Bobby Jack Fowler

Bobby Jack Fowler (12th June 1939 - 15th May 2006) was an American serial killer, drug addict, kidnapper, arsonist, and sex offender in the United States and Canada. His motive was apparently that he believed women wanted to be sexually assaulted. He killed 1 known woman named Collen MacMillen, but it is possibly that he killed more than 20 women or more than 100 women or even more than 200 women in United States and Canada. His confirmed span of crimes and killings was 1969-1995, but it is possibly that his span of crimes and killings was 1957-1995.

Arrest

On 28th June 1995, Fowler abducted a woman in Oregon, and attempted to rape her. However, she escaped out a window and informed local police, resulting in Fowler's arrest. On 8th January 1996, Fowler was convicted of first degree kidnapping, first degree attempted rape, first degree sexual assault and fourth degree assault by coercion and sentenced to fourteen years and three months in jail with the possibility of parole.

Possible links to the Highway of Tears murders

During Project E-Pana, an investigation into various murders along a road dubbed the "Highway of Tears", investigators discovered Fowler's DNA on the body of Colleen MacMillen, one of the victims. He has since been named as a person of interest in the murders of Gales Weys and Pamela Darlington, and is suspected to have killed up to 20 along the Highway of Tears. Investigators also suspect he may have murdered Sheila Swanson and Melissa Sanders in 1992, and Jennifer Esson and Kara Leas in 1995.

Criminal history

Prior to his arrest in 1995, Fowler already had an extensive criminal record, with convictions for crimes ranging from possession of methamphetamines and unlawfully discharging a firearm to sexual assault and attempted murder. He was once arrested on suspicion of murdering two people in his birth state of Texas, but was only convicted of discharging a firearm within the city limits, a misdemeanour. He was also imprisoned in Tennessee for sexual assault and attempted murder following an incident in which he tied a woman up, sexually abused her, beat her with her belt and left her for dead.

Death

Fowler died of lung cancer in 2006 during his sixteen year sentence for the 1995 incident.