Harold Henthorn said his second wife slipped while taking a picture, plunging to her death on their 12th wedding anniversary. But a jury in Colorado didn't buy that claim, finding him guilty of first-degree murder.
Federal
prosecutors accused Henthorn of pushing his second wife, Toni Henthorn,
off a cliff in Rocky.
Mountain National Park in September 2012 to get
millions of dollars in insurance money,
At
the time, Henthorn claimed his wife was changing a tire when the car
fell on top of her. No charges have been filed in that case. But
prosecutors presented details about it in court during his trial for
Toni Henthorn's killing, arguing that there were troubling similarities.
In both cases, Henthorn was the only witness.
Henthorn's attorney, Craig Truman, argued that both deaths were an accident.
"Today's
conviction means that Harold Henthorn will never hurt or kill another
woman," Bob Troyer, an assistant U.S. attorney, told reporters after the
verdict was announced Monday. "Instead, he will likely spend the rest
of his natural life in a prison cell."
Henthorn's
conviction carries a mandatory life sentence, Justice Department
spokesman Jeff Dorschner said. He is set to be sentenced on December 8.
Some of Toni Henthorn's family members sobbed Monday as the jury's verdict was announced, KDVR reported.
Her
brother, Todd Bertolet, told CNN last year that the family immediately
grew suspicious about her death because Henthorn kept changing his story
about what had happened.
"I think there are four or five versions of the story he told," Bertolet said.
Bertolet
said it wasn't until after his sister's death that his family learned
the details surrounding the death of Henthorn's first wife.
"We
knew he had been married previously. But he told us that she had died
during a car accident. There's a big difference between a car crash and a
car falling on you," Bertolet said. "I think if my sister had known the
complete background on this guy, she never would have been with him."
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