VA VA - Virginia Beach Serial Killer (3 part series)

[YESorNO]

Pain remains despite arrest in the 1973 murders of two Penn Hills women in Virginia Beach

August 22, 2019

"A terrible scream of anguish pierced the stillness of the last afternoon of June 1973 in Penn Hills.

“Janice is dead! Janice is dead!” a trembling Lucille Pietropola shrieked. A Virginia newspaper reporter had just called to talk about the murders of her daughter Janice and Janice’s friend, Lynn Seethaler of Penn Hills, both 19, in a seaside cottage here where they had been vacationing....

And so began the decadeslong mourning of two promising young women, both 1972 graduates of Penn Hills High School, whose lives were taken before they had really begun...."

The Virginia Beach murders | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Arrest in cold case comes 46 years after two young Pittsburgh women were murdered in Virginia Beach

 

[YESorNO]

(Copy of a photo of Lynn Seethaler and Janice Pietropola, stamped July 9, 1973 [Staff])

(Lynn Seethaler, left, and Janice Pietropola. [File/Original source unknown])
​

 

[Betty P]

I wonder if this case will ever go to trial?

 

[Richard]

Just this past November 2019, Dennis Bowman was arrested in Michigan and extradited to Virginia. He has been charged with the 1980 rape and murder of Kathleen O'Brien Doyle in Virginia Beach.

He has also confessed to the 1989 murder of his adopted daughter, Aundria Bowman in Michigan.

Could he have committed other serial attacks in the Virginia Beach area as well, over the past 40 years?

 

[Richard]

Dennis Bowman has been convicted of the murder of Kathleen O'Brien Doyle's 1980 murder and given Life Sentences. He is now to be tried in Michigan for the murder of his adopted daughter, Aundria Bowman.

One has to wonder how many others he killed in the past 40 plus years.

 

[rob525]

Dennis Bowman has been convicted of the murder of Kathleen O'Brien Doyle's 1980 murder and given Life Sentences. He is now to be tried in Michigan for the murder of his adopted daughter, Aundria Bowman.

One has to wonder how many others he killed in the past 40 plus years.

I tried doing a little reading on Dennis Bowman. I would agree, it seems likely that there is more to uncover when it comes to Bowman. I wonder how long he was in the Navy Reserves and how many times he did a two week stint in Virginia?

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Hello. I'm brand new to WebSleuths. I don't know how to do this, but I'm interested to read everyone's thoughts as I'm deeply invested in these stories.

I was a little girl living in VA Beach when all this was going on. In fact, I lived in the same apartment complex as Lisa Jolley. I didn't know her, but my mother told me the news - that a woman was strangled and found in her bathtub (don't know why my mom told a little girl such horrible news, but she did). It terrified me. Then a year later, I was no longer allowed to play with my friends at "the challenge course" which is how we referred to the athletic field in which Roberta Walls' body was found, because there had been a murder there. The apartment complex Lisa Jolley (and I) lived in was right next to the field where Roberta Walls was found and my friends and I used to ride our bikes up and down the hills, play basketball, and just hang out.

Back in 1984, before either of the above murders, we had a break-in at my apartment. I was very young, but it made an impact because of how scared my mom was when it happened and in the months after. They never found the guy who broke in and nothing was taken. I've wondered over the years if it could have been the same person who killed either Lisa or Roberta but I have nothing to go on with that. It was likely just a coincidence.

Needless to say, I was terrified growing up and these crimes stayed with me.

 

[Beachgrl17]

He's been caught already around the 80's but very curious about MIcHAEL DEBADALABEN known to live around this area and they have yet to figure our all his movement and murders

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

He's been caught already around the 80's but very curious about MIcHAEL DEBADALABEN known to live around this area and they have yet to figure our all his movement and murders

Who has been caught already?

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Has there been any update on these murders? Roberta Walls' murder especially since they did that new DNA test a couple of years ago?

 

[Richard]

Could this case be connected?

Lisa Ann Jolley

On Friday, January 25, 1985, Lisa Ann Jolley was last seen sleeping in her apartment by her husband just before he left for work during the early morning hours. Together, they lived in the 5600 block of Barnaby Court. At approximately 5:00 pm, Mr. Jolley returned home to find his wife lying in a bath tub filled with water. Police were called to the scene and discovered the victim deceased and fully clothed. There did not appear to be any signs of forced entry into the home. Lisa’s body was transported to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy. The cause of death is asphyxiation and the manner ruled a homicide.

Lisa was a 20 year old dependent wife of an active duty U.S. Navy enlisted man. She was 5’ 7’’ tall weighing 177 pounds, with blue/green eyes.

LINK:

Lisa Ann Jolley :: VBgov.com - City of Virginia Beach

 

[Richard]

Here is another:

1 / 3

Roberta Walls, murdered in Virginia Beach, VA 1986

 

[Richard]

Dennis Bowman, left, convicted rapist and murderer. Aundria Bowman, his adopted daughter (right). Bowman killed her and hid her body beneath a shed on his Michigan property.

Decades later, jailed killer confesses to murdering adopted daughter when she threatened to report sexual abuse...

LINK:

Decades later, jailed killer confesses to murdering adopted daughter when she threatened to report sexual abuse: Court

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

I suspect the killer of both Roberta Walls and Lisa Ann Jolley is the same person. The crime scenes were very, very close. Roberta was murdered in an athletic field literally steps from Lisa's apartment complex. This field is where all the kids in that apartment complex used to play.

I don't know much about Dennis Bowman, but it's been discussed in other forums and I think authorities have ruled him out as a suspect in other VA slayings.

I wish we had more to go on or more Sleuthers involved in these cases.

 

[Richard]

I suspect the killer of both Roberta Walls and Lisa Ann Jolley is the same person. The crime scenes were very, very close. Roberta was murdered in an athletic field literally steps from Lisa's apartment complex. This field is where all the kids in that apartment complex used to play.

I don't know much about Dennis Bowman, but it's been discussed in other forums and I think authorities have ruled him out as a suspect in other VA slayings.

I wish we had more to go on or more Sleuthers involved in these cases.

Besides murdering his own daughter, Dennis Bowman raped and violently murdered Kathleen O'Brien Doyle, of Virginia Beach, VA in September 1980. She was the wife of a Naval Officer who was deployed to sea at the time.

Bowman was, at the time, a drilling Naval Reservist from Michigan who was serving in Virginia for his two weeks of active duty. It is likely that he was in Virginia many other times as well.

Here is a link to the websleuths thread on Kathleen Doyle's murder:

GUILTY - VA - Kathleen O'Brien Doyle, 25, Murdered, Virginia Beach, 11 Sept 1980 *arrest in 2019*

 

[BeginnerSleuther]

Besides murdering his own daughter, Dennis Bowman raped and violently murdered Kathleen O'Brien Doyle, of Virginia Beach, VA in September 1980. She was the wife of a Naval Officer who was deployed to sea at the time.

Bowman was, at the time, a drilling Naval Reservist from Michigan who was serving in Virginia for his two weeks of active duty. It is likely that he was in Virginia many other times as well.

Here is a link to the websleuths thread on Kathleen Doyle's murder:

GUILTY - VA - Kathleen O'Brien Doyle, 25, Murdered, Virginia Beach, 11 Sept 1980 *arrest in 2019*

I know. I'm saying that I believe he was ruled out by law enforcement in the cases above.

 

[dotr]

Noting this perp..fwiw
Apr 11, 2021
A Virginia Beach man has been charged 3 times with beating, strangling women in bed. Two died, but one survived.

James Richard King (Virginia Beach Sheriff's Office

 

[Richard]

A possible suspect in any and all of these Virginia Beach murders is Dennis Bowman of Michigan. He was a Naval Reservist who often was posted to the Virginia Beach area. In 1980, he raped and murdered Kathleen O'Brien Doyle, the wife of a Naval Flight Officer who was then Deployed at sea. He was only recently convicted of her murder.

He was also convicted in Michigan of the murder of his adopted daughter Aundria Bowman.


Dennis Bowman, convicted serial killer

LINKS:

MI - Dennis Bowman, Western Michigan, 1970's to 2012

Dennis Bowman has been convicted of two violent murders to date. He killed Kathleen O'Brien Doyle in Virginia Beach, VA in 1980 and killed his adopted daughter Aundria Bowman in Michigan in 1989. Both of those victims have threads here on Websleuths. Bowman was a Naval Reservist who went to...

www.websleuths.com

GUILTY - VA - Kathleen O'Brien Doyle, 25, Murdered, Virginia Beach, 11 Sept 1980 *arrest in 2019*

Kathleen Mary O'Brien Doyle Photo courtesy of Norfolk Police Department Friends found Kathleen Mary (O'Brien) Doyle’s body on Sept. 11, 1980, inside her Ocean View area home in the 9400 block of Granby Street, Virginia Beach, Virginia. Doyle had been raped, stabbed with a knife, and choked...

www.websleuths.com

GUILTY - MI - Aundria Bowman, 14, murdered, Holland, 11 March 1989 *located 2020, adoptive father convicted*

This is a Google overhead of the Bowman home, showing what appears to be an oval above-ground swimming pool covering the concrete slab that covered Alexis' buried remains. Cathy T had been focused on that very spot for years prior to Bowman's arrest.

www.websleuths.com