Sheriff's Office makes arrest in murder of Orange City woman

Courtesy photos. Steven Bowman, 39, of Deltona, at right, was charged Wednesday with first-degree murder in the shotgun slaying of Rabbitt Burns, 51, of Orange City, according to the Volusia County Sheriff's Office.

ORANGE CITY -- Rabbitt Burns was shot dead in her kitchen while fixing breakfast. Despite living
alone, the table was clearly set for two. Following the discovery of Burns' body on Jan. 12, Volusia County Sheriff's investigators' first task was to figure out who else was at the victim's house on West Fern Drive near Orange City. And it didn't take long, thanks to a photograph of 39-year-old Steven Bowman sitting atop a wooden hutch.

"Officials didn't immediately know the identity of the man in the picture," Sheriff's spokesman Gary Davidson said. "But that quickly changed after investigators showed the photo at one of Burns' favorite
hangouts, Daly's Liquors in Orange City. Customers immediately recognized Bowman, and surveillance video captured images of him and Burns together at the pub two days before Burns' body was found.

Bowman, meanwhile, has been imprisoned in Orange County ever since he was arrested on Jan. 13 in a hotel room with a .38-caliber handgun and cocaine. On Wednesday, investigators with the Volusia County Sheriff's Office's Major Case Unit officially charged Bowman with first-degree murder after
ballistics tests confirmed that the victim was shot with the gun found in Bowman's hotel room, Davidson said.

A mutual friend told investigators that Bowman and Burns had known each other for approximately 14 years. While Bowman refused to talk to investigators about the murder, robbery appears to have been the motive, Davidson said.

After the killing, investigators believe Bowman rifled through Burns' jewelry and file cabinets, stealing a laptop computer, cameras, firearms and ammunition. The stolen property was found inside the victim's car, which was abandoned in Orlando the day after Burns' body was discovered by co-workers who came to check on her.

And investigators know that Bowman was using the car because he was captured on surveillance video leaving a convenience store in Orlando with the vehicle, Davidson said. Adding to the evidence, Sheriff's
crime scene technicians lifted Bowman's fingerprints from the victim's house and car.

And late last week, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement confirmed through ballistics tests that the bullet that killed Burns was fired from the handgun recovered from Bowman's room at the Security Inn in Orlando. The gun was found inside room 164, wrapped in a shirt, Davidson said.

After reviewing the findings of the investigation with the State Attorney's Office, Sheriff's investigators presented the case on Wednesday to Circuit Court Judge Kim Hammond.

The judge subsequently issued a warrant charging Bowman with first-degree murder, robbery with a firearm and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Sheriff's investigators drove the warrant to the jail late Wednesday and served it on Bowman in his cell in Orange County, where he is being held without bond.