UW killer was a man of many tales, friends say

This much is certain: The man known as Jonathan Rowan walked into a University of Washington office on Monday and killed ex-girlfriend Rebecca Griego with a stolen .357-caliber revolver before killing himself.

But who was Jonathan Rowan?

UW police said Tuesday they're still not sure. Police have asked Interpol, the international police agency, to verify the identity of Rowan, an elusive character who former friends and business partners say told so many wild stories they didn't know what to believe about him.

Assistant UW Police Chief Ray Wittmier said Rowan had at least three aliases and two passports and legally entered the United States in 1996 with a green card. But whether the passports really belonged to him isn't clear. "This identity may have been stolen," Wittmier said.

The people who knew Rowan best said he spun fantastic stories about his life.

He claimed he'd been a professional ice skater. That his wealthy family owned an international hotel chain. That he'd done a stint in a French jail for trying to smuggle champagne. That he'd crossed the Irish Republican Army and that the group threatened to kill him if he returned to England.

His closest friends say they knew he was conning them.

"That's the way he was. I knew he would screw me over if he had the chance, but there was always something likeable about him," said Bryan Strieker, who met Rowan in 1997 when he answered an ad to share a house in West Seattle. He later shared three other rentals with Rowan and stayed in touch even after moving to Los Angeles last year.

Strieker described himself as one of Rowan's few close friends, yet he wonders how much he really knew about his past. "I always asked him: Who are you?" he said.

Friends wondered what Griego, 26, had ever seen in the 41-year-old Rowan.

He was pudgy, had crooked teeth and frequent body odor. He was known for making rude comments to women in Belltown bars after guzzling his favored Stoli vodka tonics. But Strieker said Rowan would often get away with his shortcomings because he had a certain charm.

"Rebecca [Griego] probably liked him for the same reason I liked him: He was super-charismatic," Strieker said. And if friends tried to ignore him, "he would play the trump card of being sad and lonely and crying."

Rowan worked odd jobs and dealt in cash. Several local businessmen said they knew him as a computer whiz who designed quality Web sites for them.

Sometimes he pitched new business schemes, which usually failed. Rich Hall, a local businessman, said he'd worked with Rowan several years ago importing electric scooters from China. They sold several hundred of them for about five months before competitors edged them out. Hall said he and his brother, Bob Hall, also sunk about $5,000 into a wedding-related Web site Rowan wanted to develop. The site never panned out and they lost their money.

"He was a hell of an Internet guy; he knew computers inside out," said Bob Hall, who also hired Rowan's computer services. "But we always kind of watched over our backs a little bit because we knew there was something shady about him."

Nevertheless, Rich Hall said he liked Rowan well enough to bail him out of jail last year after he got arrested for drunken driving on Aurora Avenue North. Hall said Rowan eventually paid him back for the bail of nearly $1,000.

Another local businessman, a Seattle clothier who asked not to be identified, said he saw a darker side of Rowan after they got into a business dispute over a Web site he'd designed.

The clothier said Rowan threatened him, saying he "didn't know who he was messing with." The clothier said he later notified the FBI of his suspicions that Rowan was in the country illegally and might be dangerous. But the clothier said he never heard anything from authorities.

Over the past few months, his friends said, Rowan had grown despondent and erratic over his failed relationship with Griego. He left notes saying he was going to jump off a bridge and left threatening messages for Griego and her sister. Police say Griego was unable to have a protection order served on Rowan because no one could find him.

Strieker said the last time they spoke, about a month ago, Rowan confessed during a weepy three-hour phone call that many of the stories he'd told over the years were lies. He said his purported middle name, "Gulam-Nabi," was actually the last name of his real father, whom he'd never met. He said he'd grown up near Blackpool, England, and that his stepfather hated him and that he couldn't go back because people would hurt him.

But Strieker is not sure those stories were true, either.

At the time, Rowan was on the run after stealing $900 in rent money and two laptop computers from two roommates in a Ballard house, said Kelley Ballentine, one of the roommates. Griego had lived there, too, but moved out after Rowan assaulted her in a drunken rage. In her petition for a protection order, Griego said he'd thrown candlesticks at her, tackled her to the floor and punched her.

Ballentine told Griego about the theft and received an apologetic e-mail from her on March 9.

"I would have never expected this from him. I assure you that we are doing everything we can to hunt him down -- we have taken off work all week and have been trying to track him. We are also going to hire a private investigator," Griego wrote. She said she wouldn't rest until Rowan was behind bars.

Within the next couple of weeks, Griego told UW police about the increasing threats from Rowan. But police were unable to locate him.

Rich and Bob Hall said Griego visited them three weeks ago.

She was crying and asked them to serve a copy of the protection order on Rowan if he showed up. She had asked co-workers and other acquaintances to do the same.

"I couldn't believe it. It makes me feel pretty bad. She was sitting there crying and scared to death. I said, 'I don't think you have to be that scared. He's just blowing smoke,' " Rich Hall said. The two brothers agreed to serve Rowan with the paperwork, but they never saw him again.

Police now think he stole the revolver from someone he knew.

On Monday, Rowan found Griego alone in her Gould Hall office. He shot her to death before turning the revolver on himself.

Times staff reporter Jennifer Sullivan contributed to this report.

Jim Brunner: 206-515-5628 or jbrunner@seattletimes.com