Snapped: Women Who Murder - Lynlee Renick

Episode Date: July 6, 2025

A renowned Missouri snake breeder is discovered in a pool of blood.Season 32, Episode 10Originally aired: Apr 23, 2023Watch full episodes of Snapped for FREE on the Oxygen app: https://oxygentv.app.link/WatchSnappedPodSee 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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BED-MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. A renowned Missouri snake breeder is found dead. He got killed by a snake. By a snake? It could have been a snake that's loose in the facility. The facility had somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 snakes. It's a little unnerving. He is on the ground in the barn, covered in blood.

Until investigators find something more sinister slithering about. There was legitimate concern, and we have to vet all the information that we get to get to the truth. To get justice for this father of two, investigators must sort through potential motives. He was very successful. He had cash around, all these valuable snakes. There may still be investors in Frank Granite's past business

that were still upset with the family. But ultimately, the source of the venom is found close to home. We began to learn that their relationship wasn't quite as good as she said it was. We kind of operated under the guise if you have nothing to hide, you hide nothing. She covered up her actions to the guys, if you have nothing to hide, you hide nothing. She said, I'm going to clean this up. I'm going to go and get my stuff.

She covered her actions and lied countless. She was not willing to walk away. Nestled in between St. Louis and Columbia, Montgomery County, Missouri is a quiet stop along I-70. But on June 8, 2017, at 6.36 p.m., 911 operators receive a frantic call from 29-year-old Lindley Renick that shatters the calm of the otherwise peaceful summer evening. 911, what's the address here? Emergency? My husband's on the ground and there's blood everywhere.

Okay, but do you know what happened to him? No. No. OK, hold on just a second while we get somebody there. Hysterical, Lindley passes the phone to her brother-in-law, Sam, who says they just found his 29-year-old brother, Ben, dead at his rare snake breeding facility, Rennick Reptiles. What may have happened? at his rare snake breeding facility, Renick Reptiles. In that moment, I think I was in a state of shock, probably for that and some time after. As Montgomery County first responders rush to the scene, they're on high alert.

When we got the call that there was a man dead, it was suspected that it could have been a snake that's loose in the facility. The facility has somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 snakes. So it's a little unnerving, not knowing exactly what you're going to walk in on. EMTs and deputies arrive at Renwick Reptiles. This is a large barn, two different stories, concrete floor with rows and rows and rows of plastic bins. And in each and every one of these bins is a different snake.

Sam Renick directs them to the facility's entrance. They proceed with caution to the back of the barn where they find his brother Ben. Ben is on the ground in the barn covered in blood. His face and his skull looks deformed. The EMT went checking for signs of life. When they rolled the body over underneath the right armpit was a shell casing. It's clear to investigators that this kind of damage wasn't caused by a snake. He'd been shot in the back several times and then ultimately shot in the back of the head.

It was at that point they realized that there was no doubt it was a homicide. Investigators with the Montgomery County Sheriff and Missouri State Highway Patrol arrive on the scene. They find Sam and Lindley outside, both having just learned that Ben's death wasn't an accident. I thought that perhaps he was attacked by one of the snakes, but the coroner let me know that this was not a snake attack, that Ben was in fact murdered by a gun. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I didn't believe it. Everyone loved Ben. Lindley was wailing and screaming and things in the car.

I got her to calm down enough to where she understood what I needed and asked if they could get her down to Montgomery County for an interview. Born in 1987, Ben Renick grew up in Montgomery County, Missouri on a 40-acre family farm with his brother Sam. It's unique growing up on a farm. I think Ben might have been 12 years old when he got his first snake.

I would go to his house after school and his family was just always super warm and welcoming. The nicest people he could ever meet. Despite the idyllic country setting, Ben's childhood was far from perfect. When Bill and I were young children, my mother was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer. Ben and I, we took care of ourselves, took care of each other. In 2008, when Ben was 21 years old, his mother ultimately lost her battle to cancer. My mother was a fighter. She stayed in stage four for 15 years. She taught Ben and I a lot. Resilience, self-sufficiency, love. The loss devastated Ben's family, especially his father. In 2012,

four years after his wife's death, Frank Renick took his own life. It was tough seeing my family struggle as much as they did, but my father loved my mother more than anything. He had the farm set in Ben's name as a sole owner for a number of reasons. One of them being I was getting divorced, and I didn't need to have any of those assets in my name. On their own, the young men looked toward the future.

For Ben, by around 22 years old, he knew what he wanted. He really wasn't aiming towards college after school. He went full-fledged with his reptile business. Ben converted a barn on the farm into a world-class snake breeding facility. We will hopefully be able to produce sun-fired tiger titaniums that are also albino. Ben was really going for the designer pet aspect

of the snake breed. He was looking for the genetic patterns that nobody else had or that were rare. As his reptile business was taking off, 24-year-old Ben reconnected with an old friend, 23-year-old Lindley Jo Gallatin. Bitten and Lindley went to two different high schools. You know, she was familiar with them and they got together.

She was sweet. She was bubbly. Born in 1988, Lindley grew up in nearby Wellsville. Like Ben, Lindley also knew what it was like to lose a parent. Her mother was ill in her early life and ended past. Like Ben, Lindley also knew what it was like to lose a parent. Her mother was ill in her early life and ended past. Her father took very good care of her. After graduating from high school, 19-year-old Lindley attended massage school. The day that she was supposed to sit down for her board exam is the day she found out

she was pregnant. Lindley Renick has a son with a man, and essentially, Lindley is left to raise this child on her own. When she started seeing Ben in 2011, the relationship moved quickly. Lindley and her son moved into the house that he built out on the family farm and Ben kind of went right into fatherhood. Soon after that, they had their first child together. Lindley temporarily set her own career aside

to help Ben grow his business. We are at the beginning of our hatching season. Lindley gave up a lot of her time as well to help Ben. Lindley was very deeply a part of the business. Ben was a successful snake breeder and he was kind of a pioneer in that whole industry. He was definitely very well known in the snake breeding community, like I would say worldwide.

In 2014, Ben and Lindley married. Ben was really happy to be finally married to Lindley and started life together. By 2016, two years into their marriage, with the reptile business booming, the happy couple was ready to attempt another venture. Lindley opened a Sensia spa in nearby Columbia. Bitten did make some large investments in the spa initially to get things up and running. With two successful businesses and two beautiful children, Lindley and Ben had it all. They worked together on building her a business and they looked to be in a good position to be successful. It was a happy time.

But on June 8, 2017, their promising future comes undone when Lindley and Sam find Ben dead inside the snake barn. The early information that Sam had given was he believed it to be a snake, but that was quickly ruled out by EMTs on scene through the presence of gunshot wounds in Ben's body. I did talk with the police. They took me in and I had to drop my two children and Ben's two children off with this poor babysitter

and ask her to hold them. With Lindley and Sam on the way to the station, investigators head inside the barn and take a careful look at the crime scene. There were some shell casings that were underneath Ben's body, but we also discovered divots. The small indentations in the floor show that Ben was shot several times after he hit the floor.

Those divots matched up directly with him being shot while he was on the ground, and those bolts trailing through his body and striking the tile below him. It's clear that whoever killed Ben wasn't leaving until they were sure he was dead. We found four or five shell casings. With the damage that was done to Ben's body, we took that to account.

There was legitimate concern, and we have to vet all the information that we get so you get to the truth. and we have to vet all the information that we get so you get to the truth. Coming up, did a family feud turn deadly? She said maybe it would be better for their family to live elsewhere. This doesn't go over well with him.

Or does the key to solving this case lie in another long buried secret. My father mismanaged that company and he had defrauded a number of people out of investments. On June 8th, 2017, Missouri investigators are on the scene at a rare snake breeding facility where owner 29 year old Ben Renick has just been found shot to death inside. The concern about a snake on the loose that could have caused this was squashed when we found the shell gasing and realized he had been shot. The coroner determines Ben was shot eight times from behind, with the majority of the bullets coming after he hit the ground.

He likely died within two hours of the call to 911. The way Ben was found looked like he had just been doing his work and been interrupted. Investigators consider whether Ben was shot in a robbery gone wrong. There was no per se gated security that would prohibit or inhibit access to the facility. So it was just open door. Ben had large amounts of cash in the facility at different given times. And so there was a theory that maybe this was a robbery that went bad. With the hope of learning more, investigators head to the station

and turn their attention to the 911 callers, Ben's wife Lindley and his brother Sam. They start by interviewing Lindley. Lindley said that she spent the day working in Columbia at the spa. What time was the last time you spoke with him? 3.45. He said, you're still good for kids tonight. They're drawing you two.

I said, I need you two. I'm not going to be able to leave right now. So it was with a text conversation? Yeah. As Lindley prepared to head back home around 6 p.m., she made an alarming discovery. The school had called and said, Ben hasn't shown up to pick up your children. your children. Unable to reach Ben, Lindley says she rushed to get Rennick, not 911. She called Sam because he was already on the property.

Still considering the possibility of a burglary, investigators ask Lindley about her husband's business. Do you see anybody you know being upset with Ben to the point where that may happen? You can wholesale it or... I don't. Then, tell whatever you have to do to make your customers happy. It seems she was very forthcoming. She wanted to help. I told him, Ben, help whatever you have to do to make your customers happy. It seemed she was very forthcoming. She wanted to help. Was there any family issues?

Yeah. From there, Dad shot them both. The way that everything was set up, Ben and I actually own all of the property. Sam kind of basically just went to Ben and he was like, you need to give me all of the property. Sam kind of basically just went to Ben and he was like, he needs to give me half of the property. I was like, you know what? I can't jeopardize my family and the business. And so, you know, he just said a lot

of like really hurtful things to Ben. After learning of Ben and Sam's rocky relationship, investigators are eager to sit down with Sam next. About 6.45, Linley calls, screams. She's hysterical. And I find him. And when I find him, that first day after that, he got killed by a f***ing snake. So I don't really know what I'm looking at. But I did talk to the coroner, and he told me to shut up.

I couldn't have imagined something like that happening in my wildest dreams. that happening in my wildest dreams. With Lindley's claims in mind, they asked Sam about the family farm. I thought the interest in the farm is 88%. Were you surprised when I was left to then? Well, yes. It wasn't an equal inheritance, but it is what it is. Life's not fair.

But I can't afford a farm. That's an expensive place to live. Uncertain if Sam is holding back, investigators quickly cut to the chase. Sam, did you have anything to do with the death row? No. Anything at all? No. I'm about to go to anyone that would kill him.

Everyone really liked it and it was nice. We seized his shirt from that day. We did a download of his phone. The decision was made to polygraph Sam to see if he had any knowledge or involvement. As Sam's polygraph is being scheduled, investigators ask Lindley to meet them back at the farm. We actually had Lindley do somewhat of an inventory on the snakes. She didn't believe any snakes were missing. They find no proof of missing cash either.

Nothing is stolen. Nothing looks obviously broken into. Robbery gets taken off the table. Robbery gets taken off the table. Days later, Sam takes the polygraph. Sam Riddick came down to Jefferson City and submitted to a polygraph examination. And he passed the polygraph test. He deeply cared about finding a resolution to this case. Investigators are also able to confirm Sam's alibi. He wasn't able to physically be there when he was at work.

We confirmed that a couple different ways. With Sam ruled out and robbery off the table, investigators press Sam for a new lead. Although he continues to insist that his brother didn't have any enemies, he admits that their late father did. My father started his own pet food company in Montgomery County.

He mismanaged that company, and he had defrauded a number of people out of investments. In 2012, a federal grand jury indicted Frank Rennick on fraud charges. Essentially that he was taking investors' money, not putting it into the business, and essentially paying off previous investors to the company that he was running. Shortly after that federal indictment came out, Frank Rennick committed suicide. There may still be investors that were still upset with the Renick family.

That was a path we were going to have to go down. Investigators obtain a search warrant and start looking at Ben's social media accounts for any potential threats. So there were some thoughts that it could be tied to that in some way, that there could be someone angry at the family or wanting to get revenge for what had happened, some money they had lost. That was definitely looked at. Investigators find nothing from social media to back this theory up.

However, they do find evidence of a marriage in turmoil. Lindley and Ben communicated with Facebook messages just as much as they did with text. I read through all the Facebook messages on both their accounts and Ben gave an idea, although he never specifically would say it, that she was cheating on him. He would bring up concerns about her being on her phone

or her going to the bathroom with her phone. I had started to put together that Lindley may be having an affair. ... Coming up... Out of a hunch, detectives find fact. They met on a dating site. And the secrets don't stop there.

Ben was having to front a lot of bills. This created a really big wedge. In the early 20th century, a seemingly ordinary cook in New York City became the center of a medical mystery and a public health crisis. Hi, I'm Lindsey Graham, the host of Wondries podcast, American History Tellers. We take you to the events, times and people that shaped America and Americans, our values, our struggles and our dreams. In our latest series, we follow the trail of Mary Mallon, an Irish immigrant and cook

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the consequences become all too human. From Wondry, this is Flesh and Code, a true story of love, loss, and the temptations of technology. Listen to Flesh and Code early and ad free on Wondry Plus. Weeks after the murder of well-known snake breeder Ben Renick, Missouri investigators are combing through Ben and Lindley's social media and text messages when they find evidence of a tumultuous marriage. I had 20,000 plus pages of Facebook messages and then all of their text conversations.

We began to learn that her and Ben's relationship wasn't quite as good as she said it was. We kind of operated under the guise if you have nothing to hide, you hide nothing. It kind of makes you suspicious on what else she's withholding from investigators. Detectives decide it's time to speak with Lindley again. I was candid about it and asked if she was having an affair or a romantic relationship. And that's when she explained to me

that she was seeing someone else. It was a local person there that helped with her business from time to time. And that they would meet approximately twice a month. He was a marketing professional that was trying to help the spa named Eric Bremmer. She stated at that time that was the only affair she was having. And she apologized for not telling about it the first time. And she apologized for not telling me about it the first time. Following the interview, investigators check in with Eric.

He had an alibi. He was on a trip with friends. And from that point forward, we didn't believe that Eric was involved in the homicide. Curious if Lindley's affair with Eric might not be the only one, they subpoena her phone records. I spent a lot of time going over those, and there was a pattern that developed with her and an associated phone number. Investigators trace the number to 34-year-old Brandon Blackwell. Brannon was very open and honest and forthcoming with me about his relationship with Linley. He conceded that they had started a sexual affair. It turned out it was just three days before the murder. But like Linley's first lover, he also offers up

an airtight alibi. He's a very good friend of mine. He's a very good friend of mine. He's a very good friend of mine. He's a very good friend of mine. He's a very good friend of mine. He's a very good friend of mine. He's a very good friend of mine. He's a very good friend of mine. He like Lindley's first lover, he also offers up an airtight alibi. He worked for a secure power plant type company. It was very easy to determine if he was at

work. On June 19, 2017, 11 days after Ben's murder, investigators request that 29-year-old Lindley come back in so they can ask to look at her texts. She consented to that. I found text messages from the day of the homicide with her and a Mike H. They'd talked the whole day of the murder, and then they hadn't talked since. Who's Mike H?

Um, Michael Humphrey. He is a client I actually used to work on. It's just kind of a random out of the blue. My manager Ashley had asked me if I knew anybody who did car audio work. I was like, well, I do. Lindley actually talked about him. Michael used to work at a business that installed stereo equipment.

He had mentioned that he had heard one of the spa advertisements. Wanted to get a massage, so started talking about coming up that way. Ashley really wants work done on our car. Ashley Shaw is the business manager. She's a very organized person who is trying to keep this business on track.

She's very close with Lindley. Is there anybody we've talked about today that you know would absolutely wouldn't have had anything to do with what happened to Ben? I mean, I think most of the people that we've talked about today were going to come and then take a feel of talked about today already have anything to do with it. She seemed slightly taken aback with us asking more questions about Michael.

And I realized I needed to learn a little bit more about Mike. I was able to set up a meeting with Michael. On July 17, 2017, Michael arrives for his interview. to try to park and see me. How long had it been? Like seven years, probably, since I'd seen her, yeah. He also says Lindley had come and reconnected with him because Ashley Shaw wanted some stereo work done. And he decided, why not?

There's plenty of places to go to get car stereos put in and some boyfriend you haven't seen in 10 years that you knew could do it. Nothing about that was making sense to me. Despite their suspicions, investigators release Michael and concentrate on the messages between Lindley and Ben. A lot of that was them fighting about money or the relationship. We learned that Lindley was not paying her business loan on time.

She owed an electric company $5,000. She owed an architecture firm about $5,000. And Ben was just starting to learn through emails with her bank. Ben was having to front a lot of bills for Lindley's spa. And this created a really big wedge between the two. Investigators question if the couple's money problems could be a motive for murder. Then suddenly a call comes in from an insurance agent

handling the Rennick policy. The investigative specialist from the life insurance company asked if Lindley was a suspect in the case and I stated that she was and because of that they were holding that million dollar life insurance policy. The agent claims Lindley began trying to cash in on the million dollar policy within hours of Ben's death. That I think was a red flag for her. It was called in in less than 12 hours. It was very suspicious. Even more damning, in the months since Ben's murder,

Lindley has been busy trying to cash in on more than just the life insurance. Quickly after the murder, she decided to sell that farm and Ben's business, his snake business. Sam Renick does try to step in and stop this sale. So they have to go to court to figure out all of these assets. On October 5th, almost five months after the murder,

investigators tell Lindley they need to talk to her again. I explained to her a polygraph may be some way for us to exclude her as a suspect. Lindley agrees. This is maybe Lindley's fifth or sixth interview that she's done at this point. She takes a polygraph test, and Lindley fails this polygraph test. Following the polygraph, she locked it up. We believed that Lindley had something to do with it. We just hadn't gotten to the point of having probable cause to arrest anyone

in the case. Over the next few months, Lindley continues to fight Sam in court over the sale of the farm. She also goes public with her relationship with Brandon Blackwell. We started seeing Lindley's social media accounts pop up with another man. And then very quickly after that we found out that she was pregnant. Coming up, a witness comes forward. Police get a call from an inmate he's got some information to share. And a twisted tale unfolds.

I turned around and the first shot rang. I ran out the door. Months after Ben Renick is gunned down inside his snake breeding facility, his murder remains unsolved. And the primary suspect, his wife, Lindley, remains a free woman. Lindley entered a relationship with Brynnen Blackwell almost immediately at the time of the murder.

Brynnen was married and had two kids. He left his wife and him, Lindley, had a child together. As time passes, investigators keep an eye on Lindley. She eventually prevails in her court battle with Ben's brother, Sam. We had the farm set in Ben's name as a sole owner, but when he passed, it went to Lindley solely. I lost. A farm that my family had spent 40 years maintaining, we could have never imagined losing the farm

in that way. In 2018, Lindley goes through with the sale of the Montgomery County property for about $740,000. But Lindley isn't as lucky when it comes to Ben's life insurance payout. The life insurance payment is never made to Lindley. That same year, Lindley relocates to Colombia with Brandon and her three kids. Brandon and Lindley's relationship was marked with a lot of fighting. In 2019, Lindley says that she's had enough with this and gets a restraining order taken out against Brandon. In a stunning turn of events, authorities catch a break in January 2020, when Brandon is arrested after violating that order.

Brandon Blackwell was in the Boone County jail. He wanted to talk to one of us. Brand explained that it took some time, but eventually she would tell him a little more and a little more. According to Brandon, the week prior to Ben's death, Lindley made the first attempt on his life. According to Brandon, as she saw her coworker helped her obtain narcotics, in this case Percocet,

and come up with a plan to poison Ben. They crushed up Percocet pills in a protein shake, but that attempt failed. Ben's Facebook messages support Brandon's story. We discovered something on the Facebook messages support Brandon's story. We discovered something on the Facebook messages about Ben getting very ill from this protein shake. Brandon tells them that when the Percocet didn't work, Lindley came up with another plan.

She reached out to Michael Humphrey, an old boyfriend, and asked him for help. Brandon Blackwell should not have known those facts unless he was told by Lindley. Two days after the interview with Brandon, authorities arrest Michael Humphrey. Tell us how you got involved in this. Like, they came over to my house one day, she said that she was having some different issues with her significant other. You know, he would, he did hurt her, and, you know, get out of control and threaten her already.

Lindley had spun this tale of domestic violence and domestic abuse. Michael believed this. Michael wanted help. He had brought her the gun to her spa in case she needed it. Then, two weeks later, she asked Michael to go with her to see Ben. She says, you know, says I'm going to clean him up, and I'm just going to go get my stuff and make sure that he doesn't flip out on me.

But when they arrived, Lindley revealed she'd brought the gun with her. I go out there and initially she tries to hand me a gun. I kind of just shove it back at her like that, like whatever, and we walk up. He introduces himself, I introduce myself and everything. They entered the facility. Michael said he was barely in the doorway at the front of the facility when he started the first year shots. Turned around as soon as the first shot rang.

I ran out the door. I said, how many shots did she fire? I heard probably another one, maybe two, I don't know. And by the time I'm standing by the car, I ask her, what the f*** just happened? You know what I mean? And she's like, we gotta go, we gotta go. He confirmed that Lindley was the one that had shot Ben. He wanted to tell us what happened to the gun after the murder.

That same day, investigators arrest 29-year-old Ashley Shaw. While she's waiting there, her attorney shows up. And they both say, we will tell you that story if you give us that immunity. And they get the agreement in place, and Ashley Shaw tells them everything that she knows. Ashley says she agreed to help Lindley because she told her she was in an abusive relationship. She's telling these people she's having troubles at home, and she's soliciting them to help her get rid of her husband.

Ashley Shaw says that she was the one that got the Percocets. She was the one who also helped find Michael Humphrey for this as well. She was right there with Lindley the entire time to try to set all of this up. When Michael and Lindley traveled to the farm, Ashley stayed behind at the spa to help and Lindley traveled to the farm, Ashley stayed behind at the spa to help establish Lindley's alibi. Lindley left her phone and asked Ashley

to actually make correspondence or text on the phone to make it appear that she's at the spa. She starts sending texts to Ben, texting and calling that she was worried. She kept asking him to pick up his phone, but he didn't because Ben was dead. On January 16th, 2020, over two and a half years after Ben's murder, authorities finally have

what they need to arrest Lindley. Lindley was arrested at her residence in Columbia. They promised me that someday we would get there and despite my doubts at times, we did. Coming up, will a last-minute development seal Lindley's fate? We rushed it to the lab and realized that we had the murder weapon. Or will Lindley continue to evade justice? Lindley takes the stand to tell her side of the story, a side that she has not told anyone yet.

Over two and a half years after her husband is gunned down inside his exotic snake breeding facility, Ben Renick's widow, Lindley, is finally arrested for his murder. But she refuses to make a statement. It took years to make an arrest. It was a long process. That was tough. Murder was not something we thought Linley would have even been capable of. So we were surprised.

Ashley Shaw, Linley's co-worker, is granted immunity after agreeing to testify against Linley and her co-conspirator, Michael Humphrey. As his trial begins in October 2021, Michael claims he didn't pull the trigger. The way the law is, is that you don't have to be the one that pulled the trigger. If you took part in it and you knew about it,

you are just as guilty as the person that pulled the trigger. Michael was ultimately convicted, first degree murder, and sentenced to life in prison without parole. As prosecutors turn their attention to preparing for Lindley's trial, they are contacted by Michael's attorneys. Michael's team of lawyers said that he was able to give specifics about where the gun was. Following that interview, Trooper Schaefer and I found it was in the attic underneath some insulation. We rushed it to the lab and realized that we had the

hard weapon for the case. Michael agreed to testify at Lindley's trial. In exchange, they would remove his first-degree murder conviction and instead give him a second-degree murder conviction and sentence him to life in prison with the possibility of parole. In December 2021, 33-year-old Lindley Renick goes to trial. In a surprising move, Lindley Renick goes to trial. In a surprising move, Lindley testifies on her own behalf. Lindley takes the stand to tell her side of the story.

Lindley Renick tells the jury that it was Michael Humphrey that pulled the trigger. She was there. She didn't know this was going to occur. But Michael and Ashley testified to the contrary. This was wildly premeditated. She tried to poison him first. He didn't die. She covered up her actions all the way until the arrest and lied countlessly. She was the one to pull the trigger. Prosecutors argue that Lindley's claims that Ben abused her are unfounded. And her true motive is crystal clear.

I believe that greed is what killed my brother. Lindley's greed. She knew that the farmers had been his name, and he just took out a $1 million life insurance policy. The truth is that Ben was gonna find out that Lindley was having multiple affairs and mismanaging the finances at her spa. When that happened, Ben was gonna walk away, and she probably wasn't gonna get much. She was not willing to walk away from those assets.

After a four-day trial, the jury begins deliberations. Lindley was ultimately convicted of second-degree murder and received 16 years in prison. We're happy that she was sentenced to the 16 years that she was given. However, my brother's life was worth a lot more than 16 years to those children. All the lives were destroyed by this, by these actions. It was not just done for us.

How can we have such disparity in this? It was not just done for us. How can we have such disparity in this? I think for one, it breaks down on the argument itself. For Michael Humphrey, the argument was, it doesn't matter if he's the trigger person or not. He was there, he knew about it, and he didn't say anything. But for Lindley's, it's much more specific. You have to believe that Lindley was the one that shot and killed. And some jurors were maybe thinking that maybe it wasn't Lindley that pulled the trigger

was enough for them to pull back on their punishment. Following the disappointing sentence, Ben's loved ones attempt to move on, while keeping Ben's memory alive. For me to try to imagine that somebody would want to kill Ben was just kind of unbelievable. A little bit surreal, you know. It still is that way. He would have had a long, beautiful life to live, and that was stolen from him. Those kids deserved a father, and they were denied that. And the ripple effects of his murder will span generations. In February 2022, Lynn Lees sued Brandon Blackwell, claiming that he lied to police about her

confession. Lin Lee is set to be released from the Women's Eastern Reception Diagnostic and Correctional Center in 2038. She will be 49 years old. We're counting down to days. July 4th weekend, Essence Festival of Culture, sponsored by Coca--Cola returns to the city that raised the rhythm New Orleans. Four days, one community, endless joy. A Jill Scott draw featuring Miss Patti LaBelle and Jasmine Sullivan.

Maxwell, Babyface to Erika Badu, the Isley Brothers to Boys to Men, DeVito to Bougie Banton, L'Oreal to Master P. We pay tribute to the legends, celebrate the icons, toast the disruptors, and honor all that makes us, us. This is a love letter to our legacy, a gathering of generations, a space made for us by us. Because we're not just attending a festival, we're living the culture.

We're made like this. Tickets on sale at essencefestival.com. We're not just attending a festival. We're living the culture. We're made like this. Tickets on sale at essencefestival.com.