David Carruth and Jimmy Lee Brooks Jr. within 12 hours of the home invasion that turned into kidnapping and murder. Carruth, 43, and Brooks, 22, are charged with capital murder, attempted murder, robbery and kidnapping. They are in Russell County Jail without bond.
Bowyer remained hospitalized Monday night at The Medical Center after undergoing emergency surgery, said Russell County Sheriff Tommy Boswell.
"This is a tragedy in our community," the sheriff said. "Home invasions are always unpleasant. But this one resulted in the death of a 12-year-old child. That makes it particularly hard to work."
Abductors claimed to be narcotics officers.
Father and son were at their Lakewood Drive home about 10 p.m. Sunday when two men came to the door, Boswell said.
They identified themselves as "narcotics officers" and asked to come inside, Boswell said. Once inside, they forced Butch and Brett Bowyer outside and into a white Ford Crown Victoria.
The abductors drove about 20 miles south to the construction area at the widening of U.S. 431 near Yuchi Reservation. There they demanded money, investigators said.
The robbers took Bowyer and his son back to their home, where Bowyer gave them money, the sheriff said. Then the kidnappers took Bowyer and his boy back to the construction site where the abductors had dug a shallow grave in the red clay.
The kidnappers took Bowyer's house keys before slitting his throat and shoving him into the make-shift grave. They shot his son in the head, pushed his body on top of his father and threw dirt over both of them, investigators said. Bowyer told investigators he heard three shots.
But Bowyer escaped after his abductors left.
About 12:45 a.m. a motorist driving north on U.S. Highway 431 saw Bowyer signaling for help from the roadside and called Russell County Sheriff's Department.
Bowyer had recognized Brooks and gave deputies a description of the car he said Carruth drove to and from the home and grave.
Phenix City Police secured the Bowyers' home and began searching for the abductors.
An officer arrested Carruth about 3 a.m. driving a white Ford Crown Victoria that matched the description Bowyer had given of the robbers' vehicle.
Russell County Sheriff's Department deputies arrested Brooks about 11 a.m. at a house off Opelika Road in Lee County.
The case remains under investigation. Boswell would not comment about what the robbers took from the Bowyer home or whether investigators have additional suspects.
Investigation continues.
Two Russell County deputies sat inside a car Monday afternoon in the driveway of the Lakewood Drive house where Bowyer and his son lived. The ranch-style, red-brick home with a swimming pool in the back yard has been secure since early Monday morning. Neither deputy would comment on the investigation.
The home is located on a large lot directly across from the second hole of Lakewood Golf Course. Several hunting dogs were in pens on the back side of the property near an old trampoline.
Three vehicles -- a black Chevrolet pickup and two sports cars topped with car covers -- sat in the driveway.
A worn four-wheeler path circled the property's brick and wooden fences. Several neighbors who lived across Lakewood Drive from Bowyer said they did not know the man or his son, but they did remember seeing the boy from time to time on a four-wheeler or a dirt bike racing around the yard.
Brett Bowyer was in the sixth grade at Glenwood School.
His father owns Southern Car Sales, a used car lot on Crawford Road in Phenix City. The lot was open Monday, though a salesman said business was slow.
Sales manager Lewis King, who has worked for Bowyer for 16 years, said he went to The Medical Center on Monday morning to see his boss but didn't speak with him.
King said his information about what happened is "sketchy." When shown pictures of the two men arrested in connection with the murder, King and three other men at the car lot said they did not recognize either man charged in the crimes.
The Russell County Sheriff's Department also had a deputy stationed at Tri-County Bonding Co. directly across from Russell County Courthouse. Carruth works at the bonding company, owned by his wife, Katherine Carruth.