The husband of late Coral Springs vice mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen pleaded not guilty to her murder in a court appearance on Tuesday.
Stephen Bowen was indicted by a grand jury on April 22, but those records were sealed until Judge Ernest Kollra ordered them unsealed on Tuesday. Bowen has been formally charged with murder in the first degree and tampering with physical evidence, namely the gun he used in the murder and a cellphone. He pleaded not guilty in a written statement earlier this month.
Bowen is accused of murdering Metayer Bowen with a shotgun on March 31. He allegedly used a pillow to muffle the noise. According to police, the next morning, at 8 a.m., a Coral Springs commission staffer received a text message from Metayer Bowen’s phone labeled “Discussion Items” in relation to early morning meetings she was expected to attend. When she didn’t arrive, staff reached out to Bowen who claimed he also tried to contact Metayer Bowen but had not heard back.
Bowen then went to his uncle’s house where, according to arrest paperwork, he told his uncle that he “did something to [Nancy] and that she was not alive.”
Bowen then allegedly gave a bag containing the shotgun he used to shoot Metayer Bowen to a man who Bowen knew through a masonic lodge before he was apprehended by police.
A status check for the case is scheduled for May 28.
This is a News In Brief report. Visit WLRN News for in-depth reporting from South Florida and Florida news.
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