TX TX - Shirley Cowan, 64, Austin, 14 Jan 2001 - *T. Negri guilty*

http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/public_information/pr053105.htm



DPS Needs Your Help to Find Shirley Dean Cowan –
Missing from Austin

Throughout June, DPS is focusing its Project FindME spotlight on missing Austin resident Shirley Dean Cowan. Shirley was last seen at her residence in the Oak Forest RV Park in Austin on January 14, 2001. Foul play is suspected in her disappearance, and DPS needs your help to find her.

Shirley is a 64-year-old white female with green eyes. At the time of her disappearance, she was 60 years old, 5 feet 2 inches tall, had blonde hair and weighed 130 pounds. She also has a gall bladder scar, wears glasses and has a white-gold wedding ring with a large diamond in the middle surrounded by smaller diamonds. Shirley also has arthritis in her hands and back.

“Enough time has passed since Shirley Cowan’s disappearance that we’re hoping someone may contact us with new information that might help solve her case,” said DPS Director Col. Thomas Davis Jr.

Anyone with information about this case should call the Missing Persons Clearinghouse at 1-800-346-3243. Individuals could earn up to a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and indictment of person(s) criminally involved in the disappearance of Shirley.

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http://www.kxan.com/Global/story.asp?S=4265792&nav=0s3d

Arrest Made In Missing Woman Case
Dec 20, 2005, 12:45 AM

There is a break in a four-year-old missing person's case.

"My mother was murdered, and she was murdered in the house she was building in Kingsland," missing woman's daughter Karen Cowan Jack said.

Several years ago, Karen Jack told us about what she thought happened to her mother, Shirley Cowan.

Now, police have made an arrest.

Investigators believe Thomas Negri, who's married to Cowan's other daughter, may have had a hand in her disappearance.

Cowan was last seen in January 2001.

At the time, she lived in Austin and was building a house in Burnet County.

Investigators found blood splatter in the house but they never found her body.

Llano County District Attorney says that doesn't matter because Negri had access to the victim and a possible motive.

Cowan and Negri had been business partners.

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So they still haven't found her... but at least they are persueing a murder charge against her son-in-law!

A jury found appellant Thomas James Negri guilty of murder and assessed his punishment at twenty years' imprisonment. - http://www.3rdcoa.courts.state.tx.us/opinions/htmlopinion.asp?OpinionId=18084

Charley Project - http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/c/cowan_shirley.html

Texas DPS - http://www.txdps.state.tx.us/director_staff/public_information/pr053105.htm

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/27409820/missing-women-in-travis-county
Missing Women in Travis County

DPS posts the cases at the request of law enforcement on an online Missing Persons Bulletin. There are currently 15 Travis County cases highlighted on the state's website. The faces, you've likely seen on missing persons boards.
The following women are listed as endangered, with foul play possible:
Shirley Cowan, last seen at the Oak Forest RV Park in Austin in January of 2001

Click to expand...

• 

Cowan, circa 2001

• Missing Since 01/14/2001
• Missing From Austin, Texas
• Classification Endangered Missing
• Sex Female
• Race White
• Date of Birth 10/04/1940 (82)
• Age 60 years old
• Height and Weight 5'2, 130 pounds
• 
  
• Clothing/Jewelry Description A shirt, pants, and a white gold wedding ring with one large diamond surrounded by several smaller diamonds.
• 
  
• Medical Conditions Cowan has arthritis in both of her hands and in her back. She was depressed at the time of her 2001 disappearance.
• 
  
• Distinguishing Characteristics Caucasian female. Blonde hair, green eyes. Cowan has a surgical scar as the result of a gallbladder operation. She may use the name Shirley Allen Cowan.

Details of Disappearance​

Cowan was last seen at the residence she was building in Oak Forest RV Park in Austin, Texas on January 14, 2001. A trail of her blood was found at the home after she went missing.

In December 2005, nearly five years after Cowan disappeared, her son-in-law, Thomas James Negri, was indicted for her murder. Negri and Cowan had been business partners prior to her disappearance. He had been considered a person of interest in her case since shortly she went missing.

Prior to his arrest, he gave a media interview asserting his innocence; he stated Cowan owed him money and he believed she had left of her own volition. In July 2007, Negri was convicted of murder and sentenced to serve 20 years in prison and pay a $10,000 fine.

Cowan was depressed at the time she disappeared due to several recent deaths in her family. She was planning to retire and move from Travis County, Texas to her new home in Austin. Foul play is suspected in her case due to the circumstances involved.

Investigating Agency​

• Llano Sheriff Office 325-247-5767

Source Information​

• Texas Department of Public Safety
• KXAN 36
• KVUE TV
• The Marble Falls Highlander

Updated 4 times since October 12, 2004. Last updated June 18, 2008; details of disappearance updated.