COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMOX/AP) — A woman was convicted of shooting and killing her husband, as planned with co-conspirators, while he was at his snake-breeding business in Missouri, a jury decided Thursday.
Lynlee Renick was convicted in Boone County of second-degree murder and armed criminal action in the June 2017 death of her husband, Ben Renick, who bred rare and exotic snakes at his business in New Florence. The massage therapist conspired with employees of her now-closed Columbia spa, Ascensia, and an ex-boyfriend to kill her husband.
He was shot eight times on June 8, 2017, inside his well-known snake farm in New Florence, Missouri.
The jury recommended Lynlee Renick serve no more than 13 years for second-degree murder and three years for armed criminal action. A hearing was scheduled for Jan. 24 to finalize the sentences and determine if they will be served concurrently or consecutively.
Renick, who was charged with first-degree murder, testified that an ex-boyfriend, Michael Humphrey, shot her husband after they went to the business so she could ask her husband for a divorce.
Renick acknowledged that she later lied about what happened but said she loved her husband and did not want him to die.
"I was just trying to run from the truth of what happened," she said while on the stand in court.
Prosecutors contended that Renick, Humphrey and another woman conspired to kill the victim because Renick was experiencing financial problems at a spa she owned and she was concerned he would gain custody of their children if the couple divorced. Prosecutors said Renick was the sole beneficiary of a $1 million life insurance policy on her husband.
She also said they were going through marital troubles, including fighting, and alleged physical and sexual abuse by Ben.
Humphrey has been convicted of first-degree murder and is awaiting sentencing. The other woman involved was not charged.
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