Darrell Dee Bowens, a 28-year-old former resident of Palm Coast’s C-Section, had been in a relationship with a 28-year-old Palm Coast woman for eight years and is the father of two children with her.
On two previous occasions, in 2016 and 2017, he faced domestic battery charges (the 2017 charge, which was dropped, involved another woman he was romantically involved with), and was prosecuted in the earlier case, agreeing to a pre-trial intervention so the charge would eventually be dropped. The relationship ended last September, when he’d moved to an unknown address in Jacksonville, “due to Bowens becoming physical with her and strangled her to the point she felt she was going to die,” the alleged victim reported to Flagler County Sheriff’s deputies on Monday.
That day, Bowens was arrested on two felony charges of written threats to kill and aggravated stalking.
Until last week the woman had allowed Bowens to visit with his two young daughters as long as he interacted with them outside the house. She didn’t want to let him in for fear of him becoming abusive. The arrangement was working. Bowens “had been civil” when dropping by unannounced. That changed a week agio when he became upset after learning that his ex-girlfriend had started an intimate relationship with someone else.
Around that time, the woman and her new boyfriend allegedly started receiving threatening text messages from Bowens claiming that he “wanted to kill them both.” The morning of Feb. 14, while the couple and the two young girls were asleep, the alleged victim got a call from Bowens, wishing her a happy Valentine’s Day. He called at 3:30 in the morning. She asked him to stop calling so he wouldn’t wake up the girls. Before she hung up, she heard an insistent car horn outside. She called 911 and was advised to go into a room without windows. As she went to a bathroom, she saw a white Chevy Malibu shine its high beams into the house and drive off. The horn kept going off.
The woman became afraid for herself and her children as Bowens continued to make calls. She did not pick up. She stayed on the line with a 911 dispatcher until deputies arrived. In that time span she received some 30 text messages calling her misogynistic names and making overt threats: “It’s no longer suicidal it[‘s] now homicidal, I wanna kill you,” read one of the texts, according to Bowens’s arrest report. “I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
Bowens was arrested in Duval County and briefly jailed there. He was transferred to the Flagler County jail on Tuesday on a local warrant and held there on $17,500 bond. Should he post bail, he is under a no-contact order with the alleged victim. The written threats to kill charge is a second-degree felony. Aggravated stalking is a third-degree felony.
You and your neighbors collectively read our articles about 25,000 times each day (that's not a typo) with up to 65,000 daily reads during emergencies like hurricanes. Flagler County residents rely on FlaglerLive for essential, bold and analytical journalism that cannot be found anywhere else. But we depend on your support. Please join our December fund drive! If you donate the cost of a scoop of ice cream, you will be helping us continue to provide comprehensive local news and honest, serious journalism for our community. If you can donate more or become a monthly donor, even better. Donations are tax deductible since FlaglerLive is a 501(c)(3) non-profit news organization. Donate by clicking anywhere in this box. Think of it as buying a scoop, in every sense of the term!
Dismayed and Disgusted says
They continue to give these psycho people low bail and to tell them to behave, as if this works. That poor woman now has to live in fear that this guy will continue to stalk and threaten her and possibly murder her and her children. There needs to be higher bail for crimes like these. So many times, the stalker returns and either severely injures or kills the ex. They give pickpockets higher bail than this.
ASF says
Narcissists and Sociopaths use charm and “love-bombing”, until that no longer gets them what they want or they no longer feel compelled to “assume the mask.” Then, the real minster comes out.
Anniemouse says
Never know what be happenen behind doors closed. But Dee not a bad dude. I pray for all envolved
ASF says
His actions speak for themselves. And they say that he IS ” a bad dude.”
Incredulous says
So a Bail Bondsman will front the bail with a mere 10% down, so if he or a friend/relative can come up with $1,750 (about a month’s rent in C section) he is out to seek his revenge. Would you sleep well at night knowing that guy was out there somewhere free and stalking you after writing his intentions to kill you in a text?
Trailer Bob says
Should have gotten a higher bail, if any.
I guess we just have to wait until he kills his family before he is separated from the sane people.
And as far as some of his friends feel he is a nice dude…lots of people do bad things that they weren’t expected to do, but in this dudes case, it is absolutely written on the wall…he has snapped.
Allen Young says
Everyone always easy to judge but until you get involved in a love n hate relationship with a person all rules go out the window now I ain’t saying what happened is a excuse for him but I also met this young man and he is like a nephew of mine bc how close me n his dad was so I also met the mom and she is a wonderful n beautiful lady with good intentions just like my best friend his dad so if you don’t have nothing positive to say then shut the fuk up n hope you never have to be judged yea he made a mistake but he a human and deserves a new chance in life so I love him n his family and wish nothing but the best for all of them n if you don’t understand that well look in the mirror and see the fakest person it is which your got dam self
ASF says
He is making “mistakes” that can end up killing people and traumatizing his own children for life–so the pattern of abuse can continue.
It needs to stop somewhere and he is currently “Ground Zero”–so it should stop with him. No time like the present to send a clear message that this is absolutely NOT acceptable. Actions have consequences.
Mia says
I know him. Bad temper like his father. His father threatened me