Betty Bowman Case: Colchicine Poisoning and Murder Charges

The Betty Bowman case is the Minnesota homicide investigation into the August 2023 death of a 32-year-old Mayo Clinic pharmacist who was poisoned with colchicine, a gout medication she had never been prescribed. Her husband, Connor Bowman, a physician and former poison control specialist, was arrested that October and later indicted on first-degree premeditated murder. He has pleaded not guilty. As of mid-2026, he remains in custody awaiting trial while pre-trial motions continue.¹²

Who Betty Bowman Was

Betty Jo Bowman, born December 13, 1990, in Wichita, Kansas, worked in the operating room pharmacy at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, after joining the hospital in 2021. Her family described her as a “dedicated pharmacist” who was “beloved by colleagues.”³

She married Connor Bowman on May 30, 2021, in Independence, Missouri, and the couple moved to Rochester for his internal medicine residency at Mayo. Friends later told investigators the marriage was in trouble. There had been discussions about divorce and infidelity, and the couple kept separate bank accounts, reportedly because of Connor’s debts.⁴

Connor Bowman had worked as a poison control specialist at the University of Kansas Health System for six years before medical school, giving him specialized knowledge of toxic substances that would become central to the prosecution.⁵

How Betty Bowman Died

On August 16, 2023, Betty Bowman went to a Rochester emergency room with severe diarrhea and dehydration. She had told a friend that the night before she had been drinking at home with Connor and became sick after consuming what she described as “a drink that was mixed into a large smoothie.” Text messages later recovered by investigators showed she had questioned her husband about the smoothie’s ingredients shortly after her symptoms began.⁴⁶

Her condition deteriorated quickly. She developed cardiac problems, fluid in her lungs, and organ failure, and surgeons removed part of her colon after tissue became necrotic. She did not respond to standard treatments and died on August 20, 2023, four days after being admitted.¹

While Betty was hospitalized, Connor told medical staff she was suffering from hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, a rare autoimmune condition. Hospital tests for it were inconclusive. He later listed the disease as her cause of death in her obituary and told others publicly that she had died of a “rare autoimmune disease.”⁷

How Investigators Identified Colchicine

The day after Betty died, the Southeast Minnesota Medical Examiner’s Office flagged the case as suspicious. Connor had pushed hard for an immediate cremation, repeatedly urging the office to cancel the autopsy and claiming his wife had died of natural causes and “did not want to be a cadaver.” He also contacted the death investigator to ask how thorough the office’s toxicology testing would be. The medical examiner halted the cremation and proceeded with an autopsy anyway.⁸

Toxicology on blood drawn during her hospitalization showed 29 nanograms per milliliter of colchicine, measured on August 17. The Minnesota Department of Health confirmed colchicine in both her blood and urine, and the pathologist found colon damage consistent with colchicine poisoning. The cause of death was ruled “toxic effects of colchicine.” Betty had never been diagnosed with gout and had no prescription for the drug.⁸¹

The Evidence of Premeditation

Prosecutors built the murder case around digital records, pharmacy purchases, and financial documents that suggest deliberate planning.

Searches and Dosage Calculations

On August 5, 2023, Connor Bowman searched for “internet browsing history: can it be used in court?” and “delete amazon data police.” He also searched “Police track package delivery.” On August 10, he searched online shopping sites for liquid colchicine, researched lethal dosages, and performed a calculation converting his wife’s weight to kilograms and multiplying it by 0.8, the lethal dosage rate for colchicine in milligrams per kilogram. A contact at the University of Kansas confirmed he had never received a legitimate professional call about colchicine during his years working in poison control.⁴⁹

The Colchicine Purchase

According to prosecutors, on August 11, 2023, Bowman purchased colchicine through Mark Cuban Cost Plus Drugs and its pharmacy partner Truepill, using his Mayo Clinic email address. The purchase cost $52.20.¹⁰¹¹ After the investigation began, Bowman allegedly contacted Truepill to request that his purchase data be deleted, telling staff that his employer had confronted him about ordering a prescription for himself, and claiming his wife had made the purchase under his name “fraudulently.” Investigators later obtained warrants to retrieve his full purchase history and audited his bank accounts to verify the transactions.

Life Insurance and Hidden Debt

Prosecutors alleged a financial motive. According to the criminal complaint, Connor told a friend he expected to collect $500,000 in life insurance after his wife’s death. Two days after Betty died, a coworker learned he had received a $450,000 payout, and investigators recovered a receipt for a $450,000 bank deposit from his home. They also found evidence that he had been concealing tens of thousands of dollars in debt from his wife.³⁶

The Charges

Connor Bowman was arrested on October 20, 2023, and initially charged with second-degree murder in Olmsted County. In January 2024, an Olmsted County grand jury indicted him on one count of first-degree premeditated murder and one count of second-degree murder with intent. A conviction on the first-degree charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. He has pleaded not guilty to both counts.¹²¹

Where the Case Stands

The case has moved slowly. Bowman’s defense team, led by attorney Graham M. Henry, has filed numerous motions challenging both the evidence and the indictment itself.¹³

On March 11, 2026, Judge Kathy M. Wallace ruled that all data recovered from a Mayo Clinic-issued laptop seized from Bowman in May 2025 is admissible. The defense had argued a reasonable expectation of privacy on the device, but the judge cited Mayo Clinic’s computer policy stating employees have “no expectation of privacy” on company-owned equipment. The laptop contained records showing Bowman used his Mayo email to buy colchicine and an erectile dysfunction medication from online pharmacies in early August 2023.⁷

On June 8, 2026, Judge Wallace issued a 32-page ruling denying the defense’s motion to dismiss the first-degree murder indictment. She acknowledged that Chief Deputy Olmsted County Attorney Eric Woodford had committed prosecutorial misconduct by telling grand jurors that first-degree murder is “a life imprisonment offense,” calling the remarks “irrelevant to the issues before the grand jury.” She found, however, that the misconduct did not substantially influence the jurors’ decision, given the two full days of testimony they heard from police, medical examiners, and Mayo Clinic staff.¹⁴⁶

No trial date has been publicly scheduled. In May 2026 the defense filed a 14th pre-trial motion seeking to suppress additional electronic and internet evidence, pushing the timeline out further. At a May 21, 2026 hearing, Judge Wallace said she had been close to resolving the pending motions before the new filing arrived and set a briefing schedule for both sides. Bowman has remained at the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center since his arrest.¹⁵

1
CNN. Connor Bowman Premeditated Murder Charge
2
Court TV. Judge Refuses to Dismiss Case Against Mayo Clinic Poison Expert Charged in Wife’s Death
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NBC News. Minnesota Doctor Accused of Fatally Poisoning Wife Indicted on Murder Charge
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CBS News. Poison Specialist Connor Bowman Charged With Fatally Poisoning Wife
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FOX4 Kansas City. Kansas Woman Poisoned to Death, Husband Charged in Minnesota
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KIMT. Rochester Murder Case: Judge Denies Bowman’s Bid to Toss Indictment
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Post-Bulletin. Judge Rules Connor Bowman’s Mayo Laptop Can Be Used in Murder Case
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KTTC. Pharmacist Wife Died of Colchicine; Mayo Clinic Responds
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FOX 9. Prosecutors: New Evidence Against Mayo Medical Resident Accused in Wife’s Murder
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KAAL TV. Mayo Clinic Doctor Accused of Poisoning Wife May Have Tried More Than Once
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KTTC. Tracking the Timeline of Betty Bowman’s Death
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CBS News Minnesota. Connor Bowman Indicted on First and Second Degree Murder Charges
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Post-Bulletin. Connor Bowman’s Attorney Asks for Grand Jury Murder Indictment to Be Tossed
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Post-Bulletin. Judge Acknowledges Misconduct, Denies Connor Bowman First-Degree Murder Dismissal
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Post-Bulletin. Latest Evidence Suppression Motion Further Delays Connor Bowman Trial