EP. 109 OKLAHOMA - Cannibalistic Desires: The Murder Of 10 Year Old Jamie Bolin

We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects.

Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children.

This podcast is not for everyone. You have been warned.

Here at Murder in America, we talk about the worst of humanity.

People that murder for a number of reasons like money, jealousy, greed, or sometimes even for their own sick satisfaction.

It's unsettling to think that there are people out there with an overwhelming desire to end a human life.

When you think of people like this, a number of infamous names probably pop into your head, like Ted Bundy, Israel Keyes, or Jeffrey Dahmer.

But typically, these types of killers are pretty rare. They are human anomalies.

And that's why so many people talk about them because it's hard to wrap your head around the fact that people can be that evil.

In today's episode, we are going to talk about a killer who was on the level of Jeffrey Dahmer.

He dreamed about the act of killing someone, dismembering their body, and eating them.

This desire grew and grew until one day, he decided to act on his fantasy.

But unlike Jeffrey Dahmer, he would get caught almost immediately after murdering his first victim.

And unfortunately, that victim was a 10-year-old little girl named Jamie Bolin.

A little girl that just happened to live by one of these rare sadistic monsters.

This case is truly unlike anything I've ever heard.

It's horrific.

The details of this crime will not only make you sick to your stomach, but it'll also have you questioning the people around you.

This is the story of Jamie Bolin.

I'm Courtney Brown.

And I'm Colin Brown.

And you're listening to Murder in America.

September 10, 2002.

The day before the anniversary of the terrorist attacks on America.

And I say, who gives a fuck?

I'm sick of hearing about it.

I was sick of hearing about it a week after it happened.

I liked the coverage of it at first because it was entertaining.

But after a few days of it, it got boring.

They say there's a good chance of another attack of some kind tomorrow.

Now, I'm not hoping they attack.

I'm not going that far.

But if they do, let's just say I'll be watching the new coverage of it for the entertainment value.

Back in the early 2000s, before social media took over the world, blogs were becoming very popular.

It was a place where people could express themselves and write about whatever they wanted.

Even really horrible stuff like you just heard.

That was a blog post from a man named Kevin Ray Underwood.

He was born on December 19, 1979 and lived in Purcell, Oklahoma at the time of our story.

And since childhood, Kevin was different from other kids his age.

He was shy, withdrawn, depressed, anxious, with crippling social anxiety.

And as he got older, these things really started to affect his life.

He always made good grades and had a pretty good work ethic, but it was hard for him to make friends.

And even harder for him to talk to women.

By the time Kevin was 23 years old in 2003, he was working at a grocery store and more depressed than ever.

So his blog became a place of solace.

Wednesday, January 8, 2003.

I really gotta do something. Get some pills or something.

I've been so depressed the last couple of months and it just keeps getting worse every day.

And especially every night.

I haven't had a decent night's sleep in over a week.

I get so depressed at night I can't even get to sleep anymore.

I lie there deeply depressed or crying half the night.

I've always been a crier my whole life.

People who know me may be surprised by that because I usually don't show any emotions.

As little as I possibly can.

It's the same old crap that's depressing me.

I'm very lonely and no one wants me.

I would love some human contact.

Even in a non-sexual friendly way.

I hardly ever touch anyone and no one touches me.

About the only human contact I have in my life is when people walk past and accidentally bump into or brush against me.

When I hand people their change at work.

That's basically the only contact in my life.

Sometimes when I'm in a bad mood or something.

I don't want to touch or be touched.

But the rest of the time my mind and body are starved for a little human contact.

I've only hugged two girls that were not relatives in my entire life.

And another thing that bothers me is of course the whole sex and relationships thing.

I'm 23 and I've only had sex once.

I've only been out with one girl and that wasn't really anything serious.

She didn't consider herself my girlfriend and if I accidentally suggested such a thing she'd get angry.

We just went out four times on pretty lame dates.

I've never had a real relationship with a real girlfriend.

Someone who loved me.

Kevin's depression got so bad he finally reached out to a professional who diagnosed him and prescribed him Lexapro.

But he wasn't really consistent with taking the medication.

And besides going to work he mostly just stayed in his apartment.

Something he had always done since he was a kid.

His father would later say that he and Kevin never really had a great relationship because he didn't understand his son.

Kevin never participated in any activities or sports.

And he mostly just stayed in his room all the time.

His father always assumed that one day Kevin would grow out of it.

But he clearly never did.

One thing about Kevin however is that he was very self-aware about all of this.

At 23 years old he recognized the fact that most people his age had friends.

They would go out and have fun, have sex, get girlfriends, start a career.

But he didn't have any of that.

He was a recluse and an incel who just kind of drifted through life.

Thursday, February 6th, 2003.

So my skills in every area are gone and failing.

And that I think is the best explanation why I am the way I am.

Why I live this pathetic life.

I have no skills of any kind.

I've become a useless lump of flesh.

Not capable of contributing anything to society.

It's a horrible feeling really.

My life is slowly disappearing.

Kevin continued to go through highs and lows.

Although most of the days were lows.

He was sporadically taking his Lexapro and when things got really bad,

he tried to distract himself with TV, video games, and porn.

And on those bad days, he expressed everything he was feeling in his blog.

Sunday, June 29th, 2003.

Damn it, I hate this.

I let my guard down for a second and now I'm all depressed again.

I thought I was finally safe and that I could handle it now.

But I was wrong.

I've been ignoring the source of the problem for some time now.

And it was fine, but now I stopped ignoring it and distracting myself from it.

And it got to me again.

But Kevin was talking to people about his struggles.

He once told his aunt that he was, quote, depressed and hopeless.

And he talked with his mom pretty frequently about his depression and anxiety.

Like any parent, she was desperate for her son to feel better.

She even encouraged him to go see a psychiatrist and get on some medication again.

Tuesday, April 12th, 2003.

My mom saw one of those TV commercials for Zoloft, one of those depression medicines.

It was all about social anxiety disorder.

And now she's figured out that that's what's wrong with me.

Even though I've been saying that for years, I know that that's what's wrong with me.

So now she's trying to get me some medication for it.

But I don't want medication for it.

That's why I never went to the psychiatrist like I had been planning to.

I knew they would just give me pills.

I don't want pills.

I shouldn't have to take pills to just live a normal life like everyone else.

I should be able to do it on my own.

Actually, I have been thinking about it, though.

I have to do something.

I can't live like this much longer.

I have to do something about it.

But Kevin wouldn't go to a psychiatrist.

And his depression only seemed to be getting worse.

Especially because, more than ever, he was craving female attention.

Sunday, August 17th, 2003.

Even masturbation sounds boring.

Of course, that lost its fun years ago.

Now it's basically just a habit.

To once again put it bluntly, I really need some pussy.

Actually, it's more than that.

I don't just need sex.

I need a girlfriend.

A real relationship.

Love and shit like that.

Even simpler than that, I need to be touched.

And I don't mean in a sexual way.

But no one ever touches me.

And I don't touch them.

Even the simplest touch is the hardest thing for me.

I dream of being hugged.

Now, Kevin wasn't able to find any women in Purcell, Oklahoma.

But he spent a lot of time online.

And over the years, he started communicating with a girl online named Melissa.

Who was the only female companion he had.

Tuesday, September 16th, 2003.

Here's a funny conversation I had with Melissa.

Melissa is a girl that lives in California that I met online.

And I've been friends with her for over five years now.

Mmm, I'm hungry.

What did you have for dinner tonight?

Children.

Laughing my fucking ass off.

LOL, not really.

I had meatloaf.

Made out of children.

So, as you can see, their conversations didn't really have a lot of depth.

But Kevin felt as if he could be himself with Melissa.

He could say off-putting things, and it didn't seem to scare her away.

But in the meantime, Kevin's loved ones were growing overly concerned about him.

He still wasn't taking his medication.

And he seemed to take a turn for the worse.

Monday, September 22nd, 2003.

My parents are trying to talk me into getting some Zoloft again.

They said that I have to do something.

I'm going to take them at least for a little while.

At least until I'm able to get a good job or something.

They said that if I went to the doctor, they'd even pay for the pills.

I'm gonna have to go, I guess.

It's getting worse.

The last couple of times I went, I've gotten even more nervous and embarrassed than usual.

The last couple of times I went to a store, I've almost passed out while waiting in line at the checkout.

I wasn't able to find if Kevin did go see a psychiatrist following this blog post.

But months later, he would write about a girl he was interested in.

Thursday, February 12th, 2004.

I'm thinking about getting this girl flowers for Valentine's Day.

But I don't know if roses would be a bit too much since there's nothing between us at this time.

Maybe I should get her some other type of flowers.

Maybe I should just kill everyone.

Maybe I should just go watch some porn.

Now, it's around this time when Kevin starts to become fascinated with cannibalism.

It's unclear what brought about this fascination, but here is the first time he mentions it in his blog.

Tuesday, February 17th, 2004.

Last night, I also bought that Rob Zombie movie, House of a Thousand Corpses.

It was pretty cool, but not quite what I expected.

First, I expected it to be a lot campier and weirder and also more extreme.

The movie was actually pretty tame compared to what I was hoping to see.

And there was no cannibalism.

For some reason, I was expecting and hoping to see more cannibalism.

And here is another blog post about how desperate he is to have sex with a woman.

Tuesday, February 24th, 2004.

Hooray for sex! Not that I've had any lately, I just feel like cheering for it.

Yup, sex would sure be nice.

I'm bored.

I considered going to a strip club tonight, but I probably won't.

Though I really would like to see some breasts.

I'm horny enough without being teased by half-naked women gyrating in my face, though.

I dreamt about sex all last night and woke up super horny.

I'm just glad I didn't have to work this morning.

Yeah, I realize how pathetic I am.

And I'm more or less fine with it.

If only girls would give me a chance.

Most of them would be really glad if they did.

In August of 2004, Kevin took an online quiz that told him whether he was a sadist or a masochist.

Here were some of his responses.

Name, Kevin Underwood.

Birthday, December 19th.

Age, 24.

Hair color, red.

Eye color, brown.

Plans after high school.

I've been out of school since 1998, and I still don't know what the fuck I'm going to do with my life.

Worst feeling.

Well, I've lived most of my life suffering from depression and social anxiety.

So I'd have to say that's one of the worst feelings.

Being so nervous around people you can barely leave the house.

Are you a virgin?

No.

If not, do you wish you were still?

No.

I wish I had lots more sex than I have.

Do you ever talk to yourself?

Constantly.

Wanted to die?

Yeah.

Been beaten up?

Pretty much constantly for the first 16 years of my life.

Killed someone in your thoughts?

Constantly.

The results of that quiz read,

Are you sadistic or masochistic?

You are sadistic.

You enjoy inflicting pain on others to gain sexual satisfaction.

Are you an angry person by any chance?

Kevin answers,

Hmm, maybe a little.

I've never tried it.

It might be fun.

As long as it's consensual.

Now, like we've already established,

Kevin spent the majority of his free time masturbating and watching porn.

And over time, his fantasies start getting darker and darker.

So dark, he actually tells his aunt, quote,

Sometimes you wouldn't believe the weird things that go through my mind.

But she clearly didn't understand the severity of those dark thoughts.

Unbeknownst to everyone,

Kevin started fantasizing about cannibalizing someone.

Wednesday, September 29th, 2004.

Yesterday, I was really depressed the entire day.

I was so depressed, it was one of the times where I'm so depressed my chest hurts.

I wonder if that happens to anybody else.

When I get really depressed, that happens to me.

Like usual, the main thing I've been getting depressed about lately is my lack of a sex life.

I mean it.

I really need a girlfriend.

It's not just depressing anymore.

It's actually starting to have a negative effect on my mental state, I think.

For example, my fantasies are just getting weirder and weirder, like dangerously weird.

If people knew the kinds of things I think about anymore, I'd probably be locked away.

No probably about it.

I know I would be.

I wish I had something to do besides sitting at home on the computer all day.

I wish I had something to do.

I wish I could go out and meet people and stuff.

Most of all, I wish I had a girlfriend.

So Kevin was always either at work or sitting at home on his computer

falling deeper and deeper into his dark fantasies.

And the only human interaction he had was with customers at his job

or the occasional small talk with his neighbors at his apartment.

One family who lived on the floor above him were the Bolins.

There was Curtis Bolin, the father, and his 10-year-old daughter Jamie Rose Bolin.

Jamie was born on August 7th, 1995 and raised in Dibble, Oklahoma by her parents.

Her mother's name is Jennifer Fox,

and she and Curtis were together for the first few years of Jamie's life

but would eventually separate.

Following that separation, Curtis would get custody of Jamie

and they would move to Purcell, Oklahoma, where he worked as an auto mechanic.

Now as for Jamie's mother, Jennifer,

she was working as a truck driver in Oklahoma City,

about 45 minutes north of Purcell.

My goal was to drive a truck. That was my dream.

Since I was 5 years old, I wanted to drive a truck.

But over the years, Jennifer struggled with a meth addiction.

So that, coupled with her work schedule,

made it to where she didn't get to see Jamie as much as she wanted to.

But they still had a good relationship.

Jamie, my copper top, that bright red hair just set her out above everybody else.

She was my copper top.

She thought it was cool. Mom drove a truck.

At the time of our story, in 2006,

Jamie and her father were living at the Purcell Park Apartments.

She went to school at Purcell Intermediate School

and was just months away from finishing the 5th grade.

And Jamie was your typical innocent 10-year-old little girl.

She was cheerful, with bright red hair and freckles.

She loved singing, watching movies, sewing,

riding four-wheelers, and hanging out with her friends.

She also loved to read and won many awards at her school.

According to neighbors that lived at the Purcell Park Apartments,

they would often see Jamie smiling and riding her bike around the complex.

At the time of our story, Easter was right around the corner.

Jamie was looking forward to spending the holiday with her mom,

who she hadn't seen in a few months.

On Wednesday, April 12th, 2006,

Jamie got ready for school that morning.

And it was just like any other day.

She spent time with her friends.

She played computer games at the school library.

And when school was over, she rode her bike back home.

It was around 3.30 when she went to her apartment to change clothes.

And then she made her way back outside with her bicycle.

And on her way out, she spots her neighbor, 26-year-old Kevin Underwood,

who was just standing there outside of his apartment.

The two had spoken on a number of occasions.

And Jamie was a friendly girl,

so she propped her bike up against the stairwell,

and she and Kevin struck up a conversation.

Jamie talked about how hot it was outside,

and how she had to bike up a big hill that day.

Such an innocent conversation,

little did she know,

as she was talking about the mundane parts of her day,

the man in front of her was planning her demise.

Kevin glances around and sees that there are no witnesses.

So, he invites her inside.

The trusting and innocent Jamie has no idea that the man living next door

was the personification of evil.

So, she walks through the threshold of his apartment

and is never seen alive again.

Later that afternoon, Jamie's father, Curtis, comes home to an empty apartment.

Because of his work schedule, Jamie was often home alone for hours after school,

but she was very responsible, so he never had to worry about her.

On this day, however, she is not in the apartment,

so he begins to look outside for her, thinking maybe she's gone missing.

But he looks everywhere, and she's nowhere to be found.

Curtis was coming to the realization that he was in the midst of every parent's worst nightmare,

so he quickly calls the police to report her missing.

Jamie's mother, Jennifer, said that she'll never forget that moment

when she found out about her daughter's disappearance.

She was on the road in Arizona when she got the phone call,

and she immediately tried to pull over,

but the truck was halfway on the shoulder and halfway still on the road.

It was hard for her in that moment to even comprehend what was happening.

The phone call was the start of a never-ending nightmare.

Jennifer would later tell The Oklahoman,

Back in Purcell, everyone was on the lookout for 10-year-old Jamie.

It's a pretty small town with about 6,000 residents,

so as you can imagine, the news of her disappearance was huge.

But by nightfall, there was still no sign of her.

The following day, on April 13th,

the FBI stepped in and issued an Amber Alert for the missing 10-year-old,

and they added over two dozen people to help in the search.

But still, they came up with nothing.

And like with any search, investigators start at the source,

which in this case is the Purcell Park Apartments.

They questioned a number of neighbors at the complex,

and they set up roadblocks outside where they stopped vehicles in the area

to ask if they saw anything suspicious.

At around 3.45 p.m. on April 14th,

Kevin Ray Underwood would pull up to this roadblock with his father, Larry.

Kevin was sitting in the passenger seat

when his father rolled down the window to speak with FBI agent Craig Overby.

It was clear that Larry was genuinely concerned about the missing young girl,

and he tells the FBI agent that his son was actually her neighbor.

Agent Overby glances over at Kevin, who is visibly nervous.

As an FBI agent, you're trained to observe people's body language,

and everything about Kevin's was raising red flags.

Overby had actually been meaning to speak with Kevin.

You see, earlier that day, a neighbor actually told them to look into Kevin

because they thought that he might have been the last person to see Jamie alive.

So Overby turns to Kevin and asks if he could come to the station to answer some questions,

and he agrees.

Kevin's father, Larry, would later say that he was actually proud of his son

as the agents took him away.

In his mind, his son was going to help them find this little girl,

and he was right, in a sense.

Kevin rode over in a patrol car

and was placed in an interrogation room with Agent Overby and Agent Martin Mack,

and they start by asking Kevin when was the last time he saw Jamie.

Kevin claims that he saw her on the afternoon of April 12th,

the day she went missing,

but he said he hadn't seen her since.

He also added that he would have never hurt Jamie because she reminded him of his little sister.

And like we mentioned earlier, Kevin didn't have the best social skills,

and in a room with these FBI agents, he was definitely nervous.

The interview only lasted about an hour,

and by the end of it, the agents were sure that Kevin knew more than he was letting on.

So they tell him, well, why don't you let us search your apartment

and we can cross you off our list and get out of your hair.

And Kevin agrees.

At around 5pm that day, Overby and Mack accompanied Kevin back to his apartment

and began their search.

His place wasn't that big, so there wasn't much to search in the first place.

But as they look around, Kevin stands awkwardly in the corner,

with his anxiety building as they near his closet.

Overby eventually opens it,

and on the ground was a plastic storage bin.

But it wasn't your typical storage bin.

This one had duct tape around the lid, sealing it shut.

And Kevin quickly interjects,

Oh, um, that's where I keep my comic books.

I keep the duct tape on there to keep the moisture out.

Overby doesn't buy that story,

so he says, mind if I take a look inside?

Kevin nervously nods his head,

knowing exactly what they were about to find.

Overby carefully peels back the duct tape,

and once it's off, he slowly removes the lid.

As suspected, there were no comic books inside.

Instead, they find the body of 10-year-old Jamie Rose Bowlin.

As the agents turn towards Kevin,

he defeatedly responds,

Go ahead and arrest me.

She's in there. I chopped her up.

Investigators place Kevin Underwood under arrest

for the murder of 10-year-old Jamie Bowlin,

and as they put the handcuffs around his wrists,

he begins to hyperventilate, saying,

I'm going to burn in hell. I'm going to burn in hell.

I'm going to burn in hell.

Not wanting to make a scene,

the officers try to calm him down

before leading him out to a patrol car,

and Jamie's family watches in horror

as they learn she had been right there the entire time.

Now, Kevin lived across the hall

on the floor beneath them,

and Jamie's aunt would later say,

We were sitting outside his patio door the entire time.

We could have been sitting there

at the very moment he killed her,

and that's an awful thing to think about.

As Kevin was taken away to the police station,

the Purcell Park Apartments became a crime scene.

In the plastic bin that held Jamie's body,

they found her naked and nearly decapitated,

lying next to a blood-soaked towel.

She'd been wrapped in plastic,

and the blue shirt she was wearing that day

was draped over her.

Inside of his apartment,

they also found a meat tenderizer,

barbecue skewers,

a wooden cutting board,

a hacksaw,

duct tape,

a computer,

a video about a serial killer,

a duffel bag,

and a dagger,

all of which would be taken in as evidence.

And as the investigators removed Jamie's little body

from the bin to take her to the medical examiner,

they couldn't help but notice

all of the cuts and bruises around her neck.

She had a 12-centimeter wound

on the front and sides of her neck

that cut all the way through the skin,

tissue,

muscle,

jugular veins,

carotid arteries,

nerves,

trachea,

thyroid gland,

and esophagus.

And because she was nude,

they did test for semen both in and on her body,

but they weren't able to find any.

They did, however,

find two tears inside of her vagina

from blunt force trauma,

so she had been sexually assaulted.

They also found bruising to the back of her head,

and petechia in her eyes consistent with strangulation.

Following this,

Police Chief David Tompkins

released a statement to the public that read,

Regarding a potential motive,

this appears to be part of a plan to kidnap a person,

rape them,

torture them,

kill them,

cut off their head,

drain the body of blood,

rape the corpse,

eat the corpse,

and dispose of the organs and bones.

This truly was one of the most heinous crimes

the city of Purcell, Oklahoma had ever seen.