Man accused of fatally stabbing ex-girlfriend

BELLEVILLE, Ill. -- An East St. Louis man with a history of physically abusing his ex-girlfriend was accused Thursday of stabbing her to death five days after she ominously posted on Facebook that she feared her life was in danger.

St. Clair County prosecutors charged Montrell Cooper, 25, with first-degree murder in last weekend's death of Michelle Rowling, the 25-year mother of Cooper's 3-year-old daughter.

Cooper, who surrendered Tuesday on charges that he violated his probation, remained jailed Thursday on $2 million bond related to the murder count.

Authorities accuse Cooper of killing Rowling, who also had a 7-year-old son unrelated to Cooper, Saturday during a confrontation in her East St. Louis apartment. Cooper twice has pleaded guilty to felony charges that he battered Rowling over the past two years.

In a February 2012 case, he admitted he cut her neck with a kitchen knife. In an August case, prosecutors alleged he pushed Rowling in "an insulting or provoking nature." Cooper pleaded guilty to that battery charge Nov. 25 and was sentenced to probation -- the same punishment as the kitchen attack.

That day of Cooper's latest release from jail, Rowling posted an ominous message on Facebook, telling her friends that "if anything happens to me tonight" to convey her love to her children and mother. Acquaintances pressed her for details. Rowling, using profanity, replied that she "just got some ... news" and "yeah it's scary."

Rowling's mother, Cathy McGolson, told The Associated Press during a brief telephone conversation Wednesday that she saw those postings and called her daughter but was offered no details.

St. Clair County's top prosecutor, Brendan Kelly, insisted Thursday his office did everything it could to try to protect Rowling. While prosecutors sought prison time for Cooper in the domestic violence cases, Kelly said, Rowling successfully lobbied for probation despite having labeled him "a dangerous individual" in her successful petitions for court-ordered protection against Cooper.

"With both of these cases, we tried to keep him in jail as long as the law would allow. But once he was given probation, he had to be released," Kelly said. "These are always difficult cases, but it's our feeling that because of cases like this we have to do everything we can in hopes such tragic outcomes can be avoided."