From The Times Tribune
WHITLEY COUNTY – A jury trial has been set for a Williamsburg man and woman facing murder charges in the July 2017 death of another person.
Chris James Lowe, 39, and Lori Mattie, 38, appeared in Whitley Circuit Court for a pretrial conference Tuesday, where prosecutors informed the court that all the evidentiary items that had been holding up the case had been returned from the Kentucky State Police Crime Lab, though both prosecutors and defense attorneys needed more time to review the results of the labs analysis. To allow attorneys ample time, a trial date was set for May 28.
A final pretrial conference was also scheduled for March 15.
Tuesday’s appearance by Lowe and Mattie is the first since August 2018. Due to the amount of evidence being tested by police, the case was pushed into this year in hopes that the results would be available. May’s trial date is the second to be set in the case, with the first being continued in April 2018 as a result of the lacking evidence.
Lowe and Mattie were arrested July 24, 2017, in connection to the death of Michelle Marlow, 36, whose body was found in the bedroom of an Old Mud Creek Road residence following a 911 complaint lying in the road near the home. When troopers arrived at the scene, there was no woman to be found. Instead, troopers located a trail of blood leading to a nearby residence.
Upon nearing the home, law enforcement could hear someone inside and visibly noticed blood inside the residence. Once inside the home, the victim, identified as Marlow, was found deceased inside a bedroom.
Lowe was located inside another bedroom of the home with a large amount of blood on him. Mattie was located in a bathroom, also with a large amount of blood on her.
Detectives interviewed a witness who allegedly stated that they observed Lowe and Mattie striking Marlow in the head with a stick. Another witness told a detective they allegedly watched Lowe dragging Marlow, unresponsive, into the home.
The day following the incident, a search warrant was executed at Lowe’s residence, where a Winchester 12-gauge shotgun, a shotgun hull, a wooden stick and broken pieces of a wooden stick were located and seized.
Lowe and Mattie both remain jailed in the Whitley County Detention Center under separate $500,000 cash bonds.
Comentarios