Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Poison Specialist's Wife Sudden Death, BY POISON

Starting point is 00:00:00 You're listening to an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. A loving wife and a well-respected pharmacist at nowhere else but the Mayo Clinic dies unexpectedly. What happened? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories and on Sirius XM 111, trying to figure out what happened to Betty Bowman, healthy as a horse, and then suddenly, bam, gone just like that of natural causes. Let's just start at the beginning. Take a listen to this. On August 21st, 2023, the Southeast Minnesota Medical Examiner's Office alerted the Rochester Police Department to the suspicious death of Betty Bowman. She died on August 20th, and the medical examiner's office had to halt a cremation order after learning of possible suspicious circumstances.

Starting point is 00:01:12 According to court records, the medical examiner's office received a call from CGK, a female friend of the Bowmans. Huh. Okay, so just because a friend calls the hospital, suddenly everything's off. Again, thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories. We're taking a very close look at the death of a 32-year-old Mayo Clinic pharmacist who suddenly dies. Now, when she goes in to the hospital, she's perfectly fine in the weeks leading up to that. But then how does everything go so horribly wrong? And I want to go first to Karen Stark joining us. Renowned psychologist joining us out of Manhattan, TV radio trauma

Starting point is 00:02:01 expert. You can find her at KarenStark.com and that's spelled Karen with a C. Karen, I think the shock of someone dying young and unexpectedly, it's a whole different thing than when someone is in the hospital or they're elderly. I guess in a way, even though there's no way to ever be ready to say goodbye to somebody you love. And I know that whether they die of old age or like my fiance is murdered in his 20s unexpectedly, there's no good way to say goodbye to somebody you love. But when it's sudden and unexpected, that adds a whole other layer to the process of getting through it. You have the right words. I don't. I'm just a lawyer.

Starting point is 00:02:46 You explain, Karen Stark. Oh, you're bringing up your fiance. That's a great example because... Karen, just because of you. You remember I gave up coffee, you know, when I was pregnant with the twins? Because of you and your analysis of all of these murders, I've gone back to the hard stuff.

Starting point is 00:03:03 I'm back on coffee. Thank you. Go ahead. But when you're talking about trauma, this is a great example because the family, the friends, the people that were close to her, they have more trouble getting over something like this. You don't ever get over losing somebody that you love. But when it's traumatic like this, when someone is healthy and described as being somebody that loved people, had all this energy, and then overnight enters the hospital and they're dead in a few days, they're gone. That leaves you with something that you can't stop thinking about. It's staged. It's indelible.

Starting point is 00:03:47 It's etched into you. And it takes so much work to be able to even live your life normally again without obsessing about what could have happened. What did I do wrong? Why didn't I say something? How am I responsible even though you're not? It really affects people in a very strong way because it's not it's really like out of left field. You know, another thing about that, Karen Stark, sometimes I have such a huge long to do list every day. Sometimes I forget some of them. not often but sometimes but I remember distinctly every word that was said when I learned Keith had been murdered because when I found out he had passed away see it's hard for me to still say dead

Starting point is 00:04:36 I thought there had been a car crash I didn't really know what had happened and a period of time passed and then I found out he was murdered. And I remember the pastor at my little Methodist church. I said, what happened? And he went, he was murdered. I remember the entire conversation verbatim. Now, how can that be, Karen, when I can forget a to-do list? Because what happens when you get that kind of news Nancy it's

Starting point is 00:05:05 kind of like a movie that plays in your head you remember everything that was said to you and what you and it's just it becomes stuck because it's just so unexpected and it's not anything there's no script for it your whole whole life story changes. Join me in addition to Karen Stark. And again, you can find her at KarenStark.com. And I want to tell you, we have not only been colleagues for many, many years, we spent hours sitting together in the dark of a Court TV studio watching trials live. We did. That's how I met Karen Stark, at Court TV, Third Avenue, New York, when I did live trial

Starting point is 00:05:49 coverage every single day. And she would get up and come to the morning shift with me. I'd be there at 7 a.m. Guys, we're talking about a 32-year-old young woman who suddenly kills over in the hospital. There's really no good way to put that. Joining me right now out of Rochester, Charles Kelly, reporter and anchor KTTC News. Charles, this woman was actually beloved. You know, people actually get attached to their pharmacist. I got attached to our pharmacist and even the checkout person at i think it was the walgreens when the twins were first

Starting point is 00:06:25 born because we were there so much charles kelly we were there like between the two of them every third day getting something for them and they knew us and we knew them and their families because we saw them all the time and that's the way this woman, Betty Bowman, was. She was actually beloved at the Mayo Clinic. I mean, and Charles Kelly, can you get any better than the Mayo Clinic? Really? No, the world-renowned Mayo Clinic. That is what Rochester is very much known for.

Starting point is 00:06:58 It is world-renowned. It is. And they don't hire just any schlump off the streets. So this woman had to be super smart and at the top of her game. And now she's killing over guys. Take a listen to our friends at CrimeOnline.com. Born and raised in Wichita, Kansas, Betty Bowman is the kind of woman people like to call a friend. She's smart, loyal and exceptionally thoughtful. She graduated from the University of Kansas School of Pharmacy

Starting point is 00:07:25 with a pharmaceutical doctorate and completed residency at Stormont Vale Hospital in Topeka, Kansas. Betty and Connor Bowman got married in May of 2021 and lived in Rochester, Minnesota, where Betty worked as a hospital pharmacist while Connor went through internal medicine residency. Hold on right there. Wait, is this another case of the wife putting the husband through medical school, Jackie? Is that what happened? Charles Kelly, did she put him through medical school while she worked as a pharmacist? I just know they both are very well educated medical experts, but she was in medical school and then not sure what the timeline is with their schooling. Well, I know she got a doctorate, completed her residency in Topeka. They get married 2021.

Starting point is 00:08:12 Betty worked as a pharmacist while he went through his residency. I guess they met somewhere along the way in studies. She went all the way to get her doctorate. So, you know, let me throw this out to Dr. Lyle D. Burgun, president, CEO of Raptor Farm and Tox, fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences, Critical Science Podcast. Wow. You're a toxicology expert. How do you have time to do all that, Dr. Lyle? Don't answer that. That was rhetorical. Dr. Lyle Bergoon. I'm going to call you Dr. Lyle if that's okay. Dr. Lyle, just a personal note on pharmacy studies. When I went to college, I said, mom, what should I be? She said, be a pharmacist. You'll always have a job I'm like okay I'll be a pharmacist I did not take chemistry in high school it wasn't

Starting point is 00:09:11 required so I go to college to be a pharmacist and I looked up I didn't even know what the elements were I'm like what is that then I found out I was supposed to already know all that needlessless to say, I fainted in the first lab when I smelled all the chemicals. Hey, going to an autopsy or crime scene, no problem. No problem. I don't care how many dead bodies are in there. But that chemistry lab, I passed out. Anyway, needless to say, I did not do well at that.

Starting point is 00:09:42 So I have my hat off to anybody that can, you know, fight their way through. It's like walking down Fifth Avenue through chewing gum, getting through all that chemistry. So what do you have to do to get a doctor? I'm trying to find out about this woman. I want to know everything I can find out. What do you know? Yeah, so to get a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences or hers is probably a doctorate of pharmacy or actually pharmaceutical sciences. Did you just say you're a pharmaceutical?

Starting point is 00:10:12 What? You're a pharmaceutical scientist. What did you just say? Oh, I'm a pharmacologist, which is kind of related. So I can't dispense drugs like a pharmacist can. But, you know, when I was in grad school, we would study drugs and chemicals and how they do things. And then we would turn around and we would actually teach in the well, we'd have a pharmacy program where I was, but we would teach in the medical schools and the pharmacy schools. And where were you, by the way? I was at Michigan State University.

Starting point is 00:10:38 Oh, that's a great school. It is. Love it. So this woman really, again, is at the top of her game and beloved. And all of her co-workers talk about how thoughtful she was. Had a traditional upbringing in Kansas, in Wichita, beloved by her family. Can you imagine that phone call? Everything's fine one day and the next day she's dead. So let's get down to it. What happened? Take a listen to our friend Dave Mack. At just 32 years old, Betty Bowman passes away from a sudden onset autoimmune and infectious illness.

Starting point is 00:11:11 Family and friends are shocked. Betty Bowman was suffering from what seemed like food poisoning, gastrointestinal distress and dehydration when she was admitted at the Mayo Clinic St. Mary's Hospital on August 16th. But her condition didn't get better. She took a turn for the worse with heart problems, fluid buildup in her lungs, and the removal of part of her colon after it was discovered it contained necrotic tissue. This before she died from organ failure. Okay, that was like drinking from the fire hydrant.

Starting point is 00:11:40 That was a lot of information. Is that Dale Carson? Yeah, it is. You know, this is something we're familiar with. Okay, well, I just want to point out that Dale Carson is a veteran trial lawyer, a high-profile lawyer out of Jacksonville. He knows nothing about pharmacology. He's not a medical doctor. Yet he's interrupting the doctors and the toxicologists. Okay, I can't wait to hear this. Go ahead, Dale Carson.

Starting point is 00:12:01 That's why I was an FBI agent, because I sometimes know more than a lot of other people, right? And he's certainly never been accused of being modest. Go ahead, Dale Carson. That's why I was an FBI agent, because I sometimes know more than a lot of other people. Right. And he's certainly never been accused of being modest. Go ahead. There you go. She was at Mayo Clinic. She's a doctor at Mayo Clinic. She got the best care in the world immediately. Those people love one another when they're in practice together. So it's not like she got reduced medical care. She got the world's premium medical care. And it's a wonder she didn't survive. It's a wonder. I got to tell you, my mom, my mom was having a lot of difficulties. And Jackie, it was during Dancing with the Stars. So there's already stress. Plus,

Starting point is 00:12:39 I was working full time. Plus, I had the twins living in a little bitty apartment. And in the middle of all this, my mom who was with me got ill and we rushed her out from LA across the country to the Mayo Clinic and they were amazing. So what you just said, Dale Carson was dead on. Absolutely. If you, if you can't, the Mayo Clinic can't help you. Nobody can help you. So all of a sudden she dies. I need to speak to Dr. Lyle Bragoon again. Dr. Lyle, what does this mean? So she goes in for, what do you say, food poisoning. And suddenly she has part of her colon removed it contained necrotic tissue now necro that means dead necrophiliac what is necrotic tissue in your colon it's exactly as you said it's dead tissue basically that part of the of the large intestine just died for some reason.

Starting point is 00:13:46 Okay, wait a minute. Food poisoning and suddenly your tissue in your body is dead. See, I've been to a lot of autopsies, Dr. Lyle, but I've never heard they go in and they find dead tissue in your body. How do you get dead tissue? So usually what happens in, you know, if we see dead tissue, it's, you have a lack of oxygen. So the blood flow to the area has stopped. You know, one of the things that you might see if you, if you just came out of an intestinal surgery of some kind, maybe an appendix removal or something like that. One of the things that they're concerned about is that the intestines will actually loop around themselves and create a knot.

Starting point is 00:14:27 And what that'll do is I'll stop all the blood flow to a part of your intestine. So that's why they're really happy if you're actually passing gas and able to, you know, poop for lack of a better word. They're excited because it means that you haven't, you don't have any knots in your intestine because if you do, what will happen is the blood flow will stop, the tissue there will die, and, yeah, it becomes a carotid.

Starting point is 00:14:50 Yeah, okay, I'm understanding what you're saying. A lot is making sense now. After my dad, he had three open-heart surgeries, plus countless others. He had stents. He had the, as I call it, the roto-ruder, cleaning out your arteries. He had his you know, stents. He had the, as I call it, the roto reader, cleaning out your arteries. He had his karate artery, everything done. And he exercised. He was not overweight. He ate a strict heart diet. He just had a bad, bad heart. Long story short, he has three open

Starting point is 00:15:18 heart surgeries. One of the first questions they ask, and I'm looking over at Jackie is, did he poop yet? I'm like, at the time did he poop yet I'm like at the time of course one of the times I was a high schooler one of the times I was in law school every time I like that I don't know but what does that have to do with his heart you just made perfect sense and you answered a very mysterious question crime stories with nancy grace trying to figure out why this woman has dead tissue and she just went in the hospital for food poisoning okay Okay, let's hear more from Crime Stories investigative reporters. While Betty Bowman was in the hospital, Connor Bowman suggested she was suffering from a

Starting point is 00:16:13 very rare illness referred to as HLH. Tests were done for HLH, but they were inconclusive. Regardless of the facts, Connor Bowman told multiple people his wife died from HLH and even included HLH as a cause of death in her obituary. Okay, let me understand what is HLH. I'm going to be the brave one on this panel. Hemophagocytic, hemophagocytic, phagocytic, hemophagocytic lymphohistionocytosis, I think is what HLH is.

Starting point is 00:16:55 But Charles Kelly, what is HLH? HLH is a rare illness and it's like an autoimmune disorder. Ah, is that right? Dr it's like an autoimmune disorder ah is that right dr lyle autoimmune disorder yeah that's exactly right so she goes in with food poisoning and she dies of autoimmune disorder but wait a minute tests were done for HLH at the urging of her husband, who identified her ailment as HLH, and the result was inconclusive. Okay, let's hear more. On August 14th, Betty Bowman told a friend that she had a few days off work and was looking forward to hanging out.

Starting point is 00:17:40 Betty Bowman and her friend were texting each other in the evening when Betty told him she was at home with Connor Bowman. The next morning, Betty Bowman texted the same friend that she was sick, could not sleep at all because she felt so ill. She told the friend that she thought it was a drink she had the night before that caused her illness because it was mixed in a large smoothie. Okay, right there. I may not know how to pronounce HLH. I may not know about pharmacological studies, but I do know when you are given a large smoothie and you suddenly become so sick that you go into the hospital and die, my spidey senses are up.

Starting point is 00:18:24 I want to go now to another special guest. Robin Dreek is joining us. Behavior expert, former FBI special agent, like Dale Carson, now lawyer. Dreek, FBI counterintelligence behavioral analysis program, author of Sizing People Up, a Veteran FBI Agent's Manual for Behavior Prediction, which is incredible. I love the part of that title, Manual for Behavior Prediction. It's dead on, Robin Drake. Robin Drake, so much is happening surrounding the diagnosis of Betty Bowman. And I don't know that we really get a clear COD, cause of death, on Betty. But so far, I don't like that she drinks something. And then the last time I had food poisoning, and I rarely get it, I've got a cast iron stomach. I was in Vegas because I was spying on the children. They had a class trip to the Grand Canyon.

Starting point is 00:19:26 This was in the eighth grade. Of course, I knew up here that they were going to be fine. But in case anything went wrong, I wanted to be nearby instead of on the other side of the country. So flew to Vegas with David, my husband. And even though they were all out in the Grand Canyon, I just wanted to be near them in case they somehow had a problem. While there, I ate at a sushi restaurant. Never gotten sick off sushi, but that night I was sick, sick, sick, in through the next day. But I didn't end up dead in the hospital from bad sushi. I want you to hear this, Robin Drake. Listen. It is stated that

Starting point is 00:20:08 Connor Bowman told the medical examiner's office that his wife should be cremated immediately and argued that her death was natural. Bowman attempted to cancel the autopsy, claiming Betty Bowman did not want to be a cadaver. During the same time, Connor Bowman was corresponding via email with one of the death investigators with the medical examiner's office and asking the investigator if the toxicology analysis being completed would be more thorough than the analysis typically done at the hospital. Bowman also asked for a list of what was specifically going to be tested for. Number one, I see a big fat lie. Just because you have an autopsy doesn't mean you're going to be tested for? Number one, I see a big fat lie. Just because you have an autopsy doesn't mean you're going to be used as a cadaver,

Starting point is 00:20:50 a dead body at a medical school. That's not what that means. People have autopsies all the time and they are put to rest in the family plot. So by saying, no, no, no, I don't want an autopsy. She never wanted to be a cadaver. Those two, it's a non sequitur. They don't follow each other. Okay, right there, Drake, right there.

Starting point is 00:21:12 I got a problem. You want to rush somebody to cremation. In my world, that's a red flag. Maybe not in other people's worlds, but in my world, that's a problem. And then when you start sniffing around, trying to find out what drug panels were run, what toxicology panels were run on your dead wife's body in the hospital, and how does that compare to what's going to be done at the medical examiner's office? I definitely smell a rat drink.

Starting point is 00:21:38 I'm with you, Nancy. You know, when we're looking at human behavior, we, as human beings, we do a really, really good job of establishing patterns and routines of the people around us, of ourselves. You highlighted yourself with your own food poisoning. You could readily identify what it was because it deviated from what you normally have and you had a reaction to it. And so what his behavior was doing was deviating from the pattern and her death deviated from her entire lifestyle. So her friends and family are really the heroes here, as well as a medical examiner that really highlighted that this is really unusual and that his behavior is also highly unusual.

Starting point is 00:22:17 So there's lots of deviations and people stood up and said something. I like what you said about deviations because I rarely wear some wood to knock on, get sick. My husband, who is 6'3", he claims to weigh 250 pounds. I don't know if that's real or not. Former football player, blah, blah, blah. He actually has a very delicate system. He's constantly sniffing and sneezing and claiming hay fever and whatever. He's actually very delicate. So for him to suddenly get a cold and get OTCs over the counter, meds, which I detest, that's not unusual for him. So this is a deviation. This woman didn't get sick. She didn't have a delicate stomach or a delicate

Starting point is 00:23:05 disposition. And so this is very unusual. So let me go to the source, Dr. Lyle D. Burgund, toxicology expert, president and CEO of Raptor Farm and Tox, a fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences and star of the Critical Science Podcast. What about it, Dr. Lyle? You know, it's really interesting because I agree about this behavior is really strange. Everything here is really, really strange. I'm talking about the tox labs. Tell me about the tox labs. What do you do with the medical examiners?

Starting point is 00:23:47 I know that answer, but as compared to what would have been done at the hospital? You know, the difference is going to be usually the hospital is looking for common drugs of abuse, and they're looking for alcohol and things like that. Basically, they want to know what's going to interfere with any drugs that they might give you in the hospital. When you go to the medical examiner's office, they're going to be running for, you know, again, all the drugs of abuse, but they're also going to be looking for other things that are typical poisons. They're going to be looking for rare chemicals as well. They might do what we call an untargeted analysis. They might, you know, pay a lab to just say, you know, just go out and try to find

Starting point is 00:24:25 anything that's in this blood that looks weird. You know, sometimes they'll do that. And that's, you know, it's pretty common because they're trying to figure out why did this person die? Is there something in their blood? You know, did they eat something that wasn't right? And so that's going to be the biggest difference. So Charles Kelly joining me, very well-known investigative reporter and anchor, KTTC News. Charles, how quickly after Betty dies unexpectedly in the hospital, did the husband want a sudden cremation? They said it was almost immediately. The last thing on my mind when I was in the room when my dad passed away was, oh, dear, let me set up the funeral. What time should it be?

Starting point is 00:25:11 What day should it be? Who's going to write the obit? I couldn't even think about that. All I could think about was him, and he wasn't going to be with me anymore. Same thing with Keith. And this guy's, like, got a head of steam for a cremation. Okay, D.L. Carson, I can't believe you break in on the toxicologist. But now I'm getting some circumstantial evidence and you suddenly go quiet.

Starting point is 00:25:33 Well, I'm just, you know, when you ask somebody to cremate immediately, that's the first red flag. The second is the obit that explains precisely what killed the person in some kind of medical ease. And that's extremely unusual. So the red flags start piling up. I'm going to jump in on Dale now, too. Who's that? It's Robin. I'm literally staring at the obit, too.

Starting point is 00:25:59 I'm with Dale on this. This obit really stuck out to me. Please tell me what about it is really sticking out to you. And I also want to talk to somebody about cremation because that gets rid of all your evidence. If you don't have the right labs, it's over. In the obit, it says following a sudden onset of autoimmune and infectious illness yep controlling the narrative come on you're so right controlling the narrative and so it's interesting here now nancy with this obit even when he because he wrote the obit it says it in some of the documents and so down further

Starting point is 00:26:40 he actually he's she is survived by her fur baby sir crumpet her husband connor not like loving husband or anything like that and so many special friends and loved ones so if he wrote it he actually omitted the the mother who she actually had a very close relationship with so it's it's a very stale obit you put the dog first yeah listed the dog first and also all the condolences are a lot more heartfelt than the actual obit who is this speaking is that robin drake yeah it's robin robin drake you're right i hear karen stark jump in karen well nancy the in addition to the fact that this obit is so bizarre none of her friends or family knew that she had this rare disease that he decides he's going to list, this autoimmune disease. And so

Starting point is 00:27:26 right away, people were suspicious because it didn't make any sense. I'm sure the mom is like, what autoimmune ailment? What are they even talking about? Charles Kelly, tell me some more about her OBIT, please. Yeah. So I actually spoke with some of her close friends and previous colleagues and asked them if they thought it was suspicious. You know, they said she seems very healthy from what they knew, but they just they didn't really question it because I think they're in so much shock. And they said that they didn't talk deep enough about their health issues that they wouldn't have known if she had this autoimmune disorder. But to them and their other doctors, too too saying she was a healthy person overall always

Starting point is 00:28:05 living life to its fullest so i also think what's interesting is one of the best friends i was speaking to told me that she has a very close sister and she's not listed in the obituary at all as well now i'm looking at the photo that was posted on her online obit. It's of her and a pair of cutoffs. The ocean is behind her and she's looking up over her shoulder lovingly at her husband. I'm rereading the obit and you're absolutely correct.

Starting point is 00:28:36 Survived by her fur baby, Sir Crumpet II of Mulberry, her husband Connor and so many special friends and loved ones. Not even mentioning her actual family, her blood relatives. You know, I'm I'm curious, Charles Kelly, did he already have the obit written? That is not confirmed. We we are not sure if he had that already prepared, but we know that in the reports that he wrote it. I remember that was one of the worst moments of my life, sitting around the kitchen table with my brother and sister trying to write my dad's obit. Guys, what more do we know? Listen. Friends of Betty Bowman began reaching out to investigators. An adult female friend of Betty Bowman told Detective Kendrick of the Rochester Police Department that she had texted with Betty Bowman on August 16th,

Starting point is 00:29:25 and that Bowman told her she was sick and was at the hospital, and things were going downhill. The friend told the detective that Betty Bowman was a healthy person. According to the criminal complaint, the friend also told the detective that Connor Bowman had attended pharmacy school, worked in poison control in Kansas, and was currently in medical school. Betty Bowman had told others that Connor Bowman was so much in debt that they kept separate bank accounts. Connor Bowman told a female friend that he was going to get $500,000 in life insurance as a result of Betty Bowman's death.

Starting point is 00:29:57 Bowman also told her that Betty Bowman was suffering from HLH. $500,000? Wait a minute. Charles Kelly, investigative reporter and anchor at KTTC. Why was he in debt? From his pharmacy school. And from those years of school, the money racked up. But it's interesting that he would talk about the life insurance money that he's getting after his wife has just passed away unexpectedly.

Starting point is 00:30:22 $500,000 and the only debt was from school? I'm not sure from the report if there was more to it than just his loans from school or if there was other reasons behind that. There's got to be more, and I'll tell you why I think there's more. I had so much debt. I went to law school on student loans. It took me 10 years to pay them off. I wrote the check 12 times a year for 10 years.

Starting point is 00:30:49 And I remember the amount, $177.11. In fact, I didn't even know the loan had ended. And I sent one check too many and they sent it back to me. So he could easily have done this through loans. Did he have a double life? Why did he have so much debt that he was bragging about a $500,000 life insurance policy? And I'm curious, when did he take that out? But there's more. Listen. The University of Kansas was able to locate internet searches conducted by Bowman on their device and network. Kendrick was told that Connor Bowman was researching colcocine.

Starting point is 00:31:29 Colcocine is a drug used to treat gout. During his time answering calls on the poison line, Bowman had not received any calls regarding colcocine. Neither had any other employees answering calls on the poison line. So he actually manned the poison line while he was in med school at poison control. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Dr. Lyle Burgun, toxicology expert. What is colcocine?

Starting point is 00:32:18 And is that a normal job for someone in medical school to work at poison control? So I'll answer the second question first. It's not completely unusual. Different states have different rules about who can work as a poison specialist. Typically, you have to be someone who's licensed. So he may have been a pharmacy tech. That's actually a pretty common thing for people who are aspiring to go to medical schools. They become pharmacy techs or they become EMTs. And then if they have that kind of a background, they can sometimes work as a poison specialist. But to your first question, colchicine is an interesting chemical. It's a plant-derived drug. It's been around for a long time. It's considered one of the more ancient drugs. And it's been used to treat gout for a

Starting point is 00:33:06 very long time. What's interesting about colchicine, though, is how it works. It actually gets into your cells. And in our cells, we have like, think of them as rails, like train rails. So we have these little railways, and one of them is called tubulin. And tubulin moves proteins around from one side of the cell to the other, but it also helps cells move. So immune cells actually crawl through your body. It's kind of neat. And once they get into an organ, they're just crawling around. Well, if you if you take colchicine, that railway stops. And so now there's no way for proteins to move across the cell, but the cell itself also can't move.

Starting point is 00:33:48 And so it also for cell division tissues like our intestines, our mouth, you know, the mucus lining of our mouth, our nose and stuff like that. Those those mucus linings are constantly being replenished. But if you take colchicine, it stops cell division. So your cells stop dividing. And then you don't replenish these things. And so that's actually what gives you like the GI distress, the gastrointestinal distress, stuff like that. Interestingly, you said it was an ancient drug.

Starting point is 00:34:18 It's been around forever. I wonder if that is part of the labs, the standard labs that are run at the medical examiners in the hospital. Are they or are they not, Dr. Lyle? It's not entirely standard to look for colchicine. You would probably have to have some suspicion, like, you know, somebody's coming in for food poisoning and then they die. You know, you're going to be saying, well, okay, what drugs are going to cause you to have some kind of GI distress? It's not a really large list. It's your anti-cancer drugs and colchicine. Someone may know the hospital,

Starting point is 00:34:57 neither hospital nor ME is going to look for colchicine in their standard lab work. OK, but then there's more. Listen. Some of Connor Bowman's internet searches seemed really out of place. Police found internet searches about the drug Colcocine and determining what a lethal dose would be by entering his wife's weight. The fact that Bowman talked to death investigators about the toxicology test being done on his wife seemed out of place as well.

Starting point is 00:35:24 The drug he researched, Colcocine, was listed on the autopsy report as the cause of death, the toxic effects of colchicine. Okay, Charles Kelly, do I understand this correctly? Her husband, Connor Bowman, researched colchicine and how much as it related to her body weight? Yes, he even was converting her body weight to kilograms and multiplying that in order to measure out the dosage rate in milligrams per kilogram for colchicine. Okay, right there, Dale Carson. What more do I need to take this to a grand jury? Just tell me, do I need anything else? You need a corpus delecta. Okay, what? You mean I've got a dead body? There you go. There you go. I've got a dead body. She's dead.

Starting point is 00:36:22 How do you think she's not dead? She's dead dead we've been talking about it i i was just saying you do have that okay my question to you was what else do i need do i need anything else you need a confession don't need a confession good gravy man where did you go to law school dale carson i've prosecuted many cases without a confession i don't expect the defendant just laid down let me drive over him have i given me a confession. I don't expect the defendant just laid down and let me drive over him. Have I given me a confession? Man, I need to school you. Who's jumping in? Is that Karen Stark? Yes, it is. Because the confession is, if you look at his internet searches, there's in some ways, that's him speaking. How can such smart people do such stupid things like leave a trail a mile wide? Well, okay. Not just that, but I can tell you the day David Eugene. Yes, that's his middle name. Lynch looks at VPN, a private browser.

Starting point is 00:37:15 Oh, yeah. Fur is going to fly. Listen. Connor Bowman also accessed a search for the corrected question from VPN to VPN. VPNs are secure methods of web browsing and can be used by those who are trying to hide their online activity from law enforcement. Bowman was also searching sodium nitrate. Sodium nitrate can be used to limit oxygen transport through the body. There was then a Google shop page for various vendors selling sodium nitrate. Okay. A Google Shop page, Charles Kelly, for sodium nitrate? Is that correct? Yes. That is exactly what is stated in the criminal complaint.

Starting point is 00:37:55 Dr. Lyle Bergoon, what is sodium nitrate? Sodium nitrate is a chemical that's commonly found in fertilizers, actually, and it's extremely water-soluble. What do you mean it's extremely water-soluble? You mean like you could put it in a big fat slurpee? Yep, you could. You could put it in a big fat slurpee. You could put it in a, you know, whatever it is that you want to drink. It'll go in really easily. I'll tell you what, the day that I catch David Lynch looking up sodium nitrate is the day I call a divorce lawyer. Okay, just the cherry on top. Listen. The medical examiner determined the cause of death of 32-year-old Betty Bowman to be toxic effects of colcocine and the manner of death, homicide. Law enforcement

Starting point is 00:38:40 executed another search warrant on Connor Bowman's residence. Officers located a receipt for a bank deposit of $450,000. You know, Robin Drake joining me, behavior expert, former FBI special agent and chief of FBI counterintelligence behavioral analysis program. I have found, and I don't have the right psychological terms for it or psychiatric terms, that people that kill for money, for a pecuniary gain, are a whole different animal. There's just a whole different psychopathy in planning a murder for money. Yeah, and he's fitting the pattern of people that poison people for money, for gain. He's got a sense of inadequacy, most likely spoiled, self-centered. It's a rare form of murder, one of the rarest, but it fits a pattern. When we're talking about patterns of behavior like we have been, it fits a pattern from his background, from his pharmacy side, from working at the Mayo Clinic. And now we see a pattern behavior of Internet searches. And when you combine that all together with trying

Starting point is 00:39:50 to control a narrative, trying to dispose of a body before there can be toxicology, it's all fitting what we're observing. And it's a sad, tragic thing. Charles Kelly, KTTC. Is it true? I learned this, according to friends, that divorce was imminent. Why were they getting a divorce? Do we know? All we know is that they were having marital issues and we're talking about divorce, calling fidelity and a deterring relationship. That was from a call that was given to the medical examiner's office from a female that's identified in the police report. So are there claims of infidelity? Is that what you just said? Yes. That's what the female who called the medical examiner's office said.

Starting point is 00:40:33 Who allegedly was cheating or were they both? That is unknown. Well, it's pretty clear that it was her with a guy that was texting back and forth with her during the proposed divorce. Uh-oh, I'm in trouble because I have guys texting me all the time, particularly Wilson, our managing editor at Crime Online. Should we tell his wife? Let's don't. Just because Dale Carson, 2023, just because you're texting with a male colleague does not mean you're in an affair.

Starting point is 00:41:03 I don't think it was a colleague, and it was a little more than just a texting. Hold on. Jackie is wildly waving a note at me. Connor was cheating. It was him. How do we know Connor was cheating? Who said Connor was cheating? The friend.

Starting point is 00:41:14 The friend. The friend said. You know what, Dale Carson? I am taking you to school, young man. I am taking you to school. So where does the case stand right now? Let me throw that to our friend at KTTC, Charles Kelly. What's happening right now?

Starting point is 00:41:31 Right now, the Olmstead County attorney that I spoke with, they are currently charging him with second degree murder with intent but he said in order for them to charge for first degree premeditated they have they would have to go to a grand jury if they decide that within a 14-day period boohoo what's the problem with going to a grand jury it takes about five minutes this needs to be a death penalty case well i mean seriously the man plans out a very painful death for his wife while he's allegedly having an affair. And she rises in pain, has dead necrotic tissue in her colon, has to have part of her colon removed. Otherwise completely healthy. While he's looking up gout medication online and buying sodium nitrate. If this is not a death penalty case, what is?

Starting point is 00:42:32 Who made that decision? Charles, who made the decision? Is this going to be a DP or not? We are not sure at the moment because the attorney's office will decide if they're going to go with first degree, but they're just making sure if they do that, they have all their ducks in a row so they can prove that it was premeditated. Pretty clearly premeditated. Yes, who's this faking?

Starting point is 00:42:52 I don't know, it couldn't be. Yeah. Yes, it certainly can. Dale, I mean, you're right. You've got all the internet searches. Gee, how do I kill my wife with colchicine or whatever it is? And then writes a crap obit to boot. Oh, yeah.

Starting point is 00:43:07 We wait as justice unfolds. Goodbye, friend. You're listening to an iHeart Podcast.

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Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Poison Specialist's Wife Sudden Death, BY POISON

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Pet Camera - EBO Air 2

Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Poison Specialist's Wife Sudden Death, BY POISON

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