Woman ‘poisons boyfriend after he got $30million inheritance and planned to dump her’
A woman allegedly poisoned her boyfriend to death after finding out that he received a $30million inheritance and planned to break up with her.
Steven Riley Jr, 51, fell ill when he met with his lawyer to retrieve his money on September 3, according to Minot Police Department records. The next day, his girlfriend, Ina Thea Kenoyer, 47, called 911 and paramedics discovered Riley unresponsive.
Riley was taken to Trinity Hospital and was then transferred and died the following day at Bismarck hospital.
Kenoyer told investigators that she was entitled to some of his money because she was his common law wife. She added that she planned to split the funds with her son, according to the records.
A common law marriage is when a couple live together as husband and wife without obtaining a marriage license or ceremony. North Dakota does not recognize common law marriages.
Riley’s autopsy indicated that he died of poisoning, according to the police department.
Investigators believe that Kenoyer ‘had financial motives to murder Riley’, the police department stated.
Cops arrested Kenoyer on Monday and charged her with killing Riley through poisoning. The AA felony murder charge she faces is the most serious of its kind in North Dakota.
‘This case was extremely complex,’ stated Investigations Commander Capt Dale Plessas on Monday evening.
‘Thank you to everyone who provided us with information that helped our investigators piece this together.’
Kenoyer, of Minot, was booked into the Ward County Detention Center without bond and appeared to be representing herself.
She claimed to be innocent in a series of strange Facebook posts days before she was taken into custody.
‘To the Shafer that almost hit me, that’s not married hello hunny I wish I was looking for someone but no I’m a one man woman, kind person, and Steve Riley the only man I ever wanted,’ Kenoyer wrote in a post three days before she was arrested, according to the New York Post.
An investigation into the incident continues.
Riley’s death comes as Utah mother and grief book author Kouri Richins waits her trial for allegedly killing her husband with a drink laced with fentanyl the day before cashing in on a $2million mansion he refused to pay for and that she wanted to flip.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.