Thomas Lee "Tom" Bonney[2] lived in Chesapeake, Virginia, where he ran an auto salvage yard.
[3] Bonney and his wife Dorothy Mae had six children, the oldest of whom were Kathy Carol (August 6, 1968 – November 21, 1987) and Susan Christine (born 1972).
[4][5] On November 21, 1987, some time after 7 p.m., Tom Bonney left the family home with his daughter Kathy, ostensibly to look at a truck which was for sale.
Tom Bonney shot his daughter 27 times and dumped her body alongside the Dismal Swamp Canal.
[4] Kathy Bonney's nude body was found around 3:00 p.m., on the outskirts of Elizabeth City near the Dismal Swamp Canal along U.S. Route 17 in Camden County, just over the state line from Chesapeake.
The autopsy identified a total of 27 gunshot wounds to Kathy's head, torso and legs, some of which had been inflicted after death.
[4] Tom Bonney helped police prepare a composite of the alleged suspect and upheld his version of the events on November 21 for several weeks.
At the time of the killing, a personality referred to as “Demian”, characterized by blind rage, had been in control and believed he was shooting Bonney's abusive father.
According to Coons, death of a family member was not sufficient to induce dissociative identity disorder, but the symptoms could have been created by hypnosis.
[4][5][3] Bonney appealed the verdict, and the North Carolina Supreme Court voided the death sentence on June 12, 1991, although the murder conviction was upheld.
The court found that the defense had presented strong evidence of mitigating factors, including a dissociative identity disorder, and that the jury in the original trial had been improperly instructed in its consideration of the death penalty.
[4][5] After Bonney was found competent to stand trial, the resentencing hearing began in Chowan Superior Court on August 24, 1992.
[3] On July 29, 1994, around 8:30 a.m., Bonney and a fellow inmate escaped from Central Prison through a trash compacting chute and hid in a garbage truck.
While it was initially speculated that both had been crushed to death in a trash compactor during their escape attempt, the two men had stolen a car and driven to Hampton Beach.
After doing so, he wandered around the Ocean View area, and said that, had he not been apprehended, he would have turned himself in after a few days to get food and medication, as he had injured himself during his escape attempt.