Post by thunderhawk on Sept 28, 2015 9:10:31 GMT -6
nypost.com/2015/09/08/husband-on-trial-for-pushing-wife-off-cliff-suspected-in-first-wifes-death-too/
DENVER — A man accused of pushing his wife to her death off a cliff as they hiked in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park to celebrate their anniversary might have killed his first wife in what also appeared to be a freak accident nearly 20 years earlier, prosecutors allege.
They made the argument as the federal trial for Harold Henthorn, 58, opened Tuesday. Investigators say he carefully plotted to shove Toni Henthorn about 130 feet off a cliff in a remote area where the couple had been hiking on Sept. 29, 2012. Henthorn had taken her to see the autumn colors and snowy peaks at the park to celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary.
As they wandered off the trail to capture the view, Toni Henthorn, 50, paused to take a photo. She tumbled face first over the ledge, according to autopsy reports that did not draw conclusions about whether she fell or was pushed. Harold Henthorn could not explain to investigators why he had a park map with an “X” drawn at the spot where his wife fell, prosecutors said.
Henthorn was the only witness to his wife’s fall, which prosecutors said was reminiscent of the death of his first wife, Sandra Lynn Henthorn, who was crushed when a car slipped off a jack while they were changing a flat tire in 1995 — several months after their 12th wedding anniversary. Henthorn has not been charged in his first wife’s death, but police reopened the investigation after a grand jury indicted him on a first-degree murder count in Toni Henthorn’s fatal fall.
They made the argument as the federal trial for Harold Henthorn, 58, opened Tuesday. Investigators say he carefully plotted to shove Toni Henthorn about 130 feet off a cliff in a remote area where the couple had been hiking on Sept. 29, 2012. Henthorn had taken her to see the autumn colors and snowy peaks at the park to celebrate their 12th wedding anniversary.
As they wandered off the trail to capture the view, Toni Henthorn, 50, paused to take a photo. She tumbled face first over the ledge, according to autopsy reports that did not draw conclusions about whether she fell or was pushed. Harold Henthorn could not explain to investigators why he had a park map with an “X” drawn at the spot where his wife fell, prosecutors said.
Henthorn was the only witness to his wife’s fall, which prosecutors said was reminiscent of the death of his first wife, Sandra Lynn Henthorn, who was crushed when a car slipped off a jack while they were changing a flat tire in 1995 — several months after their 12th wedding anniversary. Henthorn has not been charged in his first wife’s death, but police reopened the investigation after a grand jury indicted him on a first-degree murder count in Toni Henthorn’s fatal fall.