Florida Vice Mayor Found Dead, Husband Arrested for Premeditated Murder

A friend's unanswered phone call Wednesday morning set off the chain of events that ended with the discovery of Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen's body at her home and the arrest of her husband miles away on charges of premeditated murder.

Metayer Bowen, 38, was found dead by officers conducting a wellness check at approximately 10:00 a.m. on April 1, 2026, at her residence in the 800 block of Northwest 127th Avenue in Coral Springs. The check was triggered after a friend who could not reach her called police following a conversation with her husband, Stephen Bowen, who "sounded suspicious." Authorities located Stephen Bowen, 40, at an apartment complex in Plantation, roughly 13 miles south of Coral Springs, using license plate readers. He was booked into the Broward County Jail in Fort Lauderdale on charges of premeditated murder and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

Coral Springs Police Chief Brad Mock confirmed the case "is being investigated as a domestic violence incident" and said there are no other suspects being sought. Court records had not yet listed a defense attorney for Stephen Bowen.

The killing sent a jolt through Florida's political establishment. Metayer Bowen was the first Black and Haitian American female commissioner in Coral Springs, first elected to the Coral Springs City Commission in 2020 and re-elected in 2024. Fellow commissioners appointed her to a second one-year term as vice mayor in November 2025. U.S. Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) disclosed she had been on the verge of a major next step. "I'm in shock. I was just with her on Saturday. She just buried her brother. She was about to announce she was running for Congress," he wrote on X, calling her "one of the nicest people" he had worked with.

Before her rise in local politics, Metayer Bowen built a career in environmental science, earning a Bachelor of Science from Florida A&M University and a Master of Health Science from Johns Hopkins University. She interned for the Obama administration, former Florida Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She spent approximately two years on Haiti relief efforts before joining the Broward County government, and her work on the Broward County Soil and Water Conservation District was credited as instrumental in addressing water crises and responding to Hurricanes Irma, Michael, and Dorian. During the 2024 presidential campaign, she served as Florida Caribbean Vote Director for both the Biden and Harris campaigns.

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said she had spoken with Metayer Bowen "just days ago" at the party's Leadership Summit. State Rep. Angie Nixon called her "friend, colleague and sister in the movement," adding that "the world is darker without her." Rep. Byron Donalds wrote on X: "Heartbroken to learn of the tragic loss of Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen. May justice be swift." City Manager Catherine Givens, speaking at a press conference, said: "To say today is a very dark day for us in Coral Springs is an understatement. Our hearts are truly broken."

The months before her death had already brought devastating personal loss. Her 26-year-old brother, Joshua Metayer, died by suicide in December 2025 after a years-long battle with schizophrenia. Joshua had survived the February 14, 2018, mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in nearby Parkland. Moskowitz's public grief made plain how recently those wounds had been fresh: she had just buried him.

Stephen Bowen was listed as chief operating officer of Men of St. Luke, a religious and fraternal nonprofit registered in Broward County. The investigation into Metayer Bowen's death remained ongoing in the South Florida city of approximately 134,000 people that she had served for six years.