A Frankford man has been ordered to stand trial for murder after stabbing his girlfriend to death and burying her corpse in a shallow grave behind their apartment building.
Jeffrey Bowen, 30, is accused of slaying Kelly Hepfl, 39, on March 20 on the 4700 block of Frankford Ave.
In an often bizarre preliminary hearing on June 15, a neighbor reportedly testified that she heard Bowen arguing with a woman in their apartment. A short time later, Bowen showed up at the neighbor’s door, asking her to give him a condom. Bowen was holding blood-covered gloves, but the neighbor didn’t call police. Instead, she gave him the contraceptive, according to a Daily News account of the hearing.
The witness further testified that she later saw Bowen in the hallway wearing women’s pajamas and at a neighborhood store asking other patrons for bolt cutters. When she reported the odd behavior to a resident building manager, he showed her surveillance video in which Bowen was seen tampering with hallway cameras.
The building manager testified that Bowen came to his apartment seeking a shovel. Around the same time, the manager noticed a suspicious mound of freshly-moved dirt in the backyard. On March 24, he called police, who found Hepfl’s remains and arrested Bowen nearby after a brief chase and struggle.
Bowen will be arraigned in Common Pleas Court on July 7. ••
