Former New Milford resident killed

Melissa Bowers didn't spend a long time in New Milford -- one year of middle school and two years of high school -- before moving back to Pittsburgh with her family nearly 20 years ago.

Yet the people who were her friends recalled Ms. Bowers' sense of humor, pride in her Irish heritage and, as an adult, the joy she took in being a mother.

"She was one of those people you could go months without seeing or talking to, but when you did you just picked up where you left off," said Debbie Staib, who met Bowers in eighth grade.

So Ms. Staib was shocked when she logged on to her friend's Facebook page and found a posting from Ms. Bowers' 16-year-old daughter reporting her mother had been killed.

Ms. Staib immediately checked out the Pittsburgh newspaper on the Internet and discovered Ms. Bowers, 36, had been stabbed to death in the early morning hours of Feb. 8 by a man the authorities called her on-again, off-again boyfriend in an apartment they shared in Carnegie, Pa.

The boyfriend, 26-year-old Jeffrey Maloy, has been charged with homicide, police said.

"This appears to have been a domestic situation that turned violent," said Carnegie police Chief Jeffrey Harbin.

According to various news reports, Mr. Maloy called his father about 3:20 a.m., sounding drunk and disoriented, and repeatedly apologized for "not being the son he was supposed to be."

The father told Mr. Maloy to call back when he was sober.

Mr. Maloy, his clothing covered with blood, then woke up a neighbor, confessed to killing his girlfriend, and asked him what to do, according to Pittsburgh television station KDKA.

"You do the right thing, you know," the neighbor, who didn't want to be identified, said he told Mr. Maloy. "You go to authorities, you know. You don't run from this. ... you do the right thing, turn yourself in."

Instead, Mr. Maloy asked the neighbor to call his father again, and when he got on the phone, Mr. Maloy told him he needed his help.

When his father arrived, Mr. Maloy admitted to killing Ms. Bowers, and the father called 911, according to police.

Chief Harbin said when officers entered the apartment they found Ms. Bowers, stabbed several times, on the bedroom floor, a knife still in her back.

Authorities said her two children, daughter Brittany Ann, 16, and son Brendan, 4, weren't present when their mother was killed.

Ms. Staib, who stayed in touch with her friend through phone calls and texts, said their class at New Milford High School would have graduated in 1994, but Bowers left around 1992.

Ms. Staib last spoke to Ms. Bowers about a week before her death.

Ms. Bowers never mentioned Mr. Maloy, although Ms. Staib knew she had been dating someone.

"We talked about her kids and her family," Ms. Staib said. "She seemed happy."

jpirro@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342