D.A. Raises Sanity Issue in Decapitation

A Pomona man arrested last week in the bludgeoning and decapitation of his older brother gave police a rambling, disjointed account of the killing in which he implied that his brother’s body had been taken over by an evil spirit, a county prosecutor said.

Charles Bowshier, 25, of 2005 Palmgrove Ave. is suspected of killing his brother, Donald, 29, during a heated argument Friday.

“There’s probably an issue of sanity,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Gary Hearnsberger said.

Bowshier, who works as a gardener, was in Los Angeles County Jail pending arraignment Wednesday in Pomona Municipal Court.

On the day of the slaying, police were called to the family home at about 1 p.m. after receiving a complaint about a loud argument. After the dispute appeared settled, the officers left, Pomona Police Lt. Leon Sakamoto said.

At 5:47 p.m., officers were sent to the house again and found the battered body of the dead man and his severed head lying on a bedroom floor, Sakamoto said.

Pruning shears and a wooden table leg were beside the body, Hearnsberger said.

Pomona Police broadcast a description of Bowshier’s tan-and-white Ford Courier truck, and Claremont Police spotted the vehicle at about 12:30 a.m. Saturday at a gas station near the San Bernardino Freeway and Indian Hill Boulevard, Sakamoto said.

After a brief chase, Bowshier was taken into custody. The truck contained a shovel also believed to have been used in the murder, Hearnsberger said.

After his arrest, Bowshier talked to officers for about 45 minutes, during which he made statements indicating that he believed the person he killed was not his brother, Hearnsberger said.

Bowshier was treated in the past for mental problems but had not been under doctor’s care for a number of years, Hearnsberger said. He came and went at the family home, where his mother and two brothers, including Donald, lived.