Who is Connor Fitzgerald Bowman? Former Mayo Clinic doctor who used gout medicine to kill his wife, gets arrested during a traffic stop
ROCHESTER, MINNESOTA: Authorities received a tip about a Minnesota poison control specialist's alleged role in his wife's murder after a close friend revealed the couple's marital issues.
This revelation came shortly after the doctor asked for his wife to be "cremated immediately."
Dr. Connor Fitzgerald Bowman now faces second-degree murder charges in connection to the death of his wife, Betty Bowman, 32.
According to Fox News reports, he was apprehended during a traffic stop in Rochester, Minnesota, on Friday, October 20.
He is being held at Olmsted County Jail, online records show.
When did the victim die?
On August 20, Betty breathed her last in the hospital following a four-day ordeal with severe dehydration and diarrhea that doctors said "deteriorated rapidly."
The victim unfortunately began to experience organ failure, cardiac issues, and fluid in her lungs as doctors' initial treatment for food poisoning turned out to be ineffective.
Detectives would later learn that the 30-year-old suspect used his medical credentials to access his wife's electronic health information at the hospital.
Connor repeated the same act a few days following her death.
What did Connor write in his wife's obituary?
Connor wrote in his late wife's obituary that she suffered from hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH), a rare illness characterized by the overproduction of certain blood cells that can damage organs. Police noted that tests performed for HLH were inconclusive.
The husband reportedly told the Southeast Minnesota Medical Examiner's Office that his wife should be "cremated immediately."
The accused doctor also asked the office if the toxicology reports they would run on his wife would be more "thorough" than what was typically done by the hospital via email, per the complaint.
When were the authorities informed about Connor and Betty's marital issues?
A concerned wife reached out to the examiner's office amid these communications, informing them that the Bowmans were having marital issues when Betty died, "talking about a divorce following infidelity and a deteriorating relationship."
Connor attended pharmacy school, was in medical school, and worked in poison control in Kansas.
He completed a residency at the Mayo Clinic 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 hospital said in a statement to Law & Crime.
What did Betty tell her friends before her death?
Betty had recently told friends that her husband was about $500,000 in debt and that they kept separate bank accounts.
However, according to the affidavit, Connor told a friend that he stood to receive a $500,000 life insurance payout after his wife's death.
A man referred to only as "SS" told detectives that Betty told him she "had a few days off and was looking to spend some time with him" on August 14.
She and SS met up the following day and would text back and forth while the woman was drinking with her husband at home.
On August 16, the victim reportedly messaged "SS", telling him she was not feeling well and was unable to sleep.
Per the affidavit, Betty said that an alcoholic drink mixed with a large smoothie may be causing her illness.
Connor had looked up the drug colchicine
Police seized a University of Kansas laptop from Connor which showed that he had looked up the drug colchicine, which is used to treat gout, according to the affidavit.
He was supposed to use the computer to look up medications when receiving calls to the university's poison control center, but neither he nor his coworkers received any calls about gout or colchicine during his work hours preceding his wife's death.
Connor allegedly searched "Internet browsing history: can it be used in court?" "delete Amazon history police," and "police track package delivery" on August 5. After five days he searched "food v. industrial grade sodium nitrate" and looked up a journal used by medical professionals to search the lethality of different substances.
He converted his wife's weight to kilograms and multiplied it by 0.8 to determine the lethal dose of colchicine, per the affidavit.
Betty's blood sample report
Betty's blood samples were sent to the Minnesota Department of Health for testing where medical professionals concluded that 29 ng/ml of colchicine was in her bloodstream at the time of death.
There was no reason that the drug should have been in her body, medical examiners noted, because she did not have any gout symptoms that would lead a doctor to prescribe it.
Betty's cause of death was determined to be the toxic effect of colchicine and her manner of death was ruled a homicide. Investigations found a $450,000 bank deposit note when they searched the Bowmans' home after the doctor's arrest.