Opening statements began today in the trial of Lynlee Renick, the wife of renowned snake breeder Ben Renick, who was shot and killed in June 2017 on h
Opening statements began today in the trial of Lynlee Renick, the wife of renowned snake breeder Ben Renick, who was shot and killed in June 2017 on his family’s property in New Florence, Missouri.
Lynlee Renick is accused of first-degree murder in the shooting death of her husband.
Initially, authorities apparently suspected both Lynlee and Ben’s brother, Sam, as they were the first people to find the body. The family, however, initially speculated that the murder was due to the past of the late Frank Renick, the father of Ben, according to Court TV. The senior Renick was indicted in 2012 on fraud charges stemming from an alleged scheme that supposedly bilked hundreds of people into investing in Spectrum Brands, a pet food company that was very successful at the time and generated about $US 4 billion in net sales in 2020. Frank Renick died by suicide in 2012.
Authorities found no link between Frank’s past dealings and the death of Ben, and focus turned to Lynlee Renick when the father of one of her children, Brandon Blackwell, supposedly approached Missouri Highway Patrol officials and detailed his relationship with Lynlee during her marriage to Ben and after Ben’s death, according to Court TV. Blackwell allegedly told the highway patrol that Lynlee recruited another former lover Michael Humphrey, to kill Ben. Humphrey has since been convicted of first degree murder, and is testifying against Renick in hopes of receiving a reduced sentence of life in prison with the possibility of parole. If convicted, Renick faces life in prison.
