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The vice mayor of a Florida town, known for her dedication to environmentalism, was found dead inside her home on Wednesday.
Her husband has been arrested on suspicion of premeditated murder, police confirmed.
The body of Nancy Metayer Bowen, 38, the vice mayor of Coral Springs, a town in the metropolitan Miami area, was discovered by officers conducting a wellness check at her home, city officials said during a press conference at Coral Springs City Hall on Wednesday.
The Coral Springs Police Department has opened an investigation, authorities confirmed.
Police said her death appeared to be the result of a domestic incident and that her husband, Stephen Bowen, 40, was in custody. There were no additional suspects, officials said.
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He is accused of shooting Metayer Bowen and was taken into custody after police attended the couple’s home after concerned city officials contacted authorities to alert them that their colleague had missed work meetings and was not replying to messages.
According to an affidavit, a SWAT team found her body wrapped in blankets with three used shotgun shells.
A preliminary examination showed an apparent shotgun wound to Metayer Bowen’s left shoulder, it said.
The affidavit indicates that officers also spoke with a person who said Bowen told him he shot Metayer Bowen “three times with a shotgun the previous night and then slept downstairs.”
Investigators also observed a pillow on the bed where Metayer Bowen had been lying with burn marks and a string “as if it were fashioned as a makeshift silencer,” the affidavit states.
Her husband is facing premeditated murder and tampering with evidence charges, the document says.
Coral Springs Mayor Scott Brook, in a video message to city residents, described Metayer Bowen as his “right hand,” a “dear friend,” and “a true light in our city.”
The Coral Springs city website said Metayer Bowen was a “distinguished public servant” who was the first Black and Haitian American female commissioner of Coral Springs.
Metayer Bowen, who was elected in 2020 and re-elected in 2024, was appointed by her fellow commissioners in November 2025 to serve a second, one-year term as vice mayor for the City of Coral Springs.
She was also an environmental scientist who, during her tenure as commissioner, dedicated her time to “environmental justice efforts across the state of Florida,” the website says, including disaster relief projects in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma, Michael and Dorian.
Her family described her in an Instagram statement as a “dedicated public servant who committed her life to improving the lives of others.”
“Throughout her years in public office, she led with integrity, compassion, and an unwavering sense of purpose. She believed in bringing people together, listening to those she served, and working tirelessly to create positive change in her community,” the Metayer family wrote. “To us, she was a source of strength, wisdom, and love — someone who always put others before herself,” it continued.
“Her legacy will live on not only in the policies she helped shape, but in the countless lives she touched,” the family concluded.
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