IOWA CITY, Iowa — The case against a former University of Iowa researcher accused of killing his wife in 1997 has been dismissed because of his death.

Seventy-four-year-old John Bloomfield died Nov. 6 at a Minneapolis hospital. Bloomfield was arrested in November 2013, accused of strangling his wife, Frances Bloomfield, in Iowa City and dumping her plastic-wrapped body in a ditch near Rockford, Ill. His trial was scheduled to begin next month. He’d denied the accusations.

Prosecutors last week filed a motion to dismiss the case, and the court issued the dismissal order on Friday. Prosecutors also said they’d return property that was seized from Bloomfield during the investigation.