Manslaughter trial set for April
A jury trial was set on Wednesday for a Clearlake woman accused in the death last year of her longtime boyfriend
Linda Suzan Holloway, 58, is charged with voluntary manslaughter and elder abuse in connection with the 2006 death of 76-year-old William Lowe of Colusa.
Holloway’s trial begins April 14 in Colusa County Superior Court. If convicted, she could face up to 15 years in prison.
Laura Lowe, the victim’s youngest daughter, on Wednesday said the family is glad to finally have a trial date.
“We’ve waited a long time, and it’s been an extremely frustrating process,” Laura Lowe said. “It’s been difficult, but we’re hoping we can get a resolution.”
Laura Lowe described her father as a well-known but private man. He ran his local business, Colusa County Cab, for nearly three decades.
She said the family has been frustrated by the lack of attention paid to her father’s death countywide.
“There are not that many murders in Colusa County,” she said, “and that’s what this was. He didn’t just pass on, his life was taken.”
The incident began, Holloway said, after she and Lowe got into an argument over her alcohol consumption on July 25, 2006. Holloway left the residence and was arrested around 10 p.m. that evening for driving under the influence of alcohol. Her blood-alcohol level was twice the legal limit, said Colusa district attorney’s Investigator Pamela Craig.
“She claims Lowe was alive when she left the residence; however, she has given conflicting statements about the altercation and Lowe’s condition when she last saw him,” Craig said.
Holloway told investigators she discovered Lowe’s body the following morning after she was released from jail. She said she found him dead in the bedroom of his home on the 900 block of Market Street, Craig said.
Holloway said so distraught that she decided to kill herself to “go with” Lowe, Craig said.
However, she reportedly waited for a noontime delivery from the Meals on Wheels program and then took a shower before taking an unknown amount of the prescription anti-depressant Elavil in an unsuccessful suicide attempt.
Holloway reportedly awoke just before 12:30 p.m. July 27 and called 911 to report Lowe’s death.
Two separate pathologists reviewed autopsy evidence, both concluding the cause of death as a heart attack. However, the second review also found the heart attack to be caused by blunt force trauma, caused in a physical attack. Both pathologists found Lowe’s injuries suspicious, authorities said.
A Lake County court convicted Holloway in 2000 of assault with a deadly weapon against Lowe and sentenced her to three years in state prison.
Laura Lowe said Holloway attacked her father two knives, stabbing him 16 times and bludgeoned him over the head.
Holloway and Lowe later resumed their relationship, despite a court order that they stay away from each other, Craig said.
Holloway is in custody in Colusa County Jail on unrelated charges. She is serving a roughly six-month stretch for violating a court order to abstain from alcohol, Craig said.
“The family absolutely feels that (Holloway) is responsible for my father’s death,” Laura Lowe said.
