SANTA CLARITA / ANTELOPE VALLEY : Man Pleads Not Guilty in Saugus Slaying

Mark Mearl Bowersock pleaded not guilty Thursday in Newhall Municipal Court to charges of murdering his ex-girlfriend and stealing her car last week at a Saugus home, authorities said.

Bowersock, 38, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted of the first-degree murder of Laurel Ann Prejean, 36, who was shot at her sister’s home last Friday, said Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Damon. Bowersock is in custody without bail.

Prosecutors said Bowersock was released from jail five days before the slaying and may have tracked down Prejean, with whom he had lived at various San Fernando Valley residences. He had been jailed for violating his probation on a conviction last year of beating another former girlfriend.

Prejean was on the telephone at her sister’s house about 3 p.m. when she suddenly screamed for help. A woman on the other phone called sheriff’s deputies, who found Prejean’s body in the house with a single bullet wound in the upper torso.

Bowersock surrendered to police Wednesday after calling a television reporter from a North Hills motel room and stating he would give up if the reporter would interview him. He told a television interviewer “I didn’t do it” as he was led to a police car.

Deputy Public Defender John Ponist said he was gathering evidence had did not “have anything dramatic” to verify Bowersock’s claim of innocence.

A preliminary hearing, to determine if there is enough evidence against Bowersock to hold him for trial, is scheduled for Feb. 23.