{"id":327393,"date":"2026-08-22T14:16:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T14:16:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/327393\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T14:16:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T14:16:22","slug":"messages-reveal-simple-way-jessica-bowie-joined-isis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/327393\/","title":{"rendered":"Messages reveal simple way Jessica Bowie joined ISIS"},"content":{"rendered":"

The wannabe upstate jihadi Jane charged with plotting to bomb the New York State Capitol<\/a> joined ISIS through social media after a recruiter urged her to take an oath to \u201cobey\u201d the terrorist group\u2019s leader, chilling messages reveal.<\/p>\n

Jessica Bowie, 35 \u2014 who planned to attack the building with a bomb hidden in a DoorDash food delivery <\/a>bag \u2014 appeared clueless after the unidentified militant sent her a message on a \u201cwell-known\u201d social media site on May 28, according to a federal criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe pledge our allegiance to the Commander of the Faithful and the Caliph of the Muslims, the Mujahid Sheikh Abu Hafs al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, to listen and obey,\u201d\u00a0the user instructed her in Arabic to say, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Jessica Bowie, a 35-year-old ISIS-inspired militant, allegedly planned a deadly attack on the New York State Capitol in Albany. She allegedly purchased bomb materials from a hardware store on Aug. 5, 2026.<\/p>\n

Bowie then asked in a bumbling reply, \u201cSo, I\u2019m just saying this?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cUntil you join the [Islamic State],\u201d the user responded.<\/p>\n

\u201cSaying this means joining the [Islamic State]?\u201d she asked again,\u00a0before the user wrote back, \u201cYes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie immediately sent the user an audio file of herself saying the oath, which vowed loyalty to the current leader of ISIS<\/a>, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

The exchange was part of\u00a0Bowie\u2019s \u201cbayah\u201d \u2014 a formal oath of allegiance in the Islamic tradition \u2014 and hints at how she became \u201cradicalized online,\u201d according to authorities.<\/p>\n

She allegedly then sent a second audio file vowing official allegiance to ISIS to another \u201cjihadist\u201d through a different social media site on May 30.<\/p>\n

Evidence photos are pictured at a press conference at the United States Courthouse in Albany, NY, on Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026. Lone Pine Press for NY Post<\/p>\n

Bowie \u2014\u00a0a loner living in a low-budget apartment in Albany with a roommate \u2014\u00a0joined Islam five years ago, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Bowie\u2019s mother appears to be Catholic, according to social media posts, though it wasn\u2019t immediately clear if Bowie herself was raised in the religion.<\/p>\n

During online exchanges, she sent\u00a0messages revealing that\u00a0she planned\u00a0to move from Albany to ISIS-run territory in the Middle East, according to the feds.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWhen I can migrate, I will poison these infidels,\u201d she wrote in another message on social media, according to the criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

Bowie also told the FBI informants she was inspired by the Islamic terrorist attack on Berlin\u2019s gay pride festival last month that left one person dead and 29 injured.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look at this brother in, what is it? Germany? He did a great thing, but only one person died. When he rammed into the crowd of the people,\u201d she allegedly told the\u00a0informant.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear which social media sites Bowie used, but she was sometimes kicked off for expressing radical Islamic views, according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

Bowie seen collecting 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

\u201cPraise be to Allah for September 11th,\u201d she allegedly wrote on one account in May.<\/p>\n

Bowie allegedly bought\u00a0bomb materials from a Home Depot on Aug. 5, while wearing a burqa, and planned to blow up the Capitol building with help from accomplices, who turned out to be FBI informants,\u00a0 according to federal authorities.<\/p>\n

She told an informant that she went from a little girl \u201cwaving the American flag\u201d after 9\/11 to now having stickers of the fallen towers, according to the feds.<\/p>\n

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First Assistant US Attorney John A. Sarcone III said at a press conference that Bowie was on the feds\u2019 radar for weeks leading up to her arrest and was believed to have been \u201cradicalized online.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ISIS-inspired militant planned to escape to Syria after the attack, according to the feds.<\/p>\n

Bowie was arrested Wednesday.<\/p>\n

After her bust, she allegedly told FBI agents, \u201cThere\u2019s no helping me, you guys know enough, there\u2019s no helping me, I\u2019m \u2026 going to prison for the rest of my life,\u201d according to the complaint.<\/p>\n

\u201cMaterial support is up to 20 years in prison, I already Googled it before, I know I\u2019m going to jail,\u201d she allegedly said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The wannabe upstate jihadi Jane charged with plotting to bomb the New York State Capitol joined ISIS through…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":327394,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7080,13057,57,9,11,10,49,51,50,4015,58],"class_list":["post-327393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-bombings","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-social-media","tag-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327393","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=327393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/327393\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/327394"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=327393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=327393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=327393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}