Inset: Jessica B. Ferland (Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office). Background: The street in North Carolina where Ferland killed her boyfriend Jaquan Devaughen Bowen (Google Maps).
A 41-year-old woman in North Carolina will spend at least a decade in prison for killing her boyfriend, shooting him in the temple after he sided with the woman’s ex-husband in a custody dispute over their children.
Buncombe County Superior Judge Jacqueline Grant ordered Jessica Barnes Ferland to serve 125 to 157 months in a state correctional facility for the 2024 slaying of 26-year-old Jaquan Devaughen Bowen, authorities announced.
According to a news release from the Buncombe County District Attorney’s Office, Grant handed down the sentence after Ferland reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder. She had initially been charged with first-degree murder.
Officers with the Asheville Police Department at about 12:34 a.m. on Oct. 3, 2024, responded to reports of a shooting in the 100 block of Laurel Loop in West Asheville, which is about 125 miles northwest of Charlotte. Upon arriving, first responders located a man, later identified as Bowen, suffering from a gunshot wound to the side of the head.
Ferland, identified as Bowen’s girlfriend, was “holding paper towels to his head in an effort to staunch the bleeding” when police first entered the home. Officers began lifesaving procedures before medics transported Bowen to nearby Mission Hospital with “life-threatening injuries.”
The investigation determined that just before the shooting, Ferland and Bowen were on her porch arguing about Bowen’s role in Ferland’s legal dispute over custody of her children. Investigators said both had consumed alcohol that evening.
“The dispute involved an affidavit Bowen had written in support of Ferland’s ex-husband’s custody case, which questioned Ferland’s parenting,” prosecutors wrote in the release. “Seeking to intimidate Bowen, Ferland retrieved a .22-caliber pistol and pointed it at his head and pulled the trigger. The weapon initially dry-fired, prompting Bowen to shrug in response. Enraged, Ferland pulled the trigger a second time, and the gun discharged, striking Bowen in the temple.”
A dry fire means there is no bullet in the gun’s chamber when the trigger is pulled.
After the shooting, Ferland called 911 and remained at the home until authorities arrived.
In a post-Miranda interview with detectives, Ferland insisted that the shooting was “accidental,” claiming she “did not intend to kill Bowen.” Rather, Ferland said she just wanted Bowen to “take her seriously and to understand her grief in losing custody of her children.”
Sam Snead, Ferland’s defense attorney, contended that his client believed the 60-year-old revolver was not loaded both times she pulled the trigger, the Citizen Times reported.
One day after the shooting, Bowen succumbed to his injury and was pronounced dead.
The DA’s office said it only reached the plea agreement with Ferland after consultation with the victim’s family.
