
Cybersecurity engineer who injected his dying fiancé with meth to 'balance her out' after a heroin overdose goes MIA after cutting off his ankle monitor
Amy Bowden, 26, was found dead at her Redwood Park home in Adelaide 's north-east on February 8, 2024.
Ethan Ross, now 29, pleaded guilty to one count of supplying/administering a controlled drug, namely methamphetamine, earlier this year.
He was released on home detention bail to a Salisbury address in January.
Ms Bowden's parents received an email on Tuesday informing them Mr Ross had fled his bail address.
The Victim Support Unit of the Department for Correctional Services told Ms Bowden's mother, Michelle Sposito, her daughter's ex-boyfriend had cut off his ankle monitor, which had been used to track him after his release on bail.
'Please be advised that Ethan Ross has removed his electronic monitoring device and his location is unknown,' the email, seen by The Advertiser, said.
'We will advise you when we hear of further updates.'
Ms Sposito said she and her husband Bryan Bowden are frustrated that they were only told about Mr Ross going on the run days after he cut off his ankle monitor on Friday.
'What more can we take? We have no idea where he is or what he's capable of doing,' she said.
'Now he's on the run. It was hard enough hearing he'd even been released on bail in the first place but now this? It's only adding to our anxiety.'
Mr Ross disappeared just days after he pleaded guilty to two counts of breaching his bail conditions in the Elizabeth Magistrates Court.
It's not clear what those breaches were, but for each count he was released without further penalty and ordered to pay court costs and the victims of crime levy.
He was then released back onto home detention bail on Thursday.
A day later he removed his ankle monitor and went on the run.
After Ms Bowden's death, it was revealed her boyfriend injected her with methamphetamine after she overdosed on heroin to 'balance her out'.
Ross (left), now 29, pleaded guilty to one count of supplying/administering a controlled drug, following his girlfriend's (right) death
Last year, the court heard that Mr Ross messaged a drug dealer to drop off meth after Ms Bowden overdosed on heroin.
'On the afternoon of the 7th of February, he messaged a person asking for meth so he could 'shoot her with it' and 'pick her up',' prosecutors told the court.
'He makes references to the deceased taking smack, and reversing a downer with an upper. He asked for a point of meth.'
Originally from Victoria, Ms Bowden had recently moved to Adelaide from Melbourne, where she was studying pharmaceutical sciences at RMIT University.
She was about to start the third year of her degree in biochemistry and pharmacology.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Reuters
38 minutes ago
- Reuters
US charges five members of Mexico's United Cartels, imposes sanctions
WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The U.S. Justice Department on Thursday charged five high-ranking members of the Carteles Unidos drug gang, known in English as United Cartels, while the Treasury Department announced it was imposing sanctions on the group. United Cartels, which is less widely known than some of its rivals, controls large areas of Michoacan, Mexico. The Justice Department called it one of the "most prolific" methamphetamine producers, and said that the proceeds from its illicit drug sales are used to acquire weapons, hire mercenaries, and bribe local officials. The group's members who are facing charges include its leader Juan Jose Farias Alvarez, also known as El Abuelo, along with Alfonso Fernandez Magallon, Luis Enrique Barragan Chavez, Edgar Orozco Cabadas, and Nicolas Sierra Santana. They are charged with being a part of long-running conspiracies to manufacture and distribute drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl, to be unlawfully imported into the United States. The State Department said it is offering collectively up to $26 million in reward money for information leading to the arrest of the five men. The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday said it was imposing sanctions against United Cartels as well as another cartel known as Los Viagras and against seven affiliated individuals. Earlier this week, Mexico sent more than two dozen suspected cartel members to the United States who were wanted for ties to drug-trafficking groups. The transfer of the 26 prisoners was the second of its kind this year. In February, Mexico also sent another 29 alleged cartel leaders. Federal prosecutors in New York City separately announced criminal charges against a number of cartel leaders, including Servando Gomez-Martinez of the cartel La Familia Michoacana and three leaders of the Sinaloa cartel. In February, President Donald Trump designated United Cartels, along with seven other different criminal gangs and cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Cartel del Noreste, Nueva Familia Michoacana and Cartel del Golfo, as foreign terrorist organizations.


The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
What is Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door, the Buddhist group at the centre of an alleged spy case in Australia?
A controversial Buddhist organisation, at the centre of an alleged Chinese espionage case in Australia, has raised concerns about Beijing keeping tabs on Chinese diaspora overseas. Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door is an international Buddhist organisation with multiple chapters in Australia. This month, a Chinese-born woman was charged with reckless foreign interference, accused of spying on the group's Australian branches and its members on behalf of the Chinese Communist party's intelligence organs. Australian police have said the investigation is ongoing and more people could be charged. Guan Yin Citta practises Mahayana Buddhism, the most common type of Buddhism in China. But the organisation is controversial. News reports have detailed unusual and fringe beliefs the group promotes, and the history of its late founder, Master Jun Hong Lu, who died in 2021. It has been banned in China, and people warned to steer clear of it. The organisation claims to have 10 million members worldwide, with 5 million in China, but the Chinese government says it is just 50,000. State media has accused it of being a cult with 'evil theories', and officials have vowed to crack down on it with 'an iron fist'. In 2016, a Henan province follower was jailed for five years for printing 100,000 copies of an 'unauthorised' Guan Yin Citta journal. Before his death, Lu had been banned from entering China. It has been criticised by Buddhist groups in China, Hong Kong and Malaysia for allegedly distorting teachings, and Master Lu of abusing Buddhist scriptures and mantras and 'using the illusion of supernatural powers to mislead believers', according to a 2015 letter by 16 Malaysian Buddhist groups. Nevertheless, Guan Yin Citta is legal in Australia, and while the controversies around the organisation muddy the waters a little, allegations of surveillance support claims about the CCP's intolerance of religious groups outside its direct control. Sign up: AU Breaking News email John Fitzgerald, a historian of China, says that under the increasingly authoritarian rule of Xi Jinping, all things that could threaten the party in any way are seen as equivalent. 'There's almost no calibration any longer,' Fitzgerald told the Guardian. 'Anything that threatens the august and unrivalled authority of the party, no matter how trivial, is treated as a grave threat.' Fitzgerald says the CCP looks at religion as a cultural signifier of ethnicity, something that has to be managed inside both China and diaspora communities who could influence the domestic population. Under the strict political rule of the Communist party, China is officially an atheist state. The government officially recognises Buddhism, along with Catholicism, Islam, Protestantism and Taoism, but the practise of those religions is strictly policed. Buddhism, Taoism and some folk religions are generally treated less harshly than Islam and Christianity, analysts have noted, but believers across all religions have faced repression and persecution by the CCP – most notably the Muslim population in Xinjiang, and Tibetan Buddhists. 'The CCP leaders know that it is not easy to completely eradicate these religions out of China. (There are even CCP members who are secretly following these religions),' says Julie Yu-Wen Chen, a professor of Chinese Studies at the University of Helsinki. 'The best strategy is to sinicise them to make them suitable for the Chinese society and then to control and monitor the practices on the ground.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion The CCP will often use suitably sinicised practises for its soft diplomacy. Much of it is driven by China's state administration for religious affairs, and the Buddhist Association of China, which seek to work with Buddhists globally in pursuit of the CCP's goals, often hosting international Buddhism conferences and making targeted foreign investments through Xi's flagship overseas investment regime, the belt and road initiative. 'They recognise religion as subversive,' Fitzgerald says. 'They're not going to allow that subversion to happen in China or anything like that. But they will take full advantage of it in any other community.' As China's security apparatus expands, reaching across the world with extraterritorial security laws, extensive espionage and infiltration networks, and rising rates of transnational repression, it has become an unavoidable national security issue for other countries like Australia. Religious groups and practitioners, dissidents, lawyers and journalists are among those frequently targeted. Foreign interference has affected bilateral relations. Last week Australia joined other nations in condemning China's persecution of exiled Hong Kong pro-democracy activists. Meanwhile, across the world, Uyghurs have been harassed, surveilled and deported en masse to Xinjiang, and nations reacted with alarm to revelations of a network of secret overseas Chinese police stations. 'There's far greater awareness now in Australia of the implications of this thing for national security,' Fitzgerald says. Additional research by Jason Tzu Kuan Lu


Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Disgraced former Opposition leader suffers another embarrassing blow months after cocaine scandal ended his political career
Former South Australian opposition leader David Speirs has suffered another embarrassing setback, being refused a liquor licence for his own charity event. The 40-year-old retired from politics after a video surfaced online appearing to show him snorting a white substance. Thursday night's fundraiser, held at the Marino Community Hall south-east of Adelaide 's CBD, was organised to support Speirs' upcoming walk along the Kokoda Track later this month. Proceeds are going to two men's mental health charities, Breakthrough Mental Health Foundation and The Man Cave. The event was promoted as an 'evening of delicious paella, fine wines, and great jazz', but no wine could be served. Spiers pleaded guilty to two counts of supplying a controlled substance to another person on separate occasions in August last year. His lawyer had urged the court not to record a conviction, arguing it would prevent him from travelling overseas. But the Adelaide Magistrates Court fined him $9,000, recorded two convictions, and ordered him to complete 37-and-a-half hours of community service. The conviction is why Spiers was unable to secure the licence. Under the Liquor Licensing Act, 'a person is not a fit and proper person to hold a licence if the person has been found guilty or convicted of an offence'. This also includes a 'controlled drug'. A South Australian government spokesperson confirmed to The Advertiser that they would not have granted the request had Spiers requested. 'On 14 August Mr Speirs contacted our CBS (Consumer Business Service) seeking advice on a short term liquor licence for the event he was planning that same evening,' the spokesperson said. 'He was advised of the fit and proper person requirements under the Liquor Licence Act. 'Mr Speirs advised CBS he would not be submitting an application.' The event still went ahead, and did make good on the promise of jazz music, with attendees instead served coffee as a beverage option. Spier's posted on social media saying the event was a success. 'What an incredible night! The room was buzzing and it was amazing to see so many people coming together for such an important cause. Nights like this remind us how powerful community really is,' he wrote. Tickets to the event cost $70, or $55 for concessions. So far Spiers has raised more than $6,200 towards his $10,000 goal, according to his fundraising page. On the page, Spiers mentions his own mental health struggles, which he faced following the end of his time as SA Liberal leader. 'Life can be real tough sometimes. Things happen which are sometimes within our control and sometimes outside of our control and often a bit of both,' he said. 'This can lead people to dark and scary places. I know. I've been there. Some days I still find myself there. But I'm doing well overall thanks to the incredible support I've had from across our community'. Earlier this week, reports emerged that Speirs is weighing a political comeback, with plans to run as an Independent in the 2026 South Australian election. It is understood his frustration over the state's ongoing algal bloom crisis, which has killed more than 400 marine species, is a key factor driving his potential return.