Betty and Connor Bowman have a lot in common when they marry.
Betty Bowman graduates from the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy with a Pharmaceutical Doctorate. She works as a hospital pharmacist while Connor Bowman gets his Internal Medicine Residency. Betty Bowman takes a position at the Mayo Clinic, so when she falls ill suddenly, the Mayo Clinic is the logical place for treatment.
It seems Betty Bowman is suffering from food poisoning, gastrointestinal distress, and dehydration. Her condition doesn’t get any better. She takes a turn for the worse, with heart problems, and fluid buildup in her lungs. Part of her colon is also removed after doctors discover necrotic tissue. Bowman dies from organ failure.
Then the Southeast Minnesota Medical Examiner’s Office alerts the Rochester Police Department to the suspicious nature of Betty Bowman’s death. The Medical Examiner’s office had to halt a cremation order.
According to court records, the Medical Examiner’s Office received a call from CGK- a female friend of the Bowman who said Betty and Connor Bowman were having marital issues and were talking about divorce following infidelity and a deteriorating relationship.
In the Criminal Complaint, it is stated that Conner Bowman told the Medical Examiner’s Office that his wife should be cremated immediately, arguing that Betty Bowman did not want to be a cadaver. Connor Bowman also began asking one of the medical examiner investigators if the toxicology analysis being completed would be more thorough than the analysis typically done at the hospital. Bowman wanted a list of what was specifically going to be tested for.
Friends of Betty Bowman began reaching out to investigators. An adult female friend of Betty Bowman told the Rochester Police Department that she had texted Betty Bowman and that Bowman told her she was sick. The friend told the detective that Betty Bowman was normally a healthy person. Another friend said a text from Betty Bowman said she thought a smoothie she had the night before might have caused her illness.
Detectives began looking at all options and found husband Connor Bowman had accessed Betty Bowman’s patient account using his hospital credentials. From there he was able to locate internet searches conducted by Connor Bowman, a Poison Specialist.
Connor Bowman was researching COLCHICINE, a drug used to treat gout. What’s more, he was searching for information in determining what a lethal dose would be, by entering his wife’s weight.
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[Feature Photo: Betty and Connor Bowman/LinkedIn]
