Whitley duo facing murder charges for fatal beating Sunday night

Chris Lowe and Lori Mattie

A Williamsburg duo has been charged with murder stemming from a fatal beating Sunday night on Old Mud Creek Road.

Thirty-eight-year-old Chris Lowe and 37-year-old Lori Mattie were arrested Monday morning following an investigation by Kentucky State Police.

According to court records, state police were called to the scene off of Lot-Mud Creek Road in eastern Whitley County about 7:10 p.m. in response to a complaint of an unresponsive female laying in the roadway.

While troopers did not find the body in the roadway, further investigation led them to Lowe and Mattie’s residence at 324 Old Mud Creek Road where they located the body inside a bedroom.

Trooper Lloyd Cochran, public affairs officer at Post 11 in London, said the deceased has been identified as 36-year-old Michelle E. Marlow of Williamsburg.

“Right now, we don’t have a motive,” Cochran said. “We don’t even know what relationship they had with Marlow.”

Police reported finding blood on both Lowe and Mattie, adding that Mattie could not and Lowe would not provide an explanation for how the blood got on their person.

A witness reportedly told police that he had seen Lowe strike the victim in the head with a stick and then had seen the body dragged inside the residence.

A second witness reportedly told police that he had seen Mattie also strike the victim with the stick.

Lowe was arrested at the scene. He has also been charged with tampering with physical evidence.

Mattie was taken to the Williamsburg Police Station and later charged.

Lowe and Mattie are each being held in the Whitley County Detention Center. The bond for each has been set at $500,000, cash.

They are each scheduled to return to Whitley District Court at 9 a.m. Monday for a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is probable cause to present the case to the grand jury.