Man Who Specializes In Killing Wives 12 Years After Marriage To Inherit Their Life Insurance Gets His Fingers Burnt

When Harold Henthorn’s first wife Lynn was killed in a
tragic accident, which saw her crushed by the couple’s car, there was a rush of
sympathy for the grieving widower. Despite there being no witnesses to the
tragedy, no one questioned his version of events.

But 17 years later, when his second wife Toni plummeted to
her death off a cliff , there was only disbelief. To lose one wife in a freak
accident was tragic – to lose two was downright suspicious.

Both women had been killed during the 12th year of their
marriage in freak accidents at remote scenes while alone with Harold. And if
Toni’s death had been a fluke fall during a romantic hike, why did Harold have
a map back in the car with an ‘X’ marking the exact spot where she died?

In 2000, Harold Henthorn married eye doctor Toni Bertolet
after they met on a Christian dating website. Friends and family were delighted
for the pair, who seemed to be the perfect match. Toni was divorced and had found
her second chance at love – while many believed Harold deserved happiness after
his tragic past.

His first wife Sandra ‘Lynn’ had died in 1995. They’d been
driving out for dinner when Harold thought a tyre was flat and he pulled over
to change it. While the car was up on a jack, Harold said he’d dropped a nut
and Lynn crawled under the vehicle to retrieve it. The car then fell off the
jack, crushing her.

Surprise trip

Five years later, Harold and Toni were married and living in
Denver, Colorado, and had a daughter, Hayley. Entrepreneur Harold was busy
raising money for charities and non-profit organisations. Toni’s career was a
success and she had a stake in her family’s oil business – but she started to
lose contact with loved ones back home. It seemed to always be Harold who
answered the phone.

In 2012, the couple were heading towards their 12th wedding
anniversary and Harold enlisted the help of Toni’s colleagues to arrange a
surprise trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. It was an odd trip – Toni had bad
knees and hiking wasn’t a passion, but it seemed like a romantic gesture.

On September 29, Toni and Harold hiked for a while before
going off the trail to some rougher terrain. The couple took photos and selfies
as they enjoyed the view… then tragedy struck.

Harold dialled 911 to report that Toni had fallen 130ft off
the edge of a mountain while taking a photo.

“I’m in Rocky Mountain National Park and I need an
Alpine mountain rescue team immediately,” he said.

He told them they needed to send a paramedic by air.
“It’s going to take at least an hour to come up that trail,” he said.
“I will pay any and all expenses for a helicopter.”

But the terrain was too rough for a helicopter. Harold hiked
45 minutes to reach Toni and the operator talked him through CPR. She had
serious head injuries and her breathing was getting weaker. When the rescue
team arrived, there was nothing they could do. Toni, 50, was dead.

“My bride has gone,” a grieving Harold told
friends and family. The words sounded familiar to them – they were the exact
words he’d used after he lost his first wife. And just like he’d done with
Lynn, he had Toni cremated within days before her memorial service. The ashes
were even scattered in the same place.

While Harold told Toni’s family conflicting stories about
the fall,

police received a number of tip-offs suggesting her death
wasn’t an accident. Then they found something astonishing.

Inside Harold’s car was a map, and at the spot Toni had
fallen off the edge, there was a hand-drawn ‘X’. After failing to come up with
an explanation, Harold eventually claimed he had been highlighting a good trail
to hike.

Investigators weren’t so sure, especially with the
similarities to Lynn’s death. Both times, Harold was the beneficiary of large
life insurance policies. Lynn’s had been worth £350,000 – Toni’s was worth
millions.

Back in 1995, there had been a question mark over why
safety-conscious Lynn crawled under a car, especially with her arthritis. When
a passer-by stopped to help, they noticed Harold hadn’t pulled Lynn out from
under the car or put a coat over her as she lay dying on the ground. But the
coroner deemed it an accident.

After Toni’s death, police looked more closely at Harold and
found out the ‘successful businessman’ hadn’t worked in over a decade. There
was no record of any work with charities – no colleagues, no clients.

Investigators also discovered that a year earlier, Toni and
Harold had been working on their cabin. Harold called Toni outside where he was
fixing the porch – as she walked out, a beam fell and hit her. She fractured
her vertebrae. Had that been the first attempt Harold made on her life?

Harold was now the prime suspect, but it took until November
2014 before he was arrested and charged with Toni’s murder. No eye witnesses,
no confession… would there be a conviction?

At Harold’s trial in 2015, the prosecution said he’d
carefully planned Toni’s murder to cash in on the life insurance that was worth
£3.3 million – and had even checked out the area nine times before the hike.
Toni was clueless about the three policies on her life.

After the fall, paramedics noticed that the £20,000 diamond
from Toni’s wedding ring was missing, but her hands weren’t damaged in the
fall. There was also a camera near her body. If Toni had been taking photos
before her fall, like Harold said, the camera would have crashed down with her.
It was intact.

The jury were shown the last pictures ever taken of Toni as
she went on the fateful hike and were played Harold’s 911 call. Although he
sounded concerned, his words were slow and calm. And despite insisting he was
doing CPR, Toni’s lipstick remained perfect on her lips.

Double murder?

With ‘X’ marking the spot on his map, it hardly looked like
a spontaneous detour. The hike was painted as a perfect opportunity to murder.
No witnesses, a remote scene and zero chance of survival. The jury also heard
about Lynn’s death.

The defence said Toni’s fall was a tragic accident. They
agreed that Harold’s stories were conflicting but insisted that he’d been
confused with grief. “He is incapable of telling the same story
twice,” his team admitted, “I have no idea why that is, but that’s
the case.”

In September 2015, Harold Henthorn, 59, was found guilty of
first-degree murder. Three months later a judge enforced the mandatory life
sentence without chance of parole.

“I did not kill Toni or anyone else,” he insisted,
adding that he loved his daughter Hayley.

Since Toni’s death, the case of Lynn Henthorn has been
reopened. Many believe the nut that Harold said he’d dropped couldn’t have
rolled on the rough ground as he’d claimed, and suspect he kicked the car jack
while Lynn was underneath.

Will Harold be found guilty of a second murder? Lynn’s loved
ones are still waiting for the answer.

Harold Henthorn told authorities his wife slipped on a steep
mountainside while taking a photo

Harold’s first wife Lynn was crushed by their car in a
‘tragic accident’

Toni’s life insurance was worth £3.3 million

Toni’s mother Yvonne Bertolet outside the courtroom as the
jury convicts Harold