Florida Executes Serial Killer Who Murdered Credit Union Employee
Gary Ray Bowles, who strangled David A. Jarman, a loan processor at a Washington, D.C., cooperative, dies by lethal injection Thursday.
Florida executed a serial killer Thursday night who murdered six men, including a credit union employee in 1994.
Gary Ray Bowles, 57, was executed by lethal injection and pronounced dead at 10:58 p.m. at Florida State Prison in Starke, the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis announced.
In April 1994, Bowles strangled to death David A. Jarman, a 38-year loan processor for the $5 billion Bank Fund Staff Federal Credit Union in Washington, D.C., according to Maryland police authorities and local media reports.
Jarman’s body was found in his Wheaton, Md., apartment after he did not report to work at the BFSFCU, according to a June 1994 article in the Washington Post. At that time, Montgomery County police linked Jarman’s murder to other men in Florida and Georgia who had been murdered in a similar manner as Jarman. In each case, Bowles stuffed the victims’ throats with objects such as rags, toilet paper, dirt and leaves.
Bowles was finally arrested in November 1994 after he murdered Walter Hinton in Duval County, Fla., his sixth victim. In 1996, the serial killer was sentenced to death.
According to authorities, Bowles targeted gay men during an eight-month crime spree as he traveled up and down the East Coast on I-95. He typically met his victims at gay bars.
Police said Jarman was openly gay. While investigating his murder, witnesses said they saw Jarman leave a Dupont Circle area bar with a man resembling Bowles on April 13. After finding Jarman dead in his apartment the next day, police discovered that his driver’s license, credit cards and car had been stolen.
After he was captured, Bowles confessed to killing and stealing from Jarman and five other gay men, according to authorities.