The preliminary examination of Ralph Bowling III on several charges including open murder, will be in two parts. The first was held Wednesday, June 28. District Court Judge Michael Schipper warned the people in the courtroom that though he understood there would be tension there would be no words or actions during the proceedings, “or you will be removed, or if need be, you will be arrested.”
Bowling faces open murder, attempted murder, home invasion, 2nd degree arson and several felony gun charges. Bowling is charged with entering a home on Bird Road in Baltimore Township in the early morning hours of June 11 and shooting Nathan Farrell in the neck and then chasing his wife, Cheyenne Bowling, from the house and allegedly shooting her to death. He then went to his home on Coats Grove Road and allegedly set it on fire.
Farrell was questioned by Barry County Prosecutor Julie Nakfoor-Pratt and defense Attorney James Goulooze for an hour. Farrell testified he and Cheyenne Bowling had spent Saturday evening together and were at Cheyenne’s mother and stepfather’s house watching a movie when Ralph came into the room with a gun asking, “Where is he?” and calling her names.
Cheyenne told Bowling he couldn’t be there and he had to leave and stepped between Farrell and Bowling, saying, “He won’t shoot me.” Farrell testified Bowling was circling the two, trying to get a good angle to shoot him. “I told him, put the gun down; I’ll leave, I’ll do whatever you want, this doesn’t make any sense.” He recalled hearing a shot, felt warm and found he was bleeding profusely. Thinking that he was going to die, he made his way out of the house and ran down a drainage ditch to the nearest house with lights on. As he ran, he heard a single gunshot.
The owner, at first alarmed at a man coming out of the darkness covered with blood, called 911. Ferrell was airlifted to a hospital in Grand Rapids and treated for a broken jaw.
Asked about his relationship with Cheyenne Bowling, Farrell said they worked at the same place and had gone with a group of fellow employees for drinks after work a few times. He said from the way she talked about her husband and her marriage, he thought they were separated.//
Cheyenne’s stepfather, Tim Wymer, testified that relations with Ralph Bowling were strained and a week before the murder, his wife Melissa, Cheyenne’s mother, disinvited him to the regular Wednesday night family dinner, and if he did come, Wymer said, he would have been asked to leave.
Trevor Slater, a Michigan State Police expert in fire investigations, testified that Bowling admitted setting the fire in a jail interview. The date for the continuation of the hearing wasn’t immediately set.
