Former Tyler Resident Gets Life for Killings

DALLAS (AP/STAFF) — A Dallas-area military veteran will serve life imprisonment without parole for the 2013 shooting deaths of four women, including his girlfriend and estranged wife. A judge sentenced Erbie Lee Bowser, 48, on Friday after a Dallas County jury deliberated for 10 hours over two days before becoming deadlocked on a death penalty. Bowser was a 1986 all-state football selection while attending Tyler’s Robert E. Lee High School. He was convicted of capital murder on May 5 in the fatal shootings of girlfriend Toya Smith and her 17-year-old daughter, Tasmia Allen, in Dallas. Investigators say Bowser then drove to nearby DeSoto and fatally shot his wife, Zina Bowser, and her 28-year-old daughter Neima Williams. Four other children were wounded. Bowser’s attorneys had argued that he’s mentally ill and suffered concussions playing football. Bowser is a former member of the Dallas Mavericks ManiAAC male dance troupe.