FARMINGTON — A Carthage man who allegedly attacked his girlfriend, cutting her neck, saying, “I should kill you,” and telling her to die is charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault, police said.

Benjamin T. Bowie Jr., 47, appeared in Franklin County District Court via video Wednesday from the Franklin County Jail. Judge Charles Dow set his bail at $250,000 cash, as requested by Assistant District Attorney Joshua Robbins.

Benjamin BOWIE JR.

Bowie did not enter a plea, but his attorney, Thomas Carey, reserved the right to argue for bail. Bowie was arrested Tuesday on felony charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault after Wells police found him that afternoon at his aunt’s house in Wells. Police had been looking for him since Sunday.

The original warrant for Bowie’s arrest was for a domestic aggravated assault charge, but new information that Franklin County officers gathered from an interview with the victim prompted the new charges.

Franklin County Sheriff’s Deputy Andrew Morgan filed the information in an affidavit with the court Tuesday, saying that an argument at the couple’s trailer late on Oct. 31 led to Bowie threatening to kill the woman, punching her in the face, repeatedly slamming her head on the dashboard of his truck and making a 2-inch cut on her neck with his hunting knife.

Early on Sunday, Morgan and Cpl. Matthew Brawn went to 27 Francis Place in Carthage after the homeowner reported that a young woman bleeding from the neck had shown up at her house. Information released in Morgan’s affidavit confirmed that the home is that of Bowie’s mother, Gertrude Bowie.

When Morgan arrived, he saw the victim was bleeding from the neck. According to the affidavit, when Morgan asked the victim about her injury, she said Bowie had cut her throat with a knife.

At the Bowies’ home, Morgan saw a Chevrolet pickup truck parked in the driveway. The passenger side window was broken and blood was on the outside of the door. The truck is registered to Bowie Jr., according to the affidavit.

Franklin County Detective Kenneth Charles interviewed the victim Tuesday at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, where she had surgery for her injuries Sunday morning.

The woman told Charles that the altercation arose out of her request to stay at her father’s house that night because of the cold weather. She said Bowie got upset and jealous, accusing her of cheating on him with other men, the affidavit said.

The woman told Charles that Bowie drank at least 12 beers that night, and an undetermined amount of vodka. She also told him that Bowie had used heroin.

After Bowie punched her in the face, the victim fled to Bowie’s truck in the driveway, where she sat on the passenger side and Bowie sat in the driver’s seat. At that point, the victim said, Bowie took his hunting knife from his belt and poked her on the neck several times, leaving small scrapes, the affidavit says.

She told Charles that Bowie grabbed the back of her head and slammed her head onto the dashboard. The affidavit says Bowie then got out of the truck and the victim locked the doors, but through the partially open passenger-side window, Bowie reached in with his knife, cutting the victim’s neck.

Throughout the altercation, the victim said, Bowie was yelling, “Die, bitch, die,” and “I should kill you.”

She told Charles that she escaped and was unsure whose house she ended up running to for assistance.

On Monday, Franklin County put out a warrant for Bowie’s arrest, and on Tuesday he was found at his aunt’s house in Wells, where he was arrested, said Sheriff Scott Nichols.

Attempted murder carries a sentence of up to 30 years in prison and a $50,000 fine. Aggravated assault carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $20,000 fine.