In 1997, two years after they divorced, Brenda turned up missing from her home. Her car was found the day she disappeared in a nearby wooded area. The body was recovered two months later in the Coosa River. Authorities were unable to determine if she died from suffocation or drowning because her body had decomposed. Jerry Bowen quickly became the main suspect. The killer wrapped Brenda's body in bed sheets matching the set in her house and her body was bound by rope with a series of bowline and slip knots - known favorites of Jerry's.

According to Brenda's father, James Breckenridge, Jerry was in financial trouble. Brenda told her parents that Jerry had recently come over and said to her, "B-I'm in trouble. We've got to get back together." Brenda told Jerry she would have to think about it. Jerry then allegedly threatened to take Brenda back to court. Brenda said to her father: "I've never seen hate like that in anyone's eyes."

Jerry Bowen was eventually charged with Brenda's murder. Twenty-nine witnesses testified against him at trial. Though all of the evidence was circumstantial, it was still enough to convince a jury in of Jerry Bowen's guilt. In April of 2000, Bowen was convicted of the murder of his ex-wife. Then, days before he was sentenced, Jerry Bowen disappeared. Local police and FBI agents searched his dwellings and found Internet activity with a disturbing pattern: Violence against women. In a 6-month period, he had visited 5,000 websites dedicated to violence toward women, hard-core pornography and cannibalism.

UPDATE: Jerry Lee Bowen has been captured.  An Unsolved Mysteries viewer notified authorities that a man she knew as ‘Steven Starbucks’ looked exactly like Bowen.  It didn’t take long for police to determine that they had probable cause to arrest Starbucks.  Though he denied his identity, fingerprints confirmed the tipster’s information.  Bowen is currently in prison serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his wife.