Former doctor used Mayo Clinic email to purchase drug that killed wife, search warrant says
Dec. 6—ROCHESTER — Police have requested Connor Bowman's Mayo Clinic employment records, which include any possible disciplinary actions from the organization, based on a tip during their investigation into Bowman's wife's murder.
He faces a
second-degree murder charge in Olmsted County in connection with the death of his wife, Betty Bowman.
He is accused of poisoning her with colchicine, a drug used to treat gout.
According to a newly released search warrant, Bowman allegedly told an online pharmacy that Mayo Clinic had confronted him for ordering sildenafil citrate, generic Viagra, and colchicine from an online pharmacy less than two weeks before his wife's death.
"Mayo Clinic was not aware of Dr. Bowman's activity," Mayo Clinic spokesperson Amanda Dyslin told the Post Bulletin. Bowman's residency at Mayo Clinic ended in October. Dyslin previously said that Bowman's charges are unrelated to his Mayo Clinic responsibilities.
Doctors self-prescribing drugs is not illegal in Minnesota.
RPD has issued more than a dozen search warrants related to the death of Betty Bowman. Police have looked into her husband's banking, online communications and employment records.
Police began investigating Connor Bowman in the death of his wife after law enforcement was notified by the medical examiner's office that he had attempted to stop an autopsy of his wife and wanted to quickly cremate her body.
She died on Aug. 20, 2023, after she went to an emergency room days earlier complaining of diarrhea and dehydration, saying that her husband had given her an alcoholic smoothie the night before.
According to the search warrant, purchase records from an online pharmacy show that Bowman ordered colchicine on Aug. 11, 2023.
A representative from the pharmacy told law enforcement that Bowman had tried to delete his online account by claiming that his wife had purchased the drug by fraudulently using his name. The representative told police that Bowman claimed he had been confronted by his employer and he did not want to get in trouble with his job. Bowman used his Mayo Clinic email address to order the prescriptions.
Police are requesting Mayo Clinic release Bowman's personnel file/employment records from July 9, 2023 to Oct. 20, 2023; Bowman's emails during the same period and any disciplinary notes or other documentation about prescriptions ordered by Bowman for himself during that time.
In addition to self-prescribing drugs, Bowman was accused of
overprescribing a patient during his time at Mayo Clinic,
leading to a possible complaint filed with the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice and using a work computer from the University of Kansas for internet queries related to hiding evidence from police and searches regarding colchicine.
Connor Bowman was working in poison control for the university at the time of his wife's death.
The school declined to provide any information about internal complaints made against Bowman while he was a student or an employee of the school.
Several other witnesses told police that Bowman hid debt from his wife and that he started dating shortly after his wife died, according to other police documents.
Bowman received $500,000 from his wife's life insurance policy, a witness told law enforcement.
He had also removed pictures of his wife from his residence about two days after her death, witnesses said, and Bowman told several people that his wife died due to hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare autoimmune disease in which white blood cells attack organs. Medical reports dispute that assertion, according to police.
The couple was allegedly in an open relationship, according to friends, who said that Connor Bowman had apparently crossed a line, and his wife threatened divorce.
One witness told law enforcement that Betty had been given a smoothie on Aug. 10, 2023, by Connor that tasted bad. Betty and the witness joked that Connor might be trying to poison her, but ultimately didn't think much of it until Betty got sick about a week later after ingesting another smoothie made by Connor.
The couple lived in Rochester, where Betty worked as a hospital pharmacist while Connor went through an internal medicine residency. Both worked at Mayo Clinic.
Bowman is currently being held on
$2 million bail in the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center.
His next court appearance is scheduled for Jan. 16, 2024.
