Indictment of Stephen Bowen unsealed, charging him with vice mayor’s murder

The indictment has been unsealed charging Stephen Bowen with the murder of his wife, Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer, following a court appearance Tuesday.

Bowen, 40, appeared without his attorneys for the April 28 scheduled arraignment at the Broward County courthouse, where prosecutors asked the indictment be unsealed.

His attorneys didn’t attend the hearing, relying on the written not guilty plea they filed on his behalf April 7.

He’s being represented by Glenn Roderman and Philip Johnston of Roderman & Johnston after the public defender’s office asked to recuse itself on the basis of some of the attorneys’ relationships with the vice mayor.

The indictment shows a grand jury has charged Bowen with first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm and tampering with evidence, namely a firearm and cell phone. The indictment was entered in court records April 22.

Bowen is accused of fatally shooting Metayer, 38, at their Coral Springs home April 1, then trying to get his uncle and a friend to conceal his shotgun. He reportedly had a panic attack the day before her death, then told his uncle he had killed his wife, saying he “couldn’t take it anymore,” according to a probable cause affidavit.

Metayer was a celebrated public figure with deep ties to South Florida politics, the environmental sustainability movement and the Haitian American community, becoming the first Black woman and Haitian American elected to the Coral Springs City Commission in 2020.

After reaching Bowen’s attorney by phone from the courtroom, Judge Ernest A. Kollra scheduled a status hearing for May 28.