A former US Mayo Clinic doctor faces 40 years behind bars if found guilty of fatally poisoning his pharmacist wife, whose death had initially been linked to suspected food poisoning.
Connor Bowman (33) was charged last week with one count of second-degree murder, after his wife Betty died four days after admission to hospital in August.
According to her obituary, she died “following a sudden onset of autoimmune and infectious illness”, reports CBS News.
In hospital, she had suffered heart issues and fluid build-up in her lungs, and had to have part of her colon removed. She eventually died from organ failure.
The next day, the Medical Examiner’s Office contacted police to report that the death was suspicious, that Bowman had contacted the office to halt the autopsy and push for his wife’s immediate cremation, saying she “didn’t want to be a cadaver”.
He had also contacted one of the death investigators to inquire about the scope and timeline of the toxicology analysis.
Staff at the hospital where she died, as well as some of her friends, told investigators Connor said she had died from the rare condition haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, or HLH, and even cited it as the cause of death in her obituary.
One of her friends told investigators she was “a healthy person” and her marriage was in peril due to infidelity and other issues, and that divorce was on the horizon.
She also claimed the couple had separate bank accounts due to her husband's medical school debts, and that he had told someone he was due to collect $500 000 in life insurance.
On the night before her hospitalisation, a friend told police Betty texted to say she was at home drinking with Connor. The next morning, she texted to say she felt sick and couldn’t sleep, and she thought the culprit was a large smoothie she had consumed.
Investigating her husband’s online history, police noted he had repeatedly checked her e-health records.
A search warrant was issued for his work laptop issued by the University of Kansas, where he worked as a poison specialist, fielding poison control-related phone calls.
The university later told police he had been using university-issued devices in the days before his wife’s death to search for information on the gout drug colchicine, and sodium nitrate, which can limit the movement of oxygen in the body.
He used an online tool several times to convert her weight to milligrams and then multiplied that number by 0.8mg – colchicine’s lethal dosage rate.
Toxicology reports eventually revealed that colchicine was present in her system the day after she was hospitalised. Her death was ruled a homicide a week ago, and police arrested Bowman that same day.
Investigators say a receipt for a $450 000 bank deposit was found in his residence.
If convicted, he could face up to 40 years in prison.
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