Friends and neighbors of Zackery Bowen said they are mystified as to what could have led him to kill a woman, carve up her body and then commit suicide himself. They said the act is contrary to everything they saw and observed about Bowen and his interactions with his girlfriend.

Police said a note left by Bowen led police to an apartment that he shared with girlfriend Adriane Hall on Rampart Street. There a woman's body was found in several different areas of the room.

The gruesome discovery sickened some of the officers who responded and left neighbors puzzled.

"He was a nice guy," said Eura Jones, the manager of the Spotted Cat bar. "They seemed like a perfect couple."

The victim in the killing had not been positively identified as of 6 p.m. Wednesday, but police said Hall had not reported to work since October 5 and the landlord at her apartment said that is the last time he saw her as well.

Bowen previously worked as a bartender at Buffa's Bar on Esplanade and had worked as a delivery man for a French Quarter grocery.

"He was funny, bright and smart," said Caryn Lot of Buffa's, where Bowen worked on ladies' nights. "He made everybody laugh. He put on quite a show behind the bar, flipped glasses, kind of a 'Cocktail' kind of thing."

But Lot said that before Bowen quit, she had heard that he and his girlfriend were having problems.

"There were rumors about whether they were going to get together or not," she remembered.

Hall worked as a bartender at the Spotted Cat on Frenchmen where Euro Jones say the young woman talked about a break up a month ago or so.

A breakup that was short lived.

"She said, 'I got my man back,' and she was happy," recalled Jones.

Jones said that Bowen brought flowers to Hall at the Spotted Cat and that he kissed her and said he loved her.

The owner of Hall's apartment is former state representative Leo Watermeier. He said she had just signed a six-month lease on October 5 and that Bowen became upset when he found out.

"He flew off the handle," said Watermeier. "He said that he was going to be homeless because they had a dispute and now she had a lease and was kicking him out."

Watermeier said the couple both answered the door when he went to the apartment to find out what the situation was, and Hall was upset as well.

"She was angry," he recalled. "She claimed she caught him being unfaithful to her."

Anthony Canatella, the NOPD's chief of detectives, said Bowen's note indicated that he had killed his girlfriend on October 5th and that he had taken his own life to make up for the one he took.

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