another prolific serial killer?
Martha Sprowles
A man named Arthur Bomar has been arrested and is charged with the
kidnapping, rape and murder of a young woman, Aimee Willard, who was a
star athlete from the Philadelphia area. She disappeared after she left
a bar, alone, and her car was found just off a busy highway outside
Philadelphia. Later, her body was discovered in a lot in North
Philadelphia.
Bomar is a very nice-looking (IMO) man, who apparently "excelled at
small talk" and was liked by all who knew him. He had been married and
active in his church.
Here is some information from the Doylestown (PA) Intelligencer:
Clean cut and well spoken, Art--as most called him--captivated
co-workers, neighbors and strangers, especially women. He's a so-called
regular guy who excelled at small talk, social smarts and charm.
"Such a gentleman," sighs a woman from the Hilltown church where he was
baptized about six years ago.
Delaware County authorities last month charged Bomar, 38, with the June
20, 1996 kidnapping, rape and murder of college athlete Aimee Willard.
He is suspected in the March 15, 1997, disappearance and murder of
laboratory technician Maria Cabuenos.
----
This man is also suspected in at least one earlier murder, that of Julie
Barnyock, 18, whose badly decomposed body was found in a weedy railroad
yard in 1993. Little could be determined about what had happened to her
other than it appeared she had been beaten to death. She had gone to
Philadelphia from her home (in the small town where I lived; her sister
was in my son's fifth grade class), taken the train back late at night,
called her father to come pick her up at the station, and disappeared
before he could get there.
This man worked and hung out at all around places I visited, too--he
worked at the local hospital for a while; he received a traffic ticket
outside the grocery store where I shopped; he worked for the very
newspaper I'm taking the story from.
It is of further interest to me that this man, who I believe will turn
out to have been a true serial killer, departs in some significant ways
from the "profile" we are familiar with. For one thing, he is a black
man, and for another, at 38 he is outside the age range usually given
for serial killers. Of course, he may have begun his career at a much
earlier age--maybe he will turn out to be one of the most prolific SKs,
or at least with the greatest longevity.
What is typical is his ability to ingratiate himself with people,
especially women, also his bouncing from not-exactly-menial but
certainly low-responsibility job to another similar job. This, I guess,
provided him with flexibility in taking time off, as well as giving him
the opportunity to move around freely.
His criminal career started when he was a teenager and put in a juvenile
facility in Nevada. I don't know what the offense was. He has a long
record, the most serious previous offense being second degree murder,
convicted after shooting to death a man in a parking lot in Reno when he
was 19. The dispute was over a parking space. Since that time, he has
been in trouble for domestic disputes, many traffic violations, breaking
and entering, and petty theft. It is believed that he attempted to
kidnap another college student, whose car he bumped. The young woman
refused to open her door, but drove to a lighted business and went to
call the cops. He followed her there, but drove off when she went to
the phone. She got his license number and he was charged with various
traffic violations. Sounds to me like she was very lucky, but mostly
very smart.
In 1997, another young woman leaving a night club was bumped from behind
by Bomar's car and signaled to pull over. She did not, but did get the
license number, which was Bomar's. Another smart young woman.
In June of 97, he was arrested breaking into a house. The car he was
driving at the time belonged to Maria Cabuenos, the lab tech who had
disappeared. Her decomposed body was found just weeks ago in a wooded,
remote area of Bucks Co. This arrest, for breaking and entering,
however, finally got this guy in real trouble. He was charged with
Aimee Willard's murder at this time.
He attempted to hang himself on Dec. 30, 1997. Unsuccessfully.
Martha Sprowles
Firefly192
Martha Sprowles <spro...@nospam.erols.com> wrote:
>A man named Arthur Bomar has been arrested and is charged with the
>kidnapping, rape and murder of a young woman, Aimee Willard, who was a
>star athlete from the Philadelphia area. She disappeared after she left
>a bar, alone, and her car was found just off a busy highway outside
>Philadelphia. Later, her body was discovered in a lot in North
>Philadelphia.
Okay, Martha -- You've got me hooked. Keep us posted on what happens with this
guy. Do they have any physical evidence to tie him to the murders?
--Steph
Martha Sprowles
I don't have that part of the story in front of me, but apparently there
were marks on Aimee Willard's back from some part of his (i.e. Maria
Cabueno's) car. Something like the tailpipe or something else kind of
weird like that. The cops seem pretty confident that he's the man.
Martha
Martha Sprowles
=^.^= wrote:
>
> On Mon, 19 Jan 1998 08:05:09 -0500, Martha Sprowles
> <spro...@nospam.erols.com> said :
>
> >A man named Arthur Bomar has been arrested and is charged with the
> >kidnapping, rape and murder of a young woman, Aimee Willard, who was a
> >star athlete from the Philadelphia area. She disappeared after she left
> >a bar, alone, and her car was found just off a busy highway outside
> >Philadelphia. Later, her body was discovered in a lot in North
> >Philadelphia.
>
>
> bravo martha...
>
> great post to read..and i also enjoyed
> the bradfield one today...more..more
>
> =^.^=
Thanks. and I do appreciate the consideration....
Lo52964
>Martha Sprowles <spro...@nospam.erols.com>writes
>It is of further interest to me that this man, who I believe will turn
>out to have been a true serial killer, departs in some significant ways
>from the "profile" we are familiar with. For one thing, he is a black man,
It is only the Feebs not sane folk who say all serial killers are white.
Age is high for start.
and for another, at 38 he is outside the age range usually given
>for serial killers. Of course, he may have begun his career at a much
>earlier age--maybe he will turn out to be one of the most prolific SKs,
>or at least with the greatest longevity.
>
>What is typical is his ability to ingratiate himself with people,
>especially women, also his bouncing from not-exactly-menial but
>certainly low-responsibility job to another similar job. This, I guess,
>provided him with flexibility in taking time off, as well as giving him
>the opportunity to move around freely.
>
>His criminal career started when he was a teenager and put in a juvenile
>facility in Nevada. I don't know what the offense was. He has a long
>record, the most serious previous offense being second degree murder,
>convicted after shooting to death a man in a parking lot in Reno when he was
19.
Now here is the odd part, we may have a hybred desparado-serial killer here.
Or maybe it was true self defence.
The dispute was over a parking space. Since that time, he has
>been in trouble for domestic disputes, many traffic violations, breaking
>and entering, and petty theft. It is believed that he attempted to
>kidnap another college student, whose car he bumped. The young woman
>refused to open her door, but drove to a lighted business and went to
>call the cops. He followed her there, but drove off when she went to
>the phone. She got his license number and he was charged with various
>traffic violations. Sounds to me like she was very lucky, but mostly
>very smart.
I've noticed this on the newsbut not thiswell. I join in thanking you for
the post.
" Don't talk to me about justice, it is bad enough to be mixed up with the
law."
LO5 2964
Jack1Olsen
Hi Marthy --
Tnx for them terrific posts. It's always nice to see some "true crime" on the
"true-crime" ng.
Jack
Hoover, J. Edgar
Thanks, Martha. Excellent story.
LdyDArcane
>Subject: another prolific serial killer?
>From: Martha Sprowles <spro...@nospam.erols.com>
>Date: Mon, Jan 19, 1998 08:05 EST
>Message-id: <34C34F...@erols.com>
>A man named Arthur Bomar has been arrested and is charged with the
>kidnapping, rape and murder of a young woman, Aimee Willard, who was a star
athlete from the Philadelphia area. She disappeared after she left
>a bar, alone, and her car was found just off a busy highway outside
>Philadelphia. Later, her body was discovered in a lot in North
>Philadelphia.
>
>out to have been a true serial killer, departs in some significant ways
>from the "profile" we are familiar with. For one thing, he is a black
>for serial killers. Of course, he may have begun his career at a much
>earlier age--maybe he will turn out to be one of the most prolific SKs,
>or at least with the greatest longevity.
***Because in the past serial killing has been white/white or black/black, many
profiles were written using that as a guideline. Today with interraceil
marriages and killers like Richard Ramirez, profiles can't depend on that
guideline anymore. There have been black serial killers in the past (re: Alton
Coleman for one, Wayne Williams for another), but that was before the term was
so well used, or they were considered spree killers. Also, I think a killers
past jail sentences and IQ may have a lot to do with them being above the age
we've seen in the past. Someone who's been in jail for 10-15 years, like a
Shawcross (and who wasn't too bright to begin with), or who went in jail at say
20 and came out at 35, will not have lived those 15 years of experience that
help a person to mature (even the little bit that some do :>), so it's not
surprising that some serial kilers aren't in their 20's anymore.
>What is typical is his ability to ingratiate himself with people,
>especially women, also his bouncing from not-exactly-menial but
>certainly low-responsibility job to another similar job. This, I guess,
>provided him with flexibility in taking time off, as well as giving him
>the opportunity to move around freely.
***I don't see the ability to inratiate as typical; Ramirez didn't do it; he
also killed both genders and ages. I still see every killer as an individual.
Though it has been proven that many are drifters, moving from one town to
another, working odd jobs or stealing to get money to survive. But I think just
as many stay at their home base, and are just better organized. It would be
interesting to see a study on organized/disorganized and which travel through
many states vs. ones that stay in one area and just hide the bodies better.
Seems to me that organized killers might stay in one are for a longer time
(maybe moving after several months or years), while disorganized killers travel
fast and frequently and don't hide their victims as well.
>His criminal career started when he was a teenager and put in a juvenile
>facility in Nevada. I don't know what the offense was. He has a long
>record, the most serious previous offense being second degree murder,
>convicted after shooting to death a man in a parking lot in Reno when he
>was 19. The dispute was over a parking space. Since that time, he has
>been in trouble for domestic disputes, many traffic violations, breaking
>and entering, and petty theft. It is believed that he attempted to
>kidnap another college student, whose car he bumped. The young woman
>refused to open her door, but drove to a lighted business and went to
>call the cops. He followed her there, but drove off when she went to
>the phone. She got his license number and he was charged with various
>traffic violations. Sounds to me like she was very lucky, but mostly
>very smart.
***Any idea how long his sentence was for the shooting? Seems to me he got out
pretty early after killing someone. And if he served time for his other
offenses, kinda [proves my theory about age not being a factor anymore.
>In 1997, another young woman leaving a night club was bumped from behind
>by Bomar's car and signaled to pull over. She did not, but did get the
>license number, which was Bomar's. Another smart young woman.
>
>In June of 97, he was arrested breaking into a house. The car he was
>driving at the time belonged to Maria Cabuenos, the lab tech who had
>disappeared. Her decomposed body was found just weeks ago in a wooded,
>remote area of Bucks Co. This arrest, for breaking and entering,
>however, finally got this guy in real trouble. He was charged with
>Aimee Willard's murder at this time.
>
>He attempted to hang himself on Dec. 30, 1997. Unsuccessfully.
***Too bad. Now he'll probably get out while still young enough to kill more
innocents.
Mary Ann
Lo52964
>: ldyda...@aol.com (LdyDArcane) writes
SNIP>***I don't see the ability to inratiate as typical; Ramirez didn't do
it; he also killed both genders and ages.
Ramirez was a shooter and a paranoid skitz. This guy is a
normal hands on sociopath.
I still see every killer as an individual.
>Though it has been proven that many are drifters, moving from one town to
>another, working odd jobs or stealing to get money to survive. But I think
>just
>as many stay at their home base, and are just better organized. It would be
>interesting to see a study on organized/disorganized and which travel through
many states vs. ones that stay in one area and just hide the bodies better.
Org/disorg is crap but see the work of Insp. Kim Rossmo of the Vancover BC
police on travel and cluster patterns.
>Seems to me that organized killers might stay in one are for a longer time
>(maybe moving after several months or years), while >disorganized killers
travel fast and frequently and don't hide >their victims as well.
Free tip: Around the neighborhood or around the country they all are moving
all the time, hunting, don't you know.
IdentTec
>: ldyda...@aol.com (LdyDArcane) writes
>. It would be
>>interesting to see a study on organized/disorganized and which travel
>through
>many states vs. ones that stay in one area and just hide the bodies better.
>
- lo5...@aol.com (Lo52964)--> Org/disorg is crap but see the work of Insp. Kim
Rossmo of the Vancover BC police on travel and cluster patterns.
>
>>Seems to me that organized killers might stay in one are for a longer time
>>(maybe moving after several months or years), while >disorganized killers
>travel fast and frequently and don't hide >their victims as well.
>
>
Couple notes:
For a study of Serial Killers and their movement (local v. travelling) see Eric
W. Hickey's "Serial Murderers and Their Victims". The second edition was
released last year and includes study of 399 serial offenders. Also includes
past history of criminality, offender/victim occupation, type of victim
selected and many case studies. Available from Amazon.com, about $30.00.
D. Kim Rossmo has an introductory article online
(http://www.ecricanada.com/primer.htm; soon to be on my site as well). I spoke
briefly with him a few months ago when I requested reprint permission, and he
tells me he is working on a text book on Geographic Profiling with CRC press
(major publisher of Forensic Science texts).
David Canter also discusses Geographic Profiling in "Criminal Shadows".
Daryl W. Clemens, Editor
Crime Scene Training Update
http://members.aol.com/identtec/training.htm
Iden...@aol.com
Lo52964
>iden...@aol.com (IdentTec) writes
SNIP>
>For a study of Serial Killers and their movement (local v. travelling) see
>Eric
>W. Hickey's "Serial Murderers and Their Victims". The second edition was
>released last year and includes study of 399 serial offenders. Also includes
>past history of criminality, offender/victim occupation, type of victim
>selected and many case studies. Available from Amazon.com, about $30.00.
I gave the 1991 edition A+ for scope and effort C+ for execution and an F for
insight, and noted a shrink bias. Is this edition that much better?
>D. Kim Rossmo has an introductory article online
>(http://www.ecricanada.com/primer.htm; soon to be on my site as >well). I
spoke briefly with him a few months ago when I requested reprint permission,
and he
>tells me he is working on a text book on Geographic Profiling with CRC press
>(major publisher of Forensic Science texts).
I could only pull part of it with that URL. I already have a couple of his
papers.
>David Canter also discusses Geographic Profiling in "Criminal Shadows".
If we keep at it we will help these folks to be a lot sharper.
Michael Newton
LdyDArcane wrote:
>
> ***Because in the past serial killing has been white/white or black/black, many
> profiles were written using that as a guideline. Today with interraceil
> marriages and killers like Richard Ramirez, profiles can't depend on that
> guideline anymore.
Overall, according to FBI statistics, 90-92% of all murders in the US,
including serial killings, are still intraracial. On the other hand,
four "early" black SKs of white victims who come instantly to mind are
Alonzo Robinson (1930s), Clarence Hill (1938-40), Jake Bird and Jarvis
Catoe (1940s). So, there's truly nothing new under the sun.
> There have been black serial killers in the past (re: Alton
> Coleman for one, Wayne Williams for another), but that was before the term was
> so well used, or they were considered spree killers.
I'd have to respectfully disagree there, I'm afraid. British author John
Brophy first used the term "serial killer" in print circa 1966, followed
by Robt. Ressler "coining" it 8 yrs later (coincidentally, on a visit to
England). The killers you cite here (or alleged killers, if Williams is
in fact a frameup victim) were convicted in the 1980s. Coleman might
indeed be considered a "spree killer" by the FBI's definition, but
Williams--again, assuming he killed anyone at all (or anyone beyond the
two adult ex-cons he's convicted of murdering)--must surely be "serial,"
with crimes stretching from 1979 to 1982.
mn
Michael Newton
Lo52964 wrote:
>
> Age is high for start.
>
> and for another, at 38 he is outside the age range usually given
> >for serial killers. Of course, he may have begun his career at a much
> >earlier age--maybe he will turn out to be one of the most prolific SKs,
> >or at least with the greatest longevity.
It's also worthwhile to recall that late bloomer Andrei Chikatilo
apparently committed the first of his 50+ murders in his mid-forties ...
which, as you correctly note, flies in the face of the general "rule."
mn
Michael Newton
IdentTec wrote:
>
> Couple notes:
>
> For a study of Serial Killers and their movement (local v. travelling) see Eric
> W. Hickey's "Serial Murderers and Their Victims". The second edition was
> released last year and includes study of 399 serial offenders. Also includes
> past history of criminality, offender/victim occupation, type of victim
> selected and many case studies. Available from Amazon.com, about $30.00.
Did he correct the section from his 1st edition that described male
killers Bela Kiss and Abbe Guibourg as women?
mn
van...@usa.net
Prior to Bomar, I don't believe anyone was actually arrested for the
Willard murder. However, there WAS at least one other person who was
suspected of the crime, and whose life has most likely been destroyed
because of the attention focused on him. I recently read he had moved out
of the state because of all the publicity.
-----
MLFouche wrote:
> I was in Philadelphia when the aimee W. case was going on.
> You may not remember but the DA tried to convict to other
> guys of the murder. The jury didn't buy the evidence. What
> if they had believed the DA? These poor bastards would be
> rotting in jail for the rest of their lives.
MLFouche
van...@usa.net
Hmm... I really can't remember the guy's name, but the other stuff you
mention is the way I remember it too. I think he was from Bryn Mawr, or
that general area. I also recall one "news" report in particular, an
interview with a woman who claimed to be an ex-girlfriend, which added a
couple tons of fuel to an already out of control fire.
Wasn't a cop or state trooper convicted of something relating to this
crime -- lying about seeing something (a police car at the scene, maybe)?
I remember thinking that poor guy was railroaded big time, but I don't
remember why I felt that way. Am I mixing cases here?
----
Martha wrote:
> van...@usa.net wrote:
> >
> > Prior to Bomar, I don't believe anyone was actually arrested for the
> > Willard murder. However, there WAS at least one other person who was
> > suspected of the crime, and whose life has most likely been destroyed
> > because of the attention focused on him. I recently read he had moved out
> > of the state because of all the publicity.
>
> Yes. Andrew Kobak? I think that was his name. I believe he left the
> bar shortly after Willard did and that he could not give a satisfactory
> account of himself--maybe he was drunk?--for the time immediately after
> he left. He was pretty thoroughly investigated, too; I believe his car
> was impounded for some time, and warrants were issued to search his
> home.
>
> Martha