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Death for Bowman? Jurors hear mother of Belleville victim: 'We've missed her all this time'

BY BETH HUNDSDORFER - News-Democrat

CLAYTON, Mo. -- Gregory Bowman was convicted Thursday of murdering a 16-year-old Missouri teenager.

Now Missouri prosecutors may get what Belleville prosecutors likely cannot -- lethal injection for Bowman.

For more than two hours Thursday night, St. Louis County prosecutors were presenting evidence to convince jurors that Bowman is eligible for the death penalty for abducting, raping and murdering 16-year-old Velda Joy Rumfelt in 1977. Much of that evidence centered on his abductions, rapes and murders of other women in Belleville and elsewhere in Illinois -- crimes that were kept from jurors during the trial.

Dewey Rumfelt and Teresa Rumfelt discuss the guilty verdict. - Derik Holtmann/BND

CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS

• STORY:Bowman on trial: Suspect in Mo. murder case accused in 2 Belleville killings
• STORY:Prosecution rests in Bowman murder trial; DNA called 'one-in-trillions' match
• STORY:Jury's out: Teen murder victim's panties key to convicting or clearing Bowman
• LINK:VIDEO of victim's brother

Bowman on trial: Suspect in Mo. murder case accused in 2 Belleville killings

From staff and wire reports

CLAYTON, Mo. -- A trial for a 1977 St. Louis County murder case continues today for Gregory Bowman, who also is accused of the killings of two Belleville females.

Prosecutors said DNA evidence will play a crucial role in the trial, which began Monday.

St. Louis County prosecutor Joe Dueker said during opening statements that physical evidence in the death of 16-year-old Velda Rumfelt clearly points to Bowman. "The defendant will finally have to pay for what he did to Velda Rumfelt 32 years ago," he told a jury in St. Louis County Circuit Court.

Gregory Bowman in one of his court appearances at the St. Clair County Building. - Zia Nizami/BND

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Bowman's defense attorney, Stephan Evans, called the case unusual "from the standpoint that not much is in dispute."

Bowman, 58, of Bellmont, Ill., previously admitted to two separate killings, but those convictions were overturned. In 1978, Elizabeth West, 14, and Ruth Ann Jany, 21, disappeared separately in Belleville and were later found slain in remote areas. Bowman became a suspect when he was arrested after trying to kidnap a woman.