Harold Henthorn was found guilty of first-degree murder of his wife, Toni.
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The 59-year old was set to pocket $4.5million (€4m) from her life insurance and the prosecution case was built around this motive.
Inconsistences in his story about what happened on the day of his wife’s death were among the major points that prosecutors stressed during the trial.
The first wife’s death was an accident, he said, as was a 2011 incident in which a 20-foot beam fell on Toni Henthorn while the couple was working at their mountain cabin. The document stated that “on September 29, 2012, Harold Henthorn’s wife Toni Henthorn fell to her death with Harold Henthorn as the only witness, in a remote location in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado”.
Prosecutors argued that there were similarities between the cases, which both happened in secluded areas where Harold was the only witness, that could not be ignored.
Reached this week, Rob Henthorn declined to discuss the half million dollars and referred questions to his attorney, Pam Mackey.
Henthorn faces life in prison when Judge R. Brooke Jackson sentences him December. 8. She accidently slid under the vehicle and got run over by it as Harold was changing the tire. She was a successful ophthalmologist with a stake in her family’s oil business.
In the case of Toni Henthorn, the jury didn’t buy that argument.
Special administrators representing Toni Henthorn’s estate are trying to recover the money so it eventually benefits Haley Henthorn, Toni Henthorn’s daughter, not Harold Henthorn or his brother.
“According to Harold’s story, which is contained in court records, they took pictures of each other, passing the camera back and forth”, Westword reported. “Henthorn told her he planned every minute of their trip”.
Both wives died after their 12-year wedding anniversary.
Police in Denver are now also looking at the death of his first wife Sandra in 1995.
“Some of it was circumstantial, but we were instructed to use our common sense”, Kim Thiessen told the Associated Press. One juror even crossed the courtroom to hug Toni’s mother, Yvonne Bertolet.
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The jurors’ conclusion may not be the final word: The investigation into Lynn’s death still awaits resolution, and Craig Truman, Henthorn’s attorney, hinted at a possible appeal in Harold’s conviction of Toni’s murder.
