Investigators say that identity became a recurring feature of her extensive online presence.
Bowie allegedly operated more than a dozen public social media profiles, often using variations of names such as “aishasaif” and “aishab.” Authorities were able to connect numerous accounts to her through subscriber information that included details such as her birth date and cellphone number.
Many of those accounts did not remain online for long.
According to the complaint, providers repeatedly suspended accounts associated with Bowie over alleged violent threats and violations of their terms of service. Bowie reportedly acknowledged having difficulty creating new accounts after platforms began recognizing and blocking her.
She allegedly resorted to using a library to get back online.
But it is what investigators say Bowie posted and privately communicated that has drawn intense federal scrutiny.
The complaint describes a string of disturbing messages beginning in May 2026.
Using the username “nusaybahsaif” on May 28, Bowie allegedly wrote in Arabic, “Praise be to Allah for September 11th.”
Weeks earlier, on May 8, an account using the name “aishab9021” allegedly posted another message in Arabic:
“When I can migrate, I will poison these infidels.”
Federal investigators say Bowie went beyond simply posting extremist rhetoric.
She allegedly discussed performing bayah — an oath of allegiance — and exchanged audio recordings in which a woman’s voice believed to be Bowie’s pledged loyalty to the leader of ISIS.
According to the complaint, Bowie was specifically told during a May 28 conversation that reciting a particular pledge would constitute joining the Islamic State.
She allegedly proceeded to record the pledge anyway.
Authorities say she repeated her bayah in English on July 17.
Bowie also allegedly provided a remarkably detailed description of how she believed she was supporting ISIS.
She described that support as operating “in heart, spreading of information online, helping and encouraging others to take bayah, sending authentic information to Muslims in my community to try to guide them to pure tawheed, speak about jihad as openly as I can without getting arrested … Encourage secular Muslims online to join the Islamic state and send them authentic material.”
Other alleged statements were even more explicit.
Bowie reportedly declared that “jihad is a obligation until the day of judgment to establish god laws and enjoin good and forbid evil and fight until there is no fitnah.”
She also allegedly wrote, “blowing kafirs brains out is beautiful.”
The case takes on additional significance because Bowie lived less than two miles from the New York State Capitol, according to court records.
Investigators also documented what appears to have been a dramatic transformation in her own description of her political and ideological outlook.
In one conversation, Bowie reportedly contrasted her childhood reaction to the September 11 terrorist attacks with her more recent beliefs, saying she went from being a young girl waving an American flag after 9/11 to possessing stickers depicting the collapsing World Trade Center towers.
Federal authorities arrested Bowie on August 19.
Agents allegedly discovered knives on her person along with a handwritten bayah.
After her arrest, Bowie was transported to the FBI’s Albany Field Office. Investigators say she was advised of her Miranda rights, acknowledged that she understood them, and agreed to speak with agents.
Her reported comments during that interview suggested she understood the gravity of the situation.
“There’s no helping me, you guys know enough, there’s no helping me, I’m… going to prison for the rest of my life.”
Bowie also reportedly told investigators that she had already researched the potential punishment she could face.
“Material support is up to 20 years in prison, I already Googled it before, I know I’m going to jail,” she further said in the interview, according to the FBI.
The allegations offer another glimpse into the persistent challenge posed by online terrorist radicalization inside the United States.
What allegedly began with extremist social media activity developed, according to federal investigators, into repeated ISIS pledges, promotion of jihadist ideology, efforts to encourage others to support the Islamic State, and ultimately an alleged threat involving one of New York’s most important government buildings.
The accusations against Bowie remain allegations, and she is entitled to the presumption of innocence unless and until proven guilty in court.
But the evidence outlined by federal investigators — including the alleged ISIS pledges, violent messages, handwritten bayah, knives, and her reported post-arrest statements — will now form the center of a terrorism prosecution unfolding just miles from the Capitol she allegedly targeted.
