Docs: Struggle before Bouwman homicides

KENTWOOD, Mich. (WOOD) - There appears to have been a struggle before the early January homicide of a Kentwood couple, court documents show.

David Bouwman, 81, and his 80-year-old wife Vivian were found dead in their Kentwood home on Jan. 5. David had been shot in the head, neck and chest. Vivian was shot in the head and the neck. Both died within minutes.

Recently-unsealed court filings by detectives to get various search warrants provide details about what happened inside the Bouwman's home the night they died.

Detectives described the gruesome scene officers walked into after realizing that the back door of the Stowevalley Drive home had been kicked in.

Detectives saw lots of blood and the bodies of the Bouwmans' -- both in their nightclothes -- were discovered in the kitchen.

David Bouwman appeared to have struggled with the perpetrator, detectives wrote.

"The victim David Bouwman had several injuries on his body that appeared that he was in a physical altercation during the shooting," the documents read in part.

The court documents also detail the alleged movements main suspect Javonte Higgins on the night of the murders.

Higgins contacted the acquaintances that would give him a ride to the area of the Bouwmans' home at around midnight on Jan. 5, according to the documents. Eventually, those friends gave him a ride to a bowling alley before dropping him off at an intersection near the Stowevalley Drive home.

Just before 6 a.m., the documents say, investigators have video of a man that appears to be Higgins at the Shell gas station at 54th Street SW and Division Avenue.

Higgins, who was injured in December 2012 after allegedly stealing a pickup truck, leading police on a chase and then crashing, was identified because the video showed he had a "distinct limp and had difficulty walking and standing up."

At the gas station, the man filled a large orange bucket with three gallons of gasoline. He bought food at a Subway.

At around 7 a.m. or 8 a.m., police told the court, that Higgins reportedly returned to the home of the friends who had dropped him off.

"This is serious, I need you to roll with me. I need to get rid of this car," witnesses told detectives Higgins said to the friend.

Investigators say the acquaintances told them that the vehicle was the Bouwmans' Cadillac DeVille, which had been stolen from the home.

At around 10 a.m., firefighters responded to calls reporting the DeVille was on fire at a Wyoming apartment complex about four miles from the Bouwmans' home.

A witness at that scene described a man who was not Higgins pouring the contents of the bucket into the car before it burst into flames. Authorities later released a sketch of that man to the public.

Witnesses told police they believed the man in the sketch was Drake Jackson. But Jackson told 24 Hour News 8's it's a case of mistaken identity.

"I do not know him," he said of Higgins.

Jackson said he has never met Higgins and had nothing to do with the murders.

But when police came to his door, he jumped off his second-story balcony.

"I was scared," he said. "I had a lot of stuff going on, a lot of stuff with the police."

Jackson does not face any charges in connection to the Bouwman homicides.

At around noon on Jan. 5, Higgins was reportedly at a Wyoming bowling alley. Apparently drunk, according to witnesses, he was allegedly selling jewelry and playing poker.

The next day, Higgins showed up at the Spectrum hospital emergency room. Detectives indicated in the court documents there was a possibility he may have been treated for injuries sustained during the murder. The documents don't reveal why.

Higgins was arrested Jan. 18 in the Chicago area on unrelated felony auto theft and home invasion charges. He remains in Illinois pending an April 22 extradition hearing.

24 Hour News 8's Heather Walker contributed to this report.