Jake Kennedy
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Oct 14/02) - A 66-year-old North Carolina murder 'witness' was ordered to be deported from Canada at an immigration hearing on Friday.

Garrison Bowman speaks to press after a hearing in which he was ordered deported from Canada. "I'm guilty of my own damn stupidness," Bowman said in response to questions on how he felt about being deported. - Merle Robillard/NNSL photo

Garrison Storm Bowman, 66, was ordered to leave the country because of drunk driving convictions in the United States. He is regarded as a witness to a triple murder in August in North Carolina and Virginia and was arrested on an immigration warrant in Inuvik Oct. 4.

Bowman was questioned over the weekend by four investigators from the United States.

Sheriff Sam Page of Rockingham County, N.C., described Bowman as a 'witness' to the murders of Michael and Mary Short in their Virginia home in August of this year, and to the kidnapping and murder of the Short's nine-year-old daughter Jennifer, whose body was found about one kilometre from Bowman's North Carolina home.

After Friday's hearing, Bowman denied being involved in the Short case.

"Sure, I know a lot about it. But I'm not involved," Bowman said, as he was led from the courtroom.

Adjudicator Paul Kyba said he based his decision to deport Bowman on two of his criminal convictions -- a drunk driving in North Carolina in 1997, and driving with a suspended licence in Wyoming in 1998.

"This (the convictions) renders you a person inadmissable on grounds of criminality," Kyba said.

Although Bowman may never have been specifically asked by a customs officer if he had any criminal convictions, Citizenship and Immigration Canada spokesperson Randy Gurlock said just having a conviction is enough to violate the Immigration Act.

Bowman offered no argument to the deportation order.

"I'm guilty because of my own damn stupidness," he said after the hearing, adding that he did not plan to appeal the decision.

Bowman said during the hearing that he had planned a trip to the Northwest Territories and Inuvik two years ago.

He said that he was hoping to apply for Canadian citizenship while in the NWT, and if he wasn't accepted he said he planned to move to Alaska.

"Find a piece of land, build a home or a mobile home," he said.

Looking for a new home

"Just looking for a place to put down roots again."

Bowman had become of interest to American authorities after they searched a mobile home he had owned. He left the home on a friend's property the day after the bodies of Michael and Mary Short were found.

As well, statements made by Bowman's landlord, Gary Lemons, to police had cast suspicion on the quiet carpenter.

In two search warrants obtained by Northern News Services, Lemons told police Bowman said he'd paid a man in Virginia to move his mobile home, that man had refused to move it and that if Bowman didn't receive his money back he would kill the man.

Also according to the search warrant, Lemons had said that he witnessed Bowman holding a handgun on the day that the Shorts are believed to have been murdered.

However, friends of Bowman's began to come forward last week, claiming the innocence of their friend.

Two long-time friends of Bowman's, Loree Butler and John Beasley, told The Roanoke Times in Virginia and the Greensboro, N.C., News & Record, that Lemons was just an angry landlord.

Butler, who lives in Michigan, said Bowman had deeded his 1968 mobile home to her instead of leaving it for Lemons when Bowman left Rockingham County.

Both Butler and Beasley said that Bowman's move to Canada had been planned for a long time, which Bowman confirmed during Friday's immigration hearing.

According to Gurlock, Bowman can remain in custody at the Yellowknife Correctional Centre for up to 30 days before being deported.

"Although our intention is to remove him before that," he said. Gurlock said what is holding up the process is a charge of impaired driving Bowman has against him for allegedly crashing his van outside of Fort McPherson this summer. Until the Crown attorney's office decides if they will proceed with those charges or drop them, Gurlock said, immigration officials won't be making any travel arrangements.

When Bowman is finally deported, Gurlock said he will be accompanied by two immigration officers on a flight to the United States.