Victim's mom yells 'burn in hell!' as Detroit-area man in court on double murder, mutilation

Ed White, The Associated Press

ALLEN PARK, Mich. - Investigators found "copious amounts" of blood and other clues linking a man to the fatal shooting and dismemberment of a Detroit-area couple who had allowed him to move in a few weeks ago, police said Monday.

The details were disclosed during the first court appearance for Roger Bowling, who is charged with first-degree murder and other crimes in Allen Park, a Detroit suburb. The dismembered bodies of the victims were found last week miles away in the Detroit River.

The courtroom was filled with friends and relatives of Danielle Greenway, 32, and Chris Hall, 42. There was quiet tension in the room until police began escorting Bowling back to jail.

"Burn in hell!" Greenway's mother, Lila Greenway, yelled. Others jeered too.

Bowling, 39, said nothing as District Court Judge John Courtright read the charges, which include murder, tampering with evidence and mutilation of bodies. No defence attorney was present, and Bowling was returned to jail without bond.

He was arrested Thursday in the home shared by Greenway and Hall, who had planned to marry. Bowling, apparently down on his luck, was allowed to move in a few weeks ago. He was Greenway's former boyfriend from many years ago.

"Copious amounts of blood were found within the home" along with bullet fragments, Allen Park police Det. Sgt. Jon Mathis told the judge. "There was an attempt to clean up the crime scene."

Mathis said Bowling previously lived in suburbs just east of Detroit, not far from where the bodies were found floating in the river near the Detroit-Grosse Pointe Park border. A power saw and suitcases were also discovered there.

As for a motive, "we're not 100 per cent sure," Mathis later told The Associated Press.

Al Stone, a lifelong friend of the Greenway family, said Bowling retrieved cable TV equipment for a cable TV company. He said Greenway had a big heart, and "it blew up in her face."

"He was always 'poor me, poor me.' She always felt bad for him," Stone said outside court when asked why Greenway took Bowling in.

Hall's sister, Laura Robichaud, said her brother brought her a cake on her birthday, July 4. She wished him a happy birthday via text message on July 15 but he didn't reply.

"He was a sweet soul," Robichaud said.