True Crime All The Time - Ben Renick

Episode Date: August 3, 2026

Ben Renick built one of the most respected exotic snake breeding operations in the country, housing more than 3,000 reptiles on his Missouri farm. In June 2017, his wife, Lynlee, called 911 after finding him dead in the snake facility. Because a 600-pound anaconda was missing, some initially wondered if a snake had killed him.Join Mike and Gibby as they discuss Ben Renick. Investigators quickly determined the truth: Ben had been shot eight times. What followed was a years-long investigation involving affairs, financial problems, a failed poisoning attempt, and a murder-for-hire conspiracy.You can help support the show at patreon.com/truecrimeallthetimeVisit the show's website at truecrimeallthetime.com for contact, merchandise, and donation informationAn Emash Digital productionSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hello everyone and welcome to episode 520 of the True Crime All the Time podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson and with me as always is my partner in true crime, Mike Gibson. How are you? I'm doing good about you. I'm doing great, man. It's good, man. All right, huh? Yeah.

Okay. I'm here with you. I'm recording. What else could be better? Nothing. No, actually a lot of things. But I just said that to, you know, make you feel good. Yeah.

I don't know why I had to. I don't know why I had to pull the. the rug out from under you like that. We don't know why. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Matt James. Hey Matt. Tierney. Ah, tyranny. And you keep wanting to say it as

tyranny, like going against the government. Nicole Banning. Hey, Banning. Amanda Mattingly. Maddening in the house. Cat Johnson jumped out at our highest level. I like Cat. Thanks, Cat. Michelle Waldbillig. Oh, Walt Billing? Sounds like a fun

game. And Kathy, from Ray Ohio jumped out of our highest love. Wow, thanks, Kathy. And then if we go back into the vault, this week, we selected Linda Fritz.

I had a good friend name. We'd call him Fritz. It wasn't his real name, but we called him Fritz. Got a lot of trouble. And I'm assuming his first name was not Linda. It was not. Okay.

Well, hey, Linda. It's a great story. Yeah, yeah. It's one of your better ones. He got, he was a quick little story. He actually, we were in high school, we were jumped over the fence, a bunch of us guys and gals and went sort of skinny dipping. Some did. Some sort of skinny dipped at the community pool and the police showed up and we all jumped over the fence and we all got away except for him

and he decided to jump in the police cruiser and take it for a ride around the cul-de-sac. Oh, wow. Yeah. All right. Yeah. Good job, Pritzie. Yeah, exactly. So we have an episode out right now on Unsolved where we're talking about. about Patty Adkins. In 2001, she clocked out of work, looking forward to going on a trip with her boyfriend, who was a married coworker at the same plant where she worked, but she has not been seen or heard from in 25 years. Yeah, might be some foul play there. Yeah, definitely. And then on next Thursday's TCAT, we're talking about 16-year-old David Grunwald, who went missing shortly after dropping his girlfriend off in November 2016.

You know, now I realize why we didn't do the extra episodes on Friday. Because then you would have to say on next Friday, and that would be confusing with these shows, the movies next Friday. Yeah. Friday after next. And that one too. But, you know, it's a very interesting episode in that you have a number of people involved, but seemingly no motive.

Yeah. I really like that case. Yeah, but it's shocking. It is. Strange, shocking. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of true crime all the time? We are. I am.

We're talking about, we are. I am. We're talking about Ben Renick. Ben was a well-known snake breeder who was found dead at his reptile farm in 2017. At first, authorities suspected he was killed by one of his massive snakes, but investigators soon realized Ben was murdered. I'm excited about this because as I mentioned on Patreon, I used to be a snake charmer. You did. You did.

I've had a lot of jobs in my life. Yeah. One that I've never had, would never have, wouldn't even think about having would be handling or breeding snakes of any kind. Well, because you do not like snakes. I do not. You don't even like worms. If you want to hear me scream like a 10-year-old girl, put a big snake in my path and you will hear it. Okay. I do not like snake. At least you can say, I don't like snakes. If you put a big snake in my path,

I'm going to walk away, cool. No. I'm going to walk away. No, I might scream like a 10-year-old girl. Okay. Benjamin Renick was born on August 4th, 1987 in St. Louis, Missouri. He and his brother, Sam, grew up on their family farm near the city of New Florence, Missouri. They spent their days riding ATVs or exploring the woods. And this was how Ben became fascinated by snakes. He got his first snake at a young age. And raising snakes became his passion. I get it. A lot of people like snakes. They have snakes as pets. Yeah. I'm just not one of those individuals. In 2010, Ben started Renick Reptiles, Inc. He bred and raised snakes in a facility on the farm. And he became a well-known figure in the exotic reptile community. Ben sold snakes to buyers all over the world as far away as the

UK and Japan. How do you ship a snake from Missouri to Japan? Carefully. That's a good act. In 2012, Ben inherited his family's farm after his father, Frank, ended his life. Frank shot himself after being implicated in a multi-million dollar Ponzi scheme involving fraudulent stock certificates. Sadly, Ben was the one who found his father's body. Oh, man. It'd be rough. It's fine, right? Your dad like that.

And, but it also sounds like his dad was involved in something pretty complex. Yeah. And maybe also rough to find out that if you didn't know, your dad was involved in this massive criminal. undertaker. In 2011, a year before his father died, Ben reconnected with his future wife, Lindley, whom he met as a teenager. Ben was performing in a metal band at the time, according to date line. Lindley was a single mother to a son from a prior relationship, and Ben became a second father to her child. Within a year of dating, Ben and Linley moved in together. So I mean, And, you know, there are some similarities between, I think, you and Ben.

You said it yourself, right? You were a snake charmer. You did at one point kind of front a metal band. Yeah. I mean, it didn't take off. Well, that's because you named it after birth, which seemed very strange and off-putting to many people. But with metal bands, you want that. You know, you want something like edge.

You want something edgy, but maybe a little. less creepy? I don't know. So the two had a small wedding. In 2014, they had a child together. The family continued living on the farm and Lindley helped Ben raise snakes at the facility on the property. At the height of the business, they had over 3,000 snakes, including species like the Anaconda. Yeah, that's a lot of snakes. Yeah, I'm kind of like getting the chills right now thinking about it. Now, you know, little garden snakes.

I still don't like them. Yeah. But I'm not going to be overly scared. I know they can't really hurt you. I don't want to be around an anaconda. Because I have seen that movie Anaconda. Because you ain't got no anaconda. No, I got no.

I think you're forgetting how that song goes. Maybe I am. But I just, you know, rattlers, uh, king cobras, anacondas,

anything that can kill you. Vipers. I'm, I'm, I'm not into. You probably wouldn't do good if you were one of those passengers on a, snakes on the plane.

No. No, I would like to hang out with Samuel L. Jackson, though. In a different way. In a different way. Ben attended reptile conventions around the country. According to 48 hours,

he was a rock star in the reptile world. He was known for breeding reticulated pythons, the world's longest snake in captivity. Wow. Nice. He was a rock star in the reptile world. Pretty cool. It is.

I mean, when you think about something very specific like that, you know, it's kind of like how you were a rock star in your own world before you went into podcasting. Mm-hmm. You know. I don't want to mention the subject matter. It'd be better if you didn't. Yeah, but I mean, we're well known. Ben's brother Sam also lived on the farm with his family.

Sam recalled the 48 hours that they raised their kids together and enjoyed fishing together on the weekends. In 2016, Ben and Linley opened a day spa in Columbus, which had been a longtime dream of Linley's. She had previously worked as a massage therapist. Around that time, Ben realized that if he sold a portion of his business, he could make a substantial amount of money. According to his brother, Sam, he planned to sell the majority of his ball python collection for about $1.2 million. Wow, that's nice.

Apparently, there's some money in snakes. So maybe you change your attitude a little bit? No. No. Okay. No. By 2017, the deal was arranged, and Ben and Linley had just received their first payment of $200,000 at the time of Ben's death. On June 8, 2017, Lindley Renick called 911.

After finding her husband lying in a pool of blood in the snake facility, she called Sam, after calling 911, and he rushed over to the facility. Sam was the one who told first responders. Ben may have been killed by a snake. At the time Ben's body was discovered, his 600-pound Andaconda had escaped its cage and was nowhere to be found. 600 pounds. Yeah. Wow. Do you see why I do not want to mess around with snakes?

Don't want to tangle with that. 600-pound snake? Yeah. I don't think Ice Cube and them had to deal with that. I don't think so either. 600 pounds. I actually thought it was a typo at first. Wow.

Sam recalled the dateline, his skull was crushed. So I didn't know what to think. My first thought was, of course, the snakes. And I get that. Makes sense, right? It does. I mean, anacondas are the ones that kind of crush you to death, right? They like to squeeze.

I don't know a ton about snakes, but I'm pretty sure about that. that one. And if you have a 600 pound anaconda who is loose, I don't think it's a far reach to think that he might have been killed by this snake. Yeah. Coroner Dave Colbert arrived and found shell casings at the scene. Authority soon confirmed Ben wasn't killed by a snake. He had been shot eight times, once at close range. So my first thought is, I don't see how. I don't see how. I don't see how, his killer thought he was going to be mistaken for being killed by a snake. I mean, you leave shell casings behind and you shoot someone eight times. It's not going to be that hard to figure out. Right. That's not my first question. My first question is,

where the hell is the snake? Well, that's true. Yeah, because we haven't figured that part out yet. And I'm sure they were on the lookout for it. I probably like every time you heard something you turned your head real quick. What was that the snake? My thought is it's going to be a little bit of a different crime scene for some of these investigators than what they're used to. They're used to seeing dead body. Sure.

And they're used to working murders and all that. I doubt many of them are used to having to worry about a 600 pound snake who could be around the corner at this crime scene. I mean, you want to talk about keeping your head on a switch. I mean, I wouldn't have to because I'm sitting in the car. You're not coming in. I'm actually not even leaving the station. You just call me and I'll talk to you over the radio.

Because I would be scared that this 600 pound snake might crush the car. I don't know what kind of snake we're talking about here. It'd probably find you because it will sense the fear. Yeah. And it'll crawl up through some vital hole in the car. in the car somehow and get me. One early theory was that Ben's murder was a robbery gone wrong. Perhaps someone knew the value of the snakes and wanted to take them. However, all the snakes were eventually accounted for. And obviously, there was a lot of money in these snakes, right? We just said

a portion of the Python collection was going to go for like $1.2 million. I just think, if you're going to steal something, maybe you pick something that can't eat you or kill you. Well, that's a good point. You know, maybe diamonds or cash or a bank or something like that. But if you're in that industry and you're comfortable with that and you know where the value's at, you could potentially come in there and kind of cherry pick what you want. Yeah. But nobody did.

If you're a snake wrangler, then I guess it wouldn't be that big a deal to you. Sam and Linley were brought in for questioning on the day of the murder. It was said that they were both cooperative. Both of them tested negative for gunshot residue. In his interview, Sam said he could never imagine. Lindley would want to harm her husband. During her interview, she told investigators she spent the day at her spa. She got a call that the kids hadn't been picked up from school.

And she couldn't get a hold of him. She picked up the kids. and then found Ben's body when she got home. Police asked her if Ben was possibly killed by a business rival, a disgruntled customer or a resentful family member. Linley suggested the police look at his brother Sam. Wow. Quickly to call out Sam.

Well, it's interesting because Sam says, oh, there's no way Linley would have killed Ben, but she's the exact opposite. threw him under the bus right away. Yeah. According to Lindley, Sam and Ben were in a feud over the family farm.

Lindley and Ben owned the farm, but Sam wanted half. Sam told Dateline that he and Ben planned to divide the property. Sam was ruled out as a suspect when his alibi was verified. He also agreed to a polygraph in past. I guess it made a little awkward moving forward from that point when those two had to get together for anything. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, once he finds out that she kind of directed the police his way, but, you know, he seemed very cooperative, agreed to a polygraph past that. They also verified his alibi. Hey, can we talk about banks for a minute? You know, when I was young and I'm talking

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Investigators looked into Linley's social media activity and learned that there were problems in the marriage. Facebook messages between Ben and Linley revealed that Ben knew the spa was losing money. And Linley had lied to him about it. Ben told Lindley she was behind on loan. rent and staff payments, messages from the spring of 2017 also showed that Ben was suspicious. Lindley was having an affair. What's that old saying?

You point a finger at me. There's three more pointing back at you. I have never heard that in my life. That could be a saying. I've just never heard it. Or I just made it up right there. Now I am the owner of that saying, please use it as much as you want out there. But pay me my royalties.

But here's the thing. thing that really kind of jumped out at me and I guess I questioned is these two are married. Why are they Facebook messaging each other? You know, my wife and I, we just talk to each other. Or she might call me on the phone sometimes even when we're in the house. She just doesn't want to walk downstairs. We don't message each other on Facebook back and forth. That seems so strange. I don't even know what you would do if you did because I have text you and I can text you three sentences and your reply will be back. Your reply back to me at best will be three words. Yeah, it's usually going to be okay. Yeah. Or sure. You are not or no. Most likely no. Yeah, you are not a big conversationless.

No, no. You're not even a mild conversation with. Which is strange because I do talk for a living. You do. I know. But it's the whole sending Facebook messages when you're married and you live in the same house. Yeah, I mean, maybe he's out, you know, wrangling a snake and she's at the, you know, parlor, you know, rubbing somebody down and be like, hey, what do we want for dinner tonight, by the way? I think you're having an affair. Yeah. I mean, it just seems like things that would be best said face to face, I guess.

Yeah. Now, unless the police are saying they saw messages on her Facebook account that made them believe she might be having an affair. The research said Facebook messages between Ben and Linle. Oh, yeah. So. There you go. I guess if you did want a message, why not just send a text? Why do it through Facebook?

And maybe a lot of people listening are saying, what are you talking about? Tons of people do that. And maybe they do. That's just not me. I'll start messaging to you on WhatsApp. Mm-hmm. You have WhatsApp? Who's on first?

Yeah. No, I don't have that. I don't have a lot of apps, especially when it comes to social media. And if I do have them, they're not on my phone. Yeah. They're only on my iPad for the podcast. Right. So I'm not sitting and looking at them all the time.

But this is a big deal, right? Investigators are kind of getting the idea that this marriage. might not be solid, might have some problems. Not looking good. And there's also a thought here that Lindley is having money problems. Hours before he was killed, Ben sent Lindley a message that said, no more lying, no more keeping things for me, no more not paying people and thinking it's okay to pay later.

Yeah, it sounds like he was a good business person. Like he understood how business worked, how, you know, he was successful in running his business. And it sounds like she didn't have that skill set that he had. Yeah, maybe she didn't have the same business acumen. Yes. Eleven days after the murder, police questioned Lindley again. And they just flat out asked her if she was seeing someone else. To their surprise, she was honest and admitted to having an affair.

Oh, there it is. Oh, that is your, oh, that's your whole, uh, there it is. Your thought. Oh, there it is. So she said that she had an affair with a man named Eric Brimmer, who was cleared once his alibi was verified. And that's, you know, if you're the guy having the affair, well, shame on you. You shouldn't be having an affair with a married woman.

There's a husband somewhere else you're, you're hurting. But, you know, she's thrusting him now into this murder investigation because would he potentially have a reason to kill Ben? I think there's some thrusting going on. And nobody wants to be thrusted like that. Detectives talked to spa manager Ashley Shaw, who said that Lindley actually had a couple of affairs. Wow. Investigators learned that she was also seeing a man named Brandon Blancheau. Blackwell, who she met on a dating website.

Police interviewed Blackwell, who confirmed the affair and told an investigator he was in love with Lindley. So, I mean, undoubtedly, she wasn't being faithful. She wasn't just being unfaithful. She was cheating on Ben with a number of men. Yeah, she was being unfaithful to him and her other lovers. Yeah, I don't know if that's possible, but I kind of get your. thought there. But here we go, right? You know, here's a couple that if you don't know any better, it looks, they look really good, right? Yeah, from the outside. They have this really successful

business. They're going to make a substantial amount of money selling off part of it. And, uh, you know, they got this new business in Columbus going with the spa. Everything's good. And I'm sure if you probably, if they were people who put stuff on Facebook and Instagram, if you just looked at those things, you'd probably think like this is the couple that has it going on. Yeah. But behind the scenes, things are not as good as they might appear. And unfortunately, I think that's true with quite a few marriages. Police learned that Lindley was the sole beneficiary of Ben's $1 million life insurance policy.

Witnesses reported that she called the insurance company days after Ben died to find out when she could get the money. You know this always drives me crazy. I mean, your loved one just died. Are you hurting up for money that bad that you have to make that call? And if you did do this, you mean slow play this thing. You're not making yourself look good, right? Yeah. Yeah, I'm kind of with you. I think she was hurting for money. But my thought is always, you would be so grief-stricken that although that's a lot of money. It wouldn't be the first thing on most people's minds. I wouldn't think so.

It's your grieving for your husband. You've got to figure out funeral arrangements and just all of this stuff. Not to mention the fact you're being interviewed by police at the same time. So, yeah, to be calling within a couple of days is a little strange. In total, investigators interviewed Linley six times. On October 5th, 2017, she took a polygraph and was informed she had failed. By this time, investigators knew that on the day of the murder, Linley texted and called her ex-boyfriend Michael Humphrey numerous times.

Michael was recently out of prison after serving time for drug possession charges. A guy number three. Yeah, now maybe he's back in the mix. We don't know. At one point in the interview, Lindley seemed pretty close to breaking, but she continued to deny any involvement in her husband's murder. And with no witnesses and no murder weapon, she was released without being arrested. After the murder, Ben's snakes were dispersed and sold to reptile experts and enthusiasts. I'm sure a good penny was made. I guarantee it.

Weeks after her husband's death, Linley sold the farm, closed her spa, and left town. Not months, weeks. Yeah, not months, not a year later. Weeks after her husband's murder. Wow.

And it was said that Ben's family tried to be understanding. But when she refused to talk to them or take Ben's belongings, they sensed something was wrong. And you kind of said it earlier, Gibbs, right? Slow play it. If you're guilty, if she's involved in this thing, she is doing herself no favors whatsoever. Oh, by the way she's acting. Why would you want to alienate his family? Why would you want to kind of get out of Dodge so quickly? It all just makes you look like you're trying to hide something. Very guilty.

Lindley and Brandon Blackwell continued their relationship. A year after Ben was killed, Lindley was pregnant with Brandon's child. Well, that didn't take long. No, it took about a year. Only took a few months to get pregnant. Well, I don't know. I don't know at what point she became pregnant.

There was nothing in the research about the exact day and time of the conception. Yeah, I'm just doing the simple math. We're going back nine months from a year, you know. It just said she was pregnant. We don't know how far along she was. That's true. By then, though, the relationship had deteriorated. Brandon was arrested for assault and Linley was granted a protective order.

Brandon violated the terms of the order and was jailed for felony stocking. There is a lot going on here, dude. And let's be honest, Linley is at the heart of everything. Now, she's the victim technically here in this part. She had to get a protective order against this guy. He was ultimately sent to jail for felony stocking. But investigators hope that after the breakup, Brandon would be willing to talk to them. You know, a scorn lover.

Yeah. Yeah. And if you think somebody is involved at the moment that the relationship changes, or ends, that might be the time that they're willing to turn on their partner. On January 14th, 2020, Brandon was ready for an interview with the police. It had been, by this time, over two years since Ben was murdered. Brandon made a surprising claim, and it was that Lindley planned the murder. Linley had confided in him that Ben wanted a divorce.

She didn't want to lose custody of their kids. So she convinced her ex-boyfriend Michael Humphrey to help kill Ben. She wanted Michael to kill him, but he wasn't comfortable doing it. So Linley was the one who actually pulled the trigger. Wow. The truth is coming out. And it's pretty cold-blooded. It is.

Did you get the reference there? I did. Cold-blooded? Yeah. What was it mean? Snakes are cold-blooded. Okay. I just wanted to make sure you got it.

I did take a special reptile course at MENSA. So they offer courses now, do they? Well, only two, they're elite members. I don't know what's funnier. The fact that you say you're in MENSA or that you're an elite member of MENSA. It's for those people who have that extra higher number. Extra higher number. Yeah, we call it the...

E-H-N, yeah. Okay. If you have it, and if you're out there, you know who you are. No. Yeah. You've received the green. It's like a forest green card. We go with that because it's earthy.

Also funny, the fact that you think extra higher number is grammatically correct. It's a play on numbers that we do. Because if you're not in the no. It's like a hole that you're just constantly digging. Wait, did you hear the doorbell? Doorbell's ringing. I'll go check it. I'll be back.

I didn't hear it. Brandon also knew that before the shooting, Lenley tried to kill Ben by drugging his protein check. He implicated spa manager Ashley Shaw in this scheme. Lynn reached out the Michael Humphrey after this failed. Ashley was brought in for an interview and was quick to turn on her former her bombs once she was offered immunity in exchange for her testimony. According to Ashley, Linley claimed Ben was abusing her and asked if she could get pills to

kill her husband. Ashley obtained Percocet and gave it to Lindley. Why are so many people involved in wanting to kill Ben? Well, I think it's because Lindley's at the heart of it all and she's reaching out. She's talking to a lot of different people. she's trying to get, you know, others involved. Now here's my thing. We mentioned earlier, right?

She wasn't paying her staff. Right. Okay. You don't pay your staff. You sell the spa. At what point does your former employee actually kind of no longer have allegiance to you and is okay with giving you up? Now, she was involved. They had to give her immunity to do it.

but she gave her up. I mean, there is no loyalty amongst thieves and murderers, but definitely not now. But here's the thing for me, right? You can't involve all these different people in a murder plot and then turn around and treat them like crap. No, it's going to go bad for you. It is. But people do it time after time. We see it happen quite a bit.

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or go to quince.com slash T-Cat. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns now available in Canada and the UK too. That's QINCE.com slash T-C-A-T-T-T. Ashley confirmed that Linley contacted Michael Humphrey. When this plot failed, Lindley initially claimed Michael was the shooter, but later admitted to shooting Ben herself. I mean, she is really not only a mastermind, but I mean, she is heartless in this whole thing. I mean, if she's guilty.

Shooting your husband to kill him. And let's not forget. I mean, it's the father of her kids. How could you do that? Well, he was the biological father. one, but it sounded like he was really a father to her other children as well. Yeah. He loved them, you know, helped take care of them.

On January 16th, 2020, Lindley Renick and Michael Humphrey were arrested and charged with murder and armed criminal action. Humphrey went to trial first in October 2021. Prosecutors told the jury that Humphrey drove Lindley to the farm on the day of the murder. The defense acknowledged this fact, but denied that Humphrey gave Linley the gun used in the shooting. The defense argued that Humphrey was lured to the snake farm by Linley, who said she wanted protection from Ben. He had no idea she planned to kill Ben and was shocked when she shot him. But assistant attorney general Kevin Zellner said Humphrey's claim that he knew nothing of Linley's plot, doesn't fly

with common sense. He pointed out texts between Linley and Humphrey hours after Ben was shot, which appeared to show them arranging for Humphrey to set up another massage appointment appointment at Linley Spa. Okay. Yeah. I see where he's going with this. If you don't know anything about it and you're so shocked when she shoots her husband,

are you then going to act like nothing? happened? Are you going to send kind of innocuous messages back and forth about setting up an appointment at the spa for a massage? No, probably not. No, no, you shouldn't want anything involved at that point. And not to mention the fact that, you know, obviously he never went to police or, you know, never said anything about it. I mean, he did just get out of prison. So I'm pretty sure he was also worried about being sent back. Yeah. Yeah, that's true. I get that. But if that's the case, maybe shouldn't get involved in a murder plot. Exactly.

Stay away from that stuff. The defense focused on Lindley Renick and Ashley Shaw's role in the murder plot, telling the jury that the women came up with the details and left Humphrey out of most of it, other than recruiting him to drive to the farm. The jury heard Humphrey's interview from the day of his arrest where he said he didn't know of Linley's plan to kill Ben. He went to the farm with Linley to help her get her belongings as she ended her marriage with Ben. He thought he was there to make sure things didn't get out of hand. When they got out of the car, she tried handing him a gun, which he pushed away. Humphrey said he

didn't see the gun after them. He and Linley met Ben at the snake barn only 10 seconds after they walked in. He heard the first gunshot. He then ran out to the car. It's not the worst story I've ever heard. No, but is it believable? No, because I don't tend to believe most defendants. But it's not the wackiest, most implausible thing a defendant has ever come up with. Yeah. I mean, once you saw she had a gun, why would you even get out of the car and walk up there with her. Knowing that you just got out of prison, you know this is probably not going to go well. But I do think when you pair it with some of the messages that came afterward. Yeah. Then it tends to make it a little more implausible, right? Hey, make sure you set up an appointment for a massage,

even though I just killed somebody. Yeah. You know, that, that doesn't seem to make a lot of sense. It doesn't. But if you just had the story and nothing else to go. with it, maybe a jury could say it's plausible. Sure. Linley's former boyfriend, Brandon Blackwell, testified at Humphrey's trial, telling the jury Lindley confessed to him that she and spa manager Ashley Shaw plotted to kill Ben with Humphrey's help. Here again, right?

You tell someone the details of a murder who you then later break up with and follow. a restraining order against or a protective order against. Yeah. Okay, that person's probably not going to be real happy and at some point might be eager to help the police in your prosecution. Yeah, you don't want to be with me. I'm going to show you what I'm going to do to you now. Now, at the same time, the jury has to weigh his credibility as they do with everyone.

And he has some things going against him, you know, namely some violence and a protective order, things like that, and maybe a good reason to get back at her. Yeah, that's true. On October 20th, 2021, Michael Humphrey was found guilty of second degree murder and armed criminal action. He received a life sentence, but was granted the possibility of parole because he agreed to testify against Lindley. Man, I am pretty certain he is hating the fact that he reconnected with his

previous girlfriend coming out of prison. Yes, because he had just gotten out of prison. He could have started his life over. He could have walked a straight and arrow. Met somebody new, made the best of it. And now he's going to potentially spend the rest of his life back in prison. I'm pretty sure those massages were not worth it all. And you're using air quotes.

So you think this was not a. reputable massage place. I'm thinking he got special attention. That could be. Yeah, that could be. But here's another smart thing, right, that the prosecution does. Hey, we'll give you the possibility of parole if you testify against Lindley. And these are the types of deals they have to make all of the time.

For sure. After the conviction, Humphrey admitted he provided the murder weapon and told investigators where they could find him. It was hidden in his girlfriend's mother's attic. Good for him, because he has it still. For me, I never understand why people hold on to those things. Like, get rid of it. Break it down in multiple pieces and get rid of it. Why are you doing holding on to it?

Yeah, but like you said, good for him because if he didn't have it, maybe he's not able to make the deal. Right. He can definitely make this deal because he has concrete evidence. But I'm with you. I don't know why murderers keep those weapons. It's only going to hurt them if it's found. While preparing for Lindley's trial,

her defense requested to keep Brandon Blackwell out of the proceedings because he invoked his Fifth Amendment rights during a May and November 2021 deposition. He refused to talk about his pending stalking case. stemming from his violation of the protective order granted to Lindley, the judge approved the defense's request. And that's a blow to the prosecution. Sure it is. Right?

Not having this guy, not being able to call him. Lindley's murder trial started in December 2021. In opening statements, the prosecution told the jury that Lindley plotted to kill Ben twice and was assisted by spa manager Ashley Shaw and her ex-Bour. and her ex-boyfriend Michael Humphrey. She first tried to kill him by drugging his protein shape. Ben became sick but didn't die. And then two weeks later, she shot him eight times. Linley didn't want to divorce Ben because she was scared of losing custody of the children.

Ben was also in the process of selling part of his business, like we said, right, for $1.2 million. And she was the sole beneficiary of his $1 million, life insurance policy. Yeah, she wanted that money, right? The $1 million, $1.2, and whatever else they would eventually get for all the other reptiles. And she sold the farm. And the farm. Which was allegedly supposed to be divided with Sam.

Yeah. And it sounds like she sold the whole thing, took the money and ran. But, you know, people kill for a lot less. This is quite a bit of money. Yeah. The defense said Lindley and Ben were infatuated with each other. and supportive of each other's businesses. However, they fell out of love because Lindley was a victim of unwanted sexual advances and abuse from Ben.

Linley confided this to Michael Humphrey. Now, I understand the abuse, but I'm not sure about the unwanted sexual advances. Maybe she just didn't want him from Ben. No, I think that's what exactly what it was said. Yeah. But husbands often make advances towards their wives that are shot down. I don't think that's criminal. Yeah.

I mean, you know, when you're married for a while, you're going to hear that no a lot. I mean, you hear it probably what, two, three, four times a week? At least. It's not a day? Over 30 years. Yeah. I never thought about being charged criminally for that. But now, and I'm, again,

kind of joking around here, but I'm definitely separating that from any abuse. Oh, absolutely. That is being alleged. It just said unwanted sexual advances. I believe there are a lot of unwanted sexual advances in any marriage. It's just that one of the individuals in the marriage says, no. Yeah. Or, honey, I got a headache. Yes. That happens all the time. So I was a little confused by that. Maybe there's something more to it that I'm not thinking. Yeah, potentially, yeah. According to the defense, Linley went to the farm with Michael on June 8, 2017, to talk to Ben about divorce. She took the trash out, and when she came back inside the snake facility, she heard a shot ring out.

Michael was the one who shot Ben. Lindley ran back outside and screamed as more shots rang out. The defense also argued that Ashley Shaw's testimony was cursed because she feared going to prison. And I'll be honest with you. I mean, this is not a bad strategy, at least in my thinking, on the part of her defense team. Right. You got to blame it on Michael. Yeah.

Because ultimately, he's the one who still had the gun, who was able to turn a murder weapon over to police. we mentioned it pretty early on. Linley was tested for GSR and it came back negative. Yeah. Now, that doesn't mean everything, right? You could scrub,

you could get maybe rid of it or whatever for, please get there. But I think this is their only shot. But what's the motive for Michael versus her? Yeah, because he wants to be with her. Wants to be with her. And maybe he thinks Ben is abusing her

and that's what she's told him. Again, you could see how the defense could kind of craft it. And maybe just plant that seed of doubt in the jury's mind. I don't think Ashley Shaw was coerced. I think she had to do what was needed to protect herself. Well, if she has the opportunity, why would she not want to cut a deal? She was involved in this thing. Maybe not in the ultimate murder, but she did give over the,

the pills when Linley tried to poison Ben. And it's true. She brought the Percocets. She was going to be charged with that. So I do think she was covering herself. It is amazing how many people had some type of involvement or conversations about Ben needing to be taken out. But, you know, we talk about that in many episodes.

Killers are either solitary. meaning they don't tell anybody or they tell a bunch of people. Yeah. And they try to recruit a bunch of people into their endeavors. And it's like, okay, they don't think that these people are going to turn on them later on. If things go south, I just don't get it. In this case, especially when you treat those people badly. Yes.

Yeah. And I think that was a weird kind of strange thing for Lindley to do. knowing what the stakes were. Linley's ex-boyfriend Eric Brimmer testified that his affair with Lindley started in 2016 and continued for several months after Ben's murder. Ashley Shaw testified that she was aware Linley had multiple affairs and that the spa was in financial decline. She lied to the police out of fear when she was arrested.

And I could understand why she would be afraid, but I don't think she would be. but I don't think she was afraid of police. I think she was afraid that it was going to be found out that she knew Linley wanted to kill Ben and that she actually gave her the Percocet pills. Linley asked her to help kill Ben and explained to her that divorce was not an option. Ashley agreed to help her,

and they talked about how they would kill Ben. Ashley obtained 12 to 15 percassette pills and gave them to Lindley. She tested. testified that she regretted this and called it the biggest mistake she ever made. Linley blended the percassette into Ben's protein shake. He got sick and vomited, but didn't die. After this plot failed, Linley brought up the idea of getting Michael Humphrey involved

because she believed he had guns. Lindley told Ashley, she couldn't afford the fee that the Mexican mafia charged for a hit and that Michael would give her a gun. So she must have did some research on what that fee might have been. Or talk to some people or, yeah, something. But also, you're hearing here that Ashley was very involved in all of these discussions. Yeah. So you can understand why she wanted to cut a deal.

She needed to. They Googled Michael's address and found him. Ashley even went with her to his home. They talked to him about. how they needed his help, and Michael provided Linley with a gun. According to Ashley, on the night of the murder, Ben and Linley were supposed to go on a date. But Linley told Ben she wasn't feeling well. Lindley texted Ben and asked him to pick up the kids from school.

Michael and Lindley then went to the snake facility together to kill Ben in an attempt to hide her location. At the time of the murder, Linley asked Ashley to text Ben. Ben from her phone, which she left at the spa. But Ashley didn't send any texts out of fear. Linley came back to the spa after killing Ben and asked Ashley to help her scrub her body and hands. And there again, that is probably why they didn't find any gunshot residue on her when they did the test.

She scrubbed them out. Michael then showed up and asked Lindley whether Ashley knew what happened. Lindley stated that Ashley didn't know and Michael left shortly after. Later, Linley asked Ashley to warn Michael that the police would contact him about Ben's murder. Lindley then got a call from the school that the kids weren't picked up. She picked them up and went back to the farm to discover Ben's body. Michael Humphrey testified that he agreed to help Lindley after she told him Ben was sexually abusing her. She told him about the unsuccessful poisoning attempt.

She asked whether he knew anyone that could help her kill Ben. Michael told Linley he would think about whether he knew someone. On the afternoon of June 8, 2017, Michael picked Lindley up from the spa and drove to the snake breeding facility for what he thought was a discussion between Ben and Lenley. He anticipated the meeting would end with a peaceful resolution. He entered the snake house with Linley And she told Ben he was an old high school friend Who was there to check out the snakes

Ben walked towards the snake containers Michael stayed by the doorway And Linley followed Michael heard a gunshot and saw Linley standing there Holding the gun he heard several more gunshots As he left the building Linley then came running outside and told him to drive He didn't recall seeing any blood on her

He admitted to lying and leaving out details and said he eventually told the state police where the gun was. And I think Gibbs, you can see why it was so important for the prosecution to have both Ashley and Michael. Yeah, critical. They needed them to corroborate all of this evidence or really lack of evidence, but their theory of of what Linley had done, you know, put the gun in Linley's hand, put her as the shooter. They needed both these people.

Yeah, I mean, it helped tie the whole story together. Now, I don't know if Michael was being 100% truthful. It did seem to me like he potentially was softening his part a little bit, you know, saying, well, I didn't know it was going to happen. And I just thought we were going out there for them to talk and I was going to stand by for protection. Maybe that's true. Or maybe he knew she was going to kill him. I don't know.

But if you bring a gun to something like that, you know it could go bad. Right. And he gave her the gun. Yeah. But did he need to lie? Right. Normally when you make a deal, you don't need to lie. Right.

although some deals, if you implicate yourself in the actual murder, the deal goes away. So there could be a part of that here as well. Spa employee Rachel Hunt, who was also offered immunity, testified that Lindley told her on June 8th, that she and Michael were going to kill Ben. Telling another person, hey, I'm going to kill Ben. She's just talking about this at the spa to all her employees. She must really thought these other girls were part of her squad and they were tight. And they would never turn on her?

Yeah. I'll tell you what, you get offered immunity, people will turn. Quickly. No doubt about it. And let's not forget, at one point she stopped paying them. The spa closed. So really any allegiance they had to her at some point was probably broken anyway. The prosecution noted that Lindley called and texted Ben.

expressing concern when she knew he was dead. Those texts and calls were meant to create an alibi. And the one thing I will say is, you know, she did plan quite a bit of this out. She did. She did a lot of stupid things. But, you know, leaving the phone behind at the spa and asking Ashley to send texts, you know, to help create an alibi.

Yeah. Sending, you know, these texts have been, hey, I'm getting worried about you, things like that. You know, it's all very cunning. The prosecution noted that in the hours after the murder, Lindley texted and talked to the man she was having an affair with. Additionally, shell casings recovered from the crime scene. Match the gun, Michael Humphrey said, was used to kill Ben.

And I think all of this is very dammit. I mean, just hours after the murder, you're texting and talking to this guy, you're having an affair with. Yeah. We know just like two days after the murder, she's calling the insurance company. And then I think, you know, once Michael provides the gun and it turns out that the bullet casings match, okay, pretty hard to argue that that gun was not involved. Now, you can argue who pulled the trigger.

Can't do that. The defense called on a childhood friend, a nurse, and Linley's father to testify. that Lindley was hysterical. After discovering Ben's body, she was an emotional wreck. She wouldn't eat or drink. And at one point, was so dehydrated.

She had to be hospitalized and given IV fluid. Oh, but she could call her ex-boyfriend? Yeah. And she was okay calling the insurance company. Well, sure. You know, some critical details to get that policy going.

But even if you're not broken up about it. Yeah. Is it in your best interest to be hysterical, to play the part of the grieving wife? Absolutely. And maybe you don't drink anything. So you do become dehydrated and you have to be taken to the hospital. It kind of all works in your favor. It's all acting 101.

Linley decided to testify in her own defense. She told the jury that she wanted to divorce. Ben not kill him. She did say she had three affairs while they were married. She also described aspects of her relationship with Ben. For example, she testified that Ben became angry with her one morning because she didn't wake up one night while he was having sex with her. Okay. I don't know how that happens, but, uh, well, I guess it can happen. It could be weird. It might go back to what she she was calling unwanted sexual advances. But to me,

you've gone past the part of an advance. Yeah. To me, an advance is, hey, honey, do you want to go to the Rumpus room? It's what she's trying to say, it's more of an assault.

Oh, yeah, she's describing an assault while she's asleep. Yeah. And that's why I was kind of saying earlier, I was real fuzzy on the unwanted sexual advances versus the abuse, because to me those are two very different things. Now, if you're not married to someone, obviously sexual advances get real tricky.

If you are married, they're kind of part of married life and they're either reciprocated or in my case, they're often turned down. And for good reason. And for good reason. She said the real reason she wanted to divorce was because Ben resented the time she spent with the children. she felt he wanted her to choose him over the kids i gotta be honest with you if i'm a juror i'm not really buying that one and it's hard to buy it right because he is not there to provide his side of the

story yeah he can't defend himself obviously now could someone resent the amount of time you spend with your children yeah obviously it could happen is that how most people feel i would say no Let's not forget, one of the children was his biologically. And the others, it seemed like he cared for a great deal. Like they were his own. Yeah. Lindley testified that she brought Michael to the snake farm that day because she was worried Ben would get physical. She was thinking about how to bring up divorce when she and Michael arrived at the facility.

Ben was outside taking the trash. She took the trash and when she went back inside the facility, she saw Michael pull the gun on bent. She screamed and ran outside and then heard more gunshots. You know, if you were that concern that things could get physical, why even go confront somebody? Do it on the phone. Right. Do it through an attorney. Or remember we talked about earlier, the massive amounts of Facebook texts or messages that they sent

each other, which I thought was strange, but here this might be a time to send some type of message rather than have a face-to-face meeting. Right. If you think it's going to get out of hand. Linley testified that she didn't know exactly what happened. In her words, she suspected something happened, but she didn't want to believe it. She was frozen with fear when Michael emerged and ordered her to get in the car. She didn't recall what was said in the 40, 50 minute ride back to the spa.

Ashley helped her clean up, but she was still out of it. Okay. So a question I would have is if you're not in there when Ben is shot, why do you need to clean up so much? Exactly. What do you clean it up? You wouldn't have gun residue. You theoretically shouldn't have any blood on you because you weren't in there. there's nothing to scrub off of you.

She didn't want to believe. Ben had been killed and regretted lying to police about being at the facility when Ben was shot. She realized Ben had been shot to death. When she returned to the snake farm after picking the kids up from school, Linley testified that she was hysterical and told an EMT a snake could not have done this. She lied to the police during the six interviews she had before she was arrested. she never told them Michael was the killer and tried to throw police off his trail by pointing the finger at Ben's brother Sam. And I think all of that goes against her.

It does. And I don't think she was trying to throw the scent off of Michael. I think she was trying to throw the scent off of her by calling out Sam. Yeah. I'm with you 100%. But when you then later get on the stand at trial and try to bring these things up. Yeah. They're not going to fly because everything you've said on record before this doesn't match.

If you stick with the same story all the way through, well, maybe then when you get on the stand, the jury might believe you. But they're not going to believe this. Even if, you know, she lied once to the police and then came clean. But, you know, she said she'd lie. All six interviews, she lied. She doubled down. on what she thought she needed to do, and it didn't work out for. On December 9, 2021, Lindley was found guilty of second-degree murder and armed criminal action.

The jury recommended 16 years in prison, 13 years for murder, and three years for armed criminal action. On January 24, 2022, the judge upheld the jury's recommendation for sentencing. The judge told Lindley, per ABC 17, You're awful lucky, ma'am. You're going to get out in your 40s, and my 40s weren't too bad. I just hope you don't kill again. Yeah, she really got lucky. I think she got extremely lucky.

I feel like this was extremely light. But again, she was found guilty of second degree murder, right? Not first degree murder. Yeah. And to me, this really was first degree murder. Because if she killed him, she undoubtedly. doubtedly planned it out. Yeah.

Not once, but twice. Maybe just the jury felt they could make the second degree murder stick, maybe because they weren't 100% that she did it all on her own. Yeah. I mean, who knows, right? We weren't in the jury room. Ben's brother, Sam, read a statement on behalf of the family. He said, Linley made up a web of lies to cover up the crime, adding, she led me directly

to my brother's dead body, then put on a show and act. In February 22, Linley filed a defamation lawsuit against her ex-boyfriend, Brandon Blackwell, alleging he lied to investigators about the murder. Linley's attorney Connie Sullivan told ABC 17, he had criminal charges pending that he was trying to get out of. He took the fifth and didn't testify. So the jury in the court never got to hear the statement.

that started the charges against Lindley. Prosecutors dropped the stalking charges against Blackwell, following Lindley's conviction. And this case appeared in an episode of Dateline. This summer, Linley's legal team told Dateline that no prints, gunshot residue, or DNA were recovered at the scene. They also noted that Michael Humphrey, Ashley Shaw, and Rachel Hunt, had something to gain by cooperating.

with authorities. Well, they had deals. Yeah, I don't think there's any doubt that they did have something to gain by cooperating. Most people do. And that's why they cooperate. In an interview with Dateline, Linley denied killing Ben, saying, out of everybody here, I had the most to lose. I lost everything with Ben dying. That's a tough statement to make because out of everyone, she actually had the most to gain.

Yeah, she got the life insurance policy. She got all the money from the cell of the farm and the reptiles. Now, I think she's arguing I had the most to lose because I lost Ben. But she didn't want Ben because she was having multiple affairs. Yeah, I get it. But what is she going to say? Sure. In January 2023, Michael Humphrey filed an appeal seeking a new trial.

Michael's attorneys argued the judge should not have allowed a key. witness to testify about what a co-defendant in the case told him about who killed Ben. Brandon Blackwell should not have been allowed to testify at trial. Blackwell told investigators that Linley told him about the shooting when they started dating after Ben's death. Blackwell claimed Lindley recruited Michael to help her get a gun and kill Ben. Michael's defense argued that this testimony was inadmissible hearsay. His defense did not object to this at trial. In August 223, Michael Humphrey lost his appeal to the Missouri Court of Appeals.

The court ruled that because the state lowered the first degree murder charge to second degree murder and dropped the armed criminal action charge. Humphrey gave up his right to a direct appeal. So they made a deal and he has to stick with it. So as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, you know, Ben Renick was murder. shortly before his 30th birthday. His life was tragically cut short, but his legacy lives on in the exotic reptile community. In fact, a new breed of snake called the Rinnick Ghost was named in his honor.

That's cool. It is cool. And we said it, right? He was a rock star in the reptile community. You know, his wife, Linley was convicted of killing him. her defense is trying to say she didn't do it they're bringing up all kinds of things there's no doubt that at least in my mind that lindley ashley and michael humphrey all played a role in kind of planning this and all that yeah but who stood to gain the most from his death lindley there's

no doubt about it when you look at the astronomical amount of money that she got out of his death, that's a big motive for murder. It is. And then you throw in the fares, the pending alleged divorce. She's fearful. She might lose custody. All of that. There's motive on top of motive. I mean, you have multiple people saying she didn't want to be married, that she wanted out, and she wanted Ben to die. But I will say there are some things that are not quite crystal clear in this case. I understand that. Right.

Some people took plea deals. Yeah. They had things to gain for pointing the finger at Lindley. That doesn't mean it didn't happen. You just have to take that into account. You know, this is one of those cases where, you know, a jury has to listen to everything. And they have to try to figure out who's telling the truth. And by my way of thinking, they just did not believe.

Lindley. And they didn't believe that Michael Humphrey was the shooter. Even if Michael was a shooter, you can make the case that he was a shooter because he was hired or directed to shoot from her.

But, you know, again, I think, you know, you have Michael, you have both the girls at the salon, you know, saying what they said, I think it's hard to dispute when you have that many people. saying the same thing. I don't think Michael, Ashley, and Rachel got together and said,

hey, you know, let's conspire against her. Well, you'd have to believe that, right? To think they were all lying. Right. Against Lindley. My thing is, I don't know what Michael Humphrey has to gain by killing Ben himself without direction from Lindley or in conjunction with Linley. Yeah. Because if he's getting any money, it's going to have to come from her. Sure. But that's it for our episode

on Ben Renick. We got a voicemail. You want to check that out? Sir. Hey, Mike and Gibby. This is Blake calling from Madison, Georgia. And I just had a quick question for you guys regarding I guess the overall opinion of what people think

about true crime. Because I guess in our eco chamber, like Everybody that listens to the podcast or engages with it are obviously interested in true crime. But I've seen some stuff from outside of the true crime community, just basically, like, from public shooters or mass shooters or whatever that are saying that true crime is harmful and that generally everyone in the true crime community has got, like, something wrong with them, and that talking about true crime is harmful. So I guess my question is, have you guys dealt with that, or do you just primarily deal with people

in the community? I can't imagine someone has come from, you know, outside just to attack you guys. But I guess I was just wondering what, uh, what your guys' opinion is on people that are outside of the true crime community and what they might think about us that are, you know, obsessed with it and are constantly looking into it. Uh, but yeah, that's just my question and keep your own time chicken. Thanks. All right.

Thank you so much. I think it's a great question. Yeah, obviously we hear stuff all the time. Um, you read it. Not, not so much directed towards us specifically. but you read stuff all the time. My take on it has always been that a lot of people are fascinated by true crime, not because they want to emulate any of the things that we talk about or things that happen in these cases.

They don't want to be like these people. They want to know what makes these people tick. Right. They also want to know what to look for, maybe, signs, ways to, help keep themselves safe. Just, I mean, there's a lot of reasons people are into true crime. Is there some morbid fascination? Yeah.

And I think in a sense, but to me, it's not because people listening want to do any of these things. They're trying to figure out how these people can do it, how they get to the point where they're driven to do it, stuff like that. Yeah. I think even on the unsolved stuff, they're trying to help figure out who. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. But appreciate the voice amount very much. All right, buddy, that is it for another episode of true crime all the time. So for Mike,

and get me. Stay safe and keep your own time ticking.