Pasco court records show a Dissolution of Marriage was filed on May 12, 2008 involving Laura Bowdoin and George Bowdoin.
Mary Rinnier told investigators the last time she spoke with her daughter Laura Bowdoin was the evening of Monday June 16th. She said Laura was getting things ready to meet with her divorce lawyer.
Jim Moulton, Laura's business partner, called Chuck Coit, a former EMT firefighter, after he spoke with Laura the evening before her death. Coit did not answer the phone, but Jim later told him that he wanted to talk to him because Laura was slurring her words when he spoke with her on the phone and that was out of character for her.
9 PM - George Bowdoin said he arrived at his Holiday home on Blue River Rd around 9pm after putting in for sale posts at some residences. In addition to working at a local car dealership George has a business installing sign posts. When he saw his wife Laura she was in the home office working.
George told deputies that he went to be around 11pm.
According to investigative reports George said his wife Laura's behavior 'seemed kind of strange in the fact that she was stumbling around' the evening of June 18th. He said despite usually having little to say to one another, the two spoke about how to divide up their because they planned on getting a mediator for the divorce. He also said he asked Laura if she was dating anyone, but she didn't answer the question.
George Bowdoin says he woke up and showered and then went to wake up his wife Laura . The couple had been sleeping separately and the two were in the process of going through a divorce.
George went to wake Laura up so she could shower. George said this was their normal routine. He said he opened the door and she never got up. As George continued to get ready he kept telling Laura to get up and there was still no movement. He said he finally went into the room and turned on a light. He could tell Laura did not look right.
George Bowdoin called 911 and told the operator that he couldn't wake his wife Laura Bowdoin and she was not breathing. The operator told him to perform CPR and Detective Beaman with the Pasco County Sheriff's officer later comments it sounds as if George is performing CPR on Laura approximately ten to twelve minutes.
Laura Bowdoin's mother Mary Rinnier says she received a call from George around 6:45am. He told his mother-in-law that he was following behind an ambulance that was taking Laura to the hospital.
Laura Bowdoin arrives in the ER at Community Hospital. She was wearing pink and white sleeping pants, black tank top and underwear when she arrived on a stretcher.
Pasco Deputy Izrailov responded to the Bowdoin resident at 1903 River Road in Holiday to assist Deputy Tucker in conducting a death investigation. The deputy knocked on the front door of the residence but did not receive a response. No one was inside.
A Pasco Deputy responds to Community Hospital for a death investigation. Pasco Fire Rescue Unit 12 brought in a 36 year old female who was not breathing and lividly settled on her back. Laura's husband George Bowdoin and daughter Britney Bowdoin were in separate waiting rooms. The Medical Examiner's Office responded to the hospital and removed Laura's body and clothing from the hospital room. No medications or apparent drugs were located at the scene per EMS.
Deputy Izrailov was released from the scene since the "residence was secured and all its inhabitants were at the hospital..."
The Pinellas/Pasco Medical Examiner’s office arrange to transport Laura’s body and her chart for further examination.
Pasco Detective Michelle March was assigned the case. March contacted the Medical Examiner's Office and was told there were no signs of trauma to Laura Bowdoin. The toxicology results were still pending. No suicide note was found.
Laura Bowdoin's obituary appeared in the Tampa Bay Times...
James 'Jim' Moulton contacted Sgt. James Sessa with the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. Moulton was distraught over Laura's death. He said he spoke to Laura Bowdoin on the phone the night before she died. Moulton said Laura mentioned she took some pills so she could sleep. He told Sgt. Sessa that he asked Laura to stop what she was doing and leave the house. She informed him she was fine and ended the conversation.
Pasco County detective March met with George Bowdoin at the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office. He said the day Laura died he came home in time to play with his daughter before she went to bed around 9pm. He then watched TV in the family room until 11pm. He said he and Laura began sleeping separately in January, but Laura never locked the door to the room she slept in. George said between December and February they talked about selling the house and Laura actually listed the house in February and removed it from the listing in March.
In his conversation with Detective March, Laura's father, Lawrence Rinnier, said their youngest daughter Kathie died several years ago in a motorcycle accident. That's when his marriage to Laura's mother started going downhill. Mr. Rinnier said he feels that's why his ex-wife Mary Lou can't accept Laura's death and is looking to blame someone.
Detective March contacted Laura's parents, Lawrence Rinnier and Mary Lou Rinnier. The detective discussed an affair that Laura was having with another man, and that months prior to her death she was thinking about divorcing George. Laura's father said he spoke with his daughter several times a month and other than sounding tired she sounded alright.
Detective March interviewed Amy Miller, the next door neighbor, former business partner, and former best friend of Laura Bowdoin. She said back in 2005 Laura began mentioning her "strategy" for leaving her husband George. Laura wanted to leave George, but needed to find a way to do so since her mother thought very highly of him. Laura had a plan to discredit George and attempted to badmouth him to their pre-existing friends, but no one believed her "lies."
The death of Laura Bowdoin was previously documented as 'administratively cleared' by the Pasco County Sheriff's Office. The case was changed to 'pending' until the toxicology results became available from the Medical Examiner's Office.
Detective March, Sergeant Sessa an Captain Moyer met with Attorney Donal Tinny and private investigator Mike Peasley. Peasley was hired by Laura's mother Mary Rinnier and wanted information about the investigation.
Laura's husband George was contacted by the medical examiner's office which ruled her cause of death was Zolpidem [Ambien] Toxicity.
Detective March received a copy of the Medical Examiner's final report with the cause of death as Zolpidem Toxicity, and the Manner of Death as undetermined. The case was Administratively Cleared.
Detective March contacted George Bowdoin to possibly obtain doctor information from Laura's most recent surgeries. George Bowdoin's attorney responded and said that his client would not be providing any more information on this case.
Pasco detective Wayne B. Smith was requested by Detective Beaman to photograph the prescription containers there were placed in Property Evidence in this case.
Detective March interviewed Nia Walters. Walters said that approximately one week before Laura died, Laura told her that she had hired a lawyer so she could divorce George. Laura told her that George would be served in a week or so. She described Laura as being active with her daugther's school and church. Walters does not believe that Laura would have ever done this to herself on purpose. She tells the detective she heard that George is dating, but does not know if this is true.
Detective C. Beaman reviewed the original reports and supplements completed by Detective March. Detective Beaman contacted a local pharmacist to learn more about Zolpidem/Ambien. The pharmacist advised she did not believe that Ambien had much of a taste. She did a test while on the phone and advised it does dissolve in water.
Detective March obtained a copy of the final patient care report from the Pasco County Fire Rescue. The detective spoke with Firefighter John Esposito who arrived at the Bowdoin residence and saw Laura's husband and small child very upset.
According to reports from the Pasco County Sheriff's Office, detectives talked with several other people that knew Laura.
Detective March was contacted by Trivent Financial. They requested to know the status of the case and if it effected the beneficiary of the life insurance policy. The detective was told that George Bowdoin filed a claim on 7/18/2008.
Detective March spoke with Private Investigator Mike Peasley who was hired by Laura Bowdoin's mother Mary Rinnier. Peasley said that he felt it was odd that Laura had made a lunch appointment with her friend, Kim Coit, for the next day, if she was going to kill herself.
Detective March spoke with Pamela Pampenella who knew Laura for five to six years. They both lived in the same neighborhood and Laura told Pampenella approximately one year ago she was not happy in her marriage, but she did not explain why. Two days before Laura died she told Pampenella that her marriage was failing and she was upset over the pending divorce. What Pampenella knew of George she thought he was a nice guy.
Tomilynn Pruitt, cousin of Laura Bowdoin, spoke with Detective March. Pruitt said she last spoke with Laura on either June 15th or June 17th and that Laura was very unhappy. She had not seen Laura since winter 2007. Tomilynn stated she accessed Laura's email on June 20th and claims her email had been erased at 5:06am.
Det. March met with Kimberly Coit and her husband Chuck. Kimberly met Laura three years ago. Laura was a real estate agent who helped the couple look for a house. Kimberly described Laura as her best friend. She said Laura was happy, composed and elegant. She said about a year ago Laura told her that she and her husband were leading separate lives, but they were not yet involved in divorce proceedings.
Detective March spoke with the Medical Examiner's Office and asked if there was any way to tell if CPR had actually been performed on a person. The Medical Examiner's Office said that depending on how hard a compression is performed, a rib or xiphoid process can be broken, however, CPR can be performed without any damage to the person.
Detective March spoke with Tonya Widdoes, a friend and detective at the Delaware State Police Department. She was friends with Laura for approximately 29 years. She did not see Laura frequently but spoke with her four times a year. She last spoke with Laura two to three weeks before she died and Laura seemed fine. Laura did mention that George had followed her to a restaurant and appeared to be taking pictures. Laura also told her that she had found a GPS in the car. Widdoes said she never saw George do anything odd or abusive.
Detective Beaman received a prescription history from the Publix pharmacy for both George and Laura Bowdoin. George's history showed several prescriptions, two of which were Zolpidem 10 mg tablets. One was filled on 3/7/08 and the other was filled on 4/7/08. There was also a lengthy prescription history for Laura dating back to 11/08/06 where it appears as though multiple tablets and/or capsules were prescribed to her as recent as 2/5/08.
Pasco detective March dialed several of the phone numbers listed on the phone records for George Bowdoin's cell the day of Laura's death.
Pinellas County Attorney Denis deVlaming wrote a letter to state attorney Bernie McCabe on behalf of Laura's mother Mary Rinnier and private investigator Mike Peasley. The request was for help in exhumation of Laura's body and a second autopsy.
Mary Rinnier, Laura Bowdoin's mother, filed to become personal representative of the estate of Laura Bowdoin.
Mary Rinnier was appointed interim Personal Representative of the estate of Laura Bowdoin by Pasco Judge Walter L. Schafer, and issued Letters of Administration. That same day Rinnier filed a wrongful death case with a different judge in Pasco.
George Bowdoin files with the Second District Court of Appeals requesting the probate Court conduct a full hearing on who should be personal represenative of the estate of Laura Bowdoin. In April a Pasco judge appointed Laura's mother, Mary Rinnier, personal representative of Laura's estate.
Pasco County Sheriff's Office Property Evidence section received an Evidence Status Report regarding the Laura Bowdoin case. Since the case was Administratively cleared on 6/19/2008, evidence in the case was destroyed including; the 911 call, CD containing the George Bowdoin cell phone records and 5 pages containing Bowdoin prescriptions from Publix. The items that remained in evidence were the empty prescription bottle and rx bottle containing 5 hydrocodone pills prescribed to Laura Bowdoin.
The Second District Court of Appeal reversed the appointment of Mary Rinnier as Personal Representative of the Estate of Laura Bowdoin. A Pasco judge appointed her as interim representative back in June 2010. The Appeals court remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing and allowed Mary Rinnier to amend her petition.
Attorney Ken Dandar, on behalf of Mary Rinnier, files a motion in Pasco probate court for exhumation of Laura Bowdoin. They want a second opinion autopsy hoping to discover new information about Laura's death.
A hearing is held in Pasco court in front of Judge Linda Babb. The judge eventually rules Mary Rinnier had no legal standing in the case, and George Bowdoin, Laura's husband, is the personal representative for the estate.
Attorney Ken Dandar filed a motion with the courts to withdraw as Mary Rinnier's attorney.
We'd love to hear from you. Please send questions or feedback to the below email addresses.
Before contacting us, you may wish to visit our FAQs page which has lots of useful info on Tiki-Toki.
We can be contacted by email at: hello@tiki-toki.com.
You can also follow us on twitter at twitter.com/tiki_toki.
If you are having any problems with Tiki-Toki, please contact us as at: help@tiki-toki.com
Close