Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - He Killed 2 of His Wives - The Harold Henthorn Story

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

Harold Henthorn’s story is a chilling tale of manipulation, murder, and greed disguised as bad luck. Henthorn’s first wife Lynn Henthorn, died in 1995 when their car mysteriously fell off a jack during a roadside tire change, a death initially ruled accidental. In 2012, his second wife, Toni Henthorn, fell to her death during a hike in Rocky Mountain National Park under suspicious circumstances—after Harold had taken her to a remote, dangerous trail despite her fear of heights. Investigators later uncovered that Harold stood to gain millions in life insurance policies, had lied repeatedly about his background, and was the common denominator in multiple accidents.

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and Harold, he's the kind of guy who doesn't have a job. Like he has no real interest in working, he's just living off his wife. This woman, Lynn. The problem is, I guess Harold is kind of a psychopath, and he decides he doesn't really like Lynn anymore. And so one day in 1995, he decides he's going to get rid of her. And so first, allegedly, he low-key goes and he takes out a life insurance policy on her for $600,000. Once he does that, one night he takes Lynn out to a restaurant for dinner.

On their way back from the place, he notices the car has a flat. And it's not even a flat. It's that one of the tires is low. And so he pulls over. And so he's there fixing this deflated tire. and Lynn is also there helping him hold on to the lug nuts as he removes them. But then, according to Harold, one of the nuts falls down and rolls under the car, and Lynn goes under the car to try and retrieve it.

At the same time, Harold throws a tire into the back of the car, and that knocks the car off the jack support, and the car falls and it crushes Lynn, and that, unfortunately, ends up unaliving her. And so the Sheriff's Department investigates all this, and they talk to Harold, and he's the only one to witness the car allegedly falling, so only he knows what really happened. The problem is, bro can't keep his story straight. He changes this story to every person he tells it to.

However, none of that seems to matter, because after a few days of investigation, police conclude that it was all an accident, and the case is officially closed. And so Harold cashes in on the $600,000 life insurance policy, and he keeps going on with his life. In about four years go by, and it's now 1999. And he decides he's been wifeless long enough,

and it's time to start dating again. And so he goes on a Christian dating site, because he's apparently a very religious guy, and on that site is where he meets this nice woman, Tony. And Tony is 44 during this time, and she's an ophthalmologist, and by all accounts, she's a very sweet person. And Harold thinks she is foin, and she thinks Harold is foin.

And so they chat and they hit it off and they start dating and soon enough, Harold and Tony get married. Here's the thing about Harold, though. I told you he's a psychopath. And he paints himself as this successful businessman and entrepreneur who raises money for various organizations and he makes it look like he works remotely from his home in his basement. But in reality, he ain't got no job. He just lies to everyone and says that he works. Like when he says that he's going on business trips, he just goes to a nearby bakery and he spends the whole day surfing the internet.

He's also able to fool poor Tony because she apparently doesn't know that he's been lying about having a job because he fully controls all of the family finances. He does all the bookkeeping and stuff. So she doesn't know how much money that he's not bringing in. In fact, he's terrible to her in a lot of ways. Like he becomes super controlling. Anytime she does anything outside of her routine, he has to be consulted. Anytime she's on the phone, he makes her put it on speakers so that he can listen. He's that kind of asshole.

And so years go by, and it's now 2012, and they're still together. And it's around this time that I guess he just gets tired of Tony. Even though he's not working and he has full access to her income, for whatever reason, he just isn't satisfied. And so he comes up with a plan to unalive her just like he allegedly did to his first wife. So first, he goes behind Tony's back and he takes out a life insurance policy on her worth up to $4.7 million. Then he starts doing a bunch of research trying to find the ideal place to pull this murder off. And he eventually finds the perfect spot, Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. Here's his plan.

Rocky Mountain National Park is apparently pretty empty at certain times in specific areas. And Harold thinks that he can lure Tony out to one of the remote cliffs there, push her off of it, and people will just assume that she fell off in a freak accident. And he thinks this is a brilliant plan. What could possibly go wrong? And so Harold gets to work, and he secretly scouts out the park. He visits it nine different times, walking the trails, looking for that perfect cliff. Once he finds it, he marks it on his map with an X

so that he doesn't forget where it is. Then he goes and tells Tony that he's planned a surprise wedding anniversary trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. And Tony's probably just excited that he wants to do something with her, so she's like, yay, that sounds great. And so they get ready and they head out to the park. And they get there, and they start hiking, and they're having a good time, I bet. Like, it looks like they're taking some pictures.

And here's another picture. and here's one of the both of them. Now remember, Harold's been to this place like nine times or so he's like familiar with it. So at one point he leads her off the main trails and into an area that has more rough terrain. And so they finally get to the spot, which I guess you would describe as a cliff. And so they're there, chilling, and I assume she's not looking at him and he's behind her because suddenly, out of nowhere, pow, he pushes her hard and she falls off the cliff somewhere around. somewhere around 50 to 100 feet down, and boom, she hits the ground.

And she, unfortunately, doesn't survive the fall. And so police, they investigate all this. And of course, Harold tells them that she fell and that it was an accident. However, just like back when his first wife died, this dude can't keep his story straight. He tells Tony's family that she fell behind on the trail and that when he looked back, that she had fallen down. Then in another version of his story, he claims Tony was. taking a picture of him and that he suddenly slipped. This guy's all over the place. His excuses

keep changing and he starts looking really suspicious. And on top of all that, he cremates Tony's body quickly even against the wishes of her family who would have preferred that she were buried. I guess he thinks that this will get rid of the evidence so that they can't perform any more autopsies or whatever. But despite how suspicious he looks to a lot of people who knew Tony, It seems like Harold just got away with murder again, and that he's about to get those millions of dollars in life insurance money that he signed up for. Until. So police know that Harold's first wife died allegedly by accident.

Plus, nothing about Tony suddenly falling off a cliff adds up. Plus, Harold took out a multi-million dollar life insurance policy. All of that looks really bad for him. Not only that, local police. start getting anonymous letters and calls, telling them to look further into Tony's death, and to especially look into her husband, Harold. In fact, they get 17 calls and letters. Who wrote those letters?

Who made those calls? Tony's family, maybe? I don't know. Regardless, boom, Harold becomes a suspect. And so police, they get a warrant and they search his car, and they're able to find the map with an X on the exact spot. marked where Tony fell. They also look closer at his first wife's death with the car falling on her, and they start to see all the irregularities around that and how his stories kept changing,

and how he had taken out pretty big life insurance policies on both wives. And so, bam, they arrest Harold. I couldn't find a mugshot, but here's a real photo of him. And ultimately, he's found guilty of Tony's murder and he gets sentenced to life. Starting a business can seem like a daunting task, unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz, and all birds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into...

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