A Georgia man appeared in a Gwinnett County court on Monday for the death of his wife on their one-year wedding anniversary.
The Gwinnett Daily Post reports that Walter Lowe, 51, turned himself in to authorities over the weekend after his wife of one year, Erica Powell, 46, was found with a gunshot wound to her head. According to court documents, one of Powell’s six children found her in a bedroom of her Gwinnett County home off of Medlock Park Drive.
The arrest affidavit said that the child, a son, saw Lowe leaving the house shortly before he walked inside the home and found his mother.
Keaundra Jackson, Powell’s adult daughter, said that Lowe had been abusive to Jackson frequently and often tried to isolate her from others. After a 2015 domestic abuse arrest, a judge allowed the suspect to post bond with conditions that he stay away from Powell. However, the couple resolved their disputes, at least for the time being, and Jackson asked the district attorney’s office to drop charges against Lowe.
Gwinnett County Chief Assistant District Attorney Dan Mayfield said he refused the to drop all charges because he felt Lowe was still a threat. Powell later signed an affidavit, seeking to release Lowe from his bond conditions, which the court granted.
“Walter Jerome Lowe has lived with me and my children for the last five years and there has never been an incident which concerned me before now,” Powell wrote in the affidavit.
Jackson said that Lowe abused, manipulated, and used her mother for years. She said she contacted the Gwinnett County DA’s office on several occasions, asking them to keep all of Lowe’s bond conditions in place. Jackson said no one listened to her.
“To the Gwinnett County’s district attorney office, I called you all for help and no one listened when I was saying he was going to kill my mother if no one helped her. My family is hoping you all will be willing to give justice in death since you didn’t give her justice when she was alive.”
Lowe was arrested for aggravated assault, murder, and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. He’s being held at the Gwinnett County jail without bond.
[Feature Photo: Handout]
