Boyd Fowler

Boyd Fowler is a character in Season Five of the Showtime series DEXTER.

He works for the Miami-Dade Dead Animal Pickup. He is also a member of the Barrel Girl Gang. It is Boyd's responsibility within the group to kill and dispose of women after they are raped and abused.

Description
Boyd is a man in his mid-30s, with short, unkempt brown hair and a mustache. He typically wears glasses, but can see fairly well without them. He is shown exclusively dressed in his uniform for the Department of Sanitation: brown khaki shorts, button-up tan shirt, black cap, and brown work boots.

Personality
Dexter first meets Boyd when he is called in to clean up roadkill, at which time Dexter notes how unusually observant Fowler is regarding dead bodies. Boyd makes the observation to Dexter that typically, when an animal is killed, especially when it is found laying in the middle of the highway like the raccoon was, there are tire-marks as well as a blood spray on the cement. Fowler states that the animal must have been killed elsewhere and then left on the road, which prompts Dexter to think that he's "CSI'ing" the scene. Boyd also notes the raccoon has defensive marks on his paws, indicating he was killed in a struggle rather than by the sudden impact of a vehicle. Later, while riding in his truck with Dexter, Boyd notices the ring band mark on Dexter's ring finger, and makes the assumption that Dexter is divorced. His observation skills are slightly off-putting to Dexter, who doesn't want Boyd to learn too much about himself.

He appears to derive morbid pleasure from his work with dead animals, and evinces pride in his job, as it lets him do as he pleases and get out in the world. When Dexter observes Boyd at home, he sees him as a temperamental man of simple tastes, having little variety in the foods he eats. While Boyd listens to one of his motivational CDs by Jordan Chase, Dexter listens to him yelling along with Chase.

He has a fairly strong survival instinct, so he doesn't succumb as fast as most of Dexter's targets, and even resists the M99 that Dexter injects into each of his victims before bringing them to the Kill Room. Boyd's reflexes and quick thinking result in him being able to turn around and shoot Dexter with a tranquilizer dart. Unlike many of Dexter's victims who panic, Boyd is aggressive.

After being subdued by Dexter, Boyd claims that he was being merciful to the women he killed, by ending their suffering. His claim of a sympathetic attachment to the girls is, however, contradicted by his actions, as he is shown coldly dropping a girl into a barrel and electrocuting her.

Background
Boyd grew up in an Opa-Locka, Florida, with his parents, Richard and Elsie Fowler. They passed away and left the house to Boyd, which he uses as his base of operations for killing young women.

He spent eight months in prison for assault with a deadly weapon and, during this time, he met Robert Brunner. The two formed a friendship over their sick fascination with torturing and raping women. Brunner was hoping to stay with Boyd when he was released on parolee, but ended up homeless, living under the Julia Tuttle Causeway.

Boyd has an unsavory job. He works the 7 a.m.- 4 p.m. shift at the Miami-Dade Department of Sanitation as a Dead Animal Pickup officer. He typically returns home for lunch, which usually includes tomato or chicken noodle soup.

Every chance he gets, he listens to his Take It Now! CDs by Jordan Chase. He even promotes them to Dexter, saying that they changed his outlook on life.

Boyd is an essential member of the Barrel Girl Gang. After the girls are raped at River Jordan Camp, his attic acts as a holding cell before Boyd kills and disposes of them. Dexter personally refers to Boyd as "The Finisher."

Summary

 * "Hello, Bandit"

During Dexter's grieving process for the loss of his wife, Rita Morgan, he decides to move some furniture and clothes from his house to his old apartment. (that is now inhabited by Debra Morgan). In order to move, he rents a moving van. He picks the 14-footer after he spots blood in its interior. During the night, while Debra, Cody, and Astor are asleep, Dexter makes his way with his son, Harrison, to the truck. Inside the back, he sprays Luminol and finds small bloody hand prints, and a pattern of blood indicating blunt force trauma,

Dexter runs the history on who most recently rented the truck and finds the name, Boyd Fowler, a dead animal pickup officer. Boyd's address was entered as The Department of Sanitation. Wondering if the blood in the truck is animal or human, her tests it and determines that it's human blood.

Dexter then kills and sets up a dead raccoon on the road in order to lure Boyd to him. When Boyd exits his pickup truck, the two chat for a bit. Boyd scrutinizes the raccoon, calling it Bandit, and states that the scenario does not look right to him (which is accurate). He explains that are no tire marks or blood on the asphalt, so the raccoon was killed elsewhere and dropped on the road. Dexter feels that Boyd is CSI-ing him. Boyd adds that the raccoon has defensive wounds on his paws, showing that he put up a struggle. Dexter smiles at this remark. Boyd lifts up the dead animal and tosses it into the back of his truck, taking his leave. Dexter thinks that Boyd is peculiar, and decides to further investigate him.

During their previous conversation, Boyd told Dexter that he has been living in the same house for twenty years (Dexter learns he inherited it). During the middle of the day, Dexter breaks into Boyd's house to find evidence of murder. He notes that it looks like his grandmother's house, although Boyd keeps a loaded handgun in a drawer (something prohibited for a convicted felon).

Suddenly Boyd pulls up outside, letting Dexter know that he returns home for lunch. As soon as Boyd enters the house, he turns on his Take It Now! CD and looks for a can of tomato soup. While he's hiding, Dexter finds it odd that the attic door is locked. Dexter hears Boyd repeat the phrase, "Take It!" over and over while listening to it on the disc. Dexter veers to different hiding spots to avoid being seen by an ever moving Boyd. In one area, Dexter spots a lock of hair on the floor with a tag numbered as "8" attached to it. Dexter successfully makes his way outside without being noticed by Boyd.

Later, Dexter tails Boyd to the "middle of nowhere," where Boyd backs his truck up next to a swamp. He watches as Boyd kicks a steel drum off the back of his truck. After it rolls into the water, Boyd drives away. Dexter assumes that the barrel most likely holds dead animals, since he saw one outside of Boyd's house.

Due to a phone call from Debra, Dexter isn't able to open the barrel at the time. However, when he returns that night, he discovers that it contains a young dead woman. He shines his flashlight around the water and sees three more barrels.

While Dexter is at the swamp, a scene is shown of Boyd cutting off a lock of hair from an unconscious girl. He adds the hair to his personal collection (kept within a scrap book). Boyd then lifts the girl into a liquid-filled drum, attaches electric cables to its rim, and pulls a switch. Instantly, the woman dies from electrocution.


 * "Practically Perfect"

Dexter feigns an accidental meeting with Boyd at an outdoor cafe called the Hungry Dog Diner. While Boyd is eating his lunch, he finally notices Dexter sitting nearby. Dexter invites Boyd to sit with him, and Boyd appears pleased to do so. Dexter introduces himself as Daryl Tucker, an unemployed man ready for any odd job. Boyd suggests working in Dead Animal Pickup and he offers to take Dexter along on a ride to see if he is interested. Dexter accepts, hoping to use it as an opportunity to kill Boyd.

The next morning, Dexter calls in a dead gator at County Road 5, Mile Marker 31 as bait to lure Boyd to an isolated area, near a vacant tourist center. When Boyd pulls up, Dexter enters the truck and rides along with him to pick up a dead cat. During the trip, Boyd listens to the Take It Now! CD by Jordan Chase, and talks glowingly of how it changed his life. When Boyd says it could help Dexter through his divorce, and mentions the wedding band dent on his ring finger. Dexter realizes that Boyd doesn't miss much. At one point, as Dexter watches Boyd scrape a dead animal off the road, Boyd comments that Dexter is made for the job. Finally, the call for the gator comes through and Boyd drives to the location, advising Dexter to be cautious as the gator may not really be dead. He tells Dexter not to worry because he is a "safety guy."

When the two arrive at the location, Boyd begins to search for the alligator, with Dexter close behind him. Unfortunately, as soon as Dexter injects Boyd in the neck with M99, he turns around in surprise and shoots Dexter with a tranquilizer dart. They both fall to the ground and pass out.

A motorist spots them and calls 9-1-1. Both are rushed to the County Medical hospital in the same ambulance. When questioned by the paramedic, Boyd lies. He claims that he shot Dexter with a dart accidentally, and that he was so upset, he passed out.

As the two are being wheeled through the hospital, they keep an eye on each other, looking past the medical staff. After the doctors clear out, Boyd quickly rises from his bed, rips off his tubing, and searches for something sharp. After finding a large pair of scissors, he carefully makes his way to Dexter's bed. However, Dexter has already left the facility, and so Boyd sneaks out and returns home.

When Boyd enters his house, he hears a loud noise, and retrieves a handgun from his kitchen drawer. As Boyd searches for an intruder, his Take It Now! CD starts to play. Visibly nervous, Boyd approaches the CD player. Suddenly Dexter injects him from behind with M99, rendering him unconscious.

Boyd wakes up on his own dining room table, held down by duct tape. Dexter is standing nearby wearing a yellow kitchen apron and sharpening a knife. Newspapers cover the wall. Realizing that he is completely helpless, Boyd says, "Let me the fuck out of here." Dexter replies with, "I bet you've heard that before...," referring to the women Boyd held captive.

By having to improvise in Boyd's house, Dexter is disappointed that Boyd won't see the Kill Room he had set up at the vacant tourist center. Not having blood slides with him, Dexter collects Boyd's blood in a small container to make one later. He then paints a picture with words of Boyd's misdeeds (since the victims' photos were left at the tourist center). Boyd proclaims that he was doing them a favor because they were suffering. Dexter goes on to tell Boyd about Rita's murder and how killing him is the start of his healing process. Boyd warns Dexter that he has no idea what he's getting into, but Dexter shrugs it off. He then stabs Boyd directly into his heart.

A moment later, Dexter notices someone peering through a window in the attic door. When Dexter opens the door, he finds a battered woman. She tries to escape, but collapses from exhaustion.


 * "Beauty and the Beast"

Not knowing what to do with the girl, he keeps her locked in the vacant tourist center where he had intended to kill Boyd. Dexter takes her fingerprints and learns that her name is Lumen Pierce, from Minneapolis, MN. He is torn between killing her or letting her live, He soon decides on the latter, even though she is terrified of him and tries to escape. After Dexter shows Lumen the barrels in the swamp, and convinces her that he saved her from the same fate, Lumen begins to trust him. She reveals to him that Boyd was involved with four other men in her rape and torture.


 * "First Blood"

Lumen has been set free, lives in a motel, and meets regularly with Dexter at a diner. He keeps trying to convince her to move back to Minneapolis with her family. On the other hand, knowing that he killed Boyd, she tries to persuade Dexter to help find her rapists.

When Dexter returns to Boyd's house to learn more, he discovers that the place has been trashed. He notices a bloody print and tests it, finding that it belongs to Lumen who was in search of her attackers' identities.

After learning of a parolee named Robert Brunner, who was convicted of rape and has a connection to Boyd, Lumen suspects that he is one of her assailants. Dexter discovers the same information and is about to take Brunner's life when he realizes that he couldn't have raped Lumen (due to an ankle monitor which insures that criminals stay within a given area). The next day, Dexter stops Lumen from shooting Brunner, explaining why he was not involved.


 * "Everything Is Illumenated"

Lumen forces another man to a warehouse where she shoots him in the side. She calls Dexter to the scene, but they find him him missing, obviously still alive. As they search for him, they argue about the situation. After they locate him, they learn that his name is Dan Mendell. Dexter is skeptical that he is actually one of her rapists until they hear Dan talking about Lumen on a cell phone. Now confirmed to be a member of the gang, Dexter ends his life by snapping his neck. He places the body of Lance Robinson next to Dan to appear as a murder-suicide.


 * "Circle Us"

After the murder of Alex, Cole Harmon arrives at the swamp with a few Mexican workers in a truck. He orders them to grab the nearby barrels and load them into the truck. He pays off the men and drives back into Miami, only to be broadsided by a drunk driver (thus forcing Cole to make a quick escape). Dexter is called to the scene, and is shocked to find Boyd's victims scattered on the street in the public eye. The truck is discovered to be registered to a man known as Jordan Chase, the same speaker on Boyd's Take It Now! CDs.

Shortly after, Jordan and his head of security, Cole Harmon, show up at the homicide department. Cole admits that he uses the truck as his personal vehicle. Dexter meets both men and snaps a picture of them. He shows it to Lumen and she recognizes Cole since he never blindfolded her. Dexter realizes that it's only a matter of time before Cole is arrested, likely turning on the other members of the group.

Dexter devises a plan to prove that Boyd is the murderer of the women in order to throw the police off Cole. He and Lumen return to Boyd's house and they remove all evidence of her having been there. Dexter grabs Boyd's wallet and plants it in the truck. Later, Vince Masuka does a second sweep, and finds the wallet. Boyd becomes the new prime suspect in what is referred to as the "Barrel Girls Case."

When Cole and Jordan are brought in for more questioning, Cole writes off Boyd as an insane stalker of Jordan. Also, Jordan denies having any knowledge of Boyd. Both are cleared to leave and, after they enter Jordan's vehicle, Jordan praises Cole for steering the police toward Boyd, saying that he finally did something right. Cole, however, states it wasn't him who did it.

Capture
The duty of capturing a woman seems to be generally left to Dan Mendell, who scouts local taverns. (However, Boyd mentions to Dexter that he knows where beautiful women live.) When a woman is captured, she is taken to River Jordan Camp, the site of the original rape of Emily Birch. After being raped and tortured by the Barrel Girl Gang for about a week, she is then held in the attic of Boyd's house, which he keeps locked. Lumen estimates that she was kept in Boyd's attic for about two days, during which time she chewed through the rope binding her.

The Kill
When Boyd is ready to finish the woman off, he cuts off a lock of her hair for a trophy and tapes it in his scrapbook (much like Dexter's blood slide collection). He then puts the unconscious woman into a barrel filled with formaldehyde and electrocutes her.

Disposal
Boyd finishes his work by dumping the barrels in an isolated, swampy area. Dexter observes that it is littered with appliances and furniture, and being used as an unofficial garbage dump. At some point, Cole Harmon collects the barrels from the swamp and further disposes of them in an unknown location. In "Circle Us," Cole has an accident while in transport, leaving five dead women strewn on a city street.

Related Pages

 * Amused Paramedic
 * Barrel Girls Case
 * Barrel Girl Gang
 * Boyd Fowler's House
 * Boyd's Marsh
 * Dr. Lorre
 * Emily Birch
 * Hungry Dog Diner
 * Jordan Chase
 * Jordan Chase Enterprises
 * Lumen Pierce
 * Miami Move and Haul
 * Raccoon
 * River Jordan Camp
 * Visitor Information Center

Victims

 * Twelve young women

Attempted Victims

 * Lumen Pierce
 * Dexter Morgan

Real-Life Comparison
Boyd's murders may have some basis in the 1999 Snowtown murders, also called the "Bodies in Barrels Murders." They were committed by a group of seven people, mostly men, who tortured and killed twelve people and placed their bodies in barrels filled with hydrochloric acid, with the intention of dissolving the bodies (which instead mummified the bodies).

Trivia

 * Boyd is the only member of the Barrel Girl Gang who was added to Dexter's blood slide collection. Cole Harmon and Alex Tilden's blood slides were given to Lumen, while Dan Mendell and Jordan Chase's blood was not taken.
 * While Dexter is at Boyd's house preparing to kill him, Sonya sends Dexter a photo of Harrison taking his first step.