Suspected BART killer charged with murder, father of slain teen calls for justice

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Heads bowed and tears streaming down, dozens of Nia Wilson's relatives and friends packed into an Alameda County courtroom Wednesday to see the man accused of stabbing the vibrant teen to death three days earlier on an Oakland BART platform.

John Lee Cowell, 27, appeared only briefly during the afternoon hearing, wearing red Santa Rita Jail-issued clothing with hands shackled at his sides. He was charged with murdering Wilson, 18, and attempting to murder her 26-year-old sister, Lahtifa.

Among the packed gallery were Nia Wilson's mother, father, brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts and uncles. They held each other and cried, still struggling to process Sunday's shocking killing at the MacArthur BART Station.

``My daughter was everything to me,'' said Amsar El Muhammad, Nia Wilson's father. ``She was so beautiful, so inspirational, had dreams. I'm supposed to be planning her graduation, not her funeral.''

The Alameda County district attorney's office charged Cowell on Wednesday with murder and attempted murder. Special allegations of using a deadly weapon were added on each charge.

Cowell faces a potential life sentence if found guilty of any of the charges, and his prior criminal history could lead to an additional 25-to-life sentence under California's three-strikes law.

``It's a very, very troubling case,'' District Attorney Nancy O'Malley said outside the courtroom. ``It's a brutal, horrific murder and attempted murder, and for our whole community it's an awful situation. And that's why were treating it with the seriousness that we have.''

Cowell's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He is due back in court Aug. 22 to enter a plea.

BART police have not established a motive for the attack, saying it appeared to be random. Police obtained video showing Cowell stabbing both victims in their throats before fleeing the station platform, prosecutors said.

Nia Wilson was pronounced dead at the scene.

Cowell ditched a backpack and his sweatshirt in the station's parking structure as he fled, police said. Investigators later recovered the backpack and ``several items with a name and date of birth,'' police said.

Nearly 21 hours after the attack, a bystander called police after recognizing Cowell on an Antioch-bound BART train. Police arrested him without incident at the Pleasant Hill Station.

Nia Wilson's family and many others in the Oakland community have questioned whether the slaying was racially-motivated. Cowell is white and the Wilson sisters are black.

``I hate to say it but, you know, why would you choose two young black girls?'' Muhammad said. ``Two, particular people of color, to do this to?''

Wilson's mother, Alicia Grayson, sat crying Wednesday as she tried to remember the good times before staring down the man accused of killing her youngest daughter.

``Oh, I used to do her makeup. Her makeup, her makeup -- her makeup got on my nerves,'' Grayson said with a chuckle. ``I will miss that makeup.''

Cowell, a transient with a long and violent criminal history, had been in and out of jail since turning 18, his crimes increasing in severity as he got older.

On Tuesday, Cowell's family released a statement saying he has a history of mental illness and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia before living on the streets without treatment the last few months.

Cowell was released in May from the California Men's Colony in San Luis Obispo after serving a two-year sentence for robbery, records show. His family said he'd served part of his sentence at nearby Atascadero State Hospital, which treats criminal defendants and mentally ill prisoners.

One family member told The Chronicle he had not spoken to Cowell in more than a decade. Another family member reached by phone Wednesday simply said ``we're praying'' and declined to comment further.

The state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Cowell ``was under active parole supervision and had no active warrants'' before Sunday's BART station attack. Officials could not disclose whether he'd been at a mental health hospital due to federal patient privacy laws.

Family members of the Wilson sisters were furious that Cowell was roaming free with a history of violence and mental health issues after being released from prison.

``I want to know if the system is going to change,'' said Johnette Wilson-Stitt, Nia Wilson's aunt. ``How can he just be out among everybody? Someone should be accountable for keeping up with this guy.''

Cowell's criminal record dates to 2009, when he was 18 and charged with felony assault for an attack on a man and his daughter outside their Concord home. In the following years, he was in and out of jail for crimes ranging from drug possession and battery to felony assault and robbery.

His most recent arrest came in May 2016, when he stole from a Lucky grocery store in El Cerrito and threatened a security guard with a fake gun and box cutter.

Cowell was sentenced to two years in state prison and released May 6 -- less than three months before Nia Wilson was killed.

Lahtifa Wilson, who survived the stabbing, is back home with her family recovering.

``She's traumatized,'' Wilson-Stitt said. ``It's hard. She keeps seeing her sister's face. Its hard to sleep. She's not eating.''