Charges pending for man accused of murdering roommate
Charges are expected to be filed Friday against a Cathedral City man who allegedly killed his 66-year-old roommate, Anita Mimie Cowen, whose body was found in the backyard of their home.
Scott Edmund Pettigrew, 50, was arrested Wednesday morning on suspicion of murder and was booked into the Larry D. Smith Correctional Facility in Banning, where he’s being held on $1 million bail. He’s due in court at the Larson Justice Center in Indio on Friday.
KESQ and CBS Local 2 spoke to the victim’s friend on Thursday morning, and she said what began as an eviction dispute, tragically turned out to be deadly.
Cowen’s friend told us she leaves behind two sons.
According to Lt. Glen Haas with the Cathedral City Police Department, officers were called to the 69000 block of Heritage Court on Tuesday at about 11:40 p.m. to check on the welfare of Anita Mimie Cowen. Her family had contacted police because when they spoke to her on the phone earlier that night, they said they heard a verbal and physical disturbance in the background.
Officers arrived to find Cowen unresponsive in the backyard of the residence. They were unable to revive her and she was pronounced deceased at 12:17 a.m., according to Lt. Haas.
CCPD is investigating Cowen’s death as a homicide, but they haven’t released specifics about how she died yet. As a result of the investigation, they arrested her roommate, Scott Pettigrew at 2:45 a.m. Wednesday, according to jail records.
Pettigrew does not have any felony convictions in Riverside County, but does have a pending public intoxication case resulting from a January arrest in Palm Springs, according to court records.
The investigation is ongoing and CCPD detectives are asking anyone with information about the incident to call them at (760) 770-0303.