Vice mayor’s husband fatally shot her, said he ‘couldn’t take it anymore’: police

The husband of slain Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen told a family member he killed his wife with a shotgun the night before her body was found, saying he “couldn’t take it anymore,” an affidavit reveals.

Stephen Bowen, 40, is charged with premeditated first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence. He’s being held without bond.

His uncle told police his nephew showed up to his house at around 10 a.m. on Wednesday, April 1, and said he “did something to her,” referring to his wife, according to a probable cause affidavit.

He said his nephew asked him to hold onto something for a couple weeks, adding his uncle might need a pair of gloves, police wrote.

The item was a shotgun, according to investigators.

Stephen Bowen reportedly told his uncle he had used it to shoot his wife three times the night before in their bedroom, then he slept downstairs, according to the affidavit. He said he had rolled her body in a comforter and garbage bag, police said.

His uncle asked him why, and said his nephew responded that he “couldn’t take it anymore,” police wrote. The family member declined to comment further on the incident to the Coral Springs News.

At around the same time Stephen Bowen visited his uncle, Metayer Bowen’s colleagues were growing concerned for her wellbeing after she missed two city meetings that morning.

Police Chief Brad Mock contacted a major in his department over concern expressed by the commissioners regarding her absence. Mock was attending the morning City Commission meeting that Metayer Bowen missed.

A city employee texted Stephen Bowen at 9:26 a.m., saying “I’m trying to reach Nancy. Can you pls ask her to call me?” according to the affidavit.

Stephen Bowen responded, “She is not picking up,” then later in the exchange: “Where is she? Her car is not at home,” records show.

Police headed to the couple’s Coral Springs home but found neither of their cars were there. Officers couldn’t get in touch with Stephen Bowen, but his parents arrived at the couple’s home because Metayer Bowen’s mom told them law enforcement was trying to locate her.

Stephen Bowen’s parents told police they weren’t aware of any marital issues the couple may have had. In their last conversation with their son March 31, he told them he’d had a panic attack at work and was going to speak to his wife about it, records show.

Police ran the couple’s license plates through a reader system and said they got a hit on Stephen Bowen’s pickup truck in Fort Lauderdale.

Investigators tracked his Ford F-150 to a parking lot in Plantation and set up surveillance, at which point they saw Bowen hand another unknown man a bag that looked like a firearm case. The unknown man entered a nearby building with the bag, then left the building without it, police said.

At around the same time, police got a 911 call from Stephen Bowen’s uncle, who told them his nephew showed up at his house at around 10 a.m. and said he had killed his wife, according to the affidavit.

Stephen Bowen told his uncle he was going to talk to an attorney, but then he left and went to Plantation to hand off the gun to a friend, a fellow Freemason, police said. When police executed a search warrant at the friend’s residence, they reported finding a shotgun in the bag Bowen handed off.

At that point, police decided to enter the couple’s home, where they said they found Metayer Bowen’s body wrapped in black garbage bags and blankets in the bedroom on the second floor.

Investigators found three shotgun shells nearby and a pillow on the bed with burn marks that indicated Stephen Bowen used it as a “makeshift silencer,” according to the affidavit. Metayer Bowen had a gunshot wound on her left shoulder.

Stephen Bowen was taken into custody in Plantation at around 2:30 p.m. Coral Springs investigators headed to Plantation to pick Bowen up, at which point Bowen invoked his Miranda rights.

This story was originally published April 2, 2026 at 1:33 PM.