During the trial, prosecutors alleged that Henthorn also killed his first wife, Lynn, in 1995, but was never charged in the case, which was ruled an accident. A life sentence is mandatory when he is formally sentenced in December.
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Henthorn has pleaded not guilty, claiming Toni Henthorn’s death was an accident.
Prosecutors argued that her husband Harold had killed the wealthy ophthalmologist to claim on her $4.5 million life insurance.
“Harold Henthorn’s love was lethal”, said relative Grace Rishell. A coroner said he could not determine whether she fell or was pushed, but he said he found no evidence that Harold Henthorn actually performed CPR on his wife, despite what he told dispatchers.
Yvonne and Bob Bertolet, center and right, the parents of Toni…
Her brother, Todd Bertolet, told CNN previous year that the family immediately grew suspicious about her death because Henthorn kept changing his story about what had happened.
Under questioning Henthorn, 59, told detectives that he had taken her there as a surprise for their 12th wedding anniversary.
According to Henthorn’s initial account, his wife stopped to snap a photograph of the view and slipped over the edge. The deaths were “eerily, creepily” similar, Spencer said. “We don’t have to worry anymore”.
In evidence it was shown that he had looked up various remote areas of the park nine times before the trip and that he had come up with four different versions of how his wife had fallen to her death in the aftermath of the incident.
After the jury was dismissed, applause erupted in the courtroom.
One of the most incriminating pieces of evidence was a map in Henthorn’s possession that had been marked with an “X” on the area where his wife fell.
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“Some of it was circumstantial, but we were instructed to use our common sense”, she said. “Believe it or not I forgive him (Henthorn) for doing it. I feel for him and his family”.
