“Remains of Missing Boy Logan Bowman Identified After More Than 20 Years, New Charges Pending”

Accident – Death – Obituary News : After more than 20 years, the remains of a young boy reported missing from Grayson County have been identified, and new charges are pending. The Carroll County Sheriff’s Department confirmed on Dec. 21 that the partial skeletal remains of a child found in the Iron Ridge area of the county in September 2022 were positively identified as those of Logan Nathaniel Bowman, a 5-year-old who has been missing from Grayson County since January 2003.

Logan’s biological mother, Cynthia Davis, and her live-in boyfriend, Dennis Schermerhorn, were charged in 2003 by Grayson County in connection with his disappearance, but the child’s whereabouts remained unknown until recently.

On Sept. 6, 2022, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office responded to the area of Iron Ridge Road in Galax after receiving a call from a citizen who believed they had found human remains inside a trash can in a wooded area.

The National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUS) – an agency that works with the U.S. Department of Justice – filed a report on the discovery earlier this year, citing findings from the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office for the Western District of Virginia. The remains were “not recognizable,” but several physical descriptions were noted – they belonged to a preadolescent of undetermined gender or ethnicity, estimated to have been 4 to 7 years old.

According to the NamUS report, other evidence collected from the scene included “remnants of 1- to 2-inch strands of straight hair, indeterminate color,” as well as a “gray/blue sleeping bag, white blanket with pink flowers and Winnie the Pooh fragment of orange/pink cloth located near the body.”

Over the course of the investigation, it was determined that the remains had been at this location for an extended period of time, the sheriff’s department reported on Dec. 21.

The sheriff’s office obtained the help of Othram Inc., a private company based in Texas that specializes in forensic-grade genome sequencing and forensic genetic genealogy. The company was able to develop a full DNA profile, which allowed them to use forensic genetic genealogy – and two direct DNA comparisons of family members – to identify the remains as being Logan’s.

Carroll County Sheriff Kevin Kemp told the newspaper that police had reached out to Bowman’s father, Alvin “Wayne” Bowman, “and he’s been advised of the developments.”

The newspaper could not reach Bowman for comment about the latest progress in the case.

“I was 98% sure that those were the results we were going to get,” said Grayson County Sheriff Richard Vaughan. “It’s relieving to know that we can finally lay Logan to rest, and that his family can at least get some closure through this. It was a horrific, tragic event.”

Logan Disappears

Though investigators pursued leads that took them far and wide over the course of two decades in their search for the missing child, it turns out Logan was never very far away.

Wayne Bowman told news channel WFXR earlier this year that the remains were found near where his son went missing. Logan lived with his mother and her boyfriend at Sherwood Trailer Park, just off Fries Road.

According to Gazette news stories from the time Logan went missing, Bowman last saw his son while dropping him off with his mother, Cynthia Davis, on Christmas Day 2002. She had legal custody of the boy; his father had weekend visitation rights.

Logan was last seen alive on Jan. 7, 2003, but Davis did not report him missing until Jan. 26, after Bowman threatened to call police and social workers because Davis wouldn’t let him see his son.

Bowman had tried to pick up Logan on several occasions, beginning Jan. 3, without success.

Davis and Schermerhorn each were arrested and charged with felony child neglect, for allegedly failing to obtain medical treatment for burns that Logan sustained from hot water; and for his subsequent disappearance.

(According to Davis’ testimony, Logan had run hot water to take a bath and burned himself in the scalding water.)

Schermerhorn and Davis both testified at their preliminary hearing that they last saw Logan on Jan. 7, 2003, but that’s the only detail of their stories that matched. Davis told police that she thought Schermerhorn took Logan from their home for medical treatment for his burns while she slept. Schermerhorn told police he thought Davis took the boy.

When the news broke about his disappearance, Logan’s photo went up all over the area, and marquee signs and storefront windows displayed messages to the Baywood Elementary School kindergartner: “We’re praying for you, Logan” or “Come home soon.”

Police and volunteers extensively searched the area near Sherwood Trailer Park and other places that Davis and Schermerhorn were known to frequent.

It is unclear if the remains found in Iron Ridge in 2022 were always there, even at the time the area was being searched in 2003, or if they were placed there later. The Carroll County Sheriff’s Department said only that the investigation “determined that the remains had been at this location for an extended period of time.”

At Schermerhorn’s trial in 2004, former Grayson County Sheriff Jerry Wilson testified that the search for Logan was the most intense he’d ever been involved in. Police and volunteers searched numerous areas, including graveyards, ponds and old iron mines; and investigators also looked at landfill records.

Davis and Schermerhorn both were indicted in July 2003 for felony homicide (a second-degree murder charge) along with two counts of felony child endangerment.

Davis Enters Plea

In April 2004, Davis avoided a scheduled trial when she entered a plea in Grayson County Circuit Court for the charges. She admitted in court that she neglected and endangered Logan, and acknowledged that there was evidence that her neglect caused his death.

Davis entered an “Alford Plea” to the homicide charge, which means she did not admit to killing her son, but believed the prosecution had enough evidence to prove the charge. She was sentenced to 50 years in prison, with 35 years suspended.

However, Davis maintained that she didn’t know where Logan’s body was.

Also unknown is how, exactly, Logan died.

At Davis’ plea hearing in 2004, former Grayson County Commonwealth’s Attorney J.D. Bolt presented evidence that would have been introduced at her trial. He said Dr. Robert Lazo – Logan’s doctor since birth – would have testified that the boy’s burns could have caused an infection and – coupled with a stomach virus Logan had before he disappeared – could have caused dehydration and contributed to his death.

Bolt also reported that Logan’s kindergarten teacher had reported suspected abuse to the Grayson Department of Social Services, as early as Nov. 19, 2002. Other school personnel and neighbors reported and testified about an ongoing pattern of abuse, as well.

A summary of witness testimony presented at Davis’ trial included her statements that Schermerhorn held her hostage for two weeks and wouldn’t let her take Logan to the doctor to treat the burns.

Davis said she fell asleep and, when she woke up, Logan was gone. She said Schermerhorn told her he took Logan to his mother, who was a registered nurse.

According to Davis, Schermerhorn later told her that Logan was with Bowman, who would bring him home later.

On Jan. 26, Davis called Bowman and asked him to drop Logan off at a friend’s house. That’s when both parents realized that neither had Logan.

The next day, Bowman filed a missing child report.

Schermerhorn Stands Trial

After a jury trial in 2004, Grayson Circuit Court Judge J. Colin Campbell dismissed Schermerhorn’s homicide charge and one charge of child endangerment.

The judge said prosecutors did not have enough evidence to prove that Logan was dead, or that Schermerhorn had anything to do with his disappearance.

A jury found him guilty of the lesser charge of simple child neglect for failing to treat Logan’s burns.

Schermerhorn was sentenced to 12 months in jail, with credit for time served while awaiting trial.

The prosecution was dealt a blow when Campbell ruled in favor of the defense that family physician Lazo could not testify that burns Logan received from scalding bath water could have contributed to his death.

And, shockingly, Davis took the stand to testify that she believed her son was still alive. However, she maintained that she didn’t know where he was.

Davis clung to her previous testimony about Schermerhorn allegedly holding her captive, hitting her with a flashlight, and watching over her while armed with a pistol. Davis also claimed that she couldn’t leave the trailer without him, and Schermerhorn wouldn’t allow her to get medical help for Logan.

However, a….