Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - She Poisoned Her Boyfriend For $30 Million Dollars - The Steven Riley and Ina Kenoyer Story

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Ina Kenoyer of North Dakota poisons her boyfriend Steven Riley when they suddenly inherit $30,000,000.

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So why is that a big problem? Well, Stephen, he's 51, he lives in North Dakota, and one day he gets this crazy email. And the email is from a lawyer in London. And this London lawyer lets Stephen know that one of his relatives in Ireland passed away and that he's in line for a huge inheritance check, around $30 million. Now, I've talked about Stephen before. I told his story back in 2023, but there have been some updates to this. So, before I give you the update, let me get you up to speed. So back in 2023, Stephen learns about this inheritance he's about to get, and he is pumped. Because who wouldn't be? I mean, that's $30 million. And so he's planning it all out in his head, how he's going to spend it, he's going to get a few acres of land, he's going to give a little money to his adult sons, maybe even start his own auto shop.

Now, Stephen has a long-time girlfriend, this woman, Ena, and they live together. They've been living together for 10 years. And Ena is also pumped about this $30 million. I mean, she's already talking about it openly. He gets his inheritance as afternoon. It's like, we're moving. We're going to bear all our bills off that we need to pay off. Here's the thing about Ena, though.

She's been Stephen's girlfriend for a really long time, but the thing is, Stephen isn't really feeling her anymore. In fact, once he gets his inheritance money, he plans on leaving her. And he's told some of his close friends about this plan. And so, I guess word gets around and one day someone close to Ena comes up to her and tips her off about this. That once Stephen gets his money, he's out of this relationship. And Ena is pissed. I mean, she can't let that happen.

I mean, she's put up with Steven for 10 whole years. She feels like she's entitled to some of that inheritance money too. Now, some states in the U.S. have what's called common law. law marriage, where if you've been living together for a long period of time, you are considered legally married. And she and Stephen have been living together for a long period of time, so she feels like she is his common law wife. And so Ena starts thinking, you know, if Stephen happens to accidentally pass away, all that money will go to his common law wife, me. And so Ena comes up with a plan to unalive Stephen and take all his inheritance money. Now, in order for Stephen to get this $30 million,

dollars, he needs to sign a bunch of paperwork, and they have arranged for the London lawyer to fly into town and for Stephen to go meet him at the airport. I guess once they meet, Stephen can sign the documents, and that will complete the transaction, and he can get his $30 million. And so, Ina's thinking, what if he gets sick? What if he makes it to the airport, signs the paperwork to transfer the money, and then he gets really sick and passes away? And I guess Ena thinks this is a hell of an idea, because on the day, the day he's supposed to go to the airport, Ena pours a little antifreeze into Stephen's sweet tea that he always drinks. And if you don't know, Annie Freeze has a little sweet taste to it,

otherwise you can't really taste it. It's also poison. And so she poisons his sweet tea and he unknowingly drinks it. A few hours later, Ena, Stephen, and a few of Stephen's friends, they all take a trip over to the airport. So they get there and the whole group is there, chilling in the waiting area, waiting for this lawyer's flight to land.

And after a bit of time passes, suddenly, Stephen starts to feel terrible. He gets stomach pains, like really bad ones. And with each passing minute, the pain gets worse and worse. And his friends are like, yo, should we take him and leave? And Stephen's like, no, because, you know, there's $30 million at stake here. He wants to wait a bit longer. He feels like he can make it. And so they wait, and they wait, and they wait.

And poor Stephen gets sicker. and sicker and sicker. And after a few hours, they start to feel like, this London lawyer isn't gonna show up. I don't know, maybe his flight got delayed or something. But by this time, Stephen is in really bad shape. Like he can't walk on his own and he barely seems conscious. And Steven's friends are like,

Yo, Ena, Steven's looking really bad. I think you need to call an ambulance. And Ina's like, no, he's fine, it's probably just heat stroke, and she insists on not taking him to the hospital. And so Stephen's friends take him home instead, and they put him in bed to rest. While Ena waits back at the airport, because she's waiting for the London lawyer to arrive. And unfortunately, the London lawyer never does. And about a day goes by, and Stephen is still at home, and he still isn't doing well.

And at this point, he's completely unresponsive. And Ena's there, and she's like, ah, shit, I guess I got to call 911. And so she calls and an ambulance comes and takes Stephen to the hospital, and unfortunately there, he passes away. And when Ena gets the news of Stephen's passing, she gives an Oscar-worthy performance. I guess the son is

on his way here. Okay. Now, Stephen's friends, they aren't stupid. They know something's up. And they are immediately suspicious of Ena. In fact, one of them tells police right away. And I don't want her to sell it

because we think she poisoned him. I'm almost sure she poisoned it. And then they interview some of Steven's other friends, and some of them suggest that Ena used to make offhand comments that if she ever had to murder him, she would do it with antifreeze. And police, they give all this information to the coroner who then test Stephen's blood, and I'm sure you can guess what they find. The results revealed ethylene glycol in his system the key ingredient for antifreeze. But when police question Ina, she tried to put the blame on Stephen's friends. I told him you got to go with me. Your friends are

fucking kill you. You've got to leave them. I don't care if you're here, get a real job, and don't ever talk to him again because they will kill you. Apparently it was poison. And then she also tells police about some other concerns she has. And I don't know how to get a hold of the guy in London with his inheritance. You should be here in town. I don't understand. So why you never should have been to airport. Now, her priorities are obviously on the money, but here's the thing about that, though. She's thinking the inheritance will go to her as she is Stephen's common law wife. But they live in North Dakota,

and North Dakota doesn't actually recognize common law marriage. So she ain't getting shit. So anyway, police aren't buying her nonsense. So they get a warrant, and they search the couple's home, and they find a lot of antifreeze in places that it shouldn't have been, in a beer bottle, in a coffee mug, in a Windex bottle.

I guess she was just putting in all kinds of places. Super weird. And so they go to her house, and bam, they arrest her. Why mean? Never been arrested before like this. I've never done anything. I haven't done anything.

And here's her mugshot. State prosecutors say 47-year-old Ena Kanoir poisoned her boyfriend Stephen Riley, Jr. with anti-freeze on the false belief that she would receive part of a multimillion dollar inheritance upon his death. And the update on this story is that she eventually does admit to poisoning Stephen. She pleads guilty. And she's sentenced to 25. years in prison. Oh, and if you don't remember from last time we talked about this, it turns out

that that email that Stephen got from the London lawyer, it was all just a scam. Like, there was no relative in Ireland who passed away. There was no $30 million. There was no London lawyer going to meet them at the airport. It was all an email scam that Stephen and Enah fell for. And unfortunately, she was dumb enough to unalive him over it. Actually, kind of... Jackson Hewitt will do your taxes for $149 or less, no matter how complicated. So if you're a delivery driver, slash handyman, slash wedding DJ, you pay only 149 or less.

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