Dr. Connor Bowman is accused of fatally poisoning his wife at their home in Minnesota on Aug. 16, 2023. She died four days later. Investigators allege that Connor Bowman slipped gout medicine into her smoothie. He’s facing a second-degree murder charge. (Betty Bowman: GoFundme account; Connor Bowman: Rochester Police Department)
The friends of a Minnesota doctor and poison control specialist who allegedly poisoned his wife grew suspicious of his blasé behavior in the days following her death, leading them to believe he likely killed her, new court documents show.
Dr. Connor Bowman, 30, is accused of slipping gout medicine in a smoothie he made for his wife, 32-year-old Betty Bowman, on Aug. 16. She went to the hospital with what she thought was severe food poisoning, but none of the standard treatments worked for her. Betty Bowman died four days after she was admitted to the hospital. Connor Bowman was charged late last month with second-degree murder.
In Rochester Police Department applications for search warrants reviewed by Law&Crime, friends of the couple depict a marriage on the rocks because of financial troubles and infidelity. Though the Bowmans were in an “open relationship,” the couple agreed they would not become emotionally attached to their other partners. However, Connor Bowman became infatuated with his new girlfriend, friends told detectives. Betty Bowman allegedly confronted her husband about the woman and suggested they start divorce proceedings. One friend said she went to see Connor Bowman at his home three days after the death to find the girlfriend there with him and his wife’s photos taken down, the warrant said.
Another pal said she was visiting with Betty Bowman 10 days before her death when she gave her a smoothie her husband had made for her in a Lilo & Stich cup. It “tasted very bad,” and the friend thought it was strange Connor Bowman had made a smoothie for his wife because he “never made anything for anybody,” according to the warrant.
“[The friend] said jokingly at the time that Connor must be trying to poison her, but didn’t think much of it at the time. Betty even joked that she had considered it at the time and said she didn’t think that would happen but decided to not drink the smoothie anyway and threw it out,” the warrant said. The friend became suspicious when Betty Bowman suddenly became ill and died.
Connor Bowman also was not acting like a grieving husband typically would in the days following his wife’s death, the friends said. He seemed “stoic and calm,” even going out for drinks where he “appeared to be happy or at least indifferent” about his wife’s death two days after the fact. Friends were also aware that Betty Bowman recently learned of her husband’s significant debt that he had not told her about. After her death, Connor Bowman received nearly a $500,000 life insurance policy, police say.
Even more concerning, loved ones told detectives, was Betty Bowman was previously healthy and had no known medical conditions. As someone who had just completed their pharmacist residency at the Mayo Clinic and also worked as a poison control specialist, Connor Bowman would have the means and know-how to poison his wife. The friends, many of whom are medical professionals, grew wary as her condition deteriorated so quickly with little explanation.
Suspicions arose among investigators when Connor Bowman pushed the medical examiner to skip an autopsy so she could be cremated immediately. Investigators ignored Connor Bowman’s pleas and did an autopsy anyway. The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be the toxic effects of colchicine and the manner of death to be a homicide.
As Law&Crime previously reported, he had attended pharmacy school, worked in poison control in Kansas and was currently in medical school. A spokesperson from the Mayo Clinic said in a statement to Law&Crime that his residency at the hospital had just finished earlier this month.
“We are aware of the recent arrest of a former Mayo Clinic resident on charges unrelated to his Mayo Clinic responsibilities,” the statement said. The hospital would not comment further.
One of Betty Bowman’s boyfriends told detectives that Betty Bowman, on Aug. 14, told him she “had a few days off work and was looking to spend some time with him.” The two saw each other the next day and texted later that night while she was drinking with her husband at home.
On Aug. 16, she told him she was so sick she could not sleep at all. She said she thought it may have been an alcoholic drink that she had that caused her illness because it was mixed in a large smoothie, the probable cause arrest affidavit said.
Detectives later learned that Connor Bowman had accessed his wife’s electronic health information at the hospital by using his medical credentials while she was at the hospital and again a few days after she died. The data included admission information, reviewed notes, medications, allergies, and an operating room log, according to the affidavit.
Investigators also seized a University of Kansas laptop that the defendant used as a poison control specialist, which he apparently worked remotely. He worked the job on Aug. 5, 6 and 10. As part of his job, the university gave him a computer to look up drug information while answering calls. An examination of his computer showed he completed searches and research about the drug colchicine, which is used to treat gout — a condition that causes intense pain in your joints. Neither Bowman nor any other employees working at that time received any calls about gout or colchicine, the affidavit said.
On Aug. 5, Connor Bowman allegedly searched “Internet browsing history: can it be used in court?,” “police track package delivery,” and “delete Amazon history police.” On Aug. 10, he searched “food v. industrial grade sodium nitrate.” He also looked up a journal used by several medical professionals to search the lethality of substances, the affidavit states. He converted his wife’s weight to kilograms and multiplied it by 0.8, which is considered the lethal dosage for colchicine, investigators wrote.
In the days that followed, Connor Bowman searched how to buy colchicine and allegedly bought gift cards to a website that sells the drug, police said.
Investigators sent Betty Bowman’s blood samples to the Minnesota Department of Health, which concluded colchicine was present in her system. The level on Aug. 17 was 29 ng/ML, which is considered elevated. Investigators also noted that the drug, which the medical examiner said metabolizes quickly, should not have been in her body because she didn’t have any symptoms that would cause doctors to give her the drug.
Betty Bowman’s obituary — which features a picture of her and her husband — said she was born in Wichita, Kansas, and graduated from the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy with a pharmaceutical doctorate in 2018. The couple married on May 30, 2021. She worked as a “diligent and capable hospital pharmacist” while her husband went through his internal medicine residency, the obit said.
“Her kindness and intelligence was noticed and valued by friends and strangers alike,” the obit said.
A GoFundMe page was started to help Betty Bowman’s mother pay for funeral and legal expenses.
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