Thursday, Oct. 1, 1998 | 10:44 a.m.
Bomar, who had no reaction to the verdict, now faces the death penalty. Jurors deliberated two hours Wednesday night and nearly three hours this morning before reaching a verdict.
A group of Ms. Willard's family and friends cried as the verdict was read.
Medical experts had testified this week that Bomar's DNA matched sperm found in Ms. Willard's body. Also, two fellow prison inmates and Bomar's former fiancee testified that Bomar told them he killed Ms. Willard. He also had no alibi.
Mark Much, Bomar's attorney, did not present any witnesses in Bomar's defense. In his closing argument, Much said all the evidence presented by the defense was circumstantial, not credible, and did not prove that Bomar was ever with Ms. Willard.
Prosecutors had said Bomar bumped Ms. Willard's car to pull her over along an off-ramp while on her way home from a gathering of friends at a Delaware County bar. He then used a tire iron to bludgeon her.
During the eight-day trial, Assistant Medical Examiner Edwin Lieberman said he performed an autopsy on the George Mason student and found severe injuries to her head that were consistent with being beaten with a tire iron.
Ms. Willard's car was found on the off-ramp early on the morning of June 20, 1996. The engine was still running, the door was ajar and the radio and lights were still on.
Later that afternoon, Ms. Willard's naked body, covered with leaves, was found by teen-agers in a vacant, trash-strewn lot in North Philadelphia.
The sequestered jury was chosen in Westmoreland County near Pittsburgh because of pretrial publicity in Eastern Pennsylvania. It consisted of six men and six women, all of whom were white except for one black woman.
The jury deliberated without the knowledge that Bomar, a 39-year-old black man, is also a paroled murderer. He was convicted several years ago of shooting a man in Nevada over a parking space. Police have also said he has preyed on other women by bumping their cars along the highways.
Jurors also did not know Bomar is a suspect in the murder of a Philadelphia woman. Bomar had been driving Maria Cabuenos' car when he was arrested for burglary in July 1997 and questioned in the Willard case. Cabuenos had been missing for months and her body was found in a wooded area of Bucks County this year.
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