Rowena Irani was born in Pakistan on February 18, 1994. In 2004, when she was 10 years old, her parents, Toranj and Behram Irani, decided to move to Kansas in search of better educational opportunities for her and her older brother, Rooshad.
The first years in the United States were challenging, as the Irani family faced a great deal of prejudice due to the events of September 11, which had occurred only three years earlier. Rowena and Rooshad struggled to make friends, but gradually they managed to integrate into the community.
Although she never saw herself pursuing a military career, Rowena became involved in the ROTC program, which stands for the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. It is a set of college- and university-based training programs that prepare commissioned officers for the United States Armed Forces.
She also participated in the school’s training team, and despite various initial challenges, Rowena stood out as an ambitious, outgoing, and kind young woman. In 2012, she graduated from Wichita High School and began her studies at Wichita State University.
Rowena chose to continue living with her parents while studying psychology. Her plan was to earn a master’s degree and work directly with teenagers. Her mother was very proud, as Rowena had always been dedicated to her studies and deeply valued the sacrifices her parents made.
A Bright Future
During college, Rowena began working at an institution that supports young people facing abuse, neglect, and emotional issues. Her involvement with the children and teenagers was described as “profoundly meaningful,” as she developed a special bond with each of them.
The institution’s executive director, Debby Kennedy, mentioned that Rowena welcomed the children as if they were special guests, giving them the immediate sense that they had arrived at a safe place. She was dedicated to gently waking the children each morning and bidding them goodnight every evening.
The children saw Rowena as a source of security and eagerly looked forward to sharing the stories of their days with her. Debby emphasized that Rowena listened to each child attentively, showing them that they deserved kindness and consideration. She helped them set goals and create constructive plans for their futures. As a psychology student, Rowena was deeply concerned about who these children would become as adults.
Rowena’s commitment to working with children and youth in challenging situations, combined with her excellent academic performance in psychology, clearly indicated that she had found her purpose in helping others. It was undeniable that she was on her way to building a meaningful career as a counselor for at-risk children and adolescents.
Rowena embodied the ideal of the American dream that her parents sought when they emigrated to the United States, but alarming signs began to emerge in her personal life. These signs were tragically ignored in May 2016.
She reconnected with Dane Owens, a former family acquaintance, during her brother’s wedding. Dane came from a wealthy Kansas family and had served in the U.S. Army after high school, but his military career was cut short due to a brain injury caused by an explosive device.
After being medically discharged, Dane returned to Wichita and enrolled at Kansas State University, where he was also beginning his studies. They quickly hit it off and started a relationship. However, Dane was possessive and controlling, often exhibiting episodes of explosive anger.
Abusive and Controlling
Dane became obsessed with the idea of marrying Rowena and starting a family as soon as possible, but she made it clear that she wasn’t ready for such a serious commitment. At just 22 years old, her primary goal was to finish college.
The pressure and intensity of Dane’s desire frightened her, making her feel that the relationship was moving too fast. When Rowena asked for some space early in the relationship, Dane responded with a desperate and disturbing letter in which he obsessively expressed that he couldn’t live without her and even hinted that he might harm himself if she broke up with him.
After this incident, they had a serious conversation. Rowena reiterated that she wasn’t ready for marriage or children. At the time, Dane seemingly agreed, but within a week, he resumed pressuring her, talking about engagement rings and planning the wedding.
Dane showed no concern for making his partner feel comfortable in the relationship. He continually tried to push her into a traditional, domestic role rather than supporting her academic and professional aspirations.
By September 2016, Dane’s increasingly aggressive behavior began to raise serious concerns. Rowena confided in her brother that her relationship seemed to be deteriorating.
At the time, she revealed several deeply troubling incidents. One particularly frightening story involved Dane repeatedly talking about his time in the army, where he claimed to have killed people, including women and children. She said he seemed to take pleasure in recounting these stories, always providing graphic details.
This disturbed her. Another deeply unsettling revelation was that Dane had told her about an ex-girlfriend who had broken up with him, and he admitted that he had been planning to kill her.
Rooshad agreed with his sister and recognized that Dane posed a real threat. He warned Rowena that at any moment, Dane could become extremely dangerous.
On September 23, 2016, after an argument about ending the relationship, Rowena decided to break up with Dane for good. She blocked her ex-boyfriend’s social media profile and also prevented him from calling her on her cell phone.
Dane became unhinged. Instead of accepting the end of the relationship, he grew enraged and unbalanced. He devised a plan for revenge, and the first step was to purchase a .45 caliber handgun.
Despite still recovering from a recent shoulder surgery that made handling the weapon difficult, Dane unexpectedly showed up at Rowena’s house on October 3.
The rest of the family wasn’t home. Security cameras captured Dane parking a short distance from the Irani family home and cautiously approaching the house.
His arm was in a sling, which also concealed the gun. He entered the residence through an unlocked door and waited for Rowena to appear. When she unsuspectingly walked into the living room, Dane raised the gun and fatally shot her in the head.
The murder was not only a crime of passion but also meticulously planned. Dane tried to dispose of several pieces of evidence by dumping them in ponds around Wichita, including the gun’s magazine and Rowena’s cell phone.
The psychology student was left alone and seriously injured, fighting for her life in her home for several hours. At around 6pm, Rowena’s mother arrived home after one of her work colleagues gave her a lift.
She was confused and didn’t understand why her daughter didn’t pick her up from work as she did every day. The mother entered the house and stumbled upon a horrific scene: Rowena was lying on the floor in a pool of blood with a huge wound on her head. Desperate, she called the emergency services, but unfortunately it was too late.
Rowena remained on life support for almost 24 hours. While her family prayed and desperately hoped for a miracle, the reality of the situation could not be forgotten.
Rowena Irani passed away on October 4th.
Hunting Dane Owens
Investigators quickly went after Dane, the unstable ex-boyfriend with whom her sister had broken up in recent weeks. Danny was tracked down and interrogated. When the police told him what had happened to Rowena, he acted as if he didn’t care.
After intense police pressure, he presented his version of events, claiming that Rowena’s death had been an “accident”. A claim that clearly contradicted the evidence.
He said he went to the Iran family home to try to reconcile with Rowena. Dane admitted to being armed with a loaded .45 caliber gun, but tried to justify that the weapon was hidden in his arm band and that it was never his intention to threaten or injure.
According to his version, when he entered the house looking for her, Rowena suddenly appeared and Dane had an unpleasant reaction thanks to his post-traumatic stress disorder, resulting in an accidental shooting. Dane told detectives that as soon as he fired the gun, he was horrified.
The second after he realized that Rowena was seriously injured, he panicked. Stunned and remorseful, he tried to dispose of the evidence. Despite claiming that the shooting was an accident caused by a reflex due to his post-traumatic stress disorder, detectives more than quickly identified these statements as false.
Security footage showed Dane sneaking up on Rowena with a loaded gun and the evidence he tried to destroy reinforced the image of a premeditated crime. The fatal wound to Rowena’s head, characteristic of an execution, clearly indicated that the act was calculated and not a mere accident.
Sentence and legacy
In November 2018, after years of waiting, Dane faced the court charged with Rowena’s brutal murder inside his own home.
The prosecution presented a solid case, supported by a range of evidence that proved the defendant’s guilt. They portrayed him as a possessive abuser, a control freak who killed a woman driven by a macho, delusional fantasy.
They also said that Dane’s story about the gun being hidden in his sling was not consistent with the evidence. He would have shot her in the stomach or waist if he had accidentally fired. The cartridge would have ended up in his sling and not near the fireplace where it was found.
Dane fled the scene, stole Rowena’s cell phone and threw it away with the charger. After three hours of deliberation, the jury found Dane Owens guilty of first-degree murder and aggravated robbery. He received an automatic sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole for 25 years.
The victim’s liver, lungs and heart were donated, as had always been Rowena’s wish, so that if she died her organs could save other people’s lives. Irani’s family also opened a psychology scholarship in their daughter’s name at the State University.
