Gary Ray Bowles (January 25, 1962 – August 22, 2019)[1] was an American serial killer who was executed in 2019 for the murders of six men in 1994.

[4] His father Frank, who worked as a coal miner, had died from black lung disease six months before Bowles was born, and his mother Frances remarried several times.

[6] On March 15, 1994, in Daytona Beach, Florida, Bowles killed his first known victim, John Hardy Roberts, age 59, who had offered him a temporary place to live.

Bowles beat and strangled him to death, and then stole his credit card which he later used in Kingsland, Georgia and Nashville, Tennessee.

[8] His typical modus operandi was to prostitute himself to his victims before beating and strangling them, and stealing their credit cards.

[10] In August 1997, while sitting on death row for the slaying of Hinton, Bowles pleaded guilty to beating and strangling Roberts in 1994.