DeSantis Orders Flags at Half-Staff for Slain Coral Springs Leader

Gov. Ron DeSantis ordered flags lowered to half-staff Friday at the state capitol and all state and local buildings in Coral Springs to honor Nancy Metayer Bowen, the city's vice mayor who was killed in an apparent domestic violence incident last month.

The order, directed in a memo to Florida Director of Real Estate Management and Development Brian Fienemann and Coral Springs Mayor Scott Brook, applies from sunrise to sunset Friday. DeSantis did not include a personal statement.

Metayer Bowen, 38, had built a profile that extended well beyond Broward County. An environmental scientist by training, she won election to the Coral Springs Commission in 2020, becoming the first Black and Haitian American woman to serve on that body. She ran unopposed for re-election in 2024 and was appointed vice mayor later that year. Her work touched issues — coastal sustainability, public health, housing access — that resonate deeply along the Treasure Coast, where Indian River Lagoon restoration and affordable housing pressures define daily civic life. Her loss removes a voice that advocates in Martin and St. Lucie counties had begun to watch closely.

Coral Springs police found Metayer Bowen deceased on April 1 after city staff grew concerned when she failed to appear at scheduled meetings and could not be reached. Officers conducting a wellness check discovered her body at her home. Her husband, Stephen Bowen, was taken into custody and faces charges of premeditated murder and tampering with evidence, according to public records.

The grief that followed was immediate and wide. Colleagues remembered her as a relentless advocate. Community leaders cited her Haitian American voter outreach work and her presence in statewide environmental and civic circles. In the weeks since her death, friends and supporters launched an endowment to sustain her legacy and support her family.

Bowen's husband remains in custody pending further court proceedings.

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