The curious court battle of man who allegedly killed two wives has taken another twist.
The curious court battle of a man alleged to have murdered two wives for insurance payouts has taken another twist.
Harold Henthorn is now fighting to receive a $1.5 million life insurance policy to pay his lawyer and mount his legal defence in the murder of his second wife.
The Daily Mail Online reports on newly filed civil court documents suggesting that just weeks before the Colorado man goes to trial, he is “focused solely on his own desire to have the insurance proceeds disbursed to himself without any meaningful process.”
The documents, according to the paper, also state: “Should Henthorn truly be able to substantiate an inability to afford counsel in the criminal matter, those matters are properly addressed in the criminal case pending in this District.”
The court has previously ruled convicted murderers cannot receive life insurance proceeds from their victims and insurers cannot disburse proceeds prematurely when law enforcement is still investigating or a prosecution is pending. It is unclear whether any of that would specifically block Henthorn’s attempts.
He is on trial for the murder of his second wife, Toni Bertolet, and investigators have reopened their investigation into the suspicious death of his first wife, Lynn Rishell, some 20 years earlier.
#pb#
In both cases, Henthorn was named as the sole beneficiary for a string of lucrative life insurance policies totalling $500,000 for his first wife and $4.5 million for Bertolet.
The next named beneficiary is his nine-year-old daughter with Bertolet, Hayley.
Advisors have already come under scrutiny in the case after it came to light during trial that Henthorn fraudulently took out a life insurance policy on Grace Rishell, the sister of his first wife.
It raises serious questions about the due diligence of advisors and insurers. The FBI discovered that Henthorn had forged her signature to make himself the sole beneficiary on a $400,000 life insurance policy, after she cancelled the original application.
Bertolet’s autopsy report stated that she “died as the result of multiple blunt force injuries when she fell or was pushed down a cliff while hiking.” It concluded, “homicide cannot be excluded.”
But when her husband submitted a claim for the life insurance death benefit policy almost exactly a year later, on September 27, 2013 he gave her cause of death as 'Accidental Fall.'
At the time Henthorn was already the subject of an FBI investigation that lasted two years and scrutinized every aspect of the widower's life, culminating in his arrest last November.
Harold Henthorn is now fighting to receive a $1.5 million life insurance policy to pay his lawyer and mount his legal defence in the murder of his second wife.
The Daily Mail Online reports on newly filed civil court documents suggesting that just weeks before the Colorado man goes to trial, he is “focused solely on his own desire to have the insurance proceeds disbursed to himself without any meaningful process.”
The documents, according to the paper, also state: “Should Henthorn truly be able to substantiate an inability to afford counsel in the criminal matter, those matters are properly addressed in the criminal case pending in this District.”
The court has previously ruled convicted murderers cannot receive life insurance proceeds from their victims and insurers cannot disburse proceeds prematurely when law enforcement is still investigating or a prosecution is pending. It is unclear whether any of that would specifically block Henthorn’s attempts.
He is on trial for the murder of his second wife, Toni Bertolet, and investigators have reopened their investigation into the suspicious death of his first wife, Lynn Rishell, some 20 years earlier.
#pb#
In both cases, Henthorn was named as the sole beneficiary for a string of lucrative life insurance policies totalling $500,000 for his first wife and $4.5 million for Bertolet.
The next named beneficiary is his nine-year-old daughter with Bertolet, Hayley.
Advisors have already come under scrutiny in the case after it came to light during trial that Henthorn fraudulently took out a life insurance policy on Grace Rishell, the sister of his first wife.
It raises serious questions about the due diligence of advisors and insurers. The FBI discovered that Henthorn had forged her signature to make himself the sole beneficiary on a $400,000 life insurance policy, after she cancelled the original application.
Bertolet’s autopsy report stated that she “died as the result of multiple blunt force injuries when she fell or was pushed down a cliff while hiking.” It concluded, “homicide cannot be excluded.”
But when her husband submitted a claim for the life insurance death benefit policy almost exactly a year later, on September 27, 2013 he gave her cause of death as 'Accidental Fall.'
At the time Henthorn was already the subject of an FBI investigation that lasted two years and scrutinized every aspect of the widower's life, culminating in his arrest last November.
