Boyfriend charged with woman's murder

NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. (WIVB) - Police have determined a woman found dead inside her North Tonawanda home two days ago was murdered. 

Early Saturday, Buffalo Police helped locate 32-year old Brian Lowry and turned him over to the North Tonawanda Police Department.  Lowry, was interviewed and subsequently arrested.  He is charged with murder in the death of Heather Rylowicz. 

Lowry's girlfriend, 34-year-old Heather Rylowicz, was found dead in the home they shared on Lincoln Avenue Wednesday night. An autopsy showed the machine operator was murdered.

Next-door neighbor Jackie Rogge said, "He just started coming [around] a few months ago. Up to that, she was alone for the last, probably, two years. He was in and out. He didn't work. He was on disability, from what I know."

Rogge says she occasionally heard the couple having minor arguments about things such as money or laundry. Lowry called Rylowicz "the best girlfriend... in the world!!" on his Facebook profile. On a recent picture of Rylowicz and her dog, Lowry commented: "I Am So Happy To Have YOU IN MY LIFE HEATHER."

Then, two weeks ago, Rylowicz's mail started piling up. Her car disappeared, and so did Brian Lowry.

"I feel bad now that I didn't go over sooner. But I just thought, maybe - 'cause I didn't hear her dog at all. So I figured, the dog wasn't there. Maybe something happened with her family. [But] I came home on Wednesday, and it just seemed... something was just bothering me. And then I heard the dog howling, so I rang the doorbell. And then the dog came down and was jumping in the window, so I knew there was something not right," Rogge recalled.

Rogge asked police for a welfare check.

Neighbor Dennis Wozniak said, "They tried to get into her house, knocking and everything else. Nobody would answer. I guess they tried calling, nobody would answer."

When officers went in, they found Rylowicz's body. The idea that she could've been there for two weeks bothers Jackie Rogge.

"You know, that guilt where, you could've done something. They keep telling me it wouldn't have changed the outcome, but maybe at least the dog would've been rescued a little bit sooner," Rogge said.