KYW Flashback: Murder & Mayhem Behind Walls Of Holmesburg, Graterford Prisons
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- It was late February 1971, and KYW reported that Philadelphia police were scouring Roxborough for the killer who shot to death a 16 year veteran officer, Joseph Kelly.
When they entered a garage on Umbria Street, Joseph Bowen, known as Jo-Jo, burst out of a car and was taken down.
Bowen's capture set off a deadly chain of events that would startle the community as it terrorized his jailers. At Holmesburg prison, Bowen knifed to death the warden and his deputy. The Philadelphia prison now bears the name of the two slain wardens, Patrick Curran and Robert Fromhold.
A park in Roxborough has been named for the dead officer. But it doesn't end there. KYW was again on the scene eight years later as Jo-Jo Bowen forced a dramatic six day hostage siege at Graterford prison.
After tense negotiations backed by a swarm of State Police, the tense standoff ended. Bowen is still behind bars and serving a life sentence.