Shocking homicide tops annual list

It has been almost a decade since murder topped the Rocky Mount Telegram's annual list of most significant local stories for the past year.

A Nash County family in 1998 lost four people when a troubled man killed his grandfather and two uncles during a birthday party. The man, Keith Lamont Powell, later killed himself, sending shockwaves through the small community between Drake and Red Oak and the rest of the Twin Counties.

This year, the editorial staff and newspaper department heads chose another shocking homicide as the biggest news story of the past 12 months in Nash and Edgecombe counties.

1 - Rocky Mount police investigated a dozen homicides in 2006, the most since the record-setting year of 1995 when 16 murders occurred in the city.

But it was a Nash County homicide in December that drew the most attention this year in the Twin Counties.

Businessman Mark Bowling was arrested and charged with killing his wife of seven years a few weeks ago in Nash County. Bowling's suspected mistress also was charged in the shooting death of 45-year-old Julie Bowling.

Mark Bowling, 36, started a successful funeral home operation in 1998, and since then, he opened three more offices in Eastern North Carolina. But a branch in Tarboro closed in October, and speculation of money woes began to circulate.

Behind his business dealings, authorities said, Mark Bowling had a darker life, including at least one affair with another woman. His eight-year on-again, off-again affair with Rose Parker Vincent apparently culminated Dec. 8 when authorities say Vincent gunned down Julie Bowling in the garage of her home on River Glenn while Mark Bowling was on vacation in Florida.

Vincent and Mark Bowling met in 1998 at Vincent's stepmother's funeral, in which Bowling directed the services. Mark Bowling, then 27, started a relationship with the then-19-year-old Vincent, authorities said.

Investigators said they believe a fax and computer files link Bowling to his wife's death. Detectives also confiscated Julie Bowling's journal from her Nash Day Hospital locker, where she worked.

Vincent confessed to the shooting the day after the murder, authorities said, and apparently linked Mark Bowling to the murder. Both Vincent, 27, and Bowling could face the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder in the case.

2 - Andre Knight first came to public notice in 1998 when he battled the Rocky Mount City Council over plans to open an adult day care on Falls Road. His petition to rezone his property for business in an all-residential neighborhood was denied, putting him on the path to run for a seat on the City Council.

In 2003, Knight became one of four black council members to be elected to the board, the first time in city history that the council had a black majority.

But in September, the Rev. Roosevelt Higgs, first vice chairman of the Edgecombe County Democratic Party, filed a challenge against the councilman's residency in Edgecombe County.

The challenge has worked its way through the court system, making it all the way to the N.C. Court of Appeals. Along the way, Knight lost his seat on the council and then finally received a temporary injunction that is expected to last until his term expires in November.

The challenge, initially described by Higgs as an attempt to target Knight's ties to the Edgecombe County Democratic Party, polarized the community along racial and political lines.

Jerry Fisher bashed Knight on his WHIG-TV ?Morning Show,? and Rocky Mount resident Kenneth Pledger admitted giving behind-the-scenes advice to Higgs in an effort to discredit Knight. Their assistance drew criticism from the black community.

3 - At the end of March, retailers in the state began selling N.C. Education Lottery tickets.

North Carolina became the last state on the East Coast to adopt a lottery when lawmakers approved the games during last year's legislative session.

The lottery, touted as a boon for public schools in North Carolina, has drawn mixed reviews during its first nine months, particularly in the Twin Counties.