NASHVILLE – A grand jury will soon decide whether to indict accused murderers Mark Bowling and Rose Delores Vincent.

Probable cause hearings for the two scheduled for Tuesday were not held, with the cases instead being referred to the grand jury.

The next time a grand jury is scheduled to convene in Nash County is January 30, according to the clerk of court's office. But the grand jury may review the murder cases before then to decide whether to hand down indictments in the cases, said Trial Court Administrator Bill Nicholls.

"We don't know exactly when it will do that," because grand jury deliberations and testimony are private, Nicholls said.

Bowling and Vincent may face the death penalty for first-degree murder in the shooting death of Bowling's wife of seven years, Julie Bowling.

Assistant District Attorney Keith Werner, the prosecutor in both cases, could not be reached for comment and District Attorney Howard Boney declined comment through his secretary.

Julie Bowling was found dead in the garage of her home on Dec. 8. Authorities arrested Mark Bowling and Vincent the next day.

Vincent, according to search warrants, confessed to the shooting. Search warrants also state that a fax and computer files from Mark and Julie Bowling's business, Bowling Funeral Home & Crematory, link Mark Bowling to a plot to take Julie Bowling's life.

Rick Hamlett, Vincent's court-appointed attorney, said it is still too early to talk about many details of the case considering the defense has not yet received any information from the discovery.

"The main thing I want to get at this point is the discovery," said Hamlett, referring to the process whereby the defense and prosecution receive the facts about a case, such as police interrogations or other evidence, before the trial.

Hamlett said he did not contest skipping the probable cause meeting because Werner assured him that he would start getting discovery documents as soon as Werner has them. Hamlett has asked publicly that the death penalty not be pursued.

Attorneys for Mark Bowling, Joe Hester and Duncan McMillan, did not return calls seeking comment.

Bowling and Vincent met eight years ago when Bowling was the funeral director after Vincent's stepmother's death. The two had a brief romantic relationship at the time and, authorities have said, began seeing each other romantically again about a year before the murder.

Vincent, 27, is being held without bond in the Nash County Detention Center and is married with three young children.

Bowling, 36, was on vacation in Florida when the murder occurred, and was arrested after flying back to Rocky Mount the next day.

He was transferred to the mental health ward of Central Prison in Raleigh because he was "extremely suicidal," according to an order signed by Nash County Sheriff Dick Jenkins. He is also being held without bond.

The sheriff's office has declined to comment on any further details surrounding the investigation.