Who's Using the Detroit River as a Dumping Ground for Men's Bodies for the Last 5 Decades But Only in June

6/22/2024

By M.P. Pellicer | Stranger Than Fiction Stories
Starting in 1968, men started to show up dead floating in the Detroit River, especially in the month of June. Even after so many years they all remain unnamed.

Body floating in Detroit River

The Detroit River winds for 28 miles from Lake St Clair to Lake Erie and acts as a U.S-Canada border. Because of its location it is one of the busiest waterways in the country.

June 9, 1968
Victim number one was a white man, age 55 to 65. When his remains were recovered from the Detroit River near Fort Wayne, decomposition had set in, but his death was listed as a homicide. He was 5'7", weighed a little under 200 pounds, and he had gray hair. He wore a blue pea coat, a black shirt over a gray shirt, and long johns. Black rubbers covered brown shoes, and he wore a gold-tone ring with a white stone in his left ring finger. He had been in the water for about a week.

June 15, 1983
Fifteen years had passed, and the second victim was recovered from the river behind the Detroit Free Press building. He was between 40 to 50 years of age, 5'9" and weighed about 180 pounds. Due to decomposition, identification was not possible.

He was wearing a green corduroy jacket, and warmer chemical packs were found in the front pocket. Underneath he had on a blue/grey/red checkered shirt. He had on jeans and gray underwear. On his feet were insulated boots with striped white socks.

On the same day, another man, younger was recovered from the Detroit River at the foot of Joseph Camapu Avenue. He was also white, in his 20s, 5'9", weighing 155 pounds. He had brown, curly hair, a sparse goatee and his eyes were brown. Like the others, identification was not possible due to decomposition.

He was wearing a K-mart brand, green/khaki coat, a Branded Lion bluejean zippered jacket, black, long-sleeve synthetic shirt size 15-33. Gray pants with "Scott" written on the inside, brief style underwear inscribed with "Lewis 31854" inside. His socks were blue and gray and non-matching. He wore wove-style slip-on shoes size 7.5

June 30, 1983
Two weeks later, a black male, 15-25 years old was found in the river near the foot of Helen Street. Identification again could not be completed due to decomposition. He was 5'6", and the weight could not be estimated. He was wearing brown pants, but no shirt or shoes. He had two gold chains around his neck.

June 17, 1990
Seven years later a black male in his 30s was taken from the Detroit River, downriver from Lake Saint Clair. He had been in the water for days, and identification could not be completed because of decomposition. He was 5'10" and weighed 215 pounds. His fingernails were long, he had a scar on his left wrist and a mole on his right thigh. He was wearing only white socks and underwear.

June 11, 1994
Four years passed since the last body was found. This time the victim was a white man, age 35 to 45. Authorities believed he died either in 1993 or 1994, and he came from another country, possibly Russia. He was 5'8", weighed 141 pounds and had brown hair and eyes. Two Moscow subway tokens and a lighter were found near the body. He wore Levis, along with Chinese Laundry Mark brown sweatpants, a black t-shirt, and a blue sweatshirt. He had on size 24EE (foreign size) tennis shoes and a belt. Decomposition prevented further identification.

June 8, 2006
Twelve years passed until another body was discovered. It was a black man between 40 to 60 years of age. He was found near the Belle Isle Harbor Master Station. Like the others, decomposition had set in and police estimated he could have died in 2005 or 2006. He was 5'7" and weighed 190 pounds.

August 7, 2007
The body of a young man, already in a state of decomposition was found floating in the Detroit River, near East Jefferson Street. He was approximately 16 to 25 years of age, and measured 5'2" or less. One or both of his hands were not recovered and his face was mostly skeletonized. He was black or possibly multiracial. He had on two sweatpants, yellow and green, a white undershirt, and a blue knit sweater. He was wearing socks with blue canvas Deck shoes, size 10. It was estimated he could have been put in the river in June.

Sketch and clothing of victim pulled from Detroit River c.2015

June 13, 2015
A white male was taken from the Detroit River near the GM Renaissance Center. He could have died in 2014 or 2015. He had partially gray hair, cut short. He was clean shaven and was wearing Diesel Industries jeans, a white and blue striped button up shirt, a black leather belt and Hermes brand black leather loafers. Decomposition did not allow further identification.

The Detroit River is no stranger to murder victims being thrown into its depths.

In July, 2012, the bodies of a man and woman were pulled from the Detroit River. Both bodies had been decapitated, the hands and feet had also been cut off.

A fisherman discovered a circular saw and a suitcase with body parts inside. He was setting up his fishing gear along the river seawall near Fox Creek when he saw what he described as "three legs."

The area along the Detroit River is popular with anglers who come during the summer to fish for rock bass and walleye.

Fox Creek connects to several narrow canals accessible from residential back yards.

ROGER KENNETH BOWLING c.2019 (Source - Michigan Dept of Corrections)

The victims were later identified as Chris Hall, 42 and his fiancée, Danielle Greenway, 32. An autopsy found Hall was shot six times, including twice to the head; Greenway was shot once through the mouth.

Within days of the discovery of the bodies, Roger Bowling who was Greenway's ex-boyfriend was arrested for the crime. The 39-year-old had been staying as a houseguest of the couple for only three weeks before he killed them. He had asked Greenway to stay there until he got back on his feet after a run of bad luck.

Robert Slick, a former friend and roommate of the accused testified at a preliminary hearing that Bowling said he would cut Greenway up, and place her in a cooler before dumping it in the water. He said he had ten conversations with Bowling around 2004, where they discussed how they'd "get rid of" the women in their lives. The pair knew each other since grade school.

He said that Bowling's anger towards Greenway was fueled because she was dating someone else, even though they had broken up five years before.

It was believed Bowling used his father's boat to take the bodies out to the river, after he shot them at the house they shared.

Bowling was charged with two counts each of first-degree murder and mutilation of a body.

In July, 2014, Bowling was found guilty. In October he was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. As of 2024 he is serving his sentence at Ionia Correctional Facility.

"The Nude" statue was stolen in 2001 from a war memorial garden, it turned up 8 years later in the Detroit River (Source - Detroit Free Press)

Abiding by a devilish timetable in June 2023, a body of an unidentified man was found in the Detroit River. He was in the waters at West Jefferson Avenue and 24th Street. An autopsy was to be made to determine the cause of death, but since the discovery the authorities have released no further information.

Unfortunately neither gender or timing dictates when bodies are left in the river. On April 10, 1968 the mutilated, nude body of a woman was found floating in the river in the downtown area by two postal employees. Her head, hands and feet were missing. She appeared to have been in the water for about a year and was badly decomposed. She was estimated to have been 5′1′' tall and weighed around 125 pounds. She remains unidentified.

The reason why this valuable statue was stolen and dumped in the river remains a mystery c.2009

The river is even the final resting place for inanimate objects. In 2009, a bronze statue was recovered by a police dive team. It had been stolen in May 2001, and was valued at about $100,000. The statue measures 6 feet, weighs 300 lbs. and is called The Nude. It was part of a fountain and was displayed at the gardens near the Grosse Pointe War Memorial ballroom since the 1960s.

The thieves sawed apart the copper pipes at the base of the fountain and dragged the statue to a vehicle. It's strange to think that after so much trouble to take the statue it was dumped in the river. Those reponsible have never been identified, much less what motivated them.