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People who know the Portland resident wanted for a gruesome murder had no reason to fear him.

By TREVOR MAXWELL, Staff Writer December 20, 2007

David Bowen, the Portland man who was arrested Tuesday in the murder of an Indiana boy in 1979, had a string of run-ins with police in Maine in the 1980s and early 1990s, ranging from misdemeanor assault to a felony conviction for robbery.

But his criminal record stopped abruptly in 1992, and he apparently settled into the quiet routine of a working man, traveling with painting crews and moving between apartments in Portland. In the Park Avenue neighborhood where he lived for the past several years, Bowen, 44, was known simply as "Dave the painter."

"He came in here every day for the past four and a half years," said Mal Mango, owner of Terroni's, the neighborhood sandwich shop. Bowen was one of the few non-family members who were allowed to run tabs if they didn't have cash.

"He would ask if he could pay me back in the morning, and then he would be there the next day, waiting at the door for me to open up," Mango said. "He was always polite, well spoken. He was on a first-name basis with myself and my family. He was going to do some work on my house.

"We were floored," by the news that Bowen is suspected of murder, Mango said.

Police arrested Bowen in Kingfield Tuesday, where his Scarborough-based painting crew was working at a bottling plant.

On Wednesday, during his initial appearance in Farmington District Court, Bowen agreed to be extradited to Indiana. Police there say he abducted, raped and murdered an 8-year-old boy in Gary 28 years ago. He is being held in the Franklin County Jail until the paperwork is completed for his extradition.

Kevin Joyce of Farmington, Bowen's court-appointed lawyer, spoke briefly to Bowen before the hearing.

Joyce said his client knew for some time that investigators were closing in, because detectives had spoken to him over the past months and taken his DNA sample.

"He told me he was interested in going back to Indiana to contest the charge," Joyce said. "He knew it was inevitable."

RUN-INS WITH THE LAW

Kenneth "Butch" Conrick disappeared while walking home from school in October 1979. His nude and mutilated body was found tied to a tree two weeks later, behind a Salvation Army office.

Bowen, who was 16 at the time, was the prime suspect because a 9-year-old boy in the same neighborhood had accused him of sexual assault. But there was not enough evidence to charge him.

Information provided last year by his sister, Donna Oprish, allowed police to get a search warrant and a DNA sample from Bowen. Officials said Wednesday that the DNA matched fluids collected from Conrick's body, according to the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana.

It was unclear exactly when Bowen moved to Maine, or what connections might have brought him here.

In 1984, the 20-year-old Bowen and another young man were convicted of robbing $1,200 in cash from the owner of a pizza parlor in Biddeford. Bowen served four months in the York County Jail, according to state records.

Bowen was convicted of misdemeanor theft in Westbrook in 1989. He was convicted twice of assault in Portland, in 1991 and 1992, and was put on probation for both of the incidents. The files for those cases have been archived in Augusta, and were not available on Wednesday afternoon.

A ROUTINE LIFE

Bowen also has a long history of driving convictions, including three for drunken driving in the 1980s. His license was suspended indefinitely in 1990 because he failed to pay a fine, and those who know him said he has not driven in years.

"Someone from the crew would pick him up," said Jim Harmon, Bowen's longtime landlord. Bowen lived in an apartment owned by Harmon on Alder Street, and moved several years ago to the basement apartment at 218 Park Ave., across the street from the Portland Expo. The building has 14 units.

"He stayed on his own. He kept to himself and had a few friends," Harmon said of Bowen. "Sometimes he was a little late, but he took...