A Poplar Bluff police detective is working with prosecutors in both Butler and Carter counties in preparation for the filing of charges stemming from a 31-year-old homicide.
The death of Thomas "Tommy" Rowland, 39, has been "continuously worked since 2010 when we reopened it," explained Detective Bryce Colvin, who "time lined everything" in the case file after he took over as lead detective.
"We reopened the case to process DNA evidence and seek closure for the investigation."
The initial investigation began at about noon on May 14, 1987, when a Poplar Bluff officer was dispatched to the Valley Plaza Shopping Center in reference to a suspicious vehicle that was parked on the lot near Newberry's.
Upon the officer's arrival, according to earlier reports, he found a maroon colored Oldsmobile Regency Ninety-Eight, bearing Missouri license FNF-438, parked on the lot.
The officer was contacted by a citizen who told him that she had called the police because she had seen a substance dripping from the trunk and could smell an extremely strong odor coming from the trunk.
Then police Detective Donwell Clark was called to the scene and upon his arrival, he gained access to the interior portion of the trunk where he saw a white male lying face up on the spare tire.
The body was that of Rowland, who was in the advanced stages of decomposition. From observations at the scene, there appeared to be some type of wound to Rowland's head.
Rowland was wearing blue jeans, a short-sleeved shirt, cowboy boots, and there was marijuana that had been sprinkled on his stomach.
Information from witnesses who were employed at the shopping center said the Oldsmobile had been parked at the lot since May 11, 1987, and it had not been moved from its location.
Colvin credits Clark's work as being "what saved this case ... that he was methodical, and he was ahead of his time with the way he preserved evidence."
During that initial investigation, according to Colvin, interviews were conducted that led officers to property in Carter County.
Colvin said blood had been found at what he described as a shack in a wooded area in the "middle of nowhere" near rural Ellsinore "within a couple of days of the discovery of (Rowland's) remains in Valley Plaza."
Evidence, he said, was found at the shack that indicated the murder had happened there.
Investigators, according to earlier reports, talked with Rowland's wife who said she had last seen him on May 11, 1987, at the Duck Inn Tavern at Wappapello Lake. She said her husband left the tavern between 6 and 6:15 p.m. with an acquaintance to take the acquaintance somewhere.
Rowland's wife also said he did not return home that night. She further told officers that she had come to Poplar Bluff the next day and had began inquiring as to the whereabouts of her husband. She stated that various people had made reference to there being a contract out on Rowland.
In addition, Rowland's wife told officers that she had been told the acquaintance her husband had left the Duck Inn Tavern with had stated he could make $5,000 by doing something to Rowland and that it would occur sometime during the night of May 11, 1987.
Colvin said a suspect has been identified, and he is described as a "local area person that was a known, close associate of Tommy Rowland at the time of his murder."
"The two met at a bar in Wappapello where Thomas Rowland was last seen alive," Colvin explained. "Our suspect and Tommy Rowland traveled to the property in Ellsinore, where Tommy Rowland was killed.
"(His) remains were placed in the truck of his Oldsmobile, and he was driven to the Valley Plaza shopping lot."
Colvin said the motive for Rowland's death was over "money owned for drugs."
The time frame and witness statements, Colvin said, "reflected that the suspect left (the bar) with Tommy Rowland and was seen leaving the area where the body was later discovered."
Since the investigation was reopened, Colvin said, the blood was tested at a Missouri State Highway Patrol lab and found to be that of Rowland.
Having the victim's DNA found "gave us a location of where the incident occurred," Colvin said.
A review of the case file and the pursuant of investigative leads "led to an exact location where the incident occurred, and a time frame that implicated the suspect," explained Colvin, who indicated the investigation came to a head about two years ago.
That was about the time the DNA results were returned, and "then, I finally located the property in Carter County," said Colvin.
At this time, Colvin said, he is working with prosecutors in both Butler and Carter counties in preparing "the information to support probable cause to formally file charges."
Charges, he said, will be sought in Carter County for the homicide and for abandonment of a corpse in Butler County.
"There is no time frame" on when the charges may be filed, but "we believe the case has got to the point where we should be close to seeing a resolution," Colvin said.
The case was delayed after the DNA was returned in 2016 due to Colvin's "military travels," but "I can support the prosecution process of this case now."
Anyone with information on Rowland's death is asked to call Colvin at (573) 785-5776.