Current:Home > NewsLogan Bowman, 5, went missing 20 years ago. Now his remains have been identified. -Infinite Edge Learning
Logan Bowman, 5, went missing 20 years ago. Now his remains have been identified.
Robert Brown View
Date:2025-04-10 04:16:17
Human remains discovered in Virginia were identified as belonging to a 5-year-old boy who went missing over 20 years ago, police said.
Logan Nathaniel Bowman went missing in January 2003, and his mother, Cynthia Davis, and her then-boyfriend, Dennis Schermerhorn, were charged in the child's disappearance. The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement on social media last week that additional charges are expected to be filed.
Logan's remains were discovered in September 2022 in Galax, Virginia, the sheriff's office said.
Remains found nearly 20 years after disappearance
His remains were discovered in a wooded area of Galax, a southwestern Virginia city of about 6,700 residents, on Sept. 6, 2022, the sheriff's office said. They had been there "for an extended period of time," investigators determined.
Investigators worked with Texas-based forensic genealogy company Othram Inc. to use DNA and compare it to Logan's relatives, confirming the identity of the remains.
The remains were in a trash can, according to DNASolves.com, a site owned by Othram. Also found with the body were a sleeping bag, a Winnie the Pooh blanket and a cloth fragment, the site said.
Logan went missing from nearby Grayson County in 2003 in what DNASolves.com said was "suspicious circumstances." The site said he was entered into the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, which noted Logan had a healing fracture in his left arm, tooth decay and burn scars on his feet. Logan's case in the NamUs system is no longer available online.
The boy's father, Wayne Bowman, told WFXR after the remains were identified that Logan was a "good kid" and he would finally be able to give him a proper burial. Wayne Bowman said he hopes the identification of his son's remains could lead to justice.
"I can go on, I know where he’s at now. I don’t have to worry where he’s at. I know it hurts, but it’s going to be OK," Wayne Bowman said.
Mother, boyfriend could face additional charges
Davis pleaded guilty to two counts of child neglect and one count of homicide, court records show. She was sentenced to 10 years for each count of child neglect and 30 years for homicide, with a suspended sentence of 15 years in prison and 15 years of probation.
Davis had been released from prison before her son's remains were identified, following her sentence for the earlier convictions, Carroll County Sheriff Kevin Kemp told USA TODAY.
Schermerhorn was sentenced to a year in jail for one charge of child neglect, according to court records. A murder charge and another child neglect charge filed against Schermerhorn were later dropped, the records show.
"We are still exploring our options for additional charges," Richard Vaughan, sheriff in Grayson County where Logan went missing, told USA TODAY on Wednesday.
Neither Davis nor Schermerhorn was in police custody or currently incarcerated, Kemp and Vaughan said.
Attorneys listed for Davis and Schermerhorn in their previous court cases could not be reached.
veryGood! (26325)
Related
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- A robot was scheduled to argue in court, then came the jail threats
- Thom Browne's win against Adidas is also one for independent designers, he says
- Justice Department reverses position, won't support shielding Trump in original E. Jean Carroll lawsuit
- Why Sean "Diddy" Combs Is Being Given a Laptop in Jail Amid Witness Intimidation Fears
- DWTS’ Peta Murgatroyd and Maksim Chmerkovskiy Welcome Baby Boy on Father's Day
- Warming Trends: Music For Sinking Cities, Pollinators Need Room to Spawn and Equal Footing for ‘Rough Fish’
- Vitamix Flash Deal: Save 44% On a Blender That Functions as a 13-In-1 Machine
- The White House is cracking down on overdraft fees
- Congress tightens U.S. manufacturing rules after battery technology ends up in China
Ranking
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Read Emma Heming Willis’ Father’s Day Message for “Greatest Dad” Bruce Willis
- Ecocide: Should Destruction of the Planet Be a Crime?
- Norovirus outbreaks surging on cruise ships this year
- $73.5M beach replenishment project starts in January at Jersey Shore
- Kim Zolciak's Daughters Share Loving Tributes to Her Ex Kroy Biermann Amid Nasty Divorce Battle
- Can bots discriminate? It's a big question as companies use AI for hiring
- These combat vets want to help you design the perfect engagement ring
Recommendation
What do we know about the mysterious drones reported flying over New Jersey?
Celebrity Makeup Artists Reveal the Only Lipstick Hacks You'll Ever Need
San Francisco Becomes the Latest City to Ban Natural Gas in New Buildings, Citing Climate Effects
Find 15 Gifts for the Reader in Your Life in This Book Lover Starter Pack
How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
The Essential Advocate, Philippe Sands Makes the Case for a New International Crime Called Ecocide
Want a balanced federal budget? It'll cost you.
Warming Trends: Music For Sinking Cities, Pollinators Need Room to Spawn and Equal Footing for ‘Rough Fish’