Killer adoptive mom sentenced to life without parole

By Dan Morse

Renee Bowman, who was convicted last month of killing two of her adopted daughters and stuffing their bodies into a freezer, was sentenced Monday to spend the rest of her life in prison by a judge who called the case the most horrific he'd seen in his 25-year career in Montgomery County.

"Ms. Bowman, you had the opportunity to do something good in this world, something special, particularly as an adoptive parent," Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Michael Algeo told her. " . . . Instead, you tortured, brutalized and killed them."

Bowman, 44, adopted the first of three children in 2001 after D.C.'s child welfare agency recommended her as a suitable, adoptive parent. She beat and maimed all three girls, even as she was given a stipend for their care. She forced them to stay in a locked bedroom, to use a bucket as a toilet, and at times fed them only cat food.

The youngest girl, now 9, escaped Bowman's house in 2008 and appears to be flourishing with foster parents in Calvert County. But her fate has suddenly become less clear: Social service workers removed her from her foster parents' house last month for unknown reasons, it was revealed at Monday's hearing.

"We remain very concerned for the welfare of our surviving child and making sure that she winds up in a loving and nurturing home," Montgomery County State Attorney John McCarthy said in court.

He and others who had met the girl's foster parents said they were impressed. Laura Martin, Calvert's state's attorney, who had prosecuted Bowman in a separate trial, said she had visited the foster parents while they had the girl and was pleased with what she saw.

"From what I observed, they were wonderful with the child," Martin said. "And the child responded well to that and returned the same love and affection."

In one of the most touching moments in Bowman's trial, the girl testified but spoke so softly that prosecutors had to ask her to use the same clear voice she would in talking with her foster mother. "Hi, Mommy!" she exclaimed, waving at the mother.

Brenda Donald, secretary of the Maryland Department of Human Services, which is supervising the child's foster care, declined to say why the child was moved, citing the privacy of the child. Donald said the girl is now with a "very loving and supportive family" in Calvert, who have known the child since at least last year and are part of a team of people, including social workers and clinicians, looking out for her best interest.

The former foster parents could not be reached, and in the past they have declined to speak, citing the privacy of the child as well.

At Monday's sentencing hearing, Bowman's attorney, Alan Drew, told Algeo that his client had abused the three girls but didn't kill any of them. He suggested that one of the two dead girls, who would have been 11 and 12 now, had succumbed to malnutrition. "We still contend that Ms. Bowman is not a murderer," Drew said.

Bowman also spoke, for about 25 seconds.

"Judge Algeo, I really don't have much to say today, except that I am very sorry for the abuse," she said. "It haunts me. It haunts me every day. It's kind of hard to stand here and talk about it, but I'm very sorry. Thank you."

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McCarthy called it "troubling" that Bowman was allowed to adopt the children, given a conviction and a filing for bankruptcy.

Algeo sentenced Bowman for two counts of murder and three counts of child abuse. For the murders, he gave her consecutive terms of life without the chance of a parole. For the child abuse, he gave her a total of 75 years. The sentences are in addition to an earlier sentence of 25 years Bowman received for a conviction in Calvert.

Bowman displayed little emotion Monday, just has she had displayed little emotion during the trial.

"You said you're sorry. But I see no remorse," Algeo said. "I see no emotion. I see no empathy. No caring, no nurturing. Nothing. Emptiness. No guilt. No accountability."

Algeo also questioned why Bowman was allowed to adopt the children in the first place.

"The court certainly questions how that could have been done, but it was done. And I'm not going to go behind that, other than to find that in the long run, you certainly were anything but a fit and proper person to have custody."

At times, Algeo, the father of three children, became emotional. He said he has a picture in his office with a quotation that speaks to the importance of doing well by children.

"It's a picture of a beautiful young child," Algeo said, halting for almost 30 seconds to compose himself. "The picture of that child, running down the beach. With her hair flowing in the wind, running free. And the quote says, "Fifty years from now, it will not matter what kind of car you drove, what kind of house you lived in, how much you had in your bank account, or what your clothes looked like. But the world may be a little brighter because you were important in the life of a child."