Shockwaves continue to shake south Florida in the wake of Coral Springs Vice-Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen’s murder.
After the vice mayor was found dead in her residence on April 1, her husband, Stephen Bowen, was apprehended by local police in the nearby Florida city of Plantation.
Bowen was charged with murder after Metayer Bowen’s friend asked the police to conduct a wellness check on her because her husband “sounded suspicious” over the phone, Coral Springs Police Chief Brad Mock said.
Once in custody, Bowen confessed to the murder.
“Domestic violence can affect anyone,” Police Chief of the City of Homestead Mario Knapp told The Daily Signal. “Though it occurs behind closed doors, its impact is felt across entire communities, as it has in this case.
Knapp expressed his “condolences to the family of Coral Springs Vice Mayor Metayer Bowen.”
The friend requested a wellness check because Metayer Bowen was not responding to her friends’ phone calls. After the police found the councilwoman’s body wrapped in plastic bags in her home, they put out a call for Bowen’s arrest. License plate readers caught his vehicle driving north bound of the crime scene.
Vice Mayor of the Florida City of West Miami, Ivan Chavez Jr., described the situation to The Daily Signal as a “really sad moment.”
Florida Democrats were shocked by the news and believed Metayer Bowen had a bright future in politics.
“I’m in shock,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Fla., wrote on X on Wednesday. “I was just with her on Saturday. She just buried her brother. This is terrible.”
Her colleague, Coral Springs Commissioner Joshua Simmons, added that his “soul is heavy” and his “heart is broken.”
“She had such a good heart,” he continued. “She truly cared about people.”
In his statement, Moskowitz said that she planned on running for Congress in the near future.
“She was about to announce she was running for Congress,” he continued. “Nancy was one of the nicest people I worked with. Always fighting for her community, always pushing to help.”
“She had such a future,” he said.
Brown was first elected to the Coral Springs City Commission in 2020 and re-elected shortly after.
The congressional hopeful had previously interned for former U.S. Senator Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and former President Barack Obama, while a master’s student at Johns Hopkins University.
Prior to her political internships, Metayer Brown worked as a legal and outreach intern at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
In 2024, Metayer Brown, who is of Haitian descent, was first tapped by former President Joe Biden and later by former Vice President Kamala Harris to serve as the Florida Caribbean Vote Director for their presidential campaigns.
She then served as Vice Chair of Haitian American Voter Engagement for the Florida Democratic Party.
Republicans also expressed their condolences.
Miguel Granda, President of the Miami Young Republicans, echoed the public official’s remarks.
“Vice Mayor Metayer Bowen dedicated her life to serving her community, and it is a tragedy that her life was cut short by domestic violence,” Granda told The Daily Signal. “When we lose a public servant to such senseless violence, it is felt by an entire community.”
“Our condolences go out to the family of Coral Springs Vice Mayor Metayer Bowen,” Granda continued.
The Coral Springs Police Department did not reply to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.
