Turns out, the inheritance didn’t exist, and her boyfriend had been tricked into believing it did.
A North Dakota woman accused last year of killing her boyfriend with antifreeze has pleaded guilty in a Minot court.
Ina Thea Kenoyer, 48, initially pleaded not guilty after her arrest last October for the death of 51-year-old Steven Riley Jr., KMOT reported.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Riley was brought to a Minot hospital on September 5 and then transferred to a facility in Bismarck, where he died.
Police said that Riley became ill after he told friends and family he had been notified by a lawyer a “distant relative” left him $30 million. But his son, Ryan Riley, said that the supposed inheritance was a scam and that the planned meeting with the lawyer never took place.
Investigators said Kenoyer called 911 a day after Riley became ill, and then told first responders he was suffering from heat stroke. Autopsy results determined he died from ethylene glycol, “the main ingredient in antifreeze.”
According to an affidavit, Kenoyer allegedly said she was upset that Riley planned to leave her and take his inheritance money. Kenoyer mistakenly believed that being the victim’s “common law” wife — they’d been together for 10 years — entitled her to at least half of his inheritance, according to the affidavit. North Dakota, however, does not recognize common-law marriages.
Kenoyer faces life without parole when she is sentenced on August 13, KMOT said.
