A Pitcairn man already facing sentencing in two drunken-driving cases was arrested Monday in connection with what police say was a third DUI incident, this one fatal.
Jordan Bowyer was driving an Infiniti sedan up to 87 miles per hour on the Parkway East in 2024 when he crashed the car, killing his front-seat passenger, authorities said.
Pennsylvania State Police charged Bowyer, 24, on Saturday with felony homicide by vehicle while DUI, homicide by vehicle, two DUI counts and five summonses.
Allegheny County sheriff’s deputies took Bowyer into custody Monday, a spokesman for the office said.
Bowyer previously pleaded guilty and is awaiting sentencing in two separate DUI cases in Monroeville — one that took place a month before the Sept. 21, 2024 crash on Interstate 376, and a second one two months after it, court records show.
In the case that led to the latest charges, troopers said Bowyer was speeding westbound on the highway — between 80 and 87 miles per hour — around 12:30 a.m.
He lost control of the vehicle around Exit 72B in Oakland, which connects the Parkway East with Interstate 579 and Boulevard of the Allies, a criminal complaint said. The car “began to suddenly whip around and spin,” a passenger told police, before striking a metal divider.
The 2011 Infiniti’s passenger side sustained “major disabling damage,” the complaint said. Multiple airbags deployed in the crash.
Passenger Brooks Rose Howard, 20, of Pitcairn, was pronounced dead at the scene, the complaint said.
A second passenger who was sitting in the back seat — Nora Catherine Murnane, then 26, of Monroeville — was seriously injured and taken to UPMC Mercy hospital, the complaint said. Doctors had to amputate one of her toes.
Troopers who responded to the scene found “multple alcoholic beverage containers” in the car’s cabin and on the floor in front of the driver’s seat, the complaint said.
Murnane told police that on the night of the crash Bowyer “was acting different than he usually did when he has been drinking,” the complaint said. She said the three people were headed that night to Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood “to hang out.”
Police said a blood draw later showed Bowyer’s blood-alcohol level that night was .197% — more than twice the legal limit for driving of 0.08%. His blood also tested positive for two cannabinoids, the psychoactive chemical in marijuana, the complaint said.
Sheriff’s office detectives said they arrested Bowyer without incident Monday at his home, where he was being held on house arrest in the other cases.
Authorities took him to the Allegheny County Jail, where he was awaiting arraignment Monday afternoon, court records show.
Bowyer is set to be sentenced April 21 after he pleaded guilty to two DUI incidents in 2024 — in August and November, court records show.
Bowyer also pleaded guilty and no contest in 2023 to marijuana possession and drug paraphernalia charges in Westmoreland County, court records show. Judges sentenced him to probation in both cases.
Bowyer’s attorney for the Parkway East case was not listed in online court records.
The Allegheny County Public Defenders’ Office, which represents Bowyer on the two pending cases declined comment Monday.