The husband of Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen appeared in a Broward courtroom Tuesday, days after a grand jury indicted him in her murder.
Stephen Bowen, 40, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence in a written document filed by his attorneys earlier this month. His arraignment, scheduled for Tuesday morning, was waived due to the written plea, though Bowen still arrived at the courtroom, shackled and wearing an inmate jumpsuit labeled “max custody inmate.” His defense attorneys, Glenn Roderman and Philip Johnston, were not present.
Judge Ernest Kollra looks on as Stephen Bowen is led into the courtroom at the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday. His attorneys entered a written not guilty plea after he was indicted in the murder of his wife, Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun Sentinel)
A grand jury had indicted Bowen in the murder last week, as is standard in all first-degree murder cases, though the indictment was kept under seal. Judge Ernest Kollra on Tuesday ordered that the indictment be unsealed after speaking with Stephen Zaccor, the assistant state attorney in charge of the Broward State Attorney’s Office Homicide Unit.
The unsealed indictment formally charges Bowen with murdering Metayer Bowen with a firearm and tampering with evidence. The evidence he is accused of tampering with includes firearms and a cellphone, according to the indictment.
Bowen allegedly shot the vice mayor to death at their home with a shotgun that had been muzzled with a pillow, according to a probable cause affidavit. The next morning, on April 1, a city employee received a text message sent from Metayer Bowen’s phone number, titled “Discussion Items,” that was related to a meeting she had been scheduled to attend 30 minutes later.
After Metayer Bowen didn’t show up at the meeting, the employee texted Bowen asking if he could tell his wife to contact her, the affidavit said. Bowen replied that he “texted her. She is not picking up.”
Later that morning, Bowen went to his uncle’s house, where Bowen gave him a gun and told him he needed him to hold it for a couple of weeks, the uncle told police, according to the affidavit. Bowen met with a different man that afternoon and gave him a gun bag and ammo, the man later told police.
A status check is set for May 28.