A Hermon woman is suing the man who murdered her parents and is alleging the shooter’s brother fed him lies to goad him into the killing.
Tina and Richard Bowden Jr. were fatally shot and killed in their home by Tina Bowden’s brother Glenn Brown on Oct. 5, 2020. Family members and Brown alluded to dysfunction and strife within the family during Brown’s sentencing.
Diahanne Morse, the daughter of Tina Bowden and stepdaughter of Richard Bowden Jr., filed a lawsuit alleging Brown and his and Tina Bowden’s brother, Mitchell Brown, caused wrongful death and conscious pain and suffering, and that Mitchell Brown intentionally inflicted emotional distress.
The lawsuit outlines the events that Morse alleges led to the double homicide. It also alleges that Mitchell Brown told Glenn Brown lies about Tina Bowden and her management of their stepfather’s trust.
Morse filed the lawsuit in December 2024 under seal in Penobscot County Superior Court but it was recently made public. She filed an amended complaint May 26 and Mitchell Brown filed a response on June 10.
Mitchell Brown “categorically denies the allegations” and “will defend himself to the fullest extent possible against these unfounded claims,” his attorney Matt Morgan said. The lawsuit was not filed before the statute of limitations for a wrongful death case expired, Morgan argued in filings.
Glenn Brown, 71, is serving a life sentence at the Maine State Prison for the fatal shootings of the Bowdens. He is representing himself in the lawsuit.
Family arguments escalated in February 2019 when Mitchell Brown assaulted Tina Bowden and their stepfather, Cecil Armstrong Jr. A protection from abuse order against Mitchell Brown became permanent in April 2019, according to the lawsuit.
After the order became permanent, Mitchell Brown had to resign from his role as a co-trustee for the living trust for Armstrong, the lawsuit said. Tina Bowden was also a trustee.
As a living trust, it was only supposed to provide money to care for Armstrong while he was alive and Tina Bowden sought legal advice about how to stop Mitchell Brown from demanding and receiving money through it, according to the lawsuit.
Once Mitchell Brown resigned, he started telling their other siblings that Tina Brown had removed assets from the trust and transferred them to herself, the lawsuit said.
On one occasion, Mitchell Brown called the health care worker who was caring for Armstrong. Once Mitchell Brown learned Tina Bowden was present, he made the worker put the phone on speaker and said “most people aren’t afraid to die but now you should be,” the lawsuit said. That call was recorded.
Armstrong died later that day. The living trust was then set to be distributed to beneficiaries, including Tina Bowden, Mitchell Brown and Glenn Brown.
Mitchell Brown would call Glenn Brown and “wind him up” with claims that Tina Bowden was stealing from the trust, but public records showed that was not true, according to the lawsuit. Glenn Brown was working for Mitchell Brown and had daily contact at the time of the murder.
The two brothers were together on the day of the murders, which Mitchell Brown originally denied when investigators questioned him, the lawsuit said. After the murders, Glenn Brown drove to Mitchell Brown’s house and left an envelope with all of his life savings that was supposed to be delivered to Glenn Brown’s wife, which Mitchell Brown did, according to the lawsuit. An assistant attorney general provided similar information at Glenn Brown’s sentencing.
The gun used to kill the Bowdens was a handgun that Mitchell Brown surrendered to Glenn Brown when the protection from abuse order was finalized, according to the lawsuit. Mitchell Brown gave the gun to Glenn Brown because Glenn Brown had no history of violence at the time, according to filings from Morgan, Mitchell Brown’s attorney.
Mitchell Brown “acted as an accomplice to the murders by encouraging, facilitating and otherwise enabling Glenn Brown in acting to wrongfully, through intentional, reckless and negligent actions, shoot and kill Tina J. Bowden and Richard Bowden, Jr.,” the lawsuit said.
Glenn Brown killed the Bowdens because he mistakenly believed the false allegations from Mitchell Brown about Tina Bowden stealing money, the lawsuit said.
Mitchell Brown’s actions caused ongoing emotional distress to Morse, and she has been unable to maintain full-time employment, travel freely within the community without fear of harm and maintain normal relationships, the lawsuit said.
His conduct “was so extreme and outrageous as to exceed all possible bounds of decency and must be regarded as atrocious, utterly intolerable in a civilized community,” according to the lawsuit.
No court dates are scheduled at this time.