Woman’s alleged ISIS radicalization unfolded online before Capitol bomb plot: court docs
Jessica Bowie, a 35-year-old woman from upstate New York, is now facing terrorism charges after authorities allege she converted to Islam, swore allegiance to the Islamic State group and plotted to bomb the State Capitol building — just weeks before the U.S. will mark 25 years since the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
According to the FBI, she became a Muslim five years ago and took on a new name, Aisha Saif.
The FBI arrested Bowie after she allegedly enlisted a group of confidential informants in her plot, thinking they were ISIS handlers, under the impression she was arranging for them to turn bomb-making materials she'd purchased into an explosive device and to provide her a handgun.
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Bowie allegedly praised the terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks that killed 2,977 people on Sept. 11, 2001, according to court documents.
The federal criminal complaint has few details about her alleged embrace of terrorism from before May 2026, but authorities say she was radicalized at some point online.
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She had also allegedly lost multiple social media accounts for violating their terms of service with her posts, according to the criminal complaint — in separate posts in May, she allegedly wrote about poisoning "infidels" and "praise be to Allah for September 11th." By the end of the month, she'd allegedly sworn allegiance to ISIS.
"The key with these sorts of cases is the initial lead," said Paul Mauro, a retired NYPD inspector and Fox News contributor with experience working counter-terrorism cases. "This can come in a number of ways. We criticize social media plenty, but the fact that she was repeatedly banned on these platforms could have been a crucial pointer."
By July, according to the complaint, she was allegedly using encrypted apps to post support for radical Islamic terror and anti-American rhetoric.
On July 16, she allegedly told an FBI informant that she had begun thinking about "Jehad" more seriously over the past several months. She was also allegedly posting online about how she was sharing ISIS propaganda and attempting to recruit.
In July and August, Bowie allegedly made five visits to scout the State Capitol.
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On Aug. 5, photos released by the Justice Department allegedly show her buying bomb-making materials at a Rensselaer Home Depot store, including a large bucket of nails that was allegedly meant for shrapnel. "We definitely want to make sure the senators get killed for sure," she allegedly told an informant.
On Aug. 13, she allegedly asked an FBI informant whom she thought was an ISIS operative for help obtaining a handgun, according to the complaint.
On Aug. 19, the FBI arrested her after she allegedly gave $350 to a pair of FBI informants and got out of their vehicle carrying an inert handgun and dummy explosive that they'd given her, according to the complaint.
"There's no helping me," she allegedly told the FBI after being read her Miranda rights. "You guys know enough...I'm going to prison for the rest of my life."
She added that she'd already looked up potential sentences online.
"Material support is up to 20 years in prison," she said, according to the complaint. "I already googled it before. I know I'm going to jail."
Earlier that day, she allegedly told an FBI informant that she had grown from "a little girl waving an American flag after 9/11 to now having stickers of the falling towers." She was 10 years old on Sept. 11, 2001.
Bowie, who also has addresses listed in Schenectady, allegedly planned to hide a bomb in a DoorDash delivery bag at the New York State Capitol, according to the complaint.
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"I want to destroy as much of the building as possible and kill the senators while they are meeting," she allegedly told an informant. "I want them to lose a lot of important documents as well"
Then she allegedly wanted to escape to Syria before returning to the U.S. in the future for more attacks.
A woman who picked up a call to the number listed for Bowie's mother hung up when contacted by Fox News Digital Friday.