A Colorado man accused of murdering his second wife for $4.5million life insurance also prised a $30k diamond from her wedding ring before she fell off a 140ft cliff, a court heard.
Harold Henthorn, 58, is accused of pushing his second wife Toni Henthorn, 50, off a cliff in the Rocky Mountains, where they were hiking to celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary.
Henthorn is on trial for first-degree murder after it emerged he was set to benefit from $4.5million life insurance that Toni’s family insist she didn’t know she had.
But Henthorn may also have stolen the diamond from his wife’s wedding ring before pushing her off the cliff, say prosecutors, who insist he staged her death to make it look like an accident.
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Trial begins: Harold Henthorn, 58, is charged with first-degree murder in the September 2012 death of his second wife, Toni (right), who fell to her death from a cliff in the Rockies
Calculated crimes: Prosecutors argued that Henterhorn, seen here in court last week, killed both his wives to collect on their life insurance policies
Prosecutors further claim that the death of the second Mrs Henthorn closely mirror the circumstances of the death of his first wife, Sandra Lynn Henthorn, who was crushed when a car slipped off a jack while they changed a flat tire in 1995.
Park ranger Paul Larson said Toni was wearing the wedding ring when she died on September 29 2012, but the expensive diamond was missing.
He added that he could not find the missing diamond in the craggy, secluded area where the authorities found the body. Larson said he drew no conclusions about the diamond.
Investigators believe the missing diamond is suspicious, as Toni’s hand was not badly injured in her fall.
Deputy Coroner Jere Gunderson said he found it off that Henthorn quickly volunteered information about the diamond when interviewed, saying it was worth $30,000, but ‘the missing stone did not matter at all at this point’.
He and other investigators noted several unusual details from the scene in their testimonies.
For example, even though Toni Henthorn’s fall was hard and fast enough to break large tree branches, her camera landed almost completely intact just feet from where her husband moved her body, Larson said.
Henthorn said he moved the body to flatter terrain so that he could tend to her and give her CPR.
But investigators found no evidence that Henthorn performed CPR on his wife, finding her lipstick intact in crime scene photos.
Ms Henthorn was not an avid hiker, so it didn’t make sense that she would have gone willingly to such dangerous terrain, according to the testament of Coroner James Wilkerson.
The autopsy showed Toni Henthorn suffered serious brain and chest injuries and severe blood loss, but it did not reveal whether she fell or was pushed, said Wilkerson.
‘I couldn’t determine whether it was an accident or whether, with some of the unusual or suspicious circumstances, it was a homicide,’ said the coroner.
Earlier tragedy: Harold's first wife, Sandra Lynn (pictured on their wedding day) was crushed to death when a car slipped off a jack while they were changing a flat tire in 1995
Henthorn (left) and his first wife Lynn Rishell (right). He has not been charged in her death, but prosecutors will be able to present evidence related to the fatal accident that ended her life
According to Henthorn’s evidence, Ms Henthorn died when she paused to take a photograph.
But prosecutors say Henthorn carefully planned the killing, scouting the trail nine times before taking his wife, a wealthy ophthalmologist from Mississippi, with him.
As they wandered off the trail to capture the view, Toni Henthorn paused to take a photo, the defendant told investigators.
The government thinks lightning never strikes twice. Wait to see the evidence.
Defense attorney Craig L. Truman
He said she then fell face-first over the ledge, plummeting off the secluded rock face.
Henthorn, who was the only witness to his wife’s fall, was unable to explain to investigators why he had a park map with an ‘X’ drawn at the spot where his wife fell, prosecutors said.
Henthorn’s defense attorney, Craig L. Truman, told jurors that the death was a tragic accident and that Henthorn raced down the steep rocks to help his wife.
But prosecutors said the fatal fall was reminiscent of the death of Henthorn’s first wife, Sandra Lynn, who also died several months after their 12th wedding anniversary.
Henthorn has not been charged in the case of his first wife’s death, but police reopened the investigation after Toni Henthorn’s death.
‘These deaths were not accidents,’ assistant US attorney Suneeta Hazra told jurors on Tuesday, adding that Henthorn gave inconsistent accounts of what happened in both cases.
Both ‘freak accidents’ occurred at remote locations with Henthorn (pictured with Sandra Lynn) the lone witness. Both occurred after 12 years of marriage
Henthorn (left), pictured with his sister-in-law Grace (center) and Sandra Lynn (right), was named as the sole beneficiary in a string of lucrative life insurance policies totaling $500,000 on the death of his first wife
‘The government thinks lightning never strikes twice,’ Truman told jurors. ‘Wait to see the evidence.’
The victim’s brother, Dr Barry Bertolet, testified that on the day Toni died and over the next few days, his brother-in-law offered him four conflicting versions of what happened, reported The Denver Post.
In one retelling of the story, Toni was walking behind her husband along a trail when she disappeared. When he went back to look for her, he saw she had fallen off a cliff.
In another version, the couple were walking together when the woman slipped and tumbled off the cliff.
A third iteration of the tale has it that the couple were taking pictures when Harold became distracted by a text message from their daughter, and when he looked up he saw Toni was gone.
The defendant's attorney blamed the man's grief for the inconsistencies.
A judge ruled prosecutors can show evidence of the first wife's death during Henthorn's trial.
They will also be able to discuss an earlier incident in which a 20ft beam fell on Toni Henthorn while the couple was working at their Great Lake cabin. She told her mother at the time that if she had not bent over, the beam would have killed her.
After Toni Henthorn, seen here with her and Harold's daughter, died in 2012, her relatives realized she had three life insurance policies totaling $4.5million
Henthorn's defense attorney, Craig L. Truman, has argued that the two deaths were unfortunate accidents.
It was only after Toni Henthorn died that her relatives realized she had three life insurance policies totaling $4.5million. The prosecution claimed on Thursday the woman knew nothing of the policies that had been taken out in her name.
At the time of his arrest, prosecutors said, Henthorn was living off $1.5million in assets that were partly from his late wife.
Before Henthorn married Toni, he studied the financial statuses of three women and asked his friends whom he should wed, friends told investigators.
He settled on Toni, a successful ophthalmologist from Mississippi who also earned money from her family's thriving oil business. He told her he was wealthy and convinced her to move with him to the Denver suburb of Highlands Ranch, her relatives have said.
But once in Colorado, he seemed to be a controlling and obsessive husband, and prosecutors said they found no evidence that he had any income from regular employment.
The trial continues.
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