On Wednesday, Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen, 38, was found dead inside her Florida home, and her husband, Stephen Bowen, has been charged.

After officials reportedly noticed she’d missed some work meetings, Police were asked to conduct a wellness check; officers soon discovered Metayer Bowen’s body around 10 a.m. at her residence in the 800 block of Northwest 127th Avenue in Coral Springs, about 20 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale.

According to NBC News, the Broward Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Stephen Bowen, 40, is now in custody and faces one count of premeditated murder and one count of tampering with or fabricating physical evidence.

City officials describe Metayer Bowen’s case as domestic in nature and said there are no other suspects at this time, with authorities stressing that the public is not in danger.

“She led with integrity, compassion, and an unwavering sense of purpose,” her family wrote in a public statement. “She believed in bringing people together, listening to those she served, and working tirelessly to create positive change in her community. To us, she was a source of strength, wisdom, and love—someone who always put others before herself.”

Metayer Bowen was a trailblazer and a rising political star; she is the first Black and Haitian American woman to serve as a commissioner for Coral Springs. 

She was first elected to the City Commission in 2020 and won reelection in 2024, later being appointed vice mayor and then reappointed to a second one‑year term.

She was also vice chair of the Florida Democratic Party and a longtime environmental scientist focused on environmental justice and community resilience. 

“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,” said Rep. Jared Moskowitz, D-Florida. “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.”

Moskowitz referred to Metayer Bowen's brother, Donovan Joshua Leigh Metayer, who died by suicide in December 2025 at the age of 26 after a lengthy struggle with mental health. He was a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, when a mass shooting killed 17 people. 

“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,” Metayer Bowen’s family stated. “Her legacy will live on not only in the policies she helped shape, but in the countless lives she touched.”

Court records show Stephen Bowen is being held in the main Broward County jail without bond after a judge found sufficient probable cause for the charges.