An Oregon mother who had been excitedly saving gift cards for a Disneyland vacation with her two young daughters and high school sweetheart was shot and killed by her husband — just weeks before the family was supposed to leave.
Tara Bowen, 36, was found dead inside her home in unincorporated Clackamas County late Friday night, June 26. Her husband, Markus Bowen, 35, called 911 himself and told dispatchers he had shot his wife. Deputies with the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office responded to the 22000 block of South Kamrath Road shortly before midnight.
When officers arrived, they found Tara Bowen deceased inside the residence. Their two daughters — ages 6 and 2 — were home at the time of the shooting.
Tara’s mother, Lori DeVeny, said her daughter had been looking forward to the trip more than anything.
“She was very excited,” DeVeny said. “She had gotten lots of gift cards to be able to use at Disneyland.”
The family had planned to make the trip together in just a couple of weeks.
Markus Bowen was arrested and booked into the Clackamas County Jail on one count of first-degree manslaughter. Jail records show he was held on $500,000 bail and remained in custody as of Thursday, July 2.
DeVeny said nothing about the couple’s relationship had prepared the family for what happened.
“They fight like everybody else does but nothing that would indicate this would happen,” she said. “We’re so blown out of the water.”
The two young girls are now in the full-time care of their grandmother. A GoFundMe was launched by Tara’s sister to support the children, describing her as a mother who “worked tirelessly to provide a good life for her kids.”
“He has to live with it,” DeVeny said. “It’s so unfair.”
Tara Bowen is survived by her two daughters and her mother, who is now raising the girls she once planned to take to Disneyland.
