Suspect in wife's killing charged with capital murder; Arkansas man had planned to torture her first, police say

Matthew Bolen
Matthew Bolen

Capital murder and kidnapping charges were filed Monday against a Harrison man accused of shooting his estranged wife in front of her house before leading police on a four-day manhunt.

Matthew Bolen, 36, borrowed a 9mm pistol from a friend Jan. 21 ostensibly to go coyote hunting, according to an affidavit filed Monday in Boone County Circuit Court.

The next day, he used the gun to shoot Heaven Bolen, 26, who died at a Springfield, Mo., hospital, Harrison Police Chief Paul Woodruff said.

Friends and family told police that Matthew Bolen was obsessed with his wife's previous relationships, according to the affidavit, which was written Jan. 23 by Sgt. Jason Causey, a detective with the Harrison Police Department.

Bolen found a pair of handcuffs at the house that he and Heaven shared before separating a couple of months ago, according to the affidavit. Matthew Bolen believed the handcuffs belonged to someone his wife was seeing, Daniel Bolen, Matthew Bolen's brother, told police.

On Jan. 22, when police found Heaven Bolen bleeding from a gunshot wound in the head in a paved alleyway across from her house, her hands were handcuffed in the front, Woodruff said.

The police chief said he believes that the handcuffs on Heaven Bolen that day were the ones Matthew Bolen had found in their house. Woodruff said Heaven Bolen had been seeing someone who was at one time a law enforcement officer in the area, but not at the Harrison Police Department.

Woodruff said it appeared that Matthew Bolen planned to torture his wife before killing her. Heaven Bolen managed to escape and run from her house before Matthew Bolen chased her down and shot her in the back of the head around noon that day, Woodruff said.

"Obviously, his plan fell apart," Woodruff said.

Inside her house, investigators found a bag that contained a ball-peen hammer, a pair of wire pliers, a knife, tin snips, rope, duct tape, Matthew Bolen's truck keys and chewing tobacco, the police chief said.

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He said Matthew and Heaven Bolen had two children, an 8-year-old girl and a 4-year-old boy. Matthew Bolen dropped the children off at his sister's house before the shooting, Woodruff said.

Matthew Bolen had parked his Chevrolet Silverado pickup at the Hotel Seville and walked two blocks to Heaven Bolen's house on Prospect Street, carrying the bag and the pistol, Woodruff said.

Matthew Bolen hid in his wife's house and waited for her to come home, which she did at about noon on Jan. 22, the police chief said.

After the shooting, Matthew Bolen left the scene in Heaven Bolen's Chevrolet Equinox.

He drove to three residences -- his father's, sister's and a friend's -- telling them that he had shot Heaven Bolen, according to the affidavit. He told two of them that Heaven Bolen had "admitted everything," wrote Causey.

Then, Matthew Bolen drove 134 miles to Elkins and back, stopping to withdraw money from an ATM and to buy chewing tobacco and a soda, Woodruff said.

After returning to Boone County, Matthew Bolen abandoned the vehicle on Arkansas 392, less than a mile from his father's house north of Batavia, where Matthew Bolen had been staying since separating from his wife.

The manhunt for Matthew Bolen ended Jan. 26 when he surrendered to police. Woodruff said Matthew Bolen had been sleeping in the woods while he was on the loose.

Bolen is being held in the Boone County jail without bail.

Matthew Bolen was employed at Wabash Wood Products in Harrison, which manufactures laminated oak floors for tractor-trailers.

Heaven Bolen ran a day care business. According to her Facebook page, she was originally from Clyde, Ohio.

Metro on 02/07/2017

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