Maine man accused in ’79 slaying in court

CROWN POINT, Ind. – A Maine man accused in the torture slaying of an 8-year-old Gary boy in 1979 made a brief court appearance Tuesday.

David B. Bowen, 44, did not speak during the hearing, which lasted less than a minute before Lake Superior Court Judge Clarence Murray. Murray set a Jan. 19 hearing, during which a trial date will be determined. On Dec. 21, Bowen pleaded innocent to killing Kenneth “Butch” Conrick.

The boy’s nude body was found Oct. 28, 1979, in a wooded area near his family’s Gary home after a 13-day search. He was bound to a tree and a cord had been tied around his neck. His body showed signs of brutal, prolonged torture, authorities said.

Bowen, then 16, lived in the same neighborhood and emerged as a suspect. He had been accused of a violent sexual assault on a 9-year-old boy a year earlier. But no physical evidence linked him to Conrick’s slaying.

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

Bowen has lived in Portland, Maine, for more than two decades, where he married and worked as a house painter. He was returned to Indiana last month to face the charges.