Maine man arrested in ’79 rape, murder of 8-year-old boy

CROWN POINT, Ind. – A man long considered the prime suspect in an 8-year-old boy’s 1979 rape and murder was arrested Tuesday in Maine after DNA evidence tied him to the crime, authorities said.

David B. Bowen, 44, was arrested without incident Tuesday morning at a bed and breakfast in Kingfield, Maine, where he was working temporarily with a painting crew, said Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal John Clark in Portland, Maine.

Bowen, a former Indiana resident, is accused of killing Kenneth Conrick, whose nude body was found bound to a tree in October 1979 in a wooded area near his family’s Gary area home.

Conrick’s body was found Oct. 28, 1979, after a 13-day search. A cord was tied around his neck and his naked body showed signs of brutal, prolonged torture.

An autopsy concluded that the boy had been strangled.

Bowen, then 16, emerged as a suspect, but no physical evidence linking him to the crime was known until his sister made an anonymous phone call to Gary police in the 1990s.

Investigators reopened the case three years ago, located the sister and took a DNA sample from her that showed enough similarities to genetic material found at the scene to link Bowen himself to the crime.

Bowen surrendered a DNA sample to Lake County investigators months ago, and investigators said it matched DNA taken from Conrick’s clothing.

Bowen had been under surveillance by Lake County investigators and authorities in Maine for several days before his arrest, authorities said.

Bowen lived in Portland, Maine, for more than two decades and he had no significant criminal history during that period, Clark said.