THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Wednesday, December 14, 1994           TAG: 9412140469
SECTION: LOCAL                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: JACKSONVILLE, FLA.                 LENGTH: Short :   40 lines

VIRGINIA MAN CHARGED IN DEATH OF FLA. MAN HE HAS CONFESSED TO KILLING 6 MEN IN SEVERAL STATES, AUTHORITIES SAY.

The Virginia man who authorities say confessed to killing six homosexual men was charged with first-degree murder Tuesday in the slaying of his roommate.

But Gary Bowles pleaded innocent through his attorney in Duval Circuit Court to the murder and armed robbery charges in the death of 43-year-old Walter Jammell Hinton of Jacksonville, prosecutor Tom Bishop said.

Bowles, of Clifton Forge, Va., was arrested last month, days after being added to the list of the FBI's 10 Most Wanted Fugitives.

``He has confessed to six and says that is all he did,'' Jacksonville Sheriff Jim McMillan said at the time of Bowles' arrest. ``All of us are relieved he is off the street.

``There is no doubt there would have probably been more.''

The FBI says Bowles frequented gay bars, hustling men in exchange for lodging, household chores or sexual favors. He confessed to murders in Jacksonville, Daytona Beach and Hilliard, as well as Atlanta; Savannah, Ga.; and Silver Spring, Md., McMillan said.

All the victims were bludgeoned, strangled or shot.

Bowles was arrested at a day labor office in Jacksonville Beach and questioned about Hinton's killing. Hinton had been found dead in his mobile home last month.

Bowles, 32, is also charged with fleeing prosecution after being charged with strangling a 72-year-old disabled veteran in Savannah, Ga. He also has been charged with murder in the strangling of a 39-year-old loan processor in Silver Spring, Md., and the death of a 37-year-old Hilliard man.

Bowles has been arrested at least 14 times in Florida since 1981.< by CNB