Father: No relationship between victim and shooter

November 9, 2006

By BEN GARRETT
Independent Herald Editor

The father of a woman slain October 28 in what law enforcement has termed a domestic dispute says he wants to set the record straight about his daughter.

Roland Carson, a life-long resident of Scott County, is the father of Chasty Carson, the 21-year-old killed after arguing with her roommate during the early morning hours of October 28. Laura J. Bowling, age 38, has been charged with first degree murder in that shooting incident.

Despite claims and published reports of a romantic relationship between his daughter and Bowling, Carson says nothing could be further from the truth.

“She never married this woman; That was a lie,” Carson said (referring to an interview aired by Knoxville ABC affilliate WATE Channel 6 in which a member of Bowling’s family stated that the victim and Bowling had attended a civil ceremony recognizing them as a couple).

“She was raised differently than that,” Carson said. “Chasty was raised in church her whole life.

“If I thought for one second that Chasty was gay and happy, I wouldn’t dislike her,” he added. “I love my kids regardless.” But, he said, he had talked to his daughter “several times about this,” and was convinced that she did not have a relationship with Bowling.

Carson said that his daughter moved into Bowling’s Letner Road, Helenwood, residence while involved in a relationship with Bowling’s son, who also resides at the residence and who fathered Chasty Carson’s son. Carson said that his daughter remained at the residence after the relationship ended not because she had a relationship with Bowling, as has been widely published, but because she was “afraid for her life.”

He said that his daughter had enrolled in the U.S. Air Force and was scheduled to leave for basic training later this month.

“Chasty was a bright girl, and she was trying to get her life together,” he said. “She had told me that she wanted to get out (of the Letner Road residence) and buy a house for her and her son.”

Carson said that his daughter had told him that Bowling had threatened to kill her if she ever left the residence. On the night his daughter was killed, Carson said she had telephoned her mother and asked her to pick her up from the Letner Road home.

A close friend of Chasty Carson who asked not to be identified because of fears for his family’s safety said that he had also overheard Bowling threatening Carson.

“Just as she was starting to get her life back together, they tore it away from her,” he said.

Scott County Sheriff Anthony Lay has declined comment on the relationship between Carson and Bowling due to his department’s ongoing investigation, but said that the terms “domestic dispute” and “domestic violence” can be used to refer to a dispute between any family members or friends who live together, and does not refer only to spouses or other domestic partners.

Enjoy the Independent Herald? Have it delivered to your door! Click here for details.