Tori Bowie looked heavily pregnant and led 'erratic and unhealthy' life before she was found dead
CLERMONT, FLORIDA: Olympic gold medalist Tori Bowie appeared to be heavily pregnant before she was found dead under mysterious circumstances at her Florida home on Tuesday, April 3. Sources among her neighbors and friends in Winter Garden, an upscale Orlando suburb, say that the former world champion in track and field had a longstanding history of erratic and concerning behavior.
The three-time Olympic medalist and former 100m world champion died at the age of 32, her management company confirmed on Wednesday, April 3. “We’re devastated to share the very sad news that Tori Bowie has passed away. We’ve lost a client, dear friend, daughter, and sister. Tori was a champion … a beacon of light that shined so bright! We’re truly heartbroken and our prayers are with the family and friends," her representatives, Icon Management, said in a statement on social media.
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'She was standing there in the street clutching a knife'
According to neighbors and friends living in Winter Garden, a suburb of Orlando, the former track and field world champion Bowie had a history of behaving erratically. One neighbor recounted an incident where Bowie was clutching a knife and screaming at a boyfriend in the street, while another incident involved her pelting eggs at a neighbor's house. Two neighbors separately claimed that Bowie appeared to be seven or eight months pregnant before she was found dead in her Florida home during a welfare check by Orange County deputies. Although investigators have ruled out foul play, they have not released the cause of death.
"She was a thin woman and it looked like she had half a basketball under her shirt," said one. "I came out of my house one time, and she was standing there in the street clutching a knife and shouting at a man," recalled next-door neighbor Zehra Ugurlu, 52. "A family friend of mine managed to talk to her and calm her down but it was scary, it made my daughters uncomfortable. Her life was erratic and unhealthy but I'm very sorry about what happened to her. She was so young. Why didn't her friends help her?" reported Daily Mail. On social media, her grieving sister Tamarra, 36, hinted at mental health problems. "People who pretend to be happy have some of the saddest souls and people who do not try to convince the world that they are happy have the most genuine souls because they are content with just being them for them and nobody else," she said in a Facebook post.
'She had personal demons!'
Bowie's home, which was worth $500,000, was almost repossessed due to unpaid fees owed to the homeowners' association. In addition, the garage door had been left open for three months, and the front door and windows were often left open, causing neighbors to speculate that squatters had taken over the property. They also observed laundry hanging from the front balcony railing. According to Orange County Court Records, Bowie had received 16 traffic violations since 2019. In April 2021, the Overlook at Hamlin Homeowners Association sued Bowie and her unnamed spouse for not paying assessments on her home, which she purchased for $299,000 in March 2017. Her property was scheduled for foreclosure in 2022, but the auction was canceled, and the case was voluntarily dismissed in July of last year.
"We've heard shouting and screaming, loud music in the middle of the night. But what shocked me was that she appeared to have gotten much better lately," spoke another neighbor out of anonymity. "Having a baby seemed like it had made her happier. That's what makes it so sad – we are talking about two lost lives. It goes to show that you can have fame, success, everything in the world but it won't fix what's going wrong on the inside. She had personal demons but she was a good person," said the neighbor.
