Detective: Puckett confessed several times to killing sister
The note said it all: "I killed your Aunt Vickie on Saturday and have been on the run ever since."
Gwinnett County Police detective K.B. Everson testified at a probable cause hearing Friday that Dennis Roger Puckett wrote the two-page confession note to his son a few days after killing his sister, Vickie Bowles, in an apartment the siblings shared in Buford.
Police found Bowles' body on March 7 at the apartment on Powers Avenue, four days after the note said the killing took place.
According to Everson, Puckett not only confessed to his son on March 7. He also showed up at his ex-wife's house and told her that he slit Bowles' throat. Both Puckett's son and his ex-wife contacted 911, prompting the discovery of the body.
Chief Magistrate Court Judge George Hutchinson, who presided over the hearing, ruled that there was probable cause to bind over to Superior Court the charges against Puckett of felony murder and aggravated assault. Puckett is being held without bond at the Gwinnett County jail.
The medical examiner found Bowles, 54, suffered three blunt force injuries to the head that were likely caused by a hammer found inside a bedroom of the apartment. The hammer had trace amounts of blood on it, Everett said. Bowles also suffered a stab wound and cuts to the back of the neck.
Puckett was arrested the same day, after an attorney who had represented him on an unrelated matter telephoned police to say that his client was at a RaceTrac gas station on U.S. 78 in Gwinnett. Puckett was standing beside a green Kia Sportage when police arrived, a car that was registered to Bowles, Everson said.
Police found a folding knife inside the vehicle which also had traces of blood on it. The knife is believed to be one of the murder weapons, although police are still testing it.
When questioned about why he killed Bowles, Puckett allegedly said that they got into an argument and that "she ate all the hot dogs," said Robert Greenwald, Puckett's defense attorney at the hearing.
Puckett, 57, appeared to be subdued during the hearing. However court records indicate he has a long history of mental illness and sometimes erupted into violent episodes. Puckett pleaded guilty in 1999 to attacking a man with a knife and burning down two homes in Buford.
Greenwald said his client was on medication Friday.
