Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that a St. James man was convicted Friday after a jury trial for the strangling murder of his estranged wife in Farmingdale in January 2020.
Michael Owen, 30, was convicted of Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony) at the trial before Judge Robert McDonald. The defendant is due back for sentencing on September 19 and faces a potential maximum of 25 years to life in prison.
The trial started on July 17 and summations were Thursday. The jury deliberated for approximately two hours.
“Kelly Owen was a bright young mother who had aspirations to be a nurse,” DA Donnelly said. “She was in the early stages of pregnancy with her estranged husband’s child and wanted to reconcile the marriage. Michael Owen, however, ended those dreams when he strangled his wife with a rope-like object in January 2020.Our condolences are with Kelly’s family as they mourn her senseless loss.”
DA Donnelly said that on January 15, 2020, Kelly Owen was at her apartment on First Avenue in Farmingdale. The 27-year-old nursing student lived on the same property as her parents and shared custody of her then-six-year-old child with her husband, Michael, from whom she was separated. Kelly’s father walked the child to school that morning.
At the time, Kelly Owen worked as an aide at an aftercare program at a local elementary school between the hours of 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. When she did not show up for work, a co-worker called her parents, and Kelly’s parents discovered the woman’s lifeless body.
The woman was strangled with a rope-like object, and it was determined that she was in the early stages of pregnancy with Michael Owen’s child.
Video surveillance revealed that the defendant’s vehicle was in the victim’s neighborhood at approximately 9:30 that morning. Michael Owen – who was employed as a cell site technician – parked two blocks away from Kelly’s home and turned his phone off before arriving in Farmingdale so that his cellphone location could not be tracked. After the murder, the defendant deleted text messages from both his phone and Kelly’s phone.
DNA evidence from the defendant was discovered around the victim’s neck.
Michael Owen was arrested by members of the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad on January 28, 2020.
Senior Litigation Counsel Ania Pulaski of the Homicide Bureau is prosecuting this case. The defendant is represented by the Joseph Hanshe, Esq.