'I-95 Killer' Gary Ray Bowles Who Preyed On Gay Men During 8-Month Killing Spree Executed In Florida, 1 Victim From Maryland
Starke, Florida (CBS News) — Gary Ray Bowles, a serial killer who preyed on older gay men during an eight-month spree that left six dead, including a man in Maryland, was executed by lethal injection Thursday at Florida State Prison. The sentence was carried out at 10:58 p.m., according to the office of Governor Ron DeSantis.
Bowles received the death penalty for the November 1994 murder of Walter Hinton in Jacksonville Beach. Hinton was Bowles' sixth and final known victim in a series of killings in an eight-month span in 1994 that terrorized the Interstate 95 corridor and won him the nickname "I-95 killer."
It began in Daytona Beach with the murder of John Hardy Roberts. In between, there were victims in Rockville, Maryland; Savannah, Georgia; Atlanta; and Nassau County, Florida. In each case, Bowles had a signature: He stuffed the victims' throats with objects — towels, rags, toilet paper, dirt, leaves and even a sex toy.