The Jeep was then salvaged. Bertolet said he and his family believe Harold Henthorn funneled the $500,000 to his brother anticipating that he would eventually be charged criminally for Toni Henthorn's death and might not have access to the money. For some reason, though it was clear she needed their help, Harold yelled at them when they dragged Lynns unconscious body out from underneath the Jeep. We are hoping that you have no more nights, no more pain, no more tears with the Heavenly Father. Here's everything to know about them. If Henthorn is found guilty, I would not think either killing was premeditated but rather an opportunity arose and impulsively he used it to his advantage. Prosecutors and authorities learned that before Tonis death, she had been subjected twice to injuries allegedly caused by a wooden beam. In December, Toni Bertolet's husband, Harold Henthorn, received a mandatory life sentence for her death. The story behind that tragedy was revealed last November in an episode of CBS' "48 Hours" and, apparently, more details are forthcoming with the "Dateline" broadcast this month. Henthorn was indicted on Nov. 6 in the death of his second wife, who fell to her death while hiking in Rocky Mountain National Park. IE 11 is not supported. Harold had her body cremated, scattered the ashes on Colorados Red Mountain, and collected the $500,000 life insurance payout from the plan she had recently signed up for. The bad guy is the Defendant, and the evil that our children must now comprehend came from within the family in the form of a parent and an uncle. And despite her having all the trappings of happiness a big house, a healthy child, a yearly Christmas card detailing everything thatd gone right for them that never seemed to happen. In each case, the Defendant made arrangements to be a lucky recipient of significant benefits from those deathshis own version a post mortem lottery. He had seen a lot. He was careful and methodical and knew how to navigate the choppy waters of bureaucracy even when it came to the toughest cases. At that time, her death was quickly deemed an accident. Although Harold pleaded not guilty at his trial, the jury did not deliberate long before pronouncing him guilty. January 10th was one day short of her mothers birthday on January 11th. Oh it was nothing, Mrs. B! Harold had insisted on one of their phone calls afterwards. Harold Henthorn, and his wife Toni. Montoya eventually got so fed up with the fact that Harold wouldnt help warm up his freezing, near-death wife that she used her own coat and left it at the scene once she and her family realized the police were almost there. Initially, the couple appeared ecstatic in their new life and were happy with each other. If you would like to donate, you can visit www.umc.edu/tonibertoletendowment. The Defendant even proclaimed to a group of school mothers that Tonis daughter would be fine, because the real relationship was actually between Haley and him. Feds say Henthorn pushed his wife over a cliff at Rocky Mountain National Park. var sc_project=9846729; He had arrived with grand promises, including a claim that he was so rich that Toni would never have to work again. She had a passion to console and give advice to those who were in need of direction and comfort. To another he said it was merely spongy. I think there is a special place in hell for someone like [Harold].. For most of their lives, Toni and her mother Yvonne had been best friends. Harold was convicted of first-degree murder, and in 2015 was sentenced to life in federal prison. Bob and Yvonne watched as Harold slowly took control of Tonis life. Harold never said she wasnt allowed, of course. Harold Hentho This is an adapted chapter from Caleb Hannans new Kindle Single The Accidents; read the full story here. Family, friends and co-workers were convinced Harold Henthorn was responsible for his wife's death. She wanted her to say that she would listen to her mothers warning. If he is ultimately convicted of murder, he will face a mandatory life sentence with no possibility of parole. She called the Sheriffs office the next day to ask where she could pick up the coat. Related The Bertolets said goodbye to their only daughter a few days later. By the time Detective Weaver called Roberts, she had been promoted all the way up to chief of the department, and had witnessed more deaths than she cared to count. Harold Henthorn faces a mandatory life term when he is sentenced Dec. 8. Then harder still. That woman on the mountain, she said. Even though Harold had money, he refused to travel with Toni back to the South. In 2000, Harold Henthorn married eye doctor Toni Bertolet after they met on a Christian dating website. ", After the jury was dismissed, applause erupted in the courtroom. IE 11 is not supported. Three years later we are still heavy laden with the emotional shock of her death.Toni was a special child, a precious gift to us from God. I disagree with the Defendants counsel when he proclaimed that the Defendant told lies to his detriment; the truth is the Defendant told lies for his direct benefit. Harold couldnt account for how the SUV fell off not one, but the two jacks he said hed used to prop it up. Moments after a federal court jury convicted Harold Henthorn Monday of killing his second wife Toni, a process server surprised Rob Henthorn with court papers compelling him to appear in court in Douglas County Oct. 30 to tell a probate judge what happened to the half million dollars Harold Henthorn transferred to him, or a business controlled by him, in early 2014 before Henthorn was arrested for his wife's murder. If you want to know more about this baffling case and where Harold Henthorn is today, we have you covered. After his second wife died in an accident, authorities found that circumstances of his first wife's death were more suspicious than they realized. The story went like this: Late one night, while Haley slept inside the cabin, Harold asked Toni to help him clean up some debris. He found a Jeep Cherokee similar to the one that fell on Lynn and went about trying to recreate the scenario that killed her. Yet as soon as she moved to Colorado, Toni was no longer able to speak to her mother alone. Sandra's death is now being re-investigated more thoroughly by the Douglas County Sheriff's Office. Did You Know Anxiety Can Enhance Our Relationships? He insisted at both the verdict and the sentencing that he would appeal the decision. A jury convicted Henthorn of murder in 2015 after about 10 and a half hours of deliberation. The lies? To another he said it wasnt him Lynn was actually rescued by a random group of helpful strangers. Since Harold was treated from the start as a victim, not a suspect, and since his wifes death was treated as an accident, not a deliberate murder, clues that wouldve appeared to others as red flags had no discernible hue at all. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. Her husband calls 911 but she dies and, at first, it seems like an accident. The sentence to be handed down by this court is the only result that the Defendant has actually earned in his adult life. When that didnt work, he threw it a little harder. How does she know that grief and sadness will not fall upon her again at the hands of a person she trusted? / CBS Colorado. The Bertolets had accepted those quirks early on because thats what a good family does they worked hard at liking the person that made their daughter happy. Douglas County had changed tremendously in the intervening years. He had done a lot: Two tours in Vietnam, a return to the country to help evacuate Saigon and 20 years patrolling Air Force bases. This despite the fact that the Bertolets had been extra generous to Harold and Toni, gifting them some half-million dollars for a down payment on their house in Colorado, for cars and new appliances and for anything else the couple needed in the 10 years since theyd married. This trial was about the last moment in Tonis life and the moment that Toni took her last breath, he saidand he was actually speaking for two Bertolets; his brother, Todd, wrote the statement. The Defendant claimed to have a career and business, when, in fact he had neither. The silence of the victim, Toni Bertolet Henthorn, in the court today is another word for the pain that she lived at the hands of the Defendant. But was it an accident? Harold Henthorn, 59, was convicted of one count of first-degree murder in the 2012 death of his second wife, Dr. Toni Henthorn. It is often said that when a brilliant mind, talent, and heart come together as one, one should expect a Masterpiece. Harold Henthorn was a grieving widower. Also, an extensive review found that Henthorn, who had a clean police record besides a couple of minor traffic citations, had been charged with shoplifting underwear! A Colorado jury of eight women and four men deliberated for 12 hours over two days before deciding Monday afternoon that Harold Henthorn, 59, was guilty of murdering his wife three years ago. A jury convicted him of murdering his second wife, Toni Bertolet, based on evidence that he murdered his first wife, Sandra 'Lynn' Henthorn. Old Medication, New Use: Can Prazosin Curb Drinking? I would not go anywhere alone with this man.. The Defendant evidently perceived a strong and viable mother / daughter relationship as a threat to his authority in his warped world. She was killed while trying to change a flat tire when the car she was underneath fell on top of her, thousands of pounds of metal pinning her to the ground. The Defendant created his own reality and everyone in it. He rested the car on the same type of jacks Harold said hed used, in the same spot on the same side of the road where Lynn died. "She contributed a lot to society, and to be wiped out for no good reason, it's more devastating." Before becoming a detective hed spent decades moving his wife from base to base. It had been a full day, and the sun had set. The Defendants estate planning was grossly disproportionate as to his gained benefits from the death of his wife, yet showed little or no reciprocity had the circumstances been reversed and he met his untimely death.Grief is the human emotion that is exhibited by the loss of a loved oneit is the price of love. Instead, it appears he risked it all for some insurance compensation. She had already suffered through one previous marriage, and her parents knew that her deepening faith and the fact that she and Harold now had a child of their own meant it was unlikely she would ever choose to divorce him. In the upcoming documentary, Brian Maas will investigate the crime that captured the nation when Harold Henthorn was finally arrested for the murder of his second wife 20 years after the death of his first wife, Sandra Lynn Rishell, aka Lynn . The Defendants entire adult life was a lie and scam to live his life and lifestyle while others paid the price. Harold Henthorn was the only witness to both bizarre deaths of his two wives. Lynns death and Harolds behavior, Montoya told him, were still the creepiest thing Ive ever seen.. This development recalls the story of another notorious convicted Colorado killer: Harold Henthorn, who was convicted of killing his second wife, Dr. Toni Henthorn. All of this led to the filing of murder charges last week. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". Then, when she found out that Lynn had died, she asked the follow-up question, the one record of her that still remained in the case file and made it clear how she felt about Harold. We are forced to say goodbye, forced to learn to live without our loved one, and forced to fill the emptiness that remains in our hearts. To the young man facing total blindness from an injury requiring the skilled hands of a surgeon, Tonis life mattered and was indispensable. They had lunch together, and headed down a nearby ridge to take pictures, passing the camera back and forth all the while. Harold and Toni Henthorn Toni and Harold met online in 1999 and married just nine months later. Although the police found a partial footprint on the Jeeps tires and Harolds statements about the tragedy kept changing, Lynns death was soon determined an accident. So Yvonne continued with a final warning. Montoya and her family had been driving home that night from a day of fishing and picnicking when Harold appeared in the glow of their cars headlights and waved them down. I think of how desperately she wanted a child and now she will never see that child grow up, never see her grandchildren.There is a picture of a smiling Toni resting on an easel in our home. After Tonis death, the Defendant routinely proclaimed that Haley Henthorn was doing just fine without her mother. Selena Gomez vs. Hailey Bieber: Why Everyone Thinks They Need to Pick a Side. Friends and family were delighted for the pair, who seemed to be the perfect match. The audacity of Henthorns crimesand the fact that hes only been charged with one murder, though public opinion has deemed him overwhelmingly guilty of twocontinues to shock and amaze, even years after they first came to light. Hey Mrs. B! Harold would say, using the pet name hed given Yvonne. Rather, it defines an individual that doesnt meet the criteria for anti-social personality disorder, yet occasionally carries out anti-social acts. Only then did it come crashing down. He was a good guy, a loving husband, a good father to their daughter, and extremely busy working as a fundraiser for churches,. Prosecutors and police. The Bertolets found it odd that long after shed ceased to be a baby, Harold kept a video monitor running in his daughters room. The Defendant preyed on women of faith in a Christian environment because, as with Toni, Christian women move forward in life with goodness in their heart as opposed to vigilance in their eyes. His second wife Toni died in 2012 after a fall during a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. Children shouldnt have to sacrifice so that one can have the life one wants, one makes sacrifices so ones children can have the life that they deserve. Her husband, Harold Henthorn, was convicted of first-degree murder in her death. As Warren Buffet stated, Honesty is a very expensive gift. We ask: How could money be so important to a man, that he would kill the mother of his seven year old daughter? July 26, 2017 at 11:59 a.m. He pushed her.. It went on like this for years, with occasional sunbreaks, moments when both Harold and Tonis moods improved and the union seemed salvageable. According to the Denver Channel, Toni Henthorn's husband, Harold Henthorn, was ultimately convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison, but his supporters say that he didn't do it. Did you arrest the husband yet? shed asked. I dont think that was an accident at all, she said, sitting on a bed next to Toni. 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. Harold planned every one of the little girls days and nights. When the friends and family of Toni Henthorn heard how she died, only one was able to put into words what so many others were thinking. Little did Harold Henthorns friends and neighbors know of the terrible secret he had been hiding for most of his married life. PostedNovember 18, 2014 The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time Do it carefully, not quickly, was Weavers. Toni Henthorn's brother, Todd Bertolet, told CBS4, "They're going to go after assets that should be in Toni's estate." Not only for the death of the wife hed just lost, but for the one whod died so many years before. Andaccording to Haroldhe was putting the old tire in the trunk, with Sandra underneath the car, when the car slipped off its jack and crushed her. He had to give his bosses credit; they were telling him he was likely going to find something that embarrassed them, but encouraged him nonetheless. Investigators searched deeper and found that Henthorn's first wife, Sandra, died in 1995 when their Jeep Cherokee fell on her. Now that effort is laid to waste. Afterwards she would discover what it was that had hurt her so badly: a large piece of lumber that Harold said fell off the porch. However, Harold kept insisting on his innocence and in 2017 appealed for a retrial which was subsequently shot down. To one cop, Harold said that he jacked up the fallen car and pulled Lynn out from underneath it in a desperate attempt to save her life. A partial footprint wasnt necessarily evidence of anything. Then, he said, he saw nothing but a blurand Toni was no longer standing there. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. At least that's what he told family, friends, and everyone else. How else to explain all the strangeness? We feel some of the information in the article is misrepresented or incorrect, Douglas County Sheriff Tony Spurlock toldRolling Stone in a statement, but we still have an ongoing criminal investigation and are not at liberty to discuss the case any further.).
