48 Hours - 48 Hours Interview: The Accidental Husband

Episode Date: November 19, 2015

Inside the Toni Henthorn death.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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A husband and wife go on a romantic anniversary hike, but only he returns. What could have happened? In this week's interview podcast, we will look at Harold Henthorne, the day his wife, Toni, fell off a cliff to her death. By all accounts, they were a happily married, successful couple with a young daughter. Harold was an entrepreneur. His wife, Toni, a prominent eye doctor and surgeon from Jackson, Mississippi. What could have happened as they enjoyed their adventure together in the backcountry wilderness of Colorado? Was it an accident or murder? I spoke to Dr. Barry Bertolet, Toni's brother, about that fateful day his sister passed away. Harold Hanthorne called him immediately after his sister's fall.

So the phone is ringing, I answer the phone, and Harold is on the phone. And screaming, check your phone, check your phone, then he hangs up on me. So I go to my cell phone and I see that I have a series of text messages from Harold. What has he written you? The first, it says, Barry, urgent. Tony is injured in Estes Park, fall from rock. Critical, requested flight for life. EMT Rangers on way. Please come to Denver next flight. Low cell bat, which I assumed is battery.

Please return message. What are you thinking does you read these words well obviously I'm concerned that Tony's been in you know obviously in an accident if you'll helpless at this moment oh absolutely were you frightened yeah I mean I think big and being the big brother and supposed to take care of your sister. You can't do it. It's a bad feeling.

It's a bad feeling. It's a bad feeling. It's a terrible feeling. I needed to be there. I needed to be there for my sister. And I couldn't. When do you get word, definitive word, of what has happened to your sister?

Well, we went on for a little bit. I did text him about 30 minutes later and asked status. And then he said, CPR, 10 minutes out. And then at about 9.30 central time, it had been 8.30 mountain time, I said, can you talk now or give me a status update? And then at, I guess, 8.40 Mountain Time, he texts me back saying that she's gone. And that's pretty much all that I hear for that moment in time.

And then really shortly right after that, then he calls, which again I thought was odd. If he didn't have signal, he doesn't have a low battery, then he calls me. And then he gives me a brief sketch of what had happened leading up to the accident. And what does he tell you? And the story is that they are both walking down a trail. This is part of their anniversary hike. And they're walking down a trail. This is part of their anniversary hike, and they're walking down a trail, and he gets out ahead of Tony, and he notices that she was lagging behind, and so then he, and I'm assuming at this

point out of visual range, he tells me he has to go back then to look for her. And he can't find her. So he starts looking over edges and then he sees that she's down at the bottom of a cliff. And then he goes down to begin this series of resuscitation events. That is the first story he tells you, word for word, as best you can remember. Right. Now, you know he changes that story. Several times. What's the next story that's told that you hear?

This is the night that he died. The next day, we have a phone conversation about, I'm going to say 11 o'clock Central Time. And during that conversation, he told me that they were walking down the trail and that my sister saw some wild turkeys. And they went off trail about 50 to 100 feet to take pictures of those wild turkeys. At that point, I'm thinking to myself, okay, we grew up in Mississippi. I mean, there are wild turkeys everywhere. This is not anything that's exciting for a Mississippian.

We see this all the time. It's like saying, I see some sparrows, and I'm going to go take some pictures of it. Right, and I'm thinking, okay, here's a lady with bad knees to go off trail, to take pictures of something that we grew up with. And he said that he started talking at that point about that damn camera. I wish I'd have taken that damn camera. And apparently she was messing with the camera, taking pictures of these turkeys. And he tells me then that he got a text message regarding their daughter, Haley. Apparently she was in a soccer match that particular day. And that she had won that soccer match 5-1.

And so he has his head down looking at that phone text and he sees that there's like a little flash, a little movement, and then Tony's not there. Specifically, we ask him, did you not hear anything? And apparently there was no sound. And then she is then over the cliff. So now we've got story number two, right? And does that story change? That story changes by the next day. And so by the next day, we have now flown, these were phone conversations, the first story one and story two were phone conversations that Harold and I had over the telephone. We now fly to Colorado to be there with them and Haley, as well as to attend Tony's memorial service. And so Harold has an initial conversation with Mom and Dad, and this is pretty much the first time that he has spoke to them since Tony had passed.

So now 48 hours after their daughter has died, he has a conversation with the parents. And so he asks us to sit down, and he gives us another story. And this story was that they were walking along a trail, and when they were getting up this trail for a while, apparently there was one trail that was relatively crowded and another trail that wasn't so crowded. So by chance, they take the less crowded trail. They walk down this trail for a while,

and they see these wild turkeys. And so they decide to go off trail for a while and they see these wild turkeys and so they decide to go off trail for again maybe 50 to 100 feet to take some pictures of these wild turkeys but then at this point Tony now is taking a picture of Harold and so apparently she's trying to get him just in the right position in the right light getting those kind of things set up with a camera he gets a text regarding my sister's soccer match my niece's their daughter's soccer match he looks down at the phone to see that she's won this soccer match he sees again the flash out of the corner of his eye and Tony has presumably, while setting up a shot of him

falling backwards off of a cliff. And so here are three stories in basically less than 48 hours. And what are you thinking? Warning buzzers are going off. As far as you know, has the story changed yet again? Is there a fourth or a fifth version of this? There are. The story changes again.

So this is September 29, story number one. September 30, story number two. October 1, story number three. Now October 20, story number three, now October 20, story number four. We've got three versions you've told me. What's the fourth? What's the fourth version? And so the fourth version is he's walking down the, he has already been up there to this area and he has scouted this out. And he's already mapped out an alternative pathway for them to go to. And so he's already got this map pointed out. And he also has planned to have, go to a secluded area where they can have romantic time as he puts it

in this area, in the mountains areas up there. He did say along this alternative route, they did see some wild turkeys. And so at this area, he said that he had made arrangements, as this was a surprise, he had made arrangements for my sister to not be on call that weekend. Apparently there was some concern

what was going on with that call arrangement and apparently some of the hospitals did not know that she had switched call. So he tells us that he kept checking her phone to see if there was a call or a text saying you have to come in now. And then at another... Why wouldn't she be checking her own phone? Exactly. But again, to me, because I knew he was controlling, you know, her phone would be in his possession. But, you know, that was just part of it. That was part of, I guess, the way that they interacted. And then at another

moment in time, he tells me that he was looking for the text that he subsequently received, not at it. So he's sort of got two different versions of the story. He's checking his phone to see when his daughter says the result of her soccer match. So he's just checking that. And while he's doing all this checking,

what happens? So while he is doing all of this, Tony apparently is trying to take a picture of him. He remarks how that there were six pictures taken of his backside because apparently he was turning different directions as she's trying to set up this shot. And so as she is setting up this shot,

he is looking down either at her phone, looking for the text from the hospital to her, saying you need to come in, or looking at his phone, looking for or at a text regarding Haley, and then my sister falls. So apparently she's setting up this shot, falls backwards. Are we done with versions of the story, or does it go on from there? It goes on from there.

Even at this point, getting back to this control of Harold, in the past I never saw my sister able to take a picture. So the fact that he allowed her to use a camera was a little bit, you know, interesting at that point because in my mind I'm saying, you know what, I don't think I've ever seen Tony take pictures. It's always been Harold taking the pictures.

So why would she have the camera taking the pictures? So that was a thought that came through. Your sister was not a photographer. Not a photographer not a hobby of hers not at all. So now we have to believe she finally has taken a camera in hand to take this dramatic picture of some turkeys at a distance. Correct. Turkeys that you've grown up with here in Mississippi her whole life. Absolutely. And there are no turkey pictures on the camera.

There are no turkey pictures on the camera. So we're up to four versions now. Is there a fifth? There is a fifth version. The fifth version is somewhat similar to the fourth, with the exception of instead of looking at her phone or looking for the text, he was going through pictures that he had already taken on his phone. So again, there was no text. He wasn't looking for a text on her phone or his phone. He's now modified the story to that he was actually looking at previous photos that he had already taken on his phone. I want you to bottom line this for me. Why are these stories changing over and over and over again?

I'm running out of fingers. I think the stories actually changed to match reality. So many stories. Could it be from all the pressure Harold Henthorne was under trying to save Tony's life? Or was it something else? As it turns out, this is not the first time Harold lost someone close to him in a bizarre accident.

You see, this is Harold's second wife. He also lost his first wife 17 years earlier. Lynn Hanthorne died when a car fell on her on a remote road while they were changing attire. Bad luck or evil intentions? Tune in to 48 Hours this Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern Time as we dig into the past, get to know the families, and experience the passions and emotions that surround this case.

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