Grand jury indicts woman in grandmother’s death

BY JENNIFER MOXLEY
SALISBURY POST

Melanie Carol Henderson, 29, was originally arrested and charged with robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury.

Since the grand jury changed the charge to murder, a judge has revoked an earlier $200,000 bond, which Henderson never posted.

A judge will hold another bond hearing later.

Henderson’s grandmother, Melva Lowman, 79, died Nov. 24, three days after police say Henderson beat her with a 12-inch ceramic figurine at Lowman’s Sills Drive home.

The N.C. Medical Examiner’s office released Lowman’s autopsy last week, concluding that stress on the elderly woman’s heart, stemming from the beating, caused her death.

Police reports say Henderson went to Lowman’s home asking for money. Lowman lent her $40 and Henderson left. But Henderson returned to Lowman’s home around 9:45 p.m. and demanded more. Henderson became enraged when her grandmother didn’t loan any more money and attacked her grandmother.

Henderson ripped out the phone lines and left the home. Though conscious, Lowman told a neighbor later that she was too scared to leave her home that night, fearing Henderson may be outside waiting. She went to the neighbor’s house for help the next morning but died later at Rowan Regional Medical Center.