COLUMBIA COUNTY, Fla. – A 49-year-old registered sex offender will spend the rest of his life in prison after killing an 18-year-old woman nearly two years ago.
According to a news release from the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office, on June 11, a judge found John Bowen Jr. guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Bowen was also convicted of tampering with evidence and sentenced to an additional 23.1 years to be served consecutively.
On September 3, 2023, deputies responded to a report of a body and discovered 18-year-old Coyoete Turner dead and partially burned.
According to WTLV-TV, investigators found a letter with a Suwannee County address beneath Turner’s body. Detectives reportedly responded to the address and discovered Bowen was one of the residents. However, Bowen’s sex offender registration did not include the home, but rather an address near where the victim was discovered.
According to the sheriff’s office, the defendant made inconsistent statements about his whereabouts.
According to WTLV, several days later, on Sept. 7, 2023, Bowen went to the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office and admitted to lying about his address on his sex offender registration, for which he was initially arrested.
Following Turner’s death, authorities allegedly obtained surveillance footage showing Bowen changing clothes in a vehicle before entering a store near where Turner’s body was discovered.
According to the sheriff’s office, Bowen was identified as a suspect based on “numerous items of physical and electronic evidence.”
