HAMILTON, Mich. — Following the arrest of a 70-year-old man living in West Michigan in the 1980 murder of a woman in Virginia, neighbors continue to question his involvement in another decades-old mystery.
Dennis Lee Bowman was arrested Friday in the murder of Kathleen Doyle. Doyle was 25-years-old in September of 1980 when she was found murdered in her Norfolk, Virginia home. Her military husband was out of the house, on deployment, at the time of her death.
Police from Norfolk said on Friday that the arrest came after "forensic evidence" lead to the case being solved, saying in part, "Over the years, Norfolk Police detectives and NCIS agents have been unyielding in their efforts to bring Mrs. Doyle’s killer to justice."
Bowman was arrested in the murder by Allegan County deputies Friday morning.
But those close to the case hope this arrest will prompt other cases to be solved. Just a few hundred feet down the road from Bowman's Hamilton home on 136th Avenue is a fading photograph of a young woman nailed to a power pole. The woman in the photo is a teenage Aundria Bowman, 70-year-old Bowman's adopted daughter that has been missing for several decades.
The biological mother of Aundria, Cathy Terkanian, found out just several years ago that the girl she had put up for adoption when she was younger had gone missing, never to be seen again.
Ever since she learned of her biological daughter's fate, she has been working to find answers. "I’ve been at this for 10 years, so a lot of my crying has already happened. And now I’m smiling," she said Friday after learning of the elder Bowman's arrest.
Terkanian strongly believes that Dennis Bowman is responsible for Aundria's disappearance. And while she is physically located on the Eastern coast of the country, she has a long list of helpers here in West Michigan.
Marcey Tejeda, who lives in Allendale, first started chatting with Terkanian after coming across the Find Aundria M Bowman Facebook page a few years ago. She told FOX 17 Monday, "I have never met the woman, but I can tell you right now, there's probably fire in her eyes and I think she really just wants justice."
Tejeda has run errands to area libraries for research and even done poster checks, making sure that the 'missing' posters adorned with Aundria's photograph are not being ripped down.
Bowman is expected to be extradited to Virginia to face charges at some point this week.
