Poison specialist and former medical resident at Mayo Clinic is charged with poisoning his spouse

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A poison specialist and former medical resident at Mayo Clinic in Minnesota is charged with fatally poisoning his spouse, a 32-year-old pharmacist who died days after she went to a hospital in August with abdomen misery.

Authorities say Connor Bowman, 30, tried to cease the post-mortem on his spouse, Betty Bowman — arguing she must be cremated instantly and claiming she had a uncommon sickness, which hospital checks didn’t verify. The medical expert’s workplace halted the order for cremation, citing suspicious circumstances, based on a legal grievance, and an post-mortem confirmed Betty Bowman died from poisonous results of colchicine, a drugs used to deal with gout.

Medical information point out she was not recognized with gout and had not been prescribed the medication, the grievance states, including that Connor Bowman had been researching the drug previous to his spouse’s dying. Six days earlier than she was hospitalized, he had additionally transformed his spouse’s weight to kilograms and multiplied that by 0.8 — with 0.8 mg/kg thought-about to be the deadly dosage fee for colchicine, based on the grievance.

Connor Bowman was charged Monday with second-degree homicide. He was arrested Friday and was nonetheless in custody as of Tuesday. His legal professional didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark from The Related Press.

Mayo Clinic spokesperson Amanda Dyslin launched an announcement Tuesday that didn’t establish Bowman by identify, however indicated he was a resident on the hospital.

“We’re conscious of the current arrest of a former Mayo Clinic resident on prices unrelated to his Mayo Clinic tasks. The resident’s coaching at Mayo Clinic ended earlier this month,” the assertion stated. Dyslin didn’t say why Connor Bowman’s coaching at Mayo Clinic ended.

Betty Bowman was additionally a pharmacist at Mayo Clinic.

In response to the legal grievance, the Southeast Minnesota Medical Examiner’s Workplace alerted police to the “suspicious dying” of Betty Bowman on Aug. 21, a day after she died.

She had been admitted to a hospital in Rochester on Aug. 16 with “extreme gastrointestinal misery and dehydration the place her situation deteriorated quickly,” the grievance stated. Her preliminary signs have been much like meals poisoning and have been handled that means, however they continued to worsen. She skilled cardiac points, fluid in her lungs and organ failure.

Whereas Betty Bowman was within the hospital, Connor Bowman advised she was affected by a uncommon sickness referred to as hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or HLH. Hospital checks got here again inconclusive for HLH, however Connor Bowman advised a number of folks that she died from that illness, based on the grievance.

He additionally advised the medical expert’s workplace that Betty Bowman’s dying was pure and that she “didn’t need to be a cadaver,” and due to this fact, the post-mortem must be canceled, the grievance stated. He requested an investigator on the medical expert’s workplace if the toxicology evaluation could be extra thorough than the evaluation accomplished on the hospital.

The evening earlier than Betty Bowman went to the hospital, she advised a person — recognized as SS within the grievance — that she was ingesting at dwelling with Connor Bowman. The following morning, she advised SS she was sick, probably from a drink that was combined into a big smoothie.

Connor Bowman was a poison specialist and answered calls about poisons, utilizing units from the College of Kansas for his work, based on the grievance. A lady from the College of Kansas advised investigators that Connor Bowman had been researching colchicine, the drug used to deal with gout, although he had not obtained any calls about colchicine, nor had another staff.

Investigators discovered that Connor Bowman had searched “web shopping historical past: can or not it’s utilized in courtroom?” and “delete amazon knowledge police” on Aug. 5. He did calculations that match the deadly dosage fee for colchicine on Aug. 10.

The Minnesota Division of Well being discovered colchicine in Betty Bowman’s blood and urine samples that have been taken on the hospital, and the medical expert decided the reason for dying to be poisonous results of colchicine, the grievance says.

One lady advised investigators that the Bowmans had been speaking about divorce, and one other advised authorities that Connor Bowman stated he was going to get $500,000 in life insurance coverage from his spouse’s dying, the grievance says. Authorities discovered a receipt for a $450,000 financial institution deposit inside his dwelling.

He’s scheduled to seem in courtroom on Nov. 1.

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Trisha Ahmed is a corps member for the Related Press/Report for America Statehouse Information Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit nationwide service program that locations journalists in native newsrooms to report on under-covered points. Comply with her on X, previously referred to as Twitter: @TrishaAhmed15