Arthur Bomar Murders Aimee Willard In Pennsylvania

Arthur Bomar was sentenced to death by the State of Pennsylvania for the murder of Aimee Willard

According to court documents Arthur Bomar was released from prison after serving time for murder and would violate his parole countless times however he was allowed to remain free

Arthur Bomar would kidnap, sexually assault and then beat Aimee Willard to death with a tire iron. The case would go cold until Bomar was finally arrested

Arthur Bomar would be convicted and sentenced to death

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Arthur Bomar Case

The evidence presented at trial established the following:  At approximately 10:30 p.m. on the evening of June 19, 1996, the victim, 22-year-old Aimee Willard, met several of her high school friends at a bar located on Lancaster Avenue in Wayne, Pennsylvania.   Later that night, at approximately 1:25 a.m., Ms. Willard left the bar alone.   She would not make it home.

At approximately 2:00 a.m., on June 20, 1996, the victim’s car, a blue Honda Civic, was discovered on the southbound off-ramp of the Springfield-Lima Exit of Interstate 476 in Delaware County.   The car’s engine was still running, the driver’s side door was open, the radio was playing and the interior lights and headlights were on.   There was a rough abrasion on the back bumper of the victim’s car.   There was a pool of blood on the ground in front of the vehicle with drops of blood leading away from it.   A tire iron was located near the pool of blood.   Later that morning, police discovered a pair of sneakers and a pair of female underpants with a sanitary pad near the abandoned car.   The sneakers were later identified as belonging to the victim and the underpants were later identified as the size worn by the victim.   Hairs found on the sanitary pad were consistent with the pubic hairs of the victim.   The police also obtained tire impressions from the scene.

At approximately 5:00 p.m., on June 20, 1996, Aimee Willard’s body was found naked, positioned face down, with two plastic bags covering her head, in a vacant lot at 16th Street and Indiana Avenue in Philadelphia.   The victim’s injuries included multiple blunt force injuries to her head, brain and face;  an abraded contusion on her left shoulder and upper chest;  a rectangular shaped contusion beneath her left breast;  a patterned, angular thermal injury resembling a flower petal on her right lower chest and upper abdomen;  numerous fractures in her neck;  bruises on her left and right thighs;  and defensive wounds on her left and right forearms.   There was intact degenerate sperm found in the victim’s vaginal cavity.   In addition, a tree branch had been forced into her vagina.   There was no blood surrounding or beneath the body or leading up to or away from the body, indicating that the victim was not killed at the site but rather had been killed elsewhere and then moved to this location.

Several hours after the discovery of Aimee Willard’s body, at approximately 11:25 p.m., on June 20, 1996, appellant was coincidentally stopped by the police at the intersection of 20th Street and Erie Avenue in Philadelphia, eight blocks from where the victim’s body had been found.   Appellant was driving a green 1993 Ford Escort.   The police did not arrest appellant at that time.

Nearly a year later, on June 5, 1997, Arthur Bomar was arrested in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, on an outstanding warrant for violating his parole from a conviction for second degree murder that occurred in Las Vegas, Nevada, and for an unrelated criminal trespass.   That evening, investigators from the Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division (CID) questioned appellant concerning the Willard murder.   Arthur Bomar told the investigators, among other things, that he drove a 1993 Ford Escort until March of 1997, that he had been to the same bar that the victim had been to on the night of June 19, 1996, previously with a former girlfriend, and that he routinely traveled on Interstate 476.

On July 10, 1997, two Pennsylvania State Police troopers met with appellant’s then-girlfriend, Mary Rumer.   Rumer told the troopers that appellant had confessed to her that he murdered Aimee Willard.   She told police that appellant related the following events to her:  Appellant observed Aimee leave the bar, get into her car, and begin to drive away.   He followed in his own car.   Arthur Bomar stopped Aimee’s car on Interstate 476 and flashed a fake police badge.   When Aimee asked why she was being stopped, appellant told her that she was swerving on the road.   Aimee then became angry, at which point appellant punched her, knocking her unconscious.   After placing the victim in his car, appellant drove to an abandoned building.   Arthur Bomar took the victim’s clothes, placed them in a trash bag and threw them away.   Appellant hit the victim’s head with a hard object and killed her.   He also admitted raping the victim to Rumer.

Rumer also told the troopers that Arthur Bomar had shown her the location on Interstate 476 where Aimee Willard’s car was abandoned as well as the vacant lot where her body was recovered.

On July 11, 1997, the police conducted a search of appellant’s 1993 Ford Escort pursuant to a search warrant.   The police seized and removed the following articles:  the left front tire of the vehicle, a Firestone FR440 P17570R13;  the oil pan from the undercarriage of the vehicle;  and the right front door panel, which contained several brownish spots that later tested positive for blood.   The tire taken from appellant’s car was consistent in tread design, size, and wear pattern with the tire impressions taken from the area where the victim’s car was found abandoned.   The repeating cross-rectangle shape features, the vertical lines, and the machined edge present on the oil pan taken from appellant’s vehicle matched the pattern injury on the right side of the victim’s body.   Most significantly, deoxyribonucleic acid (“DNA”) testing of the bloodstains on the door panel indicated that Aimee Willard was a contributor to the stains.

On July 13, 1997, the police executed a search warrant for samples of appellant’s blood.   DNA testing of the blood samples established that appellant’s DNA profile matched the DNA profile of the male fraction developed from vaginal swabs taken from Aimee Willard.   There was but a one in 500 million chance that someone other than appellant was the source of the genetic material taken from the victim.

Also in July of 1997, David O’Donald, appellant’s ex-brother-in-law, who was incarcerated in a federal prison for unrelated offenses, met with law enforcement officials to offer his assistance in the ongoing investigation of appellant’s involvement in the Willard murder.   Pursuant to those discussions, O’Donald was transferred to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility where appellant was being held.   O’Donald was placed on the same cellblock as appellant for approximately two weeks in July. On July 17, 1997, while appellant was in O’Donald’s cell, appellant told him, “if I had disposed of the body, there would be no problem,” and “no body, no Grand Jury indictment.”   In addition, appellant stated that, “if everyone does what I tell them, I’ll be alright.”   Later that day, while O’Donald was in appellant’s cell, appellant stated, “I grabbed the bitch and she said please don’t do this.”   He told O’Donald that he then said to the victim, “I’ll do whatever the fuck I want, just shut up,” to which she replied, “just don’t kill me, I’ll do anything.”   Appellant told O’Donald that at that point, “we did whatever we wanted with her, she did whatever we told, and when we were done, I almost took her head off, and we crammed a tree branch up her c#nt.”

 The foregoing physical, confessional, scientific and circumstantial evidence overwhelmingly supports the jury’s finding that Aimee Willard was unlawfully killed, that appellant is the person who committed this slaying, that he acted with specific intent to kill, and that the killing was done with premeditation and deliberation.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/pa-supreme-court/1426072.html

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Who Is Arthur Bomar? The Twice-Paroled Killer Behind the Aimee Willard Murder

On June 20, 1996, 22-year-old George Mason University lacrosse star Aimee Ellen Willard left a night out with friends in Philadelphia and drove toward her home in Villanova. She never made it.

Her car was found abandoned on the Exit 5 off-ramp of Interstate 476, engine running, lights on, driver’s side door open. Her body was found the next day in North Philadelphia, 17 miles away. She had been beaten to death with a tire iron. The beating was so savage that her skull had multiple fractures.

Aimee Ellen Willard (June 8, 1974 – June 20, 1996) was an American college lacrosse player who was murdered by Arthur Bomar near Philadelphia on her way home from a night out with friends. Her car was left running, with the lights on and driver’s side door open, on the Exit 5 off-ramp of Interstate 476. Her body was found the next day in North Philadelphia, 17 miles away. She had been beaten to death with a tire iron. The beating was so savage that her skull had multiple fractures.

The killer was Arthur Jerome Bomar Jr., a 38-year-old ex-convict who should have still been in a Nevada prison for murder.

With DNA evidence, Arthur Bomar was identified as Willard’s killer. He was an ex-convict from Nevada where in 1978, he shot and killed Larry Carrier following an argument over a parking space. He was convicted of second degree murder the following year and was paroled in 1990. Bomar had repeatedly violated his parole but was never returned to Nevada to finish his sentence, due to that state’s failure to arrange and finance extradition.

Bomar was convicted of first-degree murder, rape, assault, kidnapping, and abuse of a corpse and was sentenced to death.

Arthur Bomar’s case became the catalyst for federal legislation known as “Aimee’s Law,” and remains one of Pennsylvania’s most notorious death row cases nearly 30 years later.

If you’re searching “Arthur Bomar now,” “Aimee Willard murder details,” or “why is Arthur Bomar still on death row,” this 2000+ word guide has every verified fact.

Quick Facts: Arthur Bomar Case

Detail	Information
Full Name	Arthur Jerome Bomar Jr.
DOB	1958 (age 67 in 2025)
Prior conviction	1979 Nevada second-degree murder (Larry Carrier)
Paroled	1990 (after 11 years)
Victim	Aimee Ellen Willard, 22, George Mason lacrosse All-American
Date of murder	June 20, 1996
Location	I-476 Exit 5, Delaware County, PA to North Philadelphia
Weapon	Tire iron, blunt force trauma
Arrest	November 1997 (after DNA hit)
Conviction	October 1, 1998 – first-degree murder, rape, kidnapping
Sentence	Death penalty
Current status	Pennsylvania death row, SCI Phoenix
Law created	Aimee’s Law (2000)

Aimee Willard: The Star Athlete Whose Murder Changed Federal Law

Aimee Willard was not just a victim. She was a standout.

Willard was a star lacrosse player at the Academy of Notre Dame de Namur in Villanova, Pennsylvania, and later at George Mason University from 1994 to 1996 (the first three seasons in program history). In 1996, Willard led the Colonial Athletic Association in scoring fifty goals and twenty-nine assists in lacrosse. She was named to the All-Conference Team in both soccer and lacrosse, and to the All-American team for the Southeast region in lacrosse that year. US Lacrosse has created a national award in her honor.

On the night of June 19, 1996, Aimee had been out with friends in Philadelphia’s Manayunk neighborhood. She left around 1 AM to drive the 20 minutes home. She was never seen alive again.

The Crime Scene: What Happened on I-476

Police theorize that on the night of her murder, Bomar hit Willard’s car in order to force her to pull over.

Bomar, driving a car with a fake police light, likely rear-ended Aimee’s 1996 Honda Accord on the dark interstate off-ramp, a classic predator tactic. When she stopped to exchange information, he abducted her at gunpoint.

Her car was found idling with the door open, purse inside, a scene suggesting a sudden, violent abduction. Her naked body was found 17 miles away in a vacant lot on West Annsbury Street in North Philadelphia, dumped like trash.

The autopsy revealed she had been raped, beaten at least 15 times in the head with a tire iron, and suffered defensive wounds on her hands. The skull fractures were so severe the medical examiner testified it took “tremendous force.”

The Cold Case Break: How Arthur Bomar Got Caught

The case went cold for nearly two years when many theories and suspects were investigated. The case was re-opened when another woman in Pennsylvania was hit from behind while driving alone at night. The other vehicle’s driver tried to get her to stop, but the woman refused and instead memorized his license plate number.

That plate was registered to Arthur Bomar, but the car belonged to Maria Cabuenos, another Pennsylvania woman who had been reported missing in March 1998. Bomar’s actual car was later found at a junkyard.

The burn pattern found on Willard’s back was consistent with the oil pan on the bottom of Bomar’s car. Moreover, Willard’s blood and hair were found in Bomar’s car.

This was 1997, the dawn of CODIS DNA database. Pennsylvania State Police pulled Bomar’s DNA from his prior Nevada conviction and matched it to semen found on Aimee’s body. It was a 1-in-3-billion match.

Bomar was arrested in November 1997 in Las Vegas on a parole violation, then extradited to Pennsylvania.

Arthur Bomar’s Criminal History: A System Failure

Arthur Bomar’s story is a textbook case of parole failure.

In 1978, at age 20, Bomar shot and killed 22-year-old Larry Carrier in Las Vegas over a parking space argument. He was convicted of second-degree murder in 1979 and sentenced to life with possibility of parole.

He was paroled in 1990 after serving just 11 years. Nevada paroled him to Pennsylvania, where he had family. Over the next six years, Bomar violated parole at least 12 times: failed drug tests, assaults, DUI, and possession of a firearm.

Bomar had repeatedly violated his parole but was never returned to Nevada to finish his sentence, due to that state’s failure to arrange and finance extradition.

Nevada refused to pay the $2,000 extradition cost. Pennsylvania couldn’t hold him without Nevada’s warrant. So Bomar remained free, working as a mechanic, collecting girlfriends, and hunting women on highways.

He is also the prime suspect in the murder of Maria Cabuenos, whose car he was driving when he tried to stop the second woman. He was never charged with the murder of Maria Cabuenos, whose skeletal remains were found after his conviction.

The Trial: Commonwealth v. Arthur Bomar

Bomar was tried in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in September 1998. The prosecution, led by then-DA Pat Meehan, presented 75 witnesses over three weeks.

Key evidence:

1. DNA match to semen
2. Aimee’s blood in Bomar’s car trunk
3. Burn mark on her back matching his car’s oil pan
4. Tire iron found near dump site with his fingerprints
5. Testimony from his girlfriend that he confessed

Bomar was convicted of first-degree murder, rape, assault, kidnapping, and abuse of a corpse and was sentenced to death.

On October 1, 1998, the jury deliberated 90 minutes before sentencing him to death. Aimee’s mother Gail Willard wept as the verdict was read.

Aimee’s Law: The Federal Legacy

Because of the bureaucratic issues which allowed Bomar to remain free to commit these crimes, The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (H.R. 3244), better known as “Aimee’s Law,” was passed by the US Congress by a vote of 90–5 in 2000 and signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 28, 2000.

It encourages states to keep murderers, rapists, and child molesters behind bars and holds the state financially accountable if it fails. It allows interstate parole violators to be jailed in their state of residence at the expense of the state where the original offense was committed.

Aimee’s Law has since been used to incarcerate over 2,000 violent parole violators who would have otherwise slipped through cracks. Gail Willard testified before Congress, holding a photo of Aimee in her lacrosse uniform.

Where Is Arthur Bomar Now in 2026?

Arthur Bomar, now 67, remains on Pennsylvania’s death row at SCI Phoenix in Montgomery County. Pennsylvania has a moratorium on executions since 2015, so despite being sentenced to death in 1998, he is unlikely to be executed.

Bomar has filed over a dozen appeals, all denied. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania upheld the denial of post-conviction relief in Commonwealth v. Bomar, affirming the strict criteria for ineffective assistance of counsel and Brady violations.

His most recent appeal was denied in November 2024. He spends 23 hours a day in solitary confinement, allowed one hour of recreation in a cage.

According to Pennsylvania DOC records, Bomar has had multiple disciplinary infractions for possessing contraband and threatening staff. He has never expressed remorse.

The Forensic Breakthrough: Tire Iron and Oil Pan

Two pieces of evidence made this case famous in forensic circles.

First, the tire iron. Police found a bent, bloody tire iron 100 feet from where Aimee’s body was dumped. Toolmark analysis matched dents in her skull to the iron’s unique pitting.

Second, the burn. The burn pattern found on Willard’s back was consistent with the oil pan on the bottom of Bomar’s car. Investigators theorized Bomar transported her body in his trunk, and the hot oil pan seared her skin through the trunk lining during the 17-mile drive. This placed her definitively in his vehicle.

Combined with DNA, it was an irrefutable forensic triangle.