Mark Bowling asked a stripper to kill his wife two weeks before he allegedly convinced his mistress to commit the crime, according to a grand jury indictment issued this week.
Bowling is charged with asking 24-year-old Ashley Elaine Brown in November to kill his wife and funeral home business partner, Julie Bowling, but her former boss questions her credibility.
Brown attended at least one party at Bowling Funeral Home & Crematory as a stripper for Diamond Escorts, and has been described as a prostitute by sources close to the case.
"I wouldn't believe a word she says," said Jackie Graves, the owner of Diamond Escorts who in 1997 pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit prostitution charges in connection with the business. "She's looking for a way to get herself out of trouble."
Brown, an Edgecombe County native whose last known address was in Tarboro, has several pending charges in Nash and Edgecombe counties for worthless checks, marijuana possession and driving without a license. She has no record of convictions, according to the N.C. Department of Correction's Web site.
Graves said Brown worked for him for about six weeks last summer, attending one of Bowling's parties before being fired after an arrest for worthless checks.
Bowling called Graves to complain about Brown last July, Graves said, because Brown called Bowling collect from jail asking him to bail her out.
But Brown did not work for Diamond Escorts on Nov. 22, the night Bowling allegedly asked her to kill Julie Bowling, Graves said.
Five women from Diamond Escorts danced, stripped and gave massages at parties thrown by Bowling during the past eight years in the apartment on the second floor of his funeral home.
The dancers cost $160 per hour per dancer, Grave said, estimating Bowling spent less than $5,000 with his business. Graves disputes allegations from sources close to the case that anyone affiliated with his business exchanged sex for money.
The only other escort service listed in Rocky Mount, Absolutely Adorable, has declined comment on Bowling.
Several cell phone numbers for Brown were disconnected or switched to a new customer. She could not be reached for comment by presstime.
Bowling also faces first-degree murder charges and conspiracy to commit first degree-murder charges along with his mistress, Rose Vincent of Middlesex. Both may face the death penalty if convicted.
One of Julie Bowling's co-workers found her body outside the family's River Glenn home on Dec. 8.
Vincent confessed the next day to shooting Bowling four times in the torso, according to search warrants. Mark Bowling was arrested when he returned to Rocky Mount from a scuba diving trip in Florida.
Bowling and Vincent were reportedly having an affair for roughly a year before Julie Bowling's death, reigniting a romance that started when he met Vincent in 1998 while directing her stepmother's funeral.
Records from Julie Bowling's estate show more than $2.5 million in debt, and sources close to the murder case confirmed a $1 million life insurance policy taken out on her a month before her death.
Video recorders for the Bowling home's security system had been disabled before her death. Otherwise, the shooting may have been caught on tape.
Central Prison in Raleigh is holding Bowling in its mental health ward, where he was initially sent because he was deemed suicidal.
Vincent is being held in the Nash County Correctional Facility.
Assistant District Attorney Keith Werner said he expects the trials to begin no earlier than fall or winter because prosecutors are still collecting information and providing it to the defense.
"The investigation is ongoing," Werner said. "It is by no means complete."
