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New evidence against doctor accused of poisoning wife
Former doctor with the Mayo Clinic Connor Bowman was in court on Tuesday, indicted on first-degree murder charges for allegedly poisoning his wife. FOX 9's Paul Blume has the latest developments.
ROCHESTER, Minn. (FOX 9) - A former medical resident at the Mayo Clinic, indicted on first-degree murder charges for the alleged fatal poisoning of his wife, returned to court Tuesday. And prosecutors say the state’s case is even stronger now after the discovery of additional digital forensic evidence.
Following a grand jury indictment last week, Connor Bowman is facing the potential of a life sentence without the possibility of release, if he is convicted.
Olmsted County prosecutors told the court they have uncovered digital forensic evidence of Bowman purchasing colchicine from an online pharmacy. It is colchicine, a drug typically used for treating gout, that was found in Betty Bowman’s blood when she died last August.
According to court filings, Betty Bowman, a Rochester pharmacist who moved to Minnesota from Kansas with her husband, was never treated for gout. The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide caused by "toxic effects" of the drug. Authorities zeroed in on her husband because of marital and debt issues.
According to one witness quoted in charging documents, Connor Bowman said he was coming into $500,000 in life insurance because of his wife’s death. His internet searches in the days before she was hospitalized and became deathly ill also drew scrutiny.
Prosecutors asked district court Judge Kathy Wallace to double Bowman’s bail at the 15-minute hearing, given the high stakes of life in prison, if a jury finds Bowman guilty of first-degree murder. The state requested Bowman’s unconditional bail be raised from $5 million to $10 million. And his current conditional bail amount from $2 million to $5 million.
The judge though, declined to do that, leaving the bail unchanged. Judge Wallace told Bowman’s legal team that Bowman would need to be outfitted with a GPS monitor and establish residency in the state of Minnesota, should he post bail. Bowman has remained in custody since his arrest. The 30-year-old was handcuffed and shackled at the legs while under the supervision of deputies in court. The next hearing in the case is not yet on the calendar.
Indictment against Connor Bowman
Connor Bowman, 30, was initially charged in October with second-degree murder for the poisoning. But, on Thursday, a grand jury indicted Bowman on a charge of premeditated first-degree murder.
Court records indicate Betty started feeling sick on Aug. 16, 2023, thinking it was due to a night of drinking at home with Bowman and consuming a large mixed smoothie drink.
Bowman suggested his wife was suffering from a rare illness, Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis "HLH", and listed the cause of death as a "sudden onset autoimmune and infectious illness" in the obituary, but the tests came back inconclusive.
Court documents say that Bowman went to pharmacy school in Kansas and worked in poison control, but was then attending medical school and doing his residency at the Mayo Clinic.
Bowman requested Betty to be cremated "immediately" and insisted her death was natural. He attempted to have the autopsy canceled and was questioning if the toxicology analysis would be "more thorough" than standard and wanted a list of the tests, charges allege.
According to court documents, Bowman’s computer history indicates that on Aug. 10, 2023, he was looking up medical journals for information on lethal dosages of substances and converting Betty’s weight to kilograms. He also searched for "liquid colchicine" while visiting online shopping websites at the same time.
Medical officials ran tests on Betty's blood and urine and located colchicine in her system. The medical examiner determined her cause of death was the toxic effects of colchicine and the manner of death was a homicide.
Bowman was arrested on Oct. 20, 2023, and authorities executed another search warrant at his home. They found a receipt for a $450,000 bank deposit. Authorities did not indicate where the money came from.