Rosewood murder suspect jailed after threat ‘to live on the streets again,’ filing says
The suspect in a grisly murder that occurred in Columbia’s Rosewood community is back in jail after the court revoked her bond, records show.
Peggy Bowers is being held at Alvin S. Glenn Detention Center to await court proceedings following her housing confinement being terminated Wednesday, according to court records.
On Aug. 9, 2018, authorities found Joan Staub dead in her Huntington Avenue home not far off Rosewood Drive. Someone had bludgeoned her to death, according to the coroner’s office. A month later, police charged 67-year-old Bowers, accusing her of killing Staub.
Bowers, a well-known, often homeless woman in Rosewood, was a friend and occasional roommate of Staub, community members and people close with the two told The State. The homicide cast a shadow over the neighborhood and left Staub’s family distraught.
The court ordered mental evaluations for Bowers to see if she could stand trial. In May 2019, a judge allowed her out of jail on $25,000 bond and required that Bowers stay at her daughter’s home in Aiken County.
In an unusual move, the company that posted Bowers’ bond asked the court for its money back, filings show. Bowers’ daughter and son-in-law, who were responsible for the $25,000 retainer, informed the bonding company that Bowers was “threatening to leave the residence and live on the streets again,” according to the filing. That would have violated her conditions of bond and cost her daughter and the company the $25,000.
Bowers’ public defender told the court that she had not violated her release requirements at any time and that Bowers is not a threat to the public. Through her attorney, Bowers agreed for her bond to end and to be jailed again because her daughter and son-in-law, whose house Bowers was required to live in, had asked the court to be relieved of the bond.
Bowers faces life in prison if convicted of murdering Staub.
This story was originally published January 25, 2020 at 11:18 AM.