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Andrea Durham age 13
Byron Page, 17
Christopher Kerze was 17 Aundria Bowman was 14 years old when she was last seen at her home in Hamilton, Michigan, on March 11, 1989. She may go by the names Alex or Alexis.
Kimberly Doss was 16
Duane Fochtman 15
John Lango 17
Wilda Benoit was 14
Martha Dunn 15
Patrick Betz disappeared at age 11
Thomas “Tommy” Gibson was last seen playing outside his home in Azalea, Oregon. He was the youngest boy featured in the Soul Asylum video.
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Runaway Train on my Google Drive - It's the only place you can see this video. I found it about 5 years ago in time for Alexis's 40th birthday. I'm still shocked I was able to find it! It's very rare. Alexis is shown after the rape scene which was removed in other versions. 3 versions were done, Alexis's version is the only one not online at you tube the last time I searched for it.
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"Working" as a missing and unidentified person's advocate; I met my friend Cathy in the end of 2012. Her daughter Alexis who she had to put for adoption when Alexis was 5 months old; was missing from the house of her adoptive parents. Cathy walked in from work one night to find her husband having sex with a girl on their couch. Their baby Alexis was in her crib in a soaked diaper. Cathy and Alexis boarded a bus to Virginia to go to her mothers for the Thanksgiving holiday so she could figure out what to do. When she got to her mothers; she found her mother had just had a mastectomy and was at deaths door with 5 children under 18. Cathy was 18 at the time.
One day Alexis ran out of formula; her mother asked what she planned to do. Unknown to Cathy at the time was that her mother had gone to Catholic charities an adoption agency to arrange Cathy giving Alexis for adoption. They told Cathy that she had to do it ASAP because of Alexis's age; and if she were to get adopted it would have to be now because she wouldn't be a desirable infant if Cathy didn't act fast. So Cathy jumped even though she was in no shape to make a life long decision like this after what she went thru with her husband and finding out about her mother. Cathy was after all; in shock.
Fast forward to April 1, 2010 when she got a letter from Virginia Human Services (not the actual adoption agency)
" Dear Ms.Cathy, I am writing this letter to get in touch with you regarding a very important matter. I tried to reach you at XXX-XXX-XXXX. Please contact me at your earliest convenience at XXX-XXX-XXXX. or Name@norfolk.gov I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Name MSW Supervisor, Norfolk Dept Human Services.
She was over joyed... For a few minutes, she remember feeling very aware of everything. She just knew her prayers had been answered and that Alexis had contacted the adoption agency to find her. She would be reunited with her daughter who she longed to see.
She called the number given in the letter and was told by the Director of the above agency that an officer had come with the news of Alexis vanishing and the details surrounding it. Virginia law would not allow him to get in touch with her. She would have to do it. The law restricted them from telling her who the detective was and what her daughters adopted name was.
She was in such a state of shock and panic that she could not do anything. Her husband put it upon himself to find the information they needed. He found her missing person information listed on the Allegan Co. web site. She called the detective from Holland PD; he wouldn't really tell her anything except that they needed her DNA to compare to remains of Jane Does and that the investigation stalled due to lack of money. She was horrified that they needed her DNA in case they found her remains
Her DNA was collected in Gloucester, Mass on July 4, 2010. They mailed it to the University of Texas to be processed. In August 2010 while using Google to see what she could find, she ran into a YouTube video of Aundria's photo superimposed with a Racine Wisconsin Jane Doe's morgue photo. She saw a very strong resemblance and called Michigan, trying to get them compared. To say she was freaking out is an understatement! Not knowing what to do next, she made a Classmates.com profile for Aundria hoping to get in touch with someone who knew her. She ended up meeting Carl, the man that made the video of Aundria and Racine Doe. He told her Racine Doe's story via email; how she had been brutally tortured before dying from her injuries. He put her in touch with the detective in charge of her case. It seemed like everything took forever & she was getting nowhere!
When I met Cathy, not only was she learning to use a computer but she had made a FB page for Aundria that only had 29 likes. I helped her with the page getting more people to like it. Eventually the 3 women escaped from Ariel Castro which brought tons of people to Aundria's page. Finally, people that went to school with her contacted us by private message, one girl was a family friend. She told us about Aundria being in the Soul Asylum video Runaway Train. It was very hard on Cathy to hear some of the things people told her.
She's on a mission to get the adoptive father charged with Aundria's murder as right before she went missing, she accused the adoptive father of sexual abuse but CPS returned her to their house. If it wasn't for Cathy and all she's done the last few years, no one would know about Aundria's case. I still can't believe all Cathy has managed to find out about the adoptive father and how he was a sexual predator that's done time in prison for trying to rape a girl. Some how he managed to escape prison when he was stalking a woman he worked with. He was found with a rape kit bag. It blows my mind that he was not looked at as a POI when Aundria went missing until years later when a cold case squad was reviewing her case.
To update this, it looks like Dennis Bowman, the adoptive father of my friends daughter admitted to killing my friends daughter, he told them where she is. Now we have to wait for confirmation that the remains are her. He's currently in prison for a brutal rape and murder in 1980 of a lady in Virginia. I'll attach that too from another thread in genealogy.
Cathy said she talked to a detective in Allegan County Tuesday, who told her Dennis Bowman confessed to killing 14-year-old Aundria Bowman. Aundria hasn’t been seen since 1989.
Cathy said Bowman confessed under the belief that doing so would prevent him from being imprisoned in Virginia, where he is facing charges for the murder of 25-year-old Kathleen Doyle.
"So, they are sending him back to Virginia to get it started and once he is finished there, they are sending him back to Michigan to stand trial for my daughter. Now, at that point, they believe is send him back to Virginia. He won’t be staying in Michigan,"
On Tuesday, investigators said they received a tip that Aundria's body was buried in a shallow grave covered by a thin layer of cement at a home on 136th Avenue in Monterey Township. Several law enforcement agencies went there Wednesday morning and located skeletal remains that are believed to be human.
Investigators said it will take several weeks to make a positive identification. Officials wouldn't say if they received a confession from Bowman
Investigators in western Michigan might have discovered the remains of a missing teenager whose adoptive father was recently charged in a 1980 homicide in Virginia.
Aundria Bowman was 14 when she disappeared in 1989 in Allegan County. Skeletal remains were found in a shallow grave under cement Wednesday in the county’s Monterey Township, Undersheriff Mike Larsen said.
It could take weeks to get an identification.
Larsen said the search for Aundria gained momentum after the November arrest of Dennis Bowman. He’s charged with killing Kathleen Doyle, the wife of a U.S. Navy pilot, in 1980 in Norfolk, Virginia.
Larsen didn’t disclose what led investigators to the burial site.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roselvr
Another murderer was locked up yesterday. Looks like he got busted due to DNA for genealogy. They have not come out and said it but things I've read make it sound that way. She was raped, stabbed with a knife, and choked with a cord
This one hits me close to home as the murderer was the adoptive father of my good friends biological daughter Aundria Bowman age 14 who's been missing since March 11, 1989. Aundria was one of the original kids featured in the Soul Asylum song Runaway Train. She's right after the rape scene which was taken out of other versions. Her Runaway Train video is very hard to find. I was able to find it for my friend for Aundria's 40th birthday a few years ago, I have a copy in my google drive.
My friend has always said she thinks the adoptive father killed her daughter. He's actually a known sexual abuser. She disappeared after she accused him of sexually abusing her. His criminal record includes assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct in 1981 (which landed him in jail for 6 years) and breaking and entering a building in 1999 that he some how wasn't locked up for; he also had a "rape bag" on him. He was stalking the lady who's house he broke into. He should have been put away many years ago.
Years ago, my 2 friends had a list of women local to him and where he worked various years that were raped and murdered that they gave to Aundria's LE who has not done anything with them. I'm so happy that Virginia happened to look into this case to get him behind bars where he belongs. Aundria's LE were all over his property yesterday, hopefully looking for Aundria because it's thought she's there... It's my hope that they will go back to the info my friends provided them to seriously look into whether they have DNA evidence in any of the cases. I don't doubt that he killed them too.
Bowman was arrested in Allegan County on Friday, Nov. 22, for the homicide of 25-year-old Kathleen O’Brien Doyle, who was found murdered in her Norfolk residence on Sept. 11, 1980.
The culmination of continuous investigation, along with forensic evidence
Bowman was the adoptive father of a girl who went missing more than 30 years ago.
With Friday’s announcement, police did not say if Bowman is a suspect on his adoptive daughter’s disappearance or if there has been progress on the case.
... adopted by the Bowman family at age 21 months.
Aundria disappeared shortly after she accused her adoptive father of sexually abusing her, according to the group’s website; however, the abuse allegation is not detailed on a Facebook page created to help find her.
Ok I just really want to add something about this music video- there have been several people in the video come forward to say they are angry at the band for showing their picture in the video because they WANTED to go missing in order to get out of a dangerous situation.
Also, the little boy being kidnapped at the end of the video, untrue. He was actually abducted by his own father infront of his house...
Roselvr, that is terrible about your friend’s daughter. I am glad the adoptive father finally got caught. Hope your friend can find a little bit of peace with finding her daughter’s remains.
Same here. It's a great and powerful song, and probably one of the most emotional music videos in history. And, judging by the numerous people found, the song and video has done way more good than harm.
I cannot imagine going through this myself with a family member. Your child / sibling or whoever goes missing and for a long time. Thanks - @Roselvr for sharing these updates about your friend's daughter. What a terrible tragedy.
I do like the song and after seeing the video many years ago it still makes me think about the missing kids from time to time when I just hear the song once in a while. I usually don't think much of pop music commenting on social issues, but this one seems to work in my opinion even if it is from more than 2 decades ago.
The video is on Youtube. I just wanted to mention the same Soul Asylum video has been on Youtube for almost a decade. It now has over 132 million views. And the top YouTube comment there now is a brother who mentioned that his sister was missing and featured in the video. He said she was then found some months later safe.
Roselvr, I hope your friend is able to find some closure.
Some of these kids may come from abusive or neglectful homes, but that's not a given. I have teens. My eyes have been opened to a lot these last few years. I've seen kids rebelling over parents simply trying to be good parents. Then we have predators out there ready to swoop in and 'help'. Some of our cultural norms have changed. It makes it really hard to parent.
We had a pet rabbit who went missing the year that song came out. All our pets roamed free in the backyard and we never had issues with predators. Either the song motivated him to run away or something worse happened. I was only a kid at the time. I never understood the meaning as a youngster but I'm glad it actually helped make a difference in some way.
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