Breanna Rowley at her detention hearing.
A Millville woman accused of intentionally running over her girlfriend and then fleeing the fatal scene was ordered held in jail Monday.
Breanna Rowley, 22, recently completed one year of probation for physically attacking Christine Bump during a verbal altercation in October 2022, according to information released at her detention hearing.
Now, Rowley is accused of turning her mother's car into a weapon used to kill the 21-year-old victim.
Surveillance video shows Bump flagging down Rowley's vehicle at about 11:15 p.m. Oct. 21, as she walked in the street, and then moved slightly to the side, Assistant Prosecutor Lesley Snock said.
Instead of stopping, Rowley speeds into Bump, striking her with such force that she was thrown 60 to 70 feet, losing her shoes and most of her clothing from the impact, Snock said.
Rowley fled.
She faces charges including two counts of murder, along with vehicular homicide and fleeing the scene of a crash resulting in death out of Cumberland County.
Rowley also faces additional charges out of Salem County, where she allegedly hid her mother's silver 2003 Infiniti G35 while she tried to get the windshield fixed that was evidence of the crash.
Millville police put out several photos of the suspect vehicle following the incident.Defense attorney Wayne Powell said that, while his client knew she hit something, she had no idea it was Bump.
"She did what people often do in these situations, she panicked and instead of going back and rendering aid or trying to find out what happened, she left," he said. "That conduct is culpable conduct. It’s chargeable conduct. But it’s not evidence of murder."
Police would be called to the scene nearly 2½ hours after the crash, when a passerby saw Bump in the street severely injured and possibly deceased, according to the charges.
By the time police and EMTs arrived, Bump had died.
Meanwhile, Rowley spent the next morning on the phone trying to get someone to come fix the windshield. She had the car hidden at a farm in Monroeville, Salem County.
A technician showed up at the farm at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 24 to fix the windshield, according to the affidavit of probable cause.
The case was moved to Atlantic County since Bump worked for the judiciary in Cumberland County. Rowley is jailed in Salem County.
This is not the first time Rowley is accused of hurting Bump.
She took a plea deal in a domestic violence case where she was accused of strangling Bump, and then striking her in the head several times with a blunt object Oct. 28, 2020.
Rowley told police she believed she used a rock she picked up from the ground to strike Bump.
Caroline Bump, 21, was pronounced dead at the scene.The victim suffered lacerations to her head, scratches on her nose, bruising to her face and right index finger, and marks and swelling to her throat, according to the affidavit of probable cause in that case obtained by BreakingAC.
Powell took issue when Snock categorized it as a domestic violence strangulation, noting it was a fourth-degree charge.
Atlantic County Judge Joseph Levin agreed, since strangulation of a domestic violence victim is usually second degree.
But the original charges do call it a strangulation, which raises the question as to why it was charged at the lower degree.
At that time, Rowley also was charged with fourth-degree aggravated assault of a law enforcement officer for kicking the arresting officer several times, according to the charges. She also was charged with resisting arrest.
Rowley and Bump had broken up for a time but recently reunited, both attorneys said during Monday's hearing.
A witness told investigators that Rowley picked up Bump in the silver Infiniti at about 8:40 p.m. Surveillance puts them at a Wawa in Millville at 9:15 p.m.
Their cell phones also showed they were together at those times, and when the crash occurred.
Powell insisted the case does not rise to murder, since the video of the crash does not show purposeful or intentional action.
The murder charge made the detention hearing more difficult for the defense. Under normal circumstances, the presumption is for release. But with crimes like murder — where the defendant faces a potential life sentence — the presumption is for detention.
While the judge ruled the defense did not overcome that burden, he indicated that even without the presumption of detention, he would have held Rowley.
