May 7—ROCHESTER — Days before his wife Betty Bowman died, Connor Bowman was already referring to himself as a “widow” online, according to search warrants filed in the ongoing murder investigation.
Connor Bowman, 31, a former Mayo Clinic doctor, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of his wife, Betty Bowman. Search warrants filed Tuesday, May 7, 2024, in Olmsted County District Court detail multiple conflicting narratives Connor Bowman painted online about the death of his wife.
The warrant asks for access to Connor Bowman’s electronic devices and specifically his account on the dating app Bumble.
Betty Bowman died Aug. 20, 2023. A toxicology screening from samples collected before and after her death found the presence of the drug colchicine, which is used to treat gout. Warrants show Connor Bowman conducted computer searches for lethal doses of the drug.
Witnesses who met Connor Bowman through Bumble recounted multiple stories he gave about Betty Bowman’s death. One witness who reportedly matched with Connor Bowman Aug. 29, 2023, said she thought it was strange he brought up a large life insurance payout from his wife’s death. Another witness interviewed said Connor Bowman volunteered similar information but told her his wife died of a morphine overdose a year prior. A third woman who said she met Connor Bowman through the site Sept. 5, 2023, reported she confronted him after learning his wife died just two and half weeks prior to their first conversations.
According to the warrant, he told the woman his wife died “earlier in the summer” of listeria poisoning. Before that, he told the woman he “knew what he wanted in life” and that Betty Bowman “would have wanted him to move on to be happy.”
Those conversations and statements from other witnesses show Connor Bowman was identifying himself as a widower days before Betty died.
The warrant also outlines the access Connor Bowman had to lethal drug databases through the University of Kansas where he was still employed on an “as needed” basis, according to court documents. Connor Bowman searched the database specifically for colchicine and searched for the lethal dose for someone 120 pounds, which is approximately what Betty weighed, the warrant shows. Investigators found no reports of colchicine poisonings Connor Bowman would be investigating in his job.
The warrant also summarizes interviews of Connor Bowman’s friends and colleagues and Betty’s friends recounted a detached and indifferent reaction to Betty’s death and their suspicions about her sudden and severe illness despite having no medical problems in the time they knew her.
Connor Bowman’s objections to an autopsy were also noted. Connor Bowman called the autopsy a “hunting expedition” that would turn up nother, according to one witness.
Witnesses also said Connor Bowman brought up the insurance payout from Betty’s death as early as three days after her death, which they said seemed suspicious.
Connor Bowman was indicted by a grand jury Jan. 4, 2024, for first-degree murder for his wife’s death. He’s currently being held in the Olmsted County Adult Detention Center on a $2 million bond and is scheduled to appear in Olmsted County District Court June 11 for an omnibus hearing.
