Losing Jon
A Teen's Tragic Death, a Police Cover-Up, a Community's Fight for Justice
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- ¥1,200
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A Chilling True Story of Injustice
David Parrish was in disbelief when he learned that nineteen-year-old Jon Bowie’s body had been found hanged from a backstop at the local high school’s baseball field and the death declared a suicide. David had known Jon and his twin brother since they were boys. He had coached them on the baseball field and welcomed them into his home for sleepovers with his own sons. However, when David learned how Jon’s body was found, he felt compelled to find the facts behind the incomprehensible tragedy.
Soon, David would learn of a brutal incident at a local motel where Jon and his brother had been severely beaten by police officers, the charges filed against those officers, and the months of harassment and intimidation Jon and his brother endured. Few in the utopian community of Columbia, Maryland, believed Jon could commit such a final act. Like many others, David wondered how a fateful night of teens blowing off steam could lead to such a tragic end. As law enforcement failed to find answers and seemed intent on preventing the truth from surfacing, David uncovered a system of cover-ups that could only lead to one conclusion—Jon’s death was an act of murder.
“A true page turner, filled with almost-too-unbelievable-to-be-true details of one community’s fight to find justice for one of its own . . . the issues raised, particularly when it comes to questions of police brutality and cover-ups, are very much relevant today.”
—New York Times bestselling author Lisa Pulitzer
Includes 8 Pages of Photographs
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Parrish debuts with a riveting personal story about a tragic death. In January of 1990, the Howard County, Md., police raided a teenage party at a rural Red Roof Inn. According to the teens, two officers beat up and arrested twins Jon and Mickey Bowie for no reason. In May of that year, Jon Bowie was founded hanged at his school, after having filed charges against the officers and claiming that one of them was harassing him. The police insist it was a suicide, but much of the town disagreed. Parrish, who had coached Jon in baseball, recounts the lawsuits, the cover-up, and the amazing response from the community that followed. He himself set up a town hall meeting, made up petitions for state police intervention, and worked closely with Jon's mother to find answers. Eventually, procedural violations were filed against the officers, but they stayed on the force until retiring years later. The lawsuit the Bowies filed against the county for the excessive force used when the twins were arrested was finally settled for $6 million. This account of a frustrating fight for justice should resonate with many true crime buffs.
