Prosecutors lay out their case

GREENVILLE – As prosecutors presented testimony from a co-worker of his slain wife, neighbor, a forensic expert and two law enforcement officials Thursday, Mark Bowling sat almost motionless in the courtroom.

During the fourth day of the trial, proceedings began by wrapping up testimony from Julie Bowling’s co-worker Linda Gardner – the woman who found Bowling shot to death in the garage of her River Glenn home the morning of Dec. 8, 2006.

Bowling, 37, a Rocky Mount funeral director, was scuba diving in Florida when his wife’s slaying occurred.

His alleged mistress Rose Vincent, 28, pleaded guilty in February to shooting Julie Bowling, 45.

In a written statement, Vincent confessed to carrying out the slaying. However, she said, Mark Bowling had masterminded the murder and told her killing his wife was the only way their romance could continue.

Vincent – who will be the state’s lead witness – agreed to testify against Bowling in exchange for a lesser sentence of 29 years. If convicted, Bowling faces a life sentence.

Tom Sallenger – one of Bowling’s defense attorneys – cross-examined Gardner, inquiring about flowers Bowling would send to his wife during her lunch hour.

Gardner said that Julie Bowling often would tell co-workers to take the flowers. Gardner also testified that Julie Bowling believed she might have been being followed in the weeks leading up to her death and on at least one occasion commented on her husband playing a part if something should happen to her.

“She said, 'Mark could put me in the (crematory) oven and nobody could find me,’ ” Gardner said.

Assistant District Attorney Keith Werner called to the stand the Bowlings’ neighbor Sandy Godwin – who was the second person to see Julie Bowling’s lifeless body.

Godwin testified she learned that something had happened to her neighbor when Gardner ran to her home and began beating on her door in a panic.

“She was screaming, 'Julie’s dead, oh my God, Julie’s dead,’ ” Godwin said.

When Godwin went to the Bowling residence to investigate, Gardner called 911 from her home.

Prosecutors played the 911 recording that relayed the distress of the women.

Godwin began weeping as she described how she went back to the Bowlings’ garage to check Julie Bowling’s pulse and tried contacting Mark Bowling and Julie Bowling’s sister, Debbie, and others from Julie’s cell phone.

“My main focus was trying to get up with Debbie,” Godwin said as her voice trembled. “After that, I grabbed Julie’s hand and rubbed her face and just talk to her. I knew she couldn’t hear me, but it was more to soothe myself.”

Godwin told Tom Moore, Mark Bowling’s other defense attorney, that she thought Bowling had hit her head or may have been robbed, but later noticed her purse and jewelry still were present.

Moore questioned Godwin on her relationship with Julie Bowling.

“I would say we were pretty close,” she said. “(She was) a very caring and wonderful person.”

The prosecution also called forensic expert Dr. M.G. F. Gilliland, a forensic pathologist at the East Carolina School of Medicine, to testify on the cause of Julie Bowling’s death.

Gilliland said Bowling died as the result of three gunshot wounds to the torso and one gunshot wound to her abdomen.

“Two of the wounds were relatively superficial,” she said. “The two that were very severe resulted in internal blood loss.”

Three of the four bullets were recovered from Bowling’s body, while the fourth, Gilliland said, was found in her clothing.

Investigators from the Nash County Sheriff’s Office described the crime scene and the type of weapon used in the slaying.

Nash County Sheriff’s Lt. Pat Joyner testified on his conversation with Mark Bowling when he informed Bowling that his wife had been found dead.

“We told him that Julie had been found deceased,” Joyner said. “He asked where she was. He was saying, 'Julie, my poor Julie.’ ”