Bowser had a history of domestic violence, but it isn’t in his criminal record because he completed the Dallas County court program for veterans in the summer of 2012. Bowser entered the Veterans Court after attacking Zina Bowser at their home on Galleria in January 2011. She had filed for divorce and wanted him to move out, according to a protective order application she signed. Bowser served in the Army from 1991 to 2000. Those who enter Veterans Court must demonstrate that their time in combat caused them to commit whatever crime they are accused of.
The grenade-wielding man who police say shot two mothers and their daughters to death had a history of family violence. But his criminal record was wiped clean after he’d graduated from a special program for veterans trying to get their lives back on track, and he may have lied to get into the program. Erbie Lee Bowser, 44, faces multiple capital murder charges after authorities say he killed his former girlfriend and her teenage daughter in southwest Dallas around 10:30 p.m. and then drove about 7 miles to DeSoto to kill his estranged wife and her daughter.
