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

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The operative word there is "supposedly".
Aundria had an adoptive father whom she had accused of abusing her and who appears to be off balance (and who is probably a sociopath). It's possible that she ran away and turned to the wrong person for protection—many runaways have been killed by predators—but there's good reason to be suspicious of Dennis, and any information coming from the adoptive parents is highly suspect as well.
 
She supposedly ran away; according to the adoptive father; so I guess it was ok for them to move 6 months later. I don't recall if we knew why they moved; do you?

They probably moved because they bought the property on which they have lived since then. But their current residence would have been a very small house for four people (2 adults and 2 girls) to live in comfortably.
 
They probably moved because they bought the property on which they have lived since then. But their current residence would have been a very small house for four people (2 adults and 2 girls) to live in comfortably.

I wonder if they changed their phone number? How was Aundria going to find them without a phone number or addy?
 
I wonder if they changed their phone number? How was Aundria going to find them without a phone number or addy?

Things were different then; I don't think they could keep their number.

I do wonder if Mrs B would do things differently with hindsight!
 
TONIGHT 8 PM EASTERN IT'S TRUE CRIME RADIO

A COUPLE OF MINUTES PAST 8 PM EASTERN GO TO TRUE CRIME RADIO.COM CLICK ON THE "LISTEN NOW" TAB AND THAT TAKES YOU TO THE LIVE SHOW ON IHEART RADIO

Tonight's Guests include Stacey, the KlaasKids Foundation West Coast Superviser. Stacey has searched for Kyron in the past and will discuss the case with us.

Last week Websleuths member CarlK told us the horrific story of the woman who when she was 16 gave up her baby girl only to find out the girl was sent to live with a monster. Aundria Michelle Bowman is the name of the missing girl, Aundria’s birth mother, Cathy joins us.


A few minutes past 8 PM Eastern go to www.truecrimeradio.com and click on the "Listen Now" tab at the top of the page. This takes you to the live show on iHeartradio.com

Chat room opens at 7:30 PM Eastern
 
I listened to both interviews.

"You do whatever you have to, to keep us from coming back here" That one line stays in my mind. It is at @41:50 of Cathy T's interview.

This is one sad missing person's case.

For those wanting to read what happened; see Cathy's nightmare story. This is a very condensed version of how she ended up at her mothers with 5 month old Alexis. When I 1st started helping Cathy; we had very little info; as Carl, Cathy, myself & a few other WS members dug, we uncovered a horrible story. As most remember, in 2013 the Ohio gals had escaped. It brought a lot of people to the FB page; we started hearing from Alexis' class mates. As a parent myself it was hard to read; I can't imagine how it felt to be Cathy; hearing that the 2 parent household she was placed in was very much like the one Cathy had where there was not enough food to go around. Then she got confirmation of the adoptive fathers record.

Alexis will be 41 years old in a few weeks; I pray every year will be the one Cathy finds Alexis. I never thought we would see the 25th anniversary and Alexis turning 40 with her still being missing. So many cases have been solved recently; praying Cathy is next!
Praying for a miracle!

Find Aundria M Bowman - Every Mother's Worst Nightmare!
How I found out my daughter Aundria "Alexis" Bowman was missing
 
I should expand on a point that Cathy alluded to in the interview, but due to the time constraint, was unable to elaborate upon.

In 1974, then Senator Walter Mondale (who later became VP under President Carter) was the Chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Youth. One piece of legislation that he authored and heavily promoted was the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1974, which (among other things) included the allocation of federal funds to promote the adoption of disabled children. Federal funds became available to adoption agencies who processed disabled children, and to adoptive parents who were willing to adopt them.

As is often the case with well-intentioned efforts, there are sometimes unintended consequences. After the bill passed, Mondale himself expressed concerns that it could be misused. With all this money available for the adoption of disabled children, there became a perverse incentive to classify healthy children as disabled in order to qualify for the increased funding.

One of the first things Brenda ever said to Cathy was the accusation that Cathy had put Ripple Wine in Alexis' baby bottle, and that Cathy had taken LSD during her pregnancy (which Cathy adamantly insists is not true). She also alleged that Alexis was diagnosed with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Brenda had obtained this information from Alexis' pre-adoption home study.

For the record, Cathy was not a alcohol drinker until after she returned to New Orleans as an adult after giving Alexis up for adoption. Her former husband was a drinker, but not of Ripple Wine. And by the time Alexis was born, their relationship was already souring. He spent most of his time carousing in the French Quarter, and he was very rarely around the home. Furthermore, Cathy's mother had not even seen or talked to Cathy for a year and a half before Cathy took the fateful bus trip to Norfolk VA with a 5-month old Alexis in tow.

Cathy's mother had absolutely no knowledge of what Cathy was doing during her pregnancy, or for the first few months of Alexis' life.

It is my own opinion that the stories of drug and alcohol use were pushed by Cathy's mother to rationalize her desire to unload Alexis so that Cathy would be available to help her take care of her own children. The agency likely saw that as an opportunity to obtain CAPATA funding by designating Alexis as a "disabled child" with fetal alcohol syndrome.

And while it was a noble objective to provide incentives for the adoption of disabled children, the unintended consequence was that a perfectly healthy Alexis was diagnosed as a disabled child. And consequently, this made it very unlikely that she would be adopted by the "best of families" (who generally insist on adopting children with clean medical histories).
 
There is now an $11,000. REWARD being offered $1,000 from Crime Stoppers, $10,000 from Aundria's mom Cathy. She's also asking that the adoptive parents match her donation. As always, if anyone has information or knew Aundria, feel free to PM Cathy on Aundria's FB page

Aundria Bowman age 14 missing since March 11, 1989 Michigan REWARD $11,000 CrimeStoppers 1-800-222-TIPS (8477)
CLASSIFICATION - ENDANGERED MISSING
NamUs - https://www.findthemissing.org/en/cases/1830/3/
DOE NETWORK - http://www.doenetwork.org/cases/184dfmi.html

Every Mother's Worst Nightmare! How I found out my daughter Aundria "Alexis" Bowman was missing
https://www.facebook.com/notes/find-aundria-m-bowman/find-aundria-m-bowman/341650469294321

NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING & EXPLOITED (NCMEC) - http://goo.gl/ewuDt
CHARLEY PROJECT http://www.charleyproject.org/cases/b/bowman_aundria.html
ALLEGAN COUNTY - http://www.allegancounty.org/Government/SD/DET/MissingPersons.asp?pt=Government
MICHIGAN DOES - says partial dentals; see below
http://www.michigandoes.com/MP/AundriaBowman.html

CLASSIFICATION - ENDANGERED MISSING

VITAL STATISTICS -
Date Of Birth: June 23, 1974
Age at Time of Disappearance: 14 years old
Height and Weight at Time of Disappearance: 5'5; 115 pounds
Distinguishing Characteristics: White female. Brown hair; green eyes. She may have bleached her hair blonde.
Marks, Scars: She has pierced ears.
AKA: Alex; Alexis
Dental records were lost
DNA - profile in CODIS

CIRCUMSTANCES OF DISAPPEARANCE - Her NamUs page says she is missing from her home in Hamilton Michigan March 11, 1989.. It has also been reported that she was missing from or spent time in a youth home in Holland, Ottawa County, Michigan. According to the detective; she was never in a youth home. We do know her dentals were lost to damage in storage; and do not know if her file was also lost to damage.

All information may be submitted on an anonymous basis.

If you have any information concerning Aundria Bowman's whereabouts, PLEASE CONTACT -
ALLEGAN COUNTY SHERIFF's DEPT.
Allegan County Michigan 49010
CAPTAIN MIKE LARSEN
269-673-0500
Email: sheriff@allegancounty.org
CASE NUMBER 3128-89
NCMEC #: NCMC601760
NCIC Number: M-414252008
Please refer to these numbers when contacting any agency with information regarding this case.

RENEWED HOPE FOR MISSING COLD CASES - May 8, 2013
http://www.wzzm13.com/news/article/255839/5/Renewed-hope-for-missing-persons-cold-cases
 

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Today is Alexis 41st birthday. Every year I wish something would happen to give Cathy answers. I've known Cathy over 2 years now; she could be my sister from another mother. It breaks my heart that she does not have answers as to where her daughter is, if she is alive or deceased. Cathy has always felt very connected to Alexis. I do not think we shared her birth story here, I hope Cathy doesn't mind me sharing it.

I was admitted to a state run charity hospital 2 weeks before my due date because I had become preeclamptic & was put on bed rest to bring my blood pressure down. They realized she was breech, which meant I had to have a C-section. It would have been nice to have my mother visit me through all of this but she did not. It would be months before I learned why. She had been diagnosed with breast cancer & had her breast removed while I was admitted.

I ended up going into labor on my own before the planned C-section date. I was in my hospital bed when my contractions started. I walked down to labor & delivery & told them I was having contractions. I was put on a bed in the L&D ward & was given Senconol (Barbituate) to keep my labor in check. I watched other women in pain for 12 hours. One was standing up on the bed screaming with all the tubes and wires hanging down from her body it was very surreal. The top doctor on the floor came up to me & said "you've been in labor for 11 hours & you haven't made a sound." I can't remember what I was thinking. Looking back, I was probably in shock from watching the other women in labor. Back then, they didn't have spinals, so labor wasn't medicated much. There was no pain relief in labor & delivery in those days. Pain relief is a fairly new science.

I had wanted to breast feed but my plans were changed when I got a urinary tract infection after her delivery that the foley cath caused. I was so sick that she wasn't allowed to come near me. It's so hard thinking back to this time, especially since times have changed, it's rare that babies are not with the mom after birth. I was told that the infection affected my breast milk. I was given a shot to dry my milk up but it didn't work right away. In the first week when I managed to finally get to the nursery, my husband & a friend had come up to visit. My husband pushed my wheel chair to the nursery.

I remember when they finally showed her to me, she was already a week old but I was not able to hold her until she was 2 weeks old. Looking back now, it's hard to believe I was in the hospital a full month. It was a horrible experience, imagine not getting to bond with your baby. My heart tears open thinking about it. I was so happy when they finally released us; we could go home to be a family. I could hold & kiss my sweet baby as much as I wanted to; I had to make up for lost time. I was robbed of bonding with my sweet baby girl in the 1st 2 weeks of her life. Now that we were together; she would know that I was her mother.

When we got home there was never a moment that I was separated from her. Alexis was not a demanding infant. I remember when she first was home with me from the hospital I was amazed how she slept through the night. She was already on a schedule, waking every 6 hours to eat. I often thought that might be because of the long stay in the hospital nursery. She was very sweet natured. Alexis was just as infants are; a pure little soul. She reached out to me & showed me how to be a mother. I remember getting into a bathtub with her & letting her float on top of me in the water. We bonded that day. It was so natural; so eternal. It was like making up for that moment right after your child is born that you hold them. We were robbed of that moment because I was sick & no one would bring her to me for 2 weeks.

After I brought her home, I was able to be home with her full time for the first 2 months. We had a lot of catching up to do. I cherished life as a new mother. She was a good baby; never unhappy even when she got her first tooth between 5 and 6 months old. She cooed a lot, laughed and was a sweet natured baby. Alexis was a curious baby. She got bored if I held her facing me; so I would carry her facing forward so that she could see everything. We would have long afternoons of just us. I was always interacting with her. She was very much a part of my every day life. I would take her on walks and were outside in the warm, sunny part of the year.

Life was almost normal for us for a short while, bills got paid, there was food on the table; & a minimal amount of fighting with my ex. Nothing to brag about but nothing to complain about either. I look back now and realize those were the 2 most memorable months of my life. To this day if I think of her I can smell her skin. I can remember the deep loving gaze that she locked on me. I was not ready to be a mother. Not ready to bring a child up, but I know if someone had just stood by me for a short while she would be here now & this would not have become my nightmare from hell. Seems looking back now she and I were doomed from the beginning. Still with all that was against us we bonded. I got to be her mother and she my little baby girl.
 

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Alexis turned 41 years old this year. I'm searching everywhere, and won't go away till I find her. Happy Birthday Alexis <3 forever and always..
 
A billboard has been put up on Southbound I-196 south of Holland, just across the Allegan County line.

FAMB Billboard.jpg
 
Sadder still is this isn't the only story like this..Adam Herrman, Erica Parsons, Jaliek Rainwalker, and countless others who don't rise to the level of being mentioned.
 

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