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Stephen Bowen Shot Coral Springs Vice Mayor Three Times With Shotgun, Used Pillow as Silencer, Report Says

Stephan Bowen and Nancy Metayer Bowen.

The husband of slain Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen admitted he shot her “three times with a shotgun” Tuesday night and then went downstairs to sleep, according to a newly released arrest report detailing the killing.

The document indicates Bowen used a pillow as a silencer when he fatally shot his wife in bed, where police found her the following day, wrapped in black trash bags and blankets.

Bowen’s alleged statements are detailed in a probable cause affidavit that lays out, step by step, what detectives say happened inside the couple’s Coral Springs home and in the hours that followed.

According to the affidavit, concern first arose among the vice mayor’s colleagues on Wednesday morning when Metayer Bowen failed to appear at multiple scheduled public obligations, including an 8:30 a.m. charter school board meeting and a 9 a.m. Coral Springs commission meeting, where she was expected in her role as vice mayor.

Around 10 a.m., Coral Springs Police Chief Brad Mock contacted a major in the department “to notify him of concern expressed by city employees about NM’s absence from scheduled engagements,” the report states.

One person had received a text message from Metayer Bowen’s phone at 8 a.m. titled “Discussion Items,” but “did not receive any further communication from NM’s phone number.”

At 9:26 a.m., a colleague texted Stephen Bowen: “Hi Stephen! [redacted] here. I’m trying to reach Nancy. Can you pls ask her to call me?”

According to the affidavit, Bowen replied, “Hey [redacted] texted her. She is not picking up.” He later added, “Where is she? Her car is not at home.”

As concern grew, officers were dispatched to the home at approximately 10:21 a.m., but found no vehicles in the driveway and were unable to make contact with anyone inside. A witness told police they had seen Metayer Bowen walking her dog around midnight, but had not seen her since.

Police then attempted multiple times to contact Bowen by phone but “did not receive a response,” the affidavit states.

By late morning, the case had escalated into a missing person investigation. Around 12:30 p.m., a detective conducted an exterior inspection of Metayer Bowen’s home and spotted “two defects on the second-floor exterior on the north side.”

Investigators wrote that the damage “appeared consistent with force originating within the structure” and with “construction material displaced outward, and that exposed metal wiring appeared contorted, indicative of outward force.”

“Additionally, he observed fresh stucco and drywall debris on the ground directly below the damaged exterior surface, indicating the damage occurred recently,” the affidavit states. “The outward, explosive-like damage was consistent with damage caused by projectiles.”

Around 1:40 p.m., Fort Lauderdale Police located Stephen Bowen’s black Ford F-150 in a parking lot, and surveillance was established involving multiple agencies.

According to the affidavit, officers observed Bowen as “the sole occupant of the F-150” before he “made contact with another male” and handed him a bag.

“The bag appeared consistent with a firearm-carrying case commonly used to transport rifles and/or shotguns,” the report states. The unidentified man then entered a building with the bag and later exited without it.

Investigators later connected that interaction to a witness who told police Bowen had asked him to take “a black or gray bag that he described as a gun bag.” The witness said he “received the bag from Stephen Bowen and brought it into his apartment,” and that Bowen also placed ammunition boxes inside his vehicle.

The affidavit states that as Bowen was being taken into custody, he said, “Oh shit, they’re here for me.”

Around 1:50 p.m., Coral Springs Police received a 911 call from Bowen’s uncle, who said his nephew had come to his house earlier that morning and said “he did something to her… and that she was not alive.”

Due to the alarming information they had gathered, officers ultimately forced entry into Metayer Bowen’s home.

“Members of the Coral Springs Police SWAT team conducted a forced entry into the residence through a breached rear sliding glass door,” the affidavit states.

“During the sweep, a human body… was discovered in the bed of the second-floor master bedroom. The body did not display any signs of life, and was declared deceased at 2:24 p.m.” by a sergeant who identified the slain person as Metayer Bowen.

Investigators said Metayer Bowen had been shot. A preliminary examination noted injuries “that would be to her left shoulder,” along with burn marks and other trauma.

Search warrants executed at the home uncovered additional evidence described in detail in the affidavit.

Investigators found “three spent shotgun shells wrapped in the blankets within NM’s bed,” according to the report. A pillow “recovered on the bed NM laid on above burn marks and struck as if it were fashioned as a makeshift silencer.”

Police also recovered a shotgun that had been placed inside the same bag Bowen was seen handing off earlier.

Around 2:35 p.m., Bowen was taken into custody. The affidavit states he was advised of his Miranda rights and “stated he understood and invoked his right to counsel.”

Despite invoking his rights, investigators later obtained statements from witnesses recounting Bowen’s own description of the killing.

According to the affidavit, Bowen admitted that earlier that morning he had gone to another person’s residence and said he needed help holding an item, later clarifying that the item was a shotgun.

In a recorded interview summarized in the report, investigators wrote that Bowen said he “shot his wife” and “explained that he shot her three times with a shotgun the previous night.”

He told investigators that after the shooting, “he went downstairs. He went to sleep,” and that when he returned, “NM was [deceased].”

When asked why, the affidavit states Bowen said he “couldn’t take it anymore.”

The report also states that surveillance video shows Bowen arriving at the residence at approximately 9:53 a.m., speaking on the phone near the front door, entering at 9:55 a.m., and leaving again at 12:09 p.m.

Investigators noted that Bowen had indicated earlier he was planning to meet with an attorney “in 40 minutes,” but instead “left the residence alone, and in his F-150.”

Based on the totality of the evidence, investigators concluded that “probable cause exists to arrest Stephen Bowen for murder in the first degree and tampering or fabricating physical evidence.”

Bowen remains in the Broward Main Jail without bond as the investigation continues.

The Coral Springs Police Department Crimes Against Persons Unit (CAPS) is actively investigating the homicide and encourages anyone with information regarding this incident to contact Detective Daniel Powers at 954-346-1223 or dpowers@coralsprings.gov.

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Author Profile

Kevin Deutsch

Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.