Husband shot Coral Springs vice mayor, wrapped her body in garbage bags, police say

The husband of the Coral Springs vice mayor allegedly shot her to death and wrapped her body in blankets and garbage bags before confessing the crime to a family member, according to an arrest report.

The body of Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen was found at her home in the 800 block of Northwest 127th Avenue at around 10 a.m. Wednesday after an investigation into her wellbeing, Coral Springs Police Chief Brad Mock told reporters at a news conference.

Police arrested her husband, 40-year-old Stephen Bowen, in what Mock said was being investigated as an incident of domestic violence.

An arrest report reveals the chilling details that led to Stephen Bowen’s arrest.

Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen reported missing

City officials were the first to alert police after Metayer Bowen did not show up to scheduled meetings. The last text sent from her phone was to a local official about “discussion items,” sent at 8 a.m.

When they tried to text her husband, he replied: “She is not picking up.” Later, the arrest report states that he texted, “Where is she? Her car is not at home.”

Police responded to the home the couple shared in Coral Springs, but they were unable to get in touch with Stephen Bowen. His parents also responded to the house at around 11:23 a.m., police said, because the vice mayor’s mother had asked them to check on her.

Outside the home, authorities noticed “explosive-like damage” to the second-floor that had appeared to come from the inside, “consistent with damage caused by projectiles.”

Stephen Bowen’s reported confession and effort to hand off weapons

At 1:15 p.m., police said they received a 911 call from Bowen’s uncle, who said his nephew had come to his house at around 10 a.m. and “told him that he did something to her… and that she was not alive.”

The uncle said Bowen had asked him to “hold something for a couple of weeks, but warned him that he would need a pair of gloves or a bag.” Bowen then clarified that it was a shotgun.

When his uncle asked if he’d shot someone, Bowen allegedly replied that he’d shot his wife.

“Stephen Bowen explained that he shot her three times with a shotgun the previous night and then slept downstairs. He went on to say that NM was rolled up in a comforter with a garbage bag around her feet,” the arrest report describes. “When aked why, Stephen Bowen said that he, ‘Couldn’t take it anymore.'”

Despite his family’s efforts, Bowen left their home, the report states.

Meanwhile, authorities had been tracking Stephen Bowen’s Ford F-150 and saw him pull up to a parking lot in Plantation at around 1:39 p.m. There, the arrest report states that he made contact with another man and gave him a bag that looked like “a firearm-carrying case commonly used to transport rifles and/or shotguns.” The man later told police that he also put “ammo boxes inside his vehicle for Stephen Bowen,” according to the arrest report.

The man said that he and Bowen are Masons, that Bowen had asked to meet and they were discussing an upcoming meeting. He said he did not know that Bowen had been involved in anything criminal, but when authorities arrived and took them into custody, Bowen reportedly said, “Oh s—, they’re here for me.”

The shotgun was later recovered in the bag Bowen gave the man, police said.

Police find Nancy Metayer Bowen’s body

After that, police forced entry into the couple’s home, where “a human body wrapped in blankets and black garbage bags was discovered in the bed of the second-floor master bedroom.”

The deceased was identified as Nancy Metayer Bowen.

While police searched the home, they found three spent shotgun shells wrapped in the blankets with the victim’s body. They also found a pillow that had “burn marks and string as if it were fashioned as a makeshift silencer.”

Stephen Bowen’s arrest

Stephen Bowen was arrested in Plantation. Cellphone video shows him with his hands behind his back as an officer stands next to him. He is wearing a long-sleeved shirt, athletic shorts and sneakers.

He was officially booked overnight on charges of first-degree pre-meditated murder and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, jail records show.

On Thursday morning, Stephen Bowen appeared before a judge in a bond court hearing where he was ordered held without bond.

“I have reviewed the probable cause affidavit. The court does find probable cause for the charges,” the judge said.

An attorney invoked his right to remain silent and not be questioned by law enforcement.