Millionaire snake breeder's wife conspired with ex-lover to murder, trial told
Prosecutors say the wife of an exotic reptile dealer is the real snake in the grass.
Lynlee Renick’s trial began Monday in Columbia, Missouri for the first-degree murder of her husband, 29-year-old Ben Renick.
Investigators claim that Lynlee shot and killed her husband on the property they shared in Montgomery County on June 8, 2017. They believe her motive was money.
Ben Renick had been poised to sell his snake-breeding business for US$1.8 million. Cops say Lynlee’s ex-boyfriend, Michael Humphrey, drove the soon-to-be-widowed woman to the marital home.
At the same time, Ashley Shaw, an employee of the spa that Lynlee owned, remained at work and sent text messages to her boss’s cellphone to plant an alibi. Detectives allege that shortly after Lynlee arrived at their home, she shot her husband multiple times as he tended to his snakes.
The case gathered dust until January 2020, when a man named Brandon Blackwell went to the Missouri Highway Patrol claiming that Lynlee had confessed to him about the murder. The confession led to the arrests of Lynlee and Humphrey and they both were charged with first-degree murder and armed criminal action.
