CARROLL COUNTY, Va. (WFXR) –The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office has announced that the remains of missing 5-year-old Logan Bowman, who was murdered nearly two decades ago, have been identified.
In September 2022, the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office responded to Iron Ridge Road, in Galax, Virginia, for reports of human remains found in a trash can in a wooded area. As the investigation continued, officials determined that the remains had been in the woods for an extended period.
Othran Inc., a private company based in Texas that specializes in forensic-grade genome sequencing and forensic genetic genealogy, was able to develop a full DNA profile. This allowed authorities to use the genealogy, along with two DNA comparisons of family members. The remains were positively identified as Logan Nathaniel Bowman.
Logan was a 5-year-old child who went missing in the Grayson County area in January of 2003. As the search for him continued, authorities charged his mom, Cynthia Davis, and her then-boyfriend, Dennis Shermerhorn, in connection to his disappearance. Shermerhorn was convicted of child neglect.
As Nexstar’s WFXR previously reported in February of 2023, Davis entered a guilty plea in Grayson County Circuit Court for two counts of child neglect and one count of homicide. Court records also showed that she was sentenced to 10 years for each count of child neglect with sentences suspended. Davis also received a 30-year sentence for homicide with 15 years suspended.
Logan’s father, Alvin “Wayne” Bowman, previously told WXFR he last saw his five-year-old while dropping him off with Davis on Christmas Day 2002. Logan was reported missing from Galax the next month, January 2003.
“He was a good kid. He didn’t get in trouble, but he loved school, loved going to church, and I had him in church all the time,” Bowman said, describing his son. The church he attends already has a gravestone ready for a proper burial, he added.
“It feels good. I can go on, I know where he’s at now. I don’t have to worry where he’s at. I know it hurts, but it’s going to be OK. We have to go on, one day I will see him in heaven,” Bowman added.
The Carroll County Sheriff’s Office says this is an ongoing investigation and new charges are anticipated.
