 | E-mail this story |  | Write letter to editor |  | Order a classified ad |
| E-mail this story | | Write letter to editor | | Order a classified ad |
Jake Kennedy
Northern News Services
 American Garrison Bowman appears in a Yellowknife courtroom today for a deportation hearing. Bowman, who is being held on an immigration charge for failing to disclose his criminal history, is wanted by American authorities for questioning over a triple-murder in the States. - Jake Kennedy/NNSL photo |
Loree Butler, a friend of Garrison Bowman, has told the Greensboro, N.C. News & Record that he contacted RCMP when he heard from friends that he was wanted for questioning in the United States.
In response to those published comments, Sgt. Phil Johnson, of the RCMP's "G" Division in Yellowknife, told Yellowknifer there was a "complicated set of circumstances" surrounding the arrest of Bowman on immigration charges.
Johnson said that at one point in the RCMP's dealing with Bowman, before he had been arrested, Bowman did mention that he believed he was wanted for questioning in the United States.
Bowman will appear in a Yellowknife courtroom today for a hearing that will decide if he will be deported to the United States.
He was arrested in Inuvik last week on the immigration charge. Late Thursday night, a group of four investigators -- two each from Rockingham County, N.C., and Henry County, Va. -- arrived in Yellowknife to interview Bowman.
On Aug. 15, Michael Short, 60, and Mary Short, 36, were found dead in their Bassett, Va. home. Each had suffered a gunshot wound to the head.
The remains of their daughter, nine-year-old Jennifer Short, were identified by DNA weeks later at a location about one kilometre from Bowman's home in North Carolina.
Statements made by Bowman's landlord, Gary Lemons, seemed to point to Bowman as a suspect in the murder.
In fact, at an immigration hearing earlier this week, where it was determined that Bowman would not be released from custody, Bowman referred to himself as a suspect in the murders.
"I'm a suspect in this murder in Virginia and North Carolina," he said, adding that he believed false information had been given to investigators.
"I'm quite sure we'll get to the bottom of this," Bowman said.
On Wednesday, friends of Bowman began to come forward in interviews with The Roanoke Times in Virginia and the Greensboro News & Record newspapers, claiming the innocence of their friend.
Two long-time friends of Bowman's, Butler, and John Beasley, told the newspapers that Lemons was just an angry landlord, upset that Bowman had deeded his 1968 mobile home to a friend in Michigan instead of leaving it for Lemons when Bowman left Rockingham County.
Rockingham County does not allow mobile homes built before 1976 to be moved and set up again within the county.
That's why Bowman gave the mobile home to him in Michigan, Butler said.
His only other option would have been to keep the $15,000 mobile home hooked up on Lemons' property.
Both Butler and Beasley said that Bowman's move to Canada had been planned for a long time. Butler said Bowman had visited Canada in each of the past two years, each time stopping to see her in Michigan.
Butler said that Bowman stopped by her home in Michigan on Aug. 17, two days after the bodies of Michael and Mary Short were found.
She said she was expecting Bowman to stop by on his way to Canada, and that he seemed happy, unconcerned and in no hurry during the time he spent with her.
