Convicted killer Marion Bowman is executed after spending over 20 years on death row

A killer who has spent over 20 years sitting on death row has uttered just five eerie words before his execution. Warning: Graphic

Warning: Graphic

A convicted killer has been executed after spending over two decades sitting on death row.

Back in February 2001, the charred and bullet-ridden body of Kandee Martin was discovered stuffed into the boot of her own car, which has been set alight and burnt to the ground.

The 21-year-old had been brutally shot to death by her longtime friend, Marion Bowman, after the pair fought over monetary issues.

The 20-year-old was chillingly heard to say “that b**ch be dead by dark” after she ignored his requests to pay him back for a loan.

Eerily, he kept to his word. By that evening, she was dead.

Bowman was arrested and sentenced to death in May 2002.

Over 20 years later, his day of reckoning finally arrived.

Marion Bowman has always maintained his innocence. Picture: South Carolina Dept of Corrections

Earlier this month, Bowman was led into the execution chamber of the Broad River Correctional Institute, donning a green jumpsuit and strapped to a gurney.

It was then he gave his final words before being put to death.

“I did not kill Kandee Martin,” he began.

“I’m innocent of the crimes I’m here to die for.”

Marion went into a lengthy statement, adding that he “knows Kandee’s family is in pain” and “if my death brings them some relief... I guess it will have served a purpose.”

He ended his last words by taking aim at the criminal justice system.

“If the world could see us in our day to day, they would have a different view of the death penalty,” he said.

“We all pray for grace and forgiveness, but the outside world is stuck with images of monsters perpetrated by the state, while our real voices are silenced.

“We are not what the state labels us to be. We are kind, caring, loving people, and it’s a shame the world can’t see that.”

Kandee Martin was just 21 when she was murdered. Picture: Supplied

The execution via lethal injection began at 6.04pm and his chest stopped moving at 606pm.

“Bowman, still staring at the ceiling, took several deep, loud breaths, puffing out his lips and cheeks with each one. Those subsided into shallower, quieter breaths,” the South Carolina Daily Gazette reported.

Bowman showed no outward signs of pain.

Members of Kandee Martin’s family, who are legally allowed to attend the execution, were absent from the witness room.

At 6.26pm, a doctor placed a stethoscope on his chest and a hand on his neck. A voice on the intercom then announced that the execution had been carried out just one minute later.

Bowman went all out for his final meal, enjoying a feast of fried seafood, including shrimp, fish and oysters; chicken wings and tenders; onion rings; banana pudding; German chocolate cake; cranberry juice; and pineapple juice.

He was executed inside the prison. Picture: Supplied

Unthinkable crime

On the evening of 16th February, 2001, Marion Bowman noticed his friend Kandee Martin standing outside a house with a group of people.

Pulling up to the group, he told Martin that he wanted his money that he had previously loaned her today and if he did not get it, she would be “dead by dark”.

Later that day, Bowman shot Martin three times, to which she cried: “Don’t shoot me no more, I have a child to take care of.”

Bowman continued to pull the trigger twice more, killing her.

He coldly dragged her lifeless body into the woods and later returned to the scene to put it in the boot of his car and lit it on fire.

He bragged about his crime to a friend, who later testified about the incident in court.

“You didn’t think I’d do it,” Bowman revealed.

“Did what?” his friend Travis responded.

“I killed Kandee Martin,” he admitted.

The crime rocked the town at the time. Picture: Supplied

After firefighters arrived that morning to extinguish the blaze, they discovered the charred and bullet-ridden body of Martin in the boot.

Bowman was convicted in 2002 and given the death penalty. He denies any wrongdoing.

He claimed another mutual friend killed Martin and he only learnt about the crime later.

Bowman denied all plea deals that would have allowed him to spend the rest of his life in prison instead of the death penalty, as he said this would require him to admit guilt.

“I am so sorry for Kandee and her family, but I did not do it,” Bowman wrote in December. “Her family has suffered a loss that cannot be undone.

“They have been through trials, and appeals, but they have never heard the truth from me.

“I know this won’t bring them satisfaction, but this is my truth.”

A vaginal swab from Martin’s body during the autopsy was shown to contain Bowman’s DNA, according to court documents.

Martin reportedly owed Bowman money. Picture: Supplied

In the months leading up to his execution, Bowman’s lawyers asked the state Supreme Court to overturn his sentence, claiming that prosecutors “withheld evidence”.

Witnesses to the crime testified in court after receiving plea deals, which his lawyers argued could have cast doubt on their stories if jurors knew they had something to gain.

Bowman was the first prisoner to be executed in the US 2025. Last year, 25 executions were carried out in the United States.

‘Inhumane’ treatment

Many protested Bowman’s punishment in the lead up to his execution and he claimed he was treated ‘inhumanely’ before his death.

The Guardian reported that he was “locked in a solitary cell narrower than his arm span and cut off from nearly all human interaction” before he died.

“Inhumane is an understatement,” Bowman remarked in a recent conversation with his lawyer, the outlet claimed.

Many protested his execution. Picture: SC Gazette

In September, Bowman was transferred to “execution watch” into an isolated cell, with a policy dictating that he would “not be allowed to associate with other inmates at anytime”

Although he was meant to be allowed out for an hour each day, his lawyer claimed to the outlet that this did not always happen and when it did, he was put into a “small cage” for exercising.

During this time, Bowman had to choose his method of death. He could pick between the lethal injection, firing squad or electrocution.

His lawyer said he did not want to subject prison staff to the “trauma” of shooting him, so he chose the lethal injection, which seemed like the “least painful option”.

Originally published as Convicted killer Marion Bowman is executed after spending over 20 years on death row