Ex-deputy testifies about revolver used in slaying

GREENVILLE – During the fifth day of Mark Bowling’s murder trial, authorities read a statement from the woman who confessed to pulling the trigger in Julie Bowling’s slaying.

Mark Bowling, 37, a Rocky Mount funeral director, is on trial for allegedly masterminding a plot to kill his wife, Julie Bowling, 45.

Julie Bowling, 45, was shot to death the morning of Dec. 8, 2006, in the garage of the couple’s River Glenn home.

Mark Bowling’s alleged lover Rose Vincent, 28, pleaded guilty in February to shooting Julie Bowling and pointed to Mark Bowling as the man who orchestrated the slaying.

Bowling was scuba diving in Florida when the slaying occurred.

Prosecutors pointed out Thursday in a 911 recording of a phone conversation between Nash County authorities and Bowling while he was still in Florida that Bowling never asked what had happened to his wife when he was informed of her death.

“He never asked me what happened to her,” Lt. Pat Joyner said. “I was waiting for him to ask that.”

Vincent confessed that she had shot Julie Bowling because Mark Bowling told her it was the only way the two could continue their romance.

Nash County investigators said that during an almost eight-hour interview with authorities the evening of Dec. 8, 2006, Bowling admitted to extramarital affairs with multiple women including two women from an escort service that were “clingy and needy.”

Nash County Sheriff’s Lt. Steve Saunders said Bowling also told investigators that he would be able to identify his wife’s killer.

“He said he would know who was responsible for Miss Bowling’s death by looking her in the eyes,” Saunders said.

As the interview session stretched into the early morning hours of Dec. 9, 2006, Saunders said Bowling mentioned Rose Vincent’s name as a possible person who may want to harm his wife.

Bowling related to investigators that Vincent had made threatening comments while the two were together saying that she “wanted to ring (Julie Bowling’s) neck” and wanted to “take a baseball bat to Julie,” Saunders told the court.

He also said Bowling had told him that Vincent said she would do anything for the two to be together.

Saunders then read a five-page statement that Vincent made to authorities following her arrest on Dec. 9, 2006.

According to the statement, Vincent said she first met Mark Bowling following her mother’s funeral in 1998 and began a sexual affair.

The relationship rekindled in 2005, after her father made pre-arrangements at Bowling’s funeral home, Vincent said.

In the time leading up to Julie Bowling’s death, Vincent said in the statement, Mark Bowling told her that he believed his wife was having him followed and maybe even hired a hit man to kill him.

Vincent told authorities that Bowling had told her he wanted to commit suicide on the upcoming scuba diving trip in Florida.

Conversations arose that entailed Vincent killing Julie Bowling, she said in the statement. As time went on, Bowling began suggesting that Vincent kill his wife more frequently, Vincent added.

Bowling and Vincent discussed multiple murder scenarios, according to the statement.

One involved Vincent shooting Julie Bowling in the head while driving through a “seedy” part of town in the couple’s GMC Yukon.

Vincent said the reasoning behind this plan, Bowling told her, was because the vehicle was “flashy,” and the murder could be blamed on a “(racial epithet).”

The second plan, Vincent said, was to kill Julie Bowling while she was traveling to a function in Greenville.

The statement revealed that Bowling had given Vincent an itinerary of Julie Bowling’s day, money and furnished her with a handgun.

Vincent told authorities she followed Julie Bowling to Greenville, but could not go through with the slaying.

Bowling also allegedly offered her $50,000 to kill his wife. Vincent said she declined the offer of money because she only wanted Bowling, according to the statement.

According to Vincent’s confession of the shooting, after being provided with detailed descriptions of the residence by Mark Bowling, an early-morning time frame and distinct directions on how to carry out the shooting, Saunders said Vincent told investigators she arrived at the River Glenn residence shortly after 6 a.m. on Dec. 8, 2006.