Mark Bower needed fast money. He was $1,509 in debt to a Sacramento bail bondsman and the 25-year-old ex-con had no desire to return to jail that week. Mark was a thief and he didn’t desire to be anything but. He had four felony convictions dating back to 1976. Once, when asked where he pictured himself in 10 years time, he answered with “San Quentin.”
He was out on bail for a burglary charge. He had convinced his young girlfriend, Tania, to write a check for $600 to the bondsman with an agreement that they would not cash it, so long as the remaining balance was paid in cash, in two installments, beginning on February 1st. It was January 30, 1983.
Sometime after 10 AM, Mark left the Vacaville apartment he was crashing at with Tania and her roommate Jodie. He took Tania’s orange Datsun 240z and told her that he was, “going into town.” He wore blue jeans, a gray jacket, and brown suede shoes. He wouldn’t return for several hours.
At the Supercuts in the Mission Village Shopping Center on the northside of Fairfield, California, hairdresser Cynthia Jackson was just beginning her shift. She was familiar with both Mark and the orange Datsun. She noticed Mark driving by her salon, slowly towards Rico’s Pizza Parlor.
Inside of Rico’s, Patrick Dean Mixell, 22-years-old, was preparing to open for what would likely have been a busy day. It was Super Bowl Sunday. The Washington Redskins were playing the Miami Dolphins and pizza orders by hungry sports fans would soon be rolling in when they opened at noon. Patrick was the interim manager of the Fairfield Rico’s and this was his third day on the job. Two of his first daily duties were to turn off the alarm and to relock the front door. He may have only performed one of those actions by the time Bower arrived. Patrick was 5’ 8” and weighed 135 pounds. Mark was 6’ 3” and over 200 lbs. of prison yard muscle.
Fifteen minutes later, Cynthia, from at her desk inside of Supercuts, would again witness Mark leaving in the opposite direction. Kenneth, a friend of Mark’s, lived a block away from Rico’s. At around 11:45 Mark would pull up to the curb in front of his house and briefly visit with him, never exiting his car. Kenneth found this odd, as Mark hadn’t stopped by in quite some time. Mark left after a few minutes, leaving in the direction opposite of Rico’s Pizza.
At 11:55, cook Michael Lewis arrived for his shift at Rico’s. Coincidentally, he had also been visiting with Kenneth that morning. His normal routine of knocking on the door for entry was not necessary, as the front door was already unlocked. He was at the time clock, near the kitchen, when he heard what he described as a “gurgling sound.” His new boss, Patrick, was lying face down in a pool of blood near the pizza ovens. Michael panicked and left for the clothing store next door to have them call for help.
Fairfield PD responded with the ambulance and Michael directed two officers to the scene in the kitchen. One of Mixell’s arms was tucked under his body, the other clutched the keys to the restaurant and alarm system. The two officers quickly assessed that a robbery had taken place. The drawer to the cash register was left open and empty. The safe below the counter was also opened and was emptied of all monies of any kind. A piece of paper was found near the register with the combination to the safe written on it.
Word spread swiftly throughout the shopping center that there had been a robbery at Rico’s. Cynthia observed medics removing Patrick Mixell’s body from her window at Supercuts. She immediately phoned the police to tell them of Mark’s coming and going that morning.
Mark arrived back at Tania’s apartment sometime around 1 PM. He seemed to be in good spirits. Two days prior, he had told her to call the bondsman and let them know that it was safe for them to cash the check. Tania had been dealing with repeated phone calls from their office demanding to know when sufficient funds would be in her account. Mark had assured her not to worry and that he was working on it. That day she observed him pulling a two-inch-thick roll of cash from his jacket pocket. When she asked him where he had gotten the money, he jokingly replied that he had “robbed a bank.” That night they went on a date together to dinner and a movie.
Responding officers, Timm and Hinman, scoured the crime scene at the pizza parlor. They were looking for some kind of object that might have caused the extensive injuries to Mixell’s face and the back of his head. Officer Timm discovered a commercial can opener lying in a sink behind a counter. The can opener was a heavy tool, resembling a pipe-wrench. It was stained red and a scouring pad was on top of the handle.
Patrick Mixell would die from his injuries two days later, on February 1. His skull had been fractured in two places: The orbital bone surrounding his left eye and in the back of his head, behind his right ear. The coroner would state that these wounds were not possible to have been caused by a fist and that the industrial can opener could be a likely weapon. Patrick’s family—his mother, father, and three sisters—would lay him to rest that Friday at the Sierra Hills Memorial Park in Sacramento. Rico’s Pizza would offer a $5000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible.
On the morning of January 31, Mark asked Tania to accompany him to the bail bondsman’s office instead of going to work. Together, they drove to Sacramento where Mark paid the bondsman $800, peeling the cash from the thick wad of bills in his pocket. Afterwards, they returned to Fairfield and she reported to work.
Tania was informed by co-workers at the auto dealership where she was employed that Fairfield police had stopped by looking for her. They wanted her to come to the station to answer some questions. She lied to officers at the station, telling them that Mark had been with her at her apartment all morning and had not left at all during the day. Knowledge of the robbery and assault, along with Mark’s newfound wealth had most likely put her on edge. Later that evening she asked him to move out of her apartment. Mark agreed, gathering his things and leaving to stay with a friend.
The next day, she received a call from Mark, asking her if she would meet him. She agreed and encouraged him to talk to the police. The couple supposedly drove to the police station together, but never entered. They instead drove to Pietro’s Restaurant to eat pizza together. Fairfield PD, already on Mark’s trail, took him into custody there. The arresting officer noticed that the brown loafers the suspect was wearing appeared to be bloodstained. The shoes were bagged as evidence.
Officers also responded to the friend’s house where Mark had spent the night. After obtaining permission to enter and search, they seized a gray jacket that also appeared to have blood stains on it. Found hidden behind an end table was a locked briefcase. Also found was a .357 Magnum, stolen in a home burglary committed on January 29, the day before the robbery.
After a search warrant was obtained, the briefcase was opened. It contained a personal photo album of Mark’s, $48 in cash, various trinkets including a pin that read “I Spell Relief: C-O-C-A-I-N-E”, and several rolls of coins. The coins were both machine-wrapped and hand-rolled and stamped with bank information and handwritten account numbers.
Bower was charged with possession of stolen property, relating to a burglary committed in Toledo, Ohio in December of 1982. It was enough to hold him in jail while detectives built their case against him. There was the blood evidence on his shoes and jacket. Blood that would eventually come back as Type O. This was a match to the victim, Mixell, and not the defendant. There were also the rolls of coins found in his briefcase. Coins that could be traced to the branch of the bank that Rico’s did business with. On top this were the eyewitness, all placing him at the scene of the robbery and murder.
Further investigation revealed that Bower had spent ample time at Rico’s in the months prior to the robbery. Having both friends and family members who had worked there, he had, on numerous occasions, remained inside after closing time and knew where the safe was located. He was formally charged with first first-degree murder and pleaded innocent at his arraignment in August.
Bower might not have been sweating the trial. He had previously skated on a robbery and an attempted murder committed in Napa County in 1980. After nearly gutting a man, cutting his throat, and leaving him on the side of the road, Mark was able to plea bargain the case down to a misdemeanor and a six month sentence.
The People v. Mark Edwin Bower went to trial in May 1984. The case hinged on the blood evidence and the rolls of coins found in his briefcase. Forensic experts testified that the blood matched the victim, shooting down the defense’s explanation of Bower cutting his hand and bleeding onto his clothes days before the robbery. Testimony from various witnesses linked the coins found in the briefcase to the safe at Rico’s.
Tania had finally come clean and testified for the prosecution about Mark’s need for the money and his absence from her apartment on the morning of the robbery. She also testified to receiving phone calls from jail, with Bower asking her to locate and dispose of his hidden briefcase.
Bower did not take the stand in his own defense. One witness for the defense was Jodie, Tania’s roommate. She confirmed the times that Bower left and returned on the morning of January 30. She testified that nothing in his mood seemed out of the ordinary. I am not sure that this helped him in the eyes of the jury.
After a three week trial, the verdict came back guilty. This was after a bizarre, tearful outburst of a juror that almost resulted in a mistrial. While being polled by the judge, a whimpering woman— juror #10— answered, “no” when asked to affirm her guilty verdict. The jury was sent back to deliberation, and returned shortly with a unanimous decision.
On the day of sentencing, friends and family members of Patrick Mixell filled the courtroom. Also in attendance was Dennis Sample, the man Bower had stabbed nearly to death in Napa four years prior. The death penalty had been taken off of the table by the prosecution and Bower was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Mark was seen in court weeping tears at the permanent loss of his freedom. The Mixell family cried for the loss of their son and brother. A young man who was loved and taken from them while still in the dawn of his life. All over bail money for a habitual criminal.
