To: David Lawrence who wrote (13449 ) 3/7/1998 12:18:00 AM From: jhild Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 22053
Evidently this guy was as good a Doctor as he was a murderer - allegedly that is.Doctor charged with murder in ax slaying of wife 10.15 p.m. ET (316 GMT) March 6, 1998 PORT ANGELES, Wash. (AP) - A doctor was charged Friday with beating his wife to death with an ax and a baseball bat hours after her half-million dollar life-insurance policy went into effect. Bruce W. Rowan, 34, remained hospitalized Friday for knife wounds that police say he inflicted upon himself when they came to talk to him about his wife's death early Monday. Rowan excused himself during the discussion, ostensibly to see to the couple's 2-year-old daughter, Annika, then returned bleeding from wounds to the neck and chest, authorities said. He told deputies: "I tried to get my aorta but I missed.'' [Not a surgeon I'm guessing.] Investigators visited Rowan after the body of his wife, Deborah Lu Rowan, 33, was found about 1 a.m. Monday in a car that appeared to have struck a tree. Rowan told investigators he and his wife had gone to a movie Sunday night and went to bed about 10 p.m., according to court documents. Unable to sleep, his wife went to a grocery store about midnight, he said. But police said her injuries were inconsistent with the accident and the accelerator pedal of the car had been rigged to stay down. Told about the stuck pedal, Rowan said a neighborhood dog sometimes dropped rocks into the car , suggesting one of the rocks might have caused the gas pedal to stick. [Those dogs are always causing mischief, if it's not your homework, then they're jamming your accelerator.] Deputies found an ax and bat in a shed on the Rowan property, along with a garbage bag filled with blood-stained clothing, pillow and pillowcase. There was also blood on the ceiling and walls of the bedroom and underneath the mattress. Authorities later learned that Rowan had taken out a $500,000 life-insurance policy on his wife that went into effect Sunday - hours before her body was found. He paid the $169 premium on Feb. 23, authorities said. Rowan was the beneficiary. [The police probably didn't need Charlie Chan to figure this one out.]foxnews.com