Murder victim was 'rock that kept everything together'

When the man who killed her mother was sentenced to life plus 45 years Wednesday, Tuesday Mock, sitting with her family in the courtroom, left a sense of relief.

"I'm happy with what we've got," Mock said Friday, "but it's not going to bring her back."

Family member exchanged hugs before quietly leaving the courtroom and killer Walter Glass to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Mock's mother, Melanie Lowther, 60, was murdered July 31, 2013. Glass struck her in the head with a metal nail remover after she caught him burglarizing the septic tank business she ran with her husband Barry.

Glass, 43, entered a guilty plea before Judge Carmen Mullen and was sentenced minutes later.

Glass, whom Lowther had tried to help, did not speak during his sentencing beyond admitting his guilty and answering Mullens' questions.

Lowther had found Glass and his girlfriend living in a tent. She found them a camper at the nearby Stoney Crest Campground and bought them groceries.

That sort of kindness did not surprise Mock.

"She would just do anything for anybody," Mock said. "I always tell people that if they are going to heaven and there are people like her, that's going to be a good place."

Lowther had found her own good place in Pritchardville.

Lowther married Barry just after she turned 18.

"She turned 18, graduated high school the next day and married my dad the day after that," Mock said.

The couple was married for 42 years, Mock said.

They raised their two children and ran a successful septic tank business.

Lowther was at the center of it all.

"She was just the rock that kept everything together," Mock said.

Lowther's violent death stunned her small community.

Beaufort County Sheriff P.J. Tanner, who had known the couple for years and grew up nearby, was among those horrified by the murder.

Tanner, whose years in law enforcement had shown him his fair share of homicides, described Lowther's as "extremely brutal."

The brutality was made worse by knowing the victim and her family well, he said.

He remembered the Lowthers as people you could count on.

"They were the kind of people that would always take in a stray," Tanner said. "I don't know if I've every been around a married couple that were closer in every aspect."

Glass was arrested hours after Lowther was killed.

A Sheriff's Office investigator testified in August 2013 that Glass confessed almost immediately.

Like Mock, Tanner said he was happy with the life sentence Glass got.

"Hopefully it is helpful for the family," he said. "I'm satisfied that the last breath he will take will be inside a prison."

Mock prefers to think of her mother as she was before Glass came into her life.

"Everybody thinks their mom is wonderful," she said, "but my mom was just wonderful."

Follow Caitlin Turner on Twitter at twitter.com/Cait_E_Turner.

Related Content:

• Glass sentenced to life in prison in 2013 murder of Melanie Lowther of Pritchardville, December 9, 2015

This story was originally published December 11, 2015 at 7:46 PM with the headline "Murder victim was 'rock that kept everything together'."