Colorado man accused of murdering his wife for $4.5m life insurance

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.

Prosecutors further claimed 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.

sourse: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3228989/Colorado-husband-accused-murdering-wife-4-5m-life-insurance-stole-30k-diamond-wedding-ring-pushing-140ft-high-cliff.html