A woman stands trial in Boone County, Missouri, because she allegedly shot and killed her snake breeder husband amid a possible breakup over her money problems. Lynlee Jo Renick, 33, is charged with first-degree murder. Opening statements are scheduled to begin Monday, Dec 6. 8:30 p.m. CT / 9:30 a.m. ET. You can watch in the player above.
She shot and killed husband Benjamin Renick, 29, on June 8, 2017, while he was cleaning a back wall at his snake facility, the Missouri State Patrol said in a probable cause affidavit. Defendant Renick had allegedly been planning to kill him for a while, with a botched, prior attempt in which she drugged a protein shake with the painkiller Percocet. It did not kill him, however. It just made him sick, authorities said.
SNAKE BREEDER MURDER TRIAL – NEW TRIAL MONDAY. MO v. Lynlee Renick. Renick is charged with killing her husband Ben Renick. Ben was a world-famous snake breeder. This case has a lot of twists and turns and players! Jury is being chosen today from another county. Openings Mon pic.twitter.com/joXlxTtYDu
— Cathy Russon (@cathyrusson) December 3, 2021
According to authorities, Lynlee plotted the murder with Ashley Shaw, a friend from work. The women allegedly recruited Lynlee Renick’s ex-boyfriend Michael Humphrey to help carry it out.
Shaw reportedly struck a deal with prosecutors to dodge charges. Jurors found Humphrey guilty in October for first-degree murder, and armed criminal action.
If we go by the probable cause affidavit, Lynlee Renick’s spa business was an albatross on her marriage. She allegedly told another former lover of hers that she knew Ben was going to leave her because she was “sucking money out of the business.”
Investigators said they executed a search warrant of her and her husband’s Facebook accounts, and they learned that Ben Renick discovered his wife was behind paying rent for the spa, that the bank that financed her had reached out to him numerous times after failing to reach Lynlee, and that Ben was angry about the financial position of the spa.
“There were also several overdue bills Ben had yet to discover, and Lynlee’s bank account for the spa was constantly over-drafted,” the Missouri Highway Patrol said.
