A former Mayo Clinic resident accused of poisoning his wife last summer was indicted last week on a first degree murder charge.

Connor Bowman, 30, had previously been charged with second degree murder in the death of his wife, Betty Jo Bowman, who died on August 20 after being hospitalized with symptoms of food poisoning for four days, as CrimeOnline reported. The grand jury included the second degree charge in the indictment, KARE reported.

Bowman tried to prevent an autopsy by demanding that his wife’s body be cremated immediately, but the Olmsted County coroner halted the cremation and notified authorities of a suspicious death after finding toxic levels of a drug used to treat gout in Betty Bowman’s systerm.

She did not have gout.

Investigators said that Connor Bowman used his Mayo Clinic email address to buy colchicine, the drug used to treat gout, then claimed his wife “fraudulently” bought the drug under his name, the initial complaint against him said. His internet search history, however, showed multiple searches for the drug.

Bowman also allegedly suggested that his wife had hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare ailment that leads to white blood cells attacking other blood cells. However, a test to detect this ailment reportedly came back inconclusive.

Investigators say that the Bowmans’ relationship, while allegedly “open,” was rocky and that they had been discussing divorce. After his wife’s death, Connor Bowman — a medical student who completed his residency at the Mayo Clinic just before his arrest in October — told friends he was getting a $500,000 life insurance payout from her death.

Prior to attending medical school, Bowman attended pharmacy school and worked in poison control in Kansas.

Bowman’s arraignment is scheduled for January 16.

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[Featured image: Betty and Connor Bowman/LinkedIn]