Mother arrested in death of daughter » Today's Front Page » The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia
By Kara Van Pelt
In 2003, investigations began in the case of missing person Cathy Jo McCoy. Now, eight years later, an arrest has been made in her death.
McCoy’s remains were found in late March in the Hix Mountain area of Summers County.
Mary Louise Bowles, McCoy’s 66-year-old mother, was arrested Thursday evening and charged with her daughter’s murder.
Bowles agreed to come to the station for questioning, and at its conclusion, she was served with an arrest warrant for murder, West Virginia State Police Sgt. D.L. Bragg said.
“We were suspicious of her Bowles’ involvement all along,” Bragg said. “She has been a suspect since 2003 and 2004 when Capt. J.L. Cahill and First Class Sgt. V.S. Deeds first started the investigations into this matter. Also, after we found McCoy, I was trying to locate Bowles to give her the information her daughter had been found, but she was avoiding me.”
Bragg wouldn’t comment on possible motives but did say that Bowles did not confess to the charges.
Cathy Jo McCoy was said to have been missing since June 2000 but was not entered into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) until 2003, when remains were found in the Alta area of Greenbrier County.
“There wasn’t much motivation for her family to report her missing back then,” Cahill noted, adding police long had suspicions a family member was responsible for McCoy’s disappearance.
In 2003, Social Security Administration fraud investigators contacted State Police to inform them of a case concerning McCoy, Cahill explained. He said McCoy was severely injured in a car wreck in 1998 and was receiving Social Security benefits because of her injuries.
Social Security officials told police the remains found in Alta could be McCoy’s, saying she had not been heard from since 2000. Police said they believe Bowles had been collecting McCoy’s Social Security benefits after her disappearance.
After testing, it was determined the remains found at Alta were not McCoy’s, Cahill said. He noted those remains are still unidentified.
Cahill said Wednesday after a press conference in Beckley that, “We have suspects in this case, and we have thought for the last eight years, ‘Hey, that case is there, and it is pretty strong,’ but we never had a body.”
Now with McCoy’s remains identified, Bowles has been charged with first-degree murder.
Bowles was arraigned in Summers County Thursday and is now being held at the Southern Regional Jail.
Bragg said more information will be forthcoming in the weeks ahead.
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