Man allowed 130-pound wife to die after she fell in bathtub because he thought she was ‘obese’ and he did not want to sit in the hospital waiting room

A Minnesota man will spend years in prison after failing to contact authorities for several days after his wife died in the bathtub.

In May, Scott Douglas Loven, 75, pleaded guilty to one count of criminal neglect by a person who knows or has reason to know deprivation will result in great bodily harm. The plea deal put the kibosh on an earlier charge of manslaughter in the second degree by a person with culpable negligence for creating an unreasonable risk.

On Thursday, Loven was sentenced to 41 months in prison.

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On May 8, 2023, police responded to a report about a woman dead in a bathtub at a home in northwest Rochester, a large city located roughly 85 miles southeast of Minneapolis. There, officers found the body of Iris Jean Anderson, 93. The medical examiner would classify her death as a homicide caused by a gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to prolonged immobility because of blunt force injuries.

When investigators questioned the deceased woman’s husband, he allegedly said he could not remember the exact date of her death because he had been drinking since she passed away, according to court documents obtained by Austin, Minnesota-based ABC affiliate KAAL and Mason City, Iowa-based CBS affiliate KIMT.

Authorities later pegged Anderson’s death to May 4, 2023.

The ultimate arrival of law enforcement appears to have been caused by a game of telephone.

A pastor had actually visited the residence on the day in question as part of his regular provision of services to the family – and Loven allegedly told him about his wife’s death, police say. Then, “a couple days later,” the pastor called Anderson’s daughter to relay the story and “assumed things had been taken care of,” according to a police report obtained by Rochester-based radio station KROC.

The daughter asked the pastor to return and check on Anderson because she was “unaware” of her own mother passing. Then, the pastor arrived the same day as police would make their way over.

“[The pastor] went back to [Anderson’s] residence on May 8 and Loven told him that [Anderson] had died and was in the bathroom,” the report reads. “He could not recall when [Anderson] died because he had been drinking since her death.”

The woman’s obituary remembers her fondly as a singular force:

Jean was an empath and personist and a staunchly independent, private woman.

As her own person, she engaged a special, idiosyncratic and unique approach and lifestyle, frequently given over to intelligent intellectual pursuit and physical pastime. “Chacun à son goût” was her personal epigram; I Corinthians Chapter 13 was a favored scriptural passage of hers.

She was quietly devout in her faith and esperance granting her the wherewithal to withstand the challenges of adversity. Many persons benefited from the “beau geste” generosity of her caring concern and financial altruism. During the process of giving back better, she positively influenced and directly enriched all of our lives.

In the ensuing investigation, Loven said his wife needed help he was unable to render as she went to the bathroom – but disclaimed any knowledge about how she got into the bathtub, according to police.

Once she was in the bathtub, however, Loven said he told her “she needed to get out of the bathtub and keep moving” and that she was still breathing and had a pulse at that point, according to the police report. The report assumes Anderson fell from the toilet at some point. Loven noticed an abrasion on her arm, which he tried to treat since he is a nurse, the report goes on to say. Then, when he tried to help her “into a better position” in the bathtub, he fell himself.

The report details the initial interview at length:

Loven recalled that when [Anderson] fell into the bathtub she was saying “Scott, help me!” Loven could not recall when [Anderson] died, but said it was days prior. He remembered [Anderson] asked him to take her to the hospital. Loven was a caretaker for Victim because she had dementia, memory problems, and was losing her hearing and vision. He made sure she took her medications and ate. Loven said he was scared and didn’t know what to do, and he began to drink heavily.

The next day, the defendant was interviewed by police again and some slight changes to his story occurred.

This time, Loven allegedly said he heard a cry for help and then found his wife on the floor. Then, he allegedly said he “tried to pull her into the bathtub because he thought that would be better than on the bathroom floor,” according to the report. After falling into the bathtub, Anderson said she needed to go to the hospital.

Here, the defendant allegedly offered two excuses. First, he said his 130-pound wife was “obese so he could not help her,” according to the report. Loven also allegedly told his wife “he did not want to put her in the car and drive her to the hospital to sit in the waiting room.”

“He said it was at that point that he knew she was not in a good way and was dying so he kept her in the bathtub,” the report reads. “Loven said he did not think about calling anyone, including 911.”

Police said they determined the residence had a working landline.

The medical examiner’s report also specified Anderson’s injuries as a fractured shoulder, contusions on her right arm and eye, and a laceration on her scalp that extended to her skull.

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