A man who was out of jail on bond after being accused of strangling his former girlfriend was arrested by Washington Township police after she told them he threatened to kill her and broke into her house the same day he was released.

Colby Matthew Bowling, 28, of the 300 block of Sardis Road in Murrysville was charged with felony counts of criminal trespass and burglary along with counts of loitering, harassment, simple assault and making terroristic threats.

He was being detained in the Westmoreland County jail in lieu of a $50,000 cash bond, according to court records. Bowling faces a preliminary hearing on the charges before District Judge Jason Buczak on Monday, Oct.31, according to court records.

An officer wrote in the criminal complaint charging Bowling that the woman called police about 11:30 p.m. Sept. 25 to report that Bowling was outside the house banging on the doors to be let inside.

She told police he threatened to kill her and then fled on foot toward Route 66, according to the complaint.

Before officers arrived at the woman’s home, she called 911 a second time to report that Bowling broke into the house by removing an air conditioner unit and climbing through the window, the complaint said.

She told police that a friend who was at the house chased Bowling out, police said.

The woman told police that when Bowling began banging on the door, she tried “to talk to him civilly” but he responded with a string of vulgarities, the complaint said.

Bowling is accused of calling the woman after he left her house and threatening to kill her before returning to break in through the window, according to his arrest papers.

She also told police he called her several times a week while he was in jail in violation of a no-contact order, the complaint said.

The woman told police in the written statement that she didn’t report his no-contact violations because she “felt bad he was getting jail time.”

Several officers searched the area surrounding the woman’s home but could not locate Bowling, police said. He was taken into custody after an arrest warrant was issued, court records show.

Bowling was arrested by Washington Township police in August on charges of strangulation, simple assault, reckless endangerment and harassment. He was ordered to stand trial on the charges during a Sept. 12 preliminary hearing, according to court records.

Bowling’s previous convictions include a guilty plea in February 2019 to counts of simple assault, false identification to law enforcement and possession of marijuana filed by Jeannette police. He was sentenced to 13 months of probation, court records show.

In October 2019, he pleaded guilty to a felony count of stalking, along with counts of false identification to law enforcement, simple assault and public drunkenness filed by Greensburg police. He was sentenced to attend an intermediate punishment program for two years along with a year of probation, according to court records.

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