Rochester Man Pleads Guilty to His Wife’s Death

Rochester, MN (KROC-AM News)- A Rochester man charged in connection with the death of his wife is pleading guilty. 

See Also: Unbuckled Man Killed in Southern Minnesota Crash 

Olmsted County Court records indicate he entered the guilty plea on Friday. The case was scheduled to go to trial on Monday. 

He was charged in the case in February of 2024 after his wife’s death was ruled a homicide. 

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Rochester Man Admits to Felony Charge for Wife's Death

75-year-old Scott Douglas Loven was charged with a count of second-degree manslaughter and a count of criminal neglect. 

The criminal complaint says  informed his wife’s pastor during a May 4, 2023  visit his wife had passed away. Four days later, Rochester Police responded to the couple’s home and found Loven’s wife’s body in a bathtub. 

During two interviews with investigators, Loven said his wife was suffering from dementia and hearing and vision loss.

Shortly before her death, she was also having gastrointestinal issues and Loven said he helped her to the bathroom and later heard her call for help. 

Loven told investigators then attempted to move his wife from the toilet to the bathtub but fell while moving her.

At some point Loven’s wife fell into the bathtub, according to the charges. 

He told police he refused her request to take her to a hospital because he did not want to put her in the car and sit in a hospital waiting room, the complaint says. 

Police did determine the home had a working landline phone and Loven admitted to not calling 911 or anyone to help his wife when she was stuck in the bathroom, according to the court document. 

The court document says an autopsy determined Loven’s wife died of “gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to prolonged immobility due to multiple blunt force injuries.”

 Her manner of death was described as homicide, the complaint says. 

Loven pleaded guilty to the negligence charge. Court records indicate the prosecution dismissed the manslaughter charge in exchange for the guilty plea. 

Loven’s sentencing hearing has not yet been scheduled.