Tuscaloosa Cold Case Remains Unsolved 25 Years After Man Shot Dead In Bar Parking Lot

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The highly-publicized trial of football star and accused murderer O.J. Simpson had just ended in early October 1996, but remained fresh in the public psyche and dominated headlines.

"Macarena" by Los Del Río was also the No. 1 song on U.S. charts the night of Saturday, Oct. 12, 1996, when a Gene Stallings-led Crimson Tide football team won a road game 24-19 over North Carolina State in Raleigh to move to 6-0.

With no football fans or tourists in town, the cool but clear fall weekend had been a relatively uneventful one for Tuscaloosa. But in the early morning hours of Oct. 13, a gunshot split the quiet night outside of a now-closed Tuscaloosa bar and left a young man bleeding on the pavement with a bullet in his head.

The victim, 32-year-old Joseph Todd Jowers of 103 Hargrove Rd. E, was pronounced dead at the scene by Tuscaloosa Police. This would prompt an investigation that has yet to see a single suspect charged with the murder. With that in mind, Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit (VCU) is once again reminding the public that Wednesday marks the 25th anniversary of the seemingly unprovoked killing.

According to a story written by reporter Wendy Reeves and published in the Tuscaloosa News the day after the shooting, Jowers was shot in the head while walking a girlfriend to her car in the parking lot of Classics Lounge at 613 37th Street between 2:10-2:15 a.m.

The former location of Classics Lounge is currently occupied by Crimson Bar.

Captain Jack Kennedy, the current commander of the Violent Crimes Unit, said Jowers was a popular fixture at the bar, teaching line dancing and a regularly singing karaoke.

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According to the newspaper's account, the girlfriend "heard a pop" and turned to see Jowers on the ground near his car, roughly 40-50 feet away. What's more, another witness in the parking lot informed police at the time of the shooting that they saw a white man wearing black clothing run behind the lounge immediately after the shot rang out.

The potential suspect was described to then-Homicide Unit Commander Capt. Mike Everett as wearing some type of covering on their head — "like a cap" — and was of average height and build. The murder was the latest in a violent year for Tuscaloosa, marking the ninth homicide investigated by the multi-agency unit in 1996.

Kennedy then said investigators believe the shooter may have hidden in nearby bushes and later escaped through a wooded area behind the south part of the bar's parking lot. Robbery is one potential motive floated to the public by investigators, as police speculate Jowers may have been robbed of cash earned at his other jobs as a carpenter and handyman after he had been shot.

To complicate matters, the woman with Jowers was unable to provide a description of the suspect.

Jowers was buried the following Wednesday at Demopolis Memorial Gardens in Marengo County, according to a brief newspaper obituary.

Two days after the murder, the Tuscaloosa News confirmed that several people had been interviewed by investigators, which ultimately proved fruitless. In the week that followed, local media also reported that a handgun was recovered in the parking lot of the bar.

Additionally, the homicide unit commander at the time of the murder said investigators believed that several other people were in the parking lot at the time of the shooting and were reluctant to come forward.

Kennedy said the unit intends to release information concerning Jowers' death ahead of the anniversary each year until the case is solved, in the hopes that someone will come forward with new information as to the person or people responsible.

After more than two decades, different potential leads in the case have grabbed headlines, but formal charges have never been brought against a single suspect.

Those with information into this or any other cases are asked to call VCU at (205) 464-8690, the Tuscaloosa Police Department at (205) 349-2121, or CrimeStoppers at (205) 752-STOP (7867).

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