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Man's Body Found In Car Trunk

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By CARLOS MONCADA

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 4, 2008

TAMPA - The sudden and inexplicable death of her 21-year-old nephew left Yvette Lewis grappling for answers Saturday.

Police investigating the suspicious death say there are no obvious signs of trauma on Corey Bowden. His body was found about 6:10 a.m. in the open trunk of his gray Crown Victoria sedan.

The car was parked outside Grande Oaks Apartments, at 6269 Canopy Tree Drive, where Bowden lived with his mother.

"We have no idea what happened," Lewis said outside the building where Bowden lived. "No obvious signs of trauma, no drugs, no alcohol, no nothing. We're baffled."

Hillsborough County Medical Examiner Vernard Adams was summoned to the scene along with homicide detectives after a resident reported seeing Bowden's body shortly after 6 a.m.

An autopsy was performed later in the day, but the results were not immediately available.

The death is considered undetermined, but an investigation is continuing, Tampa police Lt. Ronald McMullen said.

Bowden was found with his feet outside the trunk, Lewis said. It's possible that passers-by initially thought he was retrieving something from the trunk, she said.

"He was, like, bent over in the trunk. He wasn't all the way in," Lewis said. "I guess people saw him in that position so long, that's when they called."

Lewis, 40, said Bowden was living with his grandmother in Tampa and just recently moved in with his mother, Elizabeth Bowden, at the 96-unit apartment complex, tucked amid grand oak trees and winding streets.

Bowden worked at a Coca-Cola bottling plant in Tampa for about a year, Lewis said.

"He was very lovable," Lewis said. "He was just naive to the world. He just trusted everybody. But he was a good child."

Reporter Carlos Moncada can be reached at (727) 451-2333 or cmoncada@tampatyrib.com.

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