“And he busted through the back door,” she said. “He told me I was going to die. He started hitting me in the head.”
She said he ordered her into the living room. When she balked, he pointed the handgun at her head. She said she crouched in the floor at one point, to avoid further injury, and the gun discharged.
She told Detective Brian Caudill of the Clark County Sheriff’s Office that she heard the bullet go past her head. It went through a kitchen cabinet and lodged in a drawer, he said.
Melissa Clower said her husband ordered her to sit on the couch in the living room. For a time, he sat on top of her so she couldn’t move and threatened to kill her, her father and himself, she said.
“He held the gun to my head,” she said. “I was begging him to let me go to work. I promised I wouldn’t tell anyone.”
Eventually, he let her go. As she got in her vehicle to leave, she heard one gunshot come from the house. Once she had cell phone service, she called the police.
When Clark County Deputy Sheriff Paul Howard reached the scene, Joseph Clower had left, but there were signs of a struggle and two bullet holes — one in the cabinet and one in the kitchen ceiling, Caudill said. They also found that the phone line had been cut, he said.
Deputies located and arrested Joseph Clower the following day. In his statement to detectives, he denied owning a handgun but did own a rifle, Caudill testified during the hearing. The Clowers’ 15-year-old son, though, told deputies that Joseph Clower brought a revolver home Sunday, two days before the incident.
The weapon has not been recovered, Caudill said.
Joseph Clower told deputies he went back to the house on Tuesday to retrieve his clothes and didn’t think his wife would be there. He said he became angry when his key wouldn’t work and tried to jimmy it with his driver’s license. When Melissa Clower came to the door, he said he got angry and kicked the door in.
Melissa Clower, though, said Joseph took his belongings when he left that weekend.
“I don’t know why he was coming back,” she said.
Following the hearing, Clark District Judge Brandy Oliver Brown ruled there was enough probable cause to send the case to the grand jury. She did not alter his bond.
Contact Fred Petke at fpetke@winchestersun.com.
