Coral Springs Vice Mayor Dead in Domestic Violence Incident

Nancy Metayer Bowen did not show up for her Coral Springs City Commission meeting on the morning of Wednesday, April 1. She did not answer her phone. Colleagues who could not reach her asked police to check on her. When officers arrived at her home around 10 a.m., they found the 38-year-old vice mayor dead in a second-floor bedroom.

Her husband, Stephen Bowen, 40, is charged with premeditated murder and tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. He is being held without bond at Broward County's main jail. The investigation is ongoing.

Who Nancy Metayer Bowen Was

Nancy Metayer Bowen was a first-generation American, an environmental scientist, and a trailblazer in South Florida politics. She was a graduate of Florida A&M University and held a master's degree in environmental health sciences from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

She was elected to the Coral Springs City Commission in 2020, becoming the first Black and Haitian-American woman to hold a seat on that body. She won re-election in 2024. Her fellow commissioners appointed her to serve a second term as vice mayor in November 2025.

Before her commission work, she led environmental justice efforts across Florida, with a focus on community resilience. She served on the Broward County Climate Change Task Force, the city's Affordable Housing Advisory Committee, and its Charter School Advisory Board. Her environmental work included responding to the aftermath of Hurricanes Irma, Michael, and Dorian through her tenure on the Broward County Soil and Water Conservation District.

In national politics, she served as Florida Caribbean Vote Director for both the Biden and Harris presidential campaigns in 2024. The Florida Democratic Party named her its Vice Chair of Haitian American Voter Engagement in March 2025.

She had just been appointed to the Florida League of Cities' Federal Action Strike Team. According to Rep. Jared Moskowitz, she was days away from officially announcing a run for Congress in the seat currently held by Rep. Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, who has faced ongoing ethics investigations.

What Authorities Have Said

According to the police affidavit, officers found Metayer Bowen's body wrapped in blankets and garbage bags. A pillow on the bed had burn marks and string consistent with use as a silencer. Stephen Bowen was not at the home when officers arrived. He was arrested approximately 12 miles away in Plantation, where authorities say he had gone to ask someone to conceal the weapon. In a police interview, Bowen's uncle said Stephen came to his home and told him he had shot his wife three times the night before. The affidavit states that when asked why, Bowen said he "couldn't take it anymore."

Coral Springs Police Chief Brad Mock confirmed the death is being investigated as a domestic violence incident and that there is no ongoing threat to the public.

Reactions From Those Who Knew Her

The response from colleagues, elected officials, and community members was immediate and grief-stricken.

Rep. Moskowitz, who said he had seen her just days earlier, wrote: "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. Nancy was one of the nicest people I worked with. Always fighting for her community, always pushing to help. She had such a future. This is terrible."

Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried said she had embraced Metayer Bowen at the party's Leadership Summit just two weeks earlier. "Nancy was not simply our Vice Chair of Haitian Outreach," Fried said. "She was a scientist. An environmentalist. A brilliant barrier-breaker."

Coral Springs City Manager Catherine Givens said: "She wasn't just a leader. She was the light in every room that she entered."

Commissioner Joshua Simmons, who called her his "battle buddy," said: "My soul is heavy. My heart is broken. She had such a good heart. She truly cared about people."

A Family Already Broken by Tragedy

The Metayer family had already been devastated months before Nancy's death. Her brother Joshua, 26, died in December 2025 after a long battle with schizophrenia. He had been a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland and was inside the building on February 14, 2018, when a gunman killed 17 students and staff members. The trauma of that day stayed with him. His family lost him, and then lost Nancy, within months of each other.

Her family released a statement after her death: "She believed in bringing people together, listening to those she served, and working tirelessly to create positive change. To us, she was a source of strength, wisdom, and love — someone who always put others before herself. While many knew her as a leader and advocate, we knew her as a sister, a daughter, and a friend whose warmth and laughter filled every room."

Coral Springs held a candlelight vigil in her honor at City Hall on Friday, April 3. The city asked attendees to bring white candles and wear orange or green. The investigation into her death continues.

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