May 24,
1987
''The suspect, according to law enforcement sources, is Perry L. Worrell, a 32-year-old Dumfries, Va., man who was placed on an unpaid leave of absence shortly after the Bowman slaying.
Efforts to contact Worrell, who one law enforcement source called a "walking time bomb," have been unsuccessful. His telephone number apparently has been changed and is now unpublished, and his attorney, Philip J. Hirshkop, said Worrell is under instructions not to talk to reporters.
Worrell, who was struck by a car in an unrelated incident in November, has had several operations, is "severely incapacitated" and unable to work, Hirschkop added.
Hirschkop said that Worrell and Bowman were "very close friends" and that he knows of "no impropriety and no motive" for the slaying. Hirschkop has also said his client "absolutely swears he has nothing to do with the murder of this state trooper."
Worrell is no longer a member of the state police. Police officials would not say whether he was fired or retired of his own accord, or whether he is collecting benefits from the state. "He's just not a member of our department anymore," said Capt. Paul C. Hollandsworth of the state police. "To get into any details would require a release from him."
Tragedy struck the small town of Manassas, Virginia, on August 19, 1984, when Virginia State Trooper Johnny Rush Bowman, 31,
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2024 lengthy.
Tragedy struck the small town of Manassas, Virginia, on August 19, 1984, when Virginia State Trooper Johnny Rush Bowman, 31,
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''According to investigators, “the first blow to Bowman’s chest punctured the pulmonary artery. But the wounds were also in the neck, the face, the stomach, [and] a shoulder. A large number of the wounds were bunched together on one side of his back, where,
police say, the killer, in a frenzy, stabbed Bowman repeatedly after he had fallen to the ground in a fetal position.”
According to the
Washington Post, W.T. Poindexter, an investigator who photographed the scene, described it as follows: “‘You want to know what it was like? If you can imagine being able to take pure, unadulterated rage out of a paper bag and throw it into a four-or five-foot-square area and locking the door for five minutes — that’s what the scene was like.’”
The trooper’s wife, Terri Lee Bowman, had been downstairs when the doorbell rang.
She pleaded with Bowman not to answer the door, then heard the attacker state he was
with “the 
power company.” The entire episode took place in pitch darkness.''
''Residents would have referred to NOVEC as “the electric” or “the electric company” in 1984. The assailant’s wording that he was with the “power company” may indicate that maintaining “power” over the victim might have been the driving force in the violent attack, which was literally
overkill.''
