By Jane Musgrave
Two years after William Lowe was accused of shooting his wife, chopping her up with a chainsaw and stuffing her body into suitcases that bobbed up in the Intracoastal Waterway, the Delray Beach man remains jailed with no trial date set.
Since he was arrested in August 2023 and charged with first-degree murder in the death of 80-year-old Aydil Barbosa Fontes, Lowe has rarely appeared in court. His next court date was to be Sept. 3, but nothing was expected to happen.
“I’m in no rush to try this case,” said attorney Franklin Prince, who represents Lowe, now 80. “Sooner or later, we’ll have an agreement.”
While no plea deal is in the works, Prince said it is unlikely state prosecutors want to take the case to trial. Prosecutors don’t comment on pending cases.
Despite the grisly nature of Fontes’ death and evidence that Lowe carefully planned to murder and then dismember his wife of 21 years, prosecutors aren’t seeking the death penalty.
Lowe faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted of charges of murder and abuse of a dead body.
His former attorney suggested that trauma Lowe suffered while serving in the Vietnam War, coupled with recent falls, could have spurred the twisted attack. But, Prince said, Lowe is competent to stand trial.
He was arrested on Aug. 2, 2023, two weeks after suitcases that contained the remains of his wife were discovered in the Intracoastal. Once investigators identified her through dental records and DNA, they approached Lowe’s condo on Venetian Drive just blocks from the Intracoastal.
There they found a trail of blood. In a storage unit, they discovered the chainsaw. They also found blood in an upstairs unit that was owned by Lowe’s sister, which neighbors said he used for storage.
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