Rowena Irani was a 22-year-old female Wichita State University student with a promising future ahead of her. A native of Pakistan, she and her family had moved to Wichita, Kansas when she was ten years old, and she later became a U.S. citizen. She was a psychology major who worked with children at the Wichita Children's Home and was an ambassador for student involvement at her university.
Those who knew her described her as vibrant, kind, and positive, with dreams of attending graduate school.
In the weeks leading up to her death, Rowena had ended a two-month relationship with her ex-boyfriend, 27-year-old Dane Thomas Owens, a military veteran. Unwilling to accept the breakup, Owens began to exhibit troubling behavior. On October 3, 2016, angered by the separation, Owens drove to the Irani family home in northeast Wichita. He parked his truck several houses away, walked to the residence with a loaded. 45-caliber handgun, and went inside through an unlocked door. When Rowena came around a corner, he shot her once in the head.
After the shooting, Owens took Rowena's cell phone and fled the scene, leaving her critically wounded on the floor. Hours passed before she was discovered. Her mother, Toranj, became worried when Rowena, who was always diligent, failed to pick her up from work as scheduled. A co-worker gave her a ride home, where she made the horrific discovery of her daughter lying on the ground, bleeding. Emergency services were called, and Rowena was rushed to a hospital, but she succumbed to her injuries and passed away the following day, on October 4, 2016.
The investigation quickly focused on Dane Owens after Rowena's family identified him as a person of interest. Police located and arrested him shortly after the incident. During interrogation, Owens confessed to being at the house and shooting Irani but claimed it was a tragic accident. He told detectives that he was a veteran suffering from PTSD and had the gun in his hand, which was in a sling from a recent surgery, simply to get her to "take him seriously." He claimed that when Rowena unexpectedly came around the corner, she startled him, causing the gun to discharge accidentally. After shooting her, he panicked, took her phone, and fled. He later disposed of the firearm and her phone in different ponds around Wichita.
Investigators and prosecutors did not believe his story. The evidence pointed to a calculated, premeditated act of violence by a jilted ex-boyfriend. In November 2018, a jury found Dane Owens guilty of first-degree felony murder and aggravated burglary. A judge, stating that the case was not about a soldier with PTSD but about a man who couldn't accept rejection, sentenced Owens to life in prison plus an additional 43 months. He is currently incarcerated at the Hutchinson Correctional Facility in Kansas.
