A radicalized Muslim woman accused of planning an ISIS-inspired bombing at the New York State Capitol was described by her former roommates as “the roommate from hell.” Her housemates claimed she threatened to blow up their apartment building, according to statements made to The Post.
Jessica Bowie, 35, reportedly engaged in months of threatening behavior at her Albany apartment, which only ceased when she was evicted for not paying rent, explained roommates Zephyr Brennan and Ivory Thomas.
From January to July, Bowie allegedly played Islamic prayers at high volumes throughout the night from her bedroom in the Hudson Avenue townhouse. Roommates claimed she frequently became violent when confronted about this behavior.
“Looking back, the Arabic hymns at 2 a.m. should’ve been a red flag,” Brennan commented.
In the final two weeks at the apartment, Bowie reportedly wore Islamic garments that covered her completely, concealing her identity even from Brennan, who had known her for years prior to her conversion to Islam.
Thomas, 23, stated she contacted police seven times since January about Bowie, including for death threats, but claimed Albany City Police took no action.
“She tortured me for like six, seven months,” said Thomas, who moved in the same day as Bowie in January. “I could be dead right now.”
Thomas recounted the first threat she received from Bowie, who she referred to as the “accused jihadi Jane.”
“I was sitting in the living room area, I was on the phone with my boyfriend, and she walks past me and says, ‘I’ll bomb this whole place down,’” Thomas recalled.
Frightened by the threat, Thomas said she immediately called the police, who reportedly told her it was a “he-said-she-said” situation and no action could be taken.
On another occasion, Thomas called the police after Bowie allegedly yelled a threat when she thought she was alone in the house.
“[My boyfriend] hears Jessica saying, ‘Do you know how easy it is to put rat poison in your food, f—ts?’”
Thomas said she called the police again, but was informed they could not take action on the threat.
In another incident, a disagreement over garbage led Bowie to threaten Thomas’s life. Thomas called the police once more, but officers were unable to speak with Bowie as she refused to leave her room, Thomas said.
The Albany Police Department declined to comment on any calls related to Bowie’s home.
Thomas additionally reported Bowie to child protective services, alleging that Bowie allowed her 11-year-old son, who did not reside at the house, to smoke marijuana and Black and Mild cigars during visits and that he had harmed her cat.
Child protective service agencies in Albany declined to comment on any investigations involving Bowie or her family.
As tensions between the roommates escalated, the landlord offered Bowie a room in a nearby apartment with fellow Muslims in May. However, those tenants refused to live with Bowie, whom they knew from the local mosque Masjid As-Salam, citing an incident where she became angry over a joke, according to the landlord.
“She would go down to the mosque and they would turn her away. When does a mosque turn people away?” Thomas questioned.
Brennan, who moved in two weeks before Bowie’s eviction for non-payment of rent on July 14, had been friends with Bowie prior to her conversion to Islam.
From 2016 to 2019, Brennan knew Bowie as a talented prose and poetry writer, visual artist, and a caring mother of two boys in Schenectady, New York.
Bowie was also a recovering heroin addict diagnosed with schizophrenia, Brennan noted.
“I had spoken with her about her [schizophrenia diagnosis]. She was very candid at that point. It was like a throwaway line,” Brennan said. “There were moments where you could definitely tell she was unwell.”
Brennan, 35, was unaware she was living with her old friend because Bowie, who converted to Islam five years ago, never removed her niqab at home. The two had almost no interaction as Bowie would immediately go to her bedroom upon returning home during that time.
Bowie, known to Brennan only as “Jessica,” finally revealed her identity the night she was evicted after not paying rent.
“She turned around and she called me by my dead name,” said Brennan, who is transgender. “I had a moment of recognition and my face had dropped. For me to see her full black garb, basically assuming a cosplay of sorts, it was very weird. And she got very very aggressive.”
Instead of leaving the apartment, Bowie allegedly began breaking plates and making threats toward Brennan and her partner, Faye Savage.
Savage immediately texted the Albany Police Department, reporting Bowie’s violent behavior. Officers arrived and escorted Bowie from the property, according to texts provided to The Post.
After her eviction, Bowie left behind a clutter of items in garbage bags, including a book titled “Artificial Terrorists and Muslim Entrapment After 9/11,” with the faces of US Marshals and presumed terrorists on the cover obscured by black marker.
Many of Bowie’s belongings, including notebooks, were seized by the FBI after her arrest, according to the roommates.
Court documents indicated that Bowie, accused of plotting to attack the state capitol building with a bomb concealed in a DoorDash food delivery bag, told an FBI informant posing as an ISIS handler that she would kill her roommates if they discovered her plan.
Bowie allegedly joined ISIS via social media earlier this year after being urged by a recruiter to pledge allegiance to the group’s leader.
“We 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,” the user instructed her in Arabic, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Bowie reportedly purchased bomb-making materials from a Home Depot on August 5 while wearing a burqa, with plans to attack the Capitol building with the help of accomplices who turned out to be FBI informants, federal authorities stated. She was arrested on August 19 and charged with attempting to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
