{"id":326423,"date":"2026-08-21T04:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T04:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/326423\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T04:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T04:16:14","slug":"ny-woman-arrested-in-isis-inspired-plot-to-bomb-state-capitol-was-once-a-little-girl-waving-the-american-flag-after-9-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/326423\/","title":{"rendered":"NY woman arrested in ISIS-inspired plot to bomb state Capitol was once a ‘little girl waving the American flag after 9\/11’"},"content":{"rendered":"

An ISIS-inspired New Yorker who plotted to bomb the state Capitol in Albany<\/a>\u00a0was once a \u201clittle girl waving the American flag after 9\/11\u201d \u2014 before she turned to terrorism and started celebrating the deadly attacks.<\/p>\n

Jessica Bowie, 35, was arrested in Albany on Wednesday after the FBI foiled her alleged diabolical plan to place a bomb in a DoorDash food delivery bag at the Capitol and \u201cdestroy as much of the building as possible,\u201d the feds wrote in a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

Jessica Bowie, 35, who allegedly planned a deadly ISIS-inspired attack on the New York State Capitol in Albany, was allegedly once a \u201clittle girl waving an American flag after 9\/11.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie \u2013 \u00a0who became radicalized after converting to Islam five years ago and was going by the Islamic name \u201cAisha Saif\u201d \u2014 met with two FBI informants on the day she was captured, inside a car where she made the chilling admission that she was no longer the same person who once adored the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe went from a little girl waving an American flag after 9\/11 to now having stickers of the falling towers,\u201d Bowie eerily told one informant, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

She was just 10 years old when the World Trade Center fell in 2001. <\/p>\n

In the video and audio-recordings from Wednesday, Bowie also handed $150 in cash to the same informant to purchase a handgun \u2014 which was actually inert \u2014 a magazine and ammunition.<\/p>\n

The informant showed Bowie an inert explosive device that was built using components she purchased from a Home Depot on Aug. 5, while wearing a burqa.<\/p>\n

The wannabe terrorist then gave the informant $200 to donate to a bombmaker to fund the construction of more explosive devices \u2014 stating she \u201cwished she could fund a big operation,\u201d the complaint said.<\/p>\n

Jessica Bowie collects various items needed to build an explosive device, including a large plastic bin full of nails, at Home Depot on Aug. 5, 2026. FBI\/DOJ<\/p>\n

If her roommate accidentally discovered the bomb components, Bowie coldly told the informant she \u201cwould have to kill the roommate quietly,\u201d emphasizing she \u201cwould have to cut her.\u201d<\/p>\n

After exiting the vehicle with the firearm and the phony explosive, she was swiftly cuffed by the FBI \u2014 who also found knives on her and a \u201chandwritten bayah,\u201d or an oath of allegiance to ISIS.<\/p>\n

Authorities had tracked her for five weeks before the planned massacre \u2014 in which she allegedly plotted to \u201ctake out at least half\u201d of the 200 people inside the state Legislature building.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to destroy as much of the building as possible and kill the senators while they are meeting,\u201d she separately messaged an informant on July 29. <\/p>\n

Jessica Bowie of Schenectady breathes in the sweet smell of a rose at the Central Park Rose Garden on Thursday, Sept. 18, 2014, in Schenectady, NY. John Carl D’Annibale\/Albany Times Union via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cI want them to lose a lot of important documents as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

She had monitored the Capitol for weeks, taking pictures from various vantage points including an \u201cobservation hall nearby,\u201d according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

After she pulled off the attack, the ISIS-inspired militant was ready to\u00a0escape to Syria, according to the feds.<\/p>\n

And if her plot was successful, Bowie told an informant on Aug. 5 she could return to the US to plot more attacks \u2014 such as \u201cNew Year\u2019s Eve in Times Square,\u201d and \u201call kinds of good stuff that could be done in the future,\u201d the complaint said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It is not clear what led her to affiliate with Islamic extremists, but federal authorities on Thursday said the Schenectady resident had become radicalized online \u2014 and allegedly created several profiles on social platforms to \u201cespouse anti-American messages.\u201d<\/p>\n

Authorities on Thursday said that Bowie radicalized online and wanted a \u201ccomplete destruction of our government.\u201d Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n

An account linked to her posted \u201cPraise be to Allah for September 11th\u201d on May 28, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe told a source that she went from a little girl waving the American flag after 9\/11 to now having stickers of the fallen towers. Folks, let that sink in,\u201d FBI Special Agent in Charge at the Albany Field Office, Craig L. Tremaroli, told reporters at a press conference Thursday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, Ms. Bowie didn\u2019t just want to kill lawmakers; she wanted a complete destruction of our government.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An ISIS-inspired New Yorker who plotted to bomb the state Capitol in Albany\u00a0was once a \u201clittle girl waving…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326424,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[5301,4241,32579,37675,5970,13057,57,9,11,10,49,51,50,58],"class_list":["post-326423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-9-11","tag-albany","tag-bombs","tag-capitol","tag-fbi","tag-isis","tag-metro","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326423"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326423\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}