NORFOLK, Va. - A 70-year-old Michigan man accused of the 1980 homicide of a Norfolk woman was sentenced to life Wednesday afternoon.
Dennis Lee Bowman pleaded guilty in the Norfolk Circuit Court to one count of first degree murder, one count of rape, and one count of Burglary.
Bowman was sentenced to two life terms in prison on both first degree murder and rape charges Wednesday. He was also sentenced to 20 years in prison for burglary.
Bowman was arrested in Allegan County, Michigan, for Kathleen O’Brien Doyle’s murder. Doyle was 25 when she was found murdered in her Norfolk residence on September 11, 1980.
Boyle’s husband, a U.S. Navy pilot, was deployed at the time of the homicide.
At Wednesday's hearing, Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Philip G. Evans II spoke of how Kathleen’s father spent the rest of his life in regular communication with detectives to help ensure his daughter’s killer was identified and found.
Evans told the Court he was reading “on his behalf, in his honor, and in her memory” words Kathleen’s father previously wrote while remembering her.
Bowman will be returned to Allegan County where he was charged in May for the murder of his adopted daughter, Aundria Bowman. Bowman adopted Aundria when he lived in Norfolk.
Aundria was 14-years-old when she disappeared from the family’s home in March 1989.
Allegan County Prosecuting Attorney Mylene Koch charged Dennis Lee Bowman with Open Murder, Felony Murder and Child Abuse - 1st Degree and Mutilation of a Body.
