Posted on 10/04/2002 7:29:07 AM PDT by Rebelbase
STONEVILLE-- Evidence that may be linked to the August abduction of 9-year-old Jennifer Short was seized this week at a mobile home in Rockingham County, about a mile from the site where skeletal remains of a young girl's body were discovered, according to court records.
A map showing the Short family home was seized from a mobile home moved from this site.
Rockingham County sheriff's deputies seized the items on Saturday from a green-and-white mobile home parked in the driveway of 490 Webster Road, east of Madison, records show.
The items include maps of Virginia, one of which was marked with the location of Jennifer Short's home, according to search warrants.
Court records list the mobile home's owner as Garrison "Gary" Storm Bowman, 60, who deputies said disappeared a day after Michael, 50, and Mary Short, 36, were shot and killed on Aug. 15 at their Bassett, Va., residence. Their daughter, Jennifer, is believed to have been abducted from the home and has not been seen since.
An affidavit accompanying the search warrants states that Bowman had threatened to kill a man in Virginia in a dispute over moving the mobile home from one site to another in Rockingham County. The man was not identified in the affidavit.
Michael Short owned and operated a mobile-home moving business in Virginia.
More on the search for Jennifer Short
On Thursday, both Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page and Henry County, Va., Sheriff Frank Cassell declined to comment on the records, which are on file with the Clerk of Superior Court in Rockingham County.
Authorities are awaiting the results of DNA profile comparison tests between Jennifer's DNA and bone fragments found in a wooded area off nearby Grogan Road.
Earlier this week, Virginia forensic scientists said the results were "inconclusive," leaving open the mystery of whether the remains are those of Jennifer. Results of further DNA testing could be announced as early as today.
The search of the Webster Road mobile home was the second time Rockingham County deputies seized items from a residence of Bowman's. He also rented a home on Beaver Creek Road, several miles northwest of Mayodan near the Stokes County line.
According to court records, the first search occurred at the Beaver Creek Road home on Aug. 18, three days after the slaying of Short and his wife. The mobile home was searched on Saturday. Detectives seized 14 items, including photographs, bedding, hair and fiber samples, and a vacuum cleaner.
Investigators searched this mobile home Saturday at 490 Webster Road.
Court records, including the search warrants and affidavits, describe the following:
On Aug. 18, Bowman's landlord on Beaver Creek Road, Gary Lemons of Mayodan, told Rockingham County deputies that his tenant had moved out and left behind nine Virginia maps that included at least one map of Henry County, Va., upon which the location of the Shorts' residence had been marked. Deputies also seized one note pad and a handwritten note.
Lemons told deputies that on Aug. 12, he noticed Bowman constructing a false floor in his 2001 green Ford van.
On Aug. 13, Bowman asked Lemons to help him move his green-and-white mobile home off the rental property on Beaver Creek Road. Bowman explained that he had paid a man in Virginia to move the trailer, but now the man would not do the job. Bowman then told Lemons that if the man did not move the trailer or refund his money, that "he would have to kill him."
On Aug. 15, Lemons stopped by the rental house on Beaver Creek Road to talk to Bowman. But Bowman walked around the corner of the house holding a pistol and told the landlord that "his rent was paid and to get off his property."
When Lemons returned the next day to talk to Bowman about the incident, Lemons said the mobile home was gone and the rental house was empty. It was then that he found the maps.
Bowman left a note in his mailbox stating that he had moved to Alaska, though deputies noted he asked that his mail be forwarded to an address in Pennsylvania. The house is now blocked by barbed-wire fence and a blue metal gate that is secured with a heavy metal chain and padlock. Both are marked with yellow crime-scene tape.
According to the court records, Bowman's mobile home was moved off the Beaver Creek Road property and taken 9.5 miles east to a driveway at 490 Webster Road, a dead-end single lane gravel road off River Road. The search warrants did not indicate why the mobile home was moved to the Webster Road site.
On Monday, Rockingham County prosecutors were granted a request to subpoena Bowman's telephone records from Sprint, court records said.
A neighbor of the Beaver Creek Road rental house said Thursday that Bowman had leased the property for about two years, and had lived in Rockingham County at least 15 years.
The neighbor, Stanley Lee Smith, 51, said Bowman used to pay him to mow grass on the property.
Bowman's landlord, Lemons, could not be reached for comment Thursday. Lemon's wife, who declined to give her name, said investigators had instructed her to not comment about the case.
She said Bowman paid his rent on time.
"We had no problem with him," she said. "He seemed to be a nice enough fellow."
I bet Jerry Bledsoe is taking notes, this appears to be turning into one of his type of novels.
Ping incoming!
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I agree, there is more going on in this case that they aren't telling us. Scary.
MKM
Unfortunately I won't be able to watch and post about it because I will be picking my son up from pre-school at 1:30.
MKM
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