The results of the polygraph show that you failed to prove the test. She's the woman accused of killing her snakereeder husband in 2017. There is so much circumstantial evidence against you in this case. It's mindboggling. I understand what your apology said, but no, I didn't have any apology. Okay. This is Lyn Lee Renick, an evil wife who thinks she can get away with murder because just hours ago, Lynley pretended to be a witness to a crime she committed. My brother-in-law just walked in. He got killed by snake. He raised this large 500 lb snake with no venom to make. But what officers do not know is that Lley isn't hiding a simple murder, but an elaborate scheme that goes much, much further than they could have ever expected. He was given a a protein drink one night that was laced full of enormous amounts of nics. The plan was for that to be the last day of his life. What do you think should happen to whoever's responsible for this? My brother was murdered. At 6:36 p.m. on June 8th, 2017, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office received several distressing calls from Renick Reptiles, a snake holding facility located in Missouri. 911. What's the address of the emergency? On the ground and there's blood everywhere. What happened? Tell me exactly what happened to him. Oh god. I in this room with my kids there in the car and I went to go check on him and they saw him on the ground. Oh my god. My brother's dead. My brother's dead. Oh my god. Hey, does it look like he's been shot? Yeah, maybe. No, you just you don't know. Do you know where the blood is coming from? Head. Head. His head. Oh my god. Are you the only one in the home with him right now? I don't know. His wife is here and there's a 500 time snake somewhere. The two callers were Lynley Renick and Sam Renick, Ben Renick's wife and brother. Ben was a well-known figure in the exotic animal world. He owned Renick Reptiles, a high-end breeding facility in New Florence, Missouri, home to hundreds of snakes, many worth thousands of dollars each. At the time of the incident, Ben was in the middle of a $1.2 $2 million sale of his collection to NHL player Robin Liner with $100,000 of that already paid. This immediately raised red flags for investigators who saw two likely scenarios. Either Ben suffered from a snake bite or someone was after his highly valuable snake collection. In either case, officers had to get to the scene fast and there they would be met with a number of anomalies. Where was where was the victim found? Right back there. Where you still? Is there a blood trail leading to him? Is there anything? There's nothing that anything to indicate where you would think there's much there fellas. You something got him. Paramedic said there's a bite mark on him. So there's a snake loose in here. So watch your I don't know why he'd be here. Well, even a small snake if it's really toxic. They supposedly didn't have any poisonous one. It's my understanding. Yeah. No venous one. No. No venomous. No, no, he didn't feel venomous, but the big ones are all downstairs. But you know, I don't know. I don't On the ground was Ben Renick, bleeding and clearly deceased. But the crime scene raised immediate questions. Sam had definitely mentioned that there was a 500-lb snake on the loose. If Ben really was bitten by it, then how come there were no blood trails or drops leading up to where he had collapsed? Despite an exhaustive search for any snakes that had escaped, none were found. This left only one possibility. Ben was murdered. And very soon, officers would make a chilling discovery, one that would change the trajectory of this case completely. Lying next to Ben's body were several bullet casings. In total, eight 40 caliber projectiles, either intact or broken, were found next to Ben. But after an autopsy, investigators discovered that only six of these had landed. Most of them were aimed at the head. And due to the nature of the exit wounds, it was clear that Ben was shot from the back. This left detectives with only two people they could get any information from, Lynley and Sam. Since they were the first ones to find the body, there was also an equal amount of suspicion placed on both of them. Were either of them somehow involved in this murder? Or maybe it was both. If not, who was the one behind the killing of Ben Renick? To answer these questions, Lley was the first to be called in for an interview where she would provide a number of incredibly important statements. The following footage has been provided to us by the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the Missouri State Highway Patrol. The Miranda warning you heard of, and this is just formality of when we interview folks or speak with anybody, just go ahead and get it out of the way. The door's right there. Anytime you want to get up and leave, that's perfectly fine. While Lindley has read her Miranda rights, it's important to understand Ben and Sam Renick's relationship. Their father, Frank Renick, had been federally indicted and convicted in a Ponzi scheme where he stole money from investors to allegedly pay for cancer treatments for his wife. In 2012, he took his own life, but not before deciding how his belongings would be divided between Sam and Ben. Ben received the Renick farm, the home, and the reptile facility in inheritance, and no property was left for Sam. Frank had also paid $1 million into a life insurance policy. From this, he had left a trust for both Sam and Ben, where the two would receive $500,000 each once they turned 40. However, because of financial troubles and losing his job, Sam began living with Ben in the inherited property and would sell parts of his shares to keep his family afloat. Why exactly this is important to know is something we will find out soon after that happened the way that everything was set up. Um, Ben and I actually own all of the property and we have since before then, but it was something that Frank did and we didn't know about it. But we found out after he passed away that we own all the property. And so Sam and his wife were married at that time, but no kids. And so they moved into that house and they were talking to us about buying half of the property from us and then they would have that house. But that never ended up happening. And um Sam kind of basically just went to Ben and he was like, "You need to give me half of the property." After Ben said that he wasn't just going to give them half the property, then they were like, "Well, we can't afford to live out here. We're going to have to move." And um Sam had made a post on Facebook about how they were going to just like sell as much as they could out of the house. And they were moving. Well, Ben saw it on Facebook and that house is full of all of their parents stuff still. And then his wife sent Ben and I a message that was basically just kind of like you you guys are greedy because you won't give us the house and all you care about is money. And I haven't really Ben and I haven't talked to his wife since then. I know. And there for a while Sam and I were like I I wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. This interview with Lyn Lee would come to an end shortly after these statements, but not before conducting a gunshot residue analysis, or GSR for short. A GSR is a forensic technique that allows law enforcement to determine whether an individual has fired or been in the vicinity of a fired weapon by determining the presence of a mixture of substances. In Lynley's case, the GSR test would return negative, leaving detectives with one suspect, Sam. From Lindley's statements, the puzzle pieces began to fit together. A dispute over property between two brothers as one felt that he was treated unfairly. This was corroborated by later investigation from detectives who found out that Ben had wanted to kick Sam and his wife out, but they began paying $1,200 per month to stay and covered half of the utilities. So, with these ongoing disputes, one would think that is an openandshot case with Sam having some degree of involvement. That is until you see Sam and his interaction with detectives for yourself. Devin and and Matt. Yep. Thank you. Probably the easiest way to do this because kind of a lot's gone on here uh is just for you to tell us in your own words. Okay. What occurred? Um I work in Wville. Um it's already 45 minutes uh hour east of you. and uh got out of work, picked up babies for my wife and her new boyfriend. We just moved to Wville. Took the kids back to the farm. I got to the uh Ben and I were going to need a babysitter. I was interviewing a babysitter. cuz my wife's running off Chicago with boyfriend and uh um I needed someone to wash the kids for tomorrow and um uh I was meet Ben and I both were actually going to meet the Harlem Mandy and Gracie um out there. Ben texted me at 300 p.m. saying that he couldn't make it. He had something to do with Lynley's father. I've got that. I get home at 5 5:45 and the red car is there like it always is. Didn't think anything of it. Get to the house. Harlins get there about 6:30. 6:45 Lley calls scream. I She's I can't make any sense what she's saying. I I I thought she ran over a dog. [Applause] Uh I I walk out the front door, leave the Harland's with the kids. um get to her car which is now parked behind his and the kids are in the car. I check out the kids. The kids are okay. She's hysterical. I know something wrong with that. Door's wide open. I go in and I at first he got he got killed by a snake or he's stuck somewhere with the snake and um uh I immediately go downstairs to the front door runs where all big snakes are. Um can't find them. I I do a full uh 360 around the room downstairs. Can't find him anywhere. Come back upstairs, go back up, say, "Hey, I He's not here." And then um she points to the back of the of the room and uh I go to the back and I find him. And when I find him, he's he's face down on his belly with his arm. He's there blood everywhere. and uh all the floor. And I see he's got a laceration on the back of his head and some on his side and on his arm. Uh I try to feel for a pulse. He's warm, but he's blue and pale. And um uh I flip him over. I grab him by his arm and I turn him around and I see his face. And his face all up. But at that time, Lindley gives me the phone and I'm talking to the 911 dispatch. I'm freaking out cuz I think there's some goddamn stick somewhere. And um I I check for a post. I could feel something moving around in his chest, but he wasn't breathing. And um I flipped him over. I don't know what. Considering Sam's statements, it shifts a reasonable degree of suspicion from him onto Lin Lee. If she was the one to discover Ben, it is odd that she chose not to call 911, but rather Sam. Almost as if she wanted to prepare him as the scapegoat in this entire situation. This is probably not related to this event, but we, you know, this is, I mean, it's definitely viable information. Um, you know, Fred had a lot of people that he, you know, robbed of inheritances generationally. uh and in the millions of dollars. Um but uh we were worried they recognize for us. So we got involved with these uh you were Jewish. Uh Frank got involved with this uh group of Jewish people. Attorney, state attorney, lone shark, realer, insurance person. all those other side of that circle. Um they took care of us after Frank pass. Um but uh uh one of them who's Ben's finance guy will be relative to this for sure because he's involved with all Ben's money. His name is Charles Chuck. We have a long history with Charles. Not a fan of him. We don't get along. Um he was a trustee for both my two trust and men's trust when Frank died. Frank didn't want that. Uh but Charles Chuck weasled his way in. And um uh he's uh we had a like a 13% one-year mortgage for 5 years with him during the civil suit thing because he wanted to keep us uh safe for a fee and been just and and Chuck has a Chuck comes with a $500 friendship every month just for being his buddy. Uh anyways, I found a new trustee. Uh Ben still works with him. He does he's a consultant. Um he helps Ben with us managing his finances. He is Ben's trustee. He would be aware of Ben's financial transactions. He's in DC right now. He's coming back. Spends a lot of his time on vacation. Charles and Chuck refer to the same person, a man deeply connected to the Renick family. Originally, Chuck served as Frank Renick's financial adviser. After Frank's death, Chuck continued to manage the trusts he had established for both Sam and Ben. But Chuck's role didn't end there. There was another $1 million life insurance policy, one that was opened by Ben in 2015. This was completely separate from anything left behind by Frank, and there was only one beneficiary, Lyn Lee Renick, Ben's wife, a death benefit that Chuck routinely recommended to couples as standard financial practice. And from the way Sam speaks about him, it is clear that the two didn't exactly like each other. I think there there was a dispute over we were going to split the farm up and it was arguing about money, how much money I'm going to give him for 50% of the land. And that was all before I decided I can't afford this land even if I buy it. So that was all prior to the plans of moving. But uh but ever since then back in the day that didn't help things. Um, my wife uh just said some nasty things to Lily that she shouldn't have and uh and she and Ally had plenty of opportunity to apologize and she never did. And I never I was not happy with Ally about that. I apologize for Ally. I went up to Lenny's business, brought her a bunch of baklavons, kissed her ass a bunch of times trying to make up for Ally, but Allie's stubborn. Sam, did you have anything to do with death? No. Anything at all? No. I can't imagine it. No. The answer is no. Um, I'm wrapping my mind around all this stuff, but I know you got to ask me certain questions. Uh, I have no idea you have, my brother. What do you think should happen to whoever's responsible for this? if I find him or I I don't know. Um my brother was murdered. I don't know. I got some ideas. Yeah. I'm not going to do anything stupid. I'm not asking you if you're going to do I'm asking you what you think should happen. I'm pro I'm a aid believer in death penalty. Throughout this interview, Sam not only expresses his intent to reconcile with Ben, but afterwards also took a polygraph and gsr test, which he passed. Ultimately, this left detectives puzzled. Both Sam and Lin Lee had passed the GSR tests. So, who would want to kill Ben? Fortunately, detectives soon got their answer. Barely 30 minutes after Ben was shot and killed at 700 p.m. on June 8th, 2017, Lley called Chuck and wanted to file for the $1 million left by Ben. This wasn't just suspicious because Lley made the call so soon after Ben's murder. It was suspicious because of how much she stood to gain. At the time, Lindley was running a failing business, Asencia Spa, a massage and wellness center she owned and operated. In the months leading up to Ben's death, the spa had racked up nearly $200,000 in debt and was on the verge of collapse. And to get the extra money she needed, Lindley not only tried to file for the insurance, but also began selling Ben's exotic snakes. But before bringing her back in, they first turned to someone who knew her well, Ashley, her close friend and co-orker at Asentia. Interviewing Ashley on October 6th gave them a chance to gather as much insight as possible about Linley's personal life and business dealings. And just as they hoped, Ashley revealed exactly what they needed. Okay, let me ask you this and then I would like business a little bit. Um, tell me your relationship with I don't know if you knew Ben or your relationship with Ben. How did you get into that those people and and and where did you come? So, Lily and I actually worked together spa a couple of years ago. Um, and so she had kind of ting her own spa and it was just kind of an idea. And um, I actually moved for a little bit. The guy I was dating at the time had an internship there. So it was kind of left, you know, if I was going to stay, I would work for you, but unfortunately I'm moving all that stuff. Pull me back cuz that relationship ended. Okay. And so then I contacted she still had a position open. And so then I just started off as like front desk and just kind of merged into Okay. the manager role. Um, when did you That would have been June of 20 of last year. 2016. Did she ever express any any problems that she and Ben were having or what her kind of thoughts were future of that marriage or anything to you? She did. Um I mean I know I mean I'm sure that you know she was having um an affair affairs actually. Um so I know that it was kind of rocky. Um I know that she had kind of dabbled with the option of divorce. She just I think more so for her kids like it was kind of up in the air. She you know I mean I'm sure you know how divorces go. It's just kind of me young ones. Exactly. Sure. But it was never um you know definitely I'm getting divorced or I'm going to or whatever. Like it always seemed like they would kind of like have a little tiff and get kind of upset and then they would be fine. Like they would have like their weekly date night kind of stuff and it was like I mean every relationship that I've ever been in we've always had some stuff but I know she did from time to time and I've from time to time she did talk about you know possibly in the future if things didn't you know change or whatever. Okay. Prior to this, detectives had used Ben's phone to check messages on Facebook between him and Lin Lee. These showed that Ben had discovered Lin Lee was involved with another man. And in this message, Ben clearly references messages that Lin Lee had deleted. Lyn Lee was also involved with several other men at the time besides this, but one stood out to officers. Michael Humphrey. Michael was Lynley's former boyfriend who often visited the spa to get massages. Most importantly, cell phone records showed that Lynley and Michael had called several times on the day Ben was killed, with one of these conversations lasting up to 10 minutes. And right now, they believe that the two met up before the murder as well, something they need to get Ashley to confirm. I want to spend a lot of time on one particular, and that is, and I think you were talked about it last time, Michael Humphre. Okay. Okay. Tell me about how Michael, how you first heard the name Michael, that whole thing kind of came into the picture. I mean, she had talked about him briefly over like the year that I had known her. Just if we talk about like past or anything like that. Um, tell me about what she said about him. What was her relationship or um I know that he was um kind of in and out of I know he dabbled with a little bit and that kind of stuff. Um, and he had a kid whenever they were together. So, that's mostly what she talked about because you know her son wasn't Ben's child. So, like that's kind of how it would be, you know, appreciated Ben taking care of um because whenever her and Michael worked together, she took care of his daughter. Um and then I was kind of talking about getting my car audio stuff. Well, Michael used to do that. I don't know if he still does. And so, we just kind of started talking. I was like, "Well, do you have his phone number? Like, are you contacting him?" Like, I didn't know like if they still kept in contact or not. And she been a while or a couple years I think it had been. She was like, "But you find him and get a hold of him and see if he can look at it." Okay. And so, then we have his phone number. Then we I just case studed him cuz that's kind of what I sure and so I had seen like his most recent I think it was maybe like probating on there and so I just saw that address and so I was like well we'll buy and see what we see there and see if we can get any help and then if not we can just maybe he's home. Okay. By Best Buy you mean in Jess where he Yes. That's where he wondering if he was maybe there knew he was still working there. Okay. So then we went there and I was looking at audio and she worked there and they said that he didn't or they hadn't even heard of him. I think his birthday. And so then we drove by his house and he happened to be sitting there. Okay. And so then um she got out cuz I wasn't comfortable that exact moment cuz I didn't know, you know, it was a little bit of a shady area. Never been in a trailer park before in my life. So I was already kind of like, no offense. No, that's all right. It's a little shady at and so and then just little bits that she told me about drugs and all that stuff. Like I just wasn't very comfort. She got out and he you know I was like watching in my I was like okay well if this isn't a good situation then we need to leave kind of watch. and he like seemed fine. He got out and they were kind of talking. I could tell he was like a little bit confused like he was looking at her kind of like here and then she explained and he came over to the car and was like talking to me. It's okay. And then they like had just general conversations. And then about his mom, I guess she has some sort of like is there something? Yeah, I think I think there's something to that something. And so I used to give her massages. So he was saying that he had heard her advertisement on the rings back and you know congratulated her on her business and all that kind of stuff actually started coming in and getting I think he got one massage and he had one scheduled and I had to call him after Ben passed and let him know that to be in to do massages anymore. Okay, I'll ask it straight out. Would it surprise you or what would be your if someone said that Lley had something to do with this? What would be your gut reaction to that? Um I would be totally shocked. I think very much the type of person that she's very spiritual. Actually had any conversation with her to meet her. Yeah. But she's very much put into the universe, you get back twofold. So I mean her and I am very religious where she's very spiritual. And so I never really situations like this. I feel like if she believes that wholehearted that she does and there's absolutely no way that she could ever even think about this. While Ashley's interview comes to an end here, do not forget the two individuals she mentions, Brandon and Michael Humphrey. They will play an incredibly important role in Lynley's story, which has now gone down the drain. Between her attempts to claim the life insurance just minutes after Ben's death, her effort to sell off his valuable snake collection, and a documented history of infidelity, Linley had become a primary focus for investigators. This is why after Ashley's interview, Lynley was subjected to a polygraph test where she was asked three major questions. Her answer to all three was a resounding no. When detectives reviewed the results, they found that the probability she was lying was greater than 99.99%. Now, armed with these results, Linley is called in for an interview one final time. Okay. How do you think you did, Linda? Okay. Um, I scored the charts. Mhm. And I didn't need to take any more collect any more data because the data that was there was very, very clear. Okay. And so the results of the polygraph showed that you failed the the test. Every question that I asked you concerning the relevant issue, which is whether you were involved in any way, when you answered no show that you were lying. And so here's what we got to figure out. What I want to know, and I just want you to sit there and listen to me real quick, okay? I need to find out if you're sorry, and if you promise not to ever do it again. Now, here's the thing. I know now. We know. And I told you at the beginning of the day that we would both know at the end of the day whether you had any involvement in this whatsoever. And what I know is when I asked you that question, did you shoot him or did you plan to participate in any way that when you answered no, that that was a lie. Okay. So, what I need to figure out is whether whether this was just something that just got out of hand and you didn't mean for it to get to that point or what the deal was. Because the thing is is we we we have done an investigation. We've looked at everything we can. Sam is not responsible. We've ruled him out. We brought you in here to find out if we could take you off that list, and we can't. We found out that you have actually failed the test today. When I ask you, did you shoot that man? You failed the test. When I ask you, did you plan to participate in any way? You failed that question. When you said no, I showed deception on that. There's no doubt about it. We know it. I've been doing this a long time. I'm there's scientific information behind that. We have we have done our research. We know we know there's a team of investigators talking to other people right now that were involved in this. And normally the first person to talk about what happened is the one that gets the deal. Okay? You understand that. Okay? We've got people talking to other people. You know damn well who I'm talking about. The people that were involved in this. Okay? So the best thing for you to do, Lonnie, is explain to us right now. The better the your your chances right now of explaining it are better right now to tell me. I know that I know that you were involved in this. We know it. We know it. Because when I when I ask you to just cheer me up, what I need to know is if you're sorry for doing it. If if you if you promise never to do it again. The reason I ask you that is because you failed those questions on the B. You failed. You know what that means, right? Means that when I asked you, did you do it or did you plan to participate? You when you said no, there was such a reaction. And and the thing is the reason there's a reaction because you know it was wrong. You know it was wrong and you know that you were involved in that. So do we. We know that. Lenny. We know it. We just need to figure out why. I We know that. We know that young Ben didn't have a real good relationship there towards the end. We know that it was financial there was financial problems. There was some there were some other issues going on and we just need to find out why this happened. We just need to find out why. Well, that's the thing. We just need to find out why I just failed that. But I didn't kill Ben. And well, I didn't say you killed him. I said when when you when when I asked you those questions when I asked you those questions, there was a significant reaction to that. Been doing this a long time. It's really hard for me to hear that. I I know. I found out that he was shot not by people telling me in my driveway with a news article, right? And even thinking about that, just hear me out. Hear me out. Hear me out. Let But you knew that coming in today. And the purpose for you coming in today is to take you off that list of people that were responsible in whatever way possible. And I had to administer that test for you to get you off that list. I understand. And I and and I I gave you a fair test and we've covered all those questions. Uh and when I asked you the question about did you plan or participate in any way, you failed when you said no. You had a significant I'm telling you and I'm not blowing smoke. I'm telling you the God's honest truth. I'm not here to do this. If you would have passed, be walking out of here right now. But you didn't. And we need to find out why. And I need to know. I'm going to go back to that first two questions that I asked you when we when I first sat down here is, are you sorry for what happened? And do you promise not to do it again? That's all we got to know. In most states, polygraph tests are not admissible in court because they're too unreliable to prove whether someone is lying or not. In interviews like this, they can only be used as a pressure tactic and nothing more. And oh boy, will these detectives pressure Lyn Lee. We need to know why. Was it because you needed money to keep your spawn going? Because I know that was I know that was one of the issues, at least according to the investigators, the the money to keep that spawn going because that was close. That was one of the most important things to you besides your kids. You wanted that spa. You wanted to open one out on the on the West Coast. Yeah, I know that was important to you. And even Ben was going to shut it down. Ben was the only reason that that Tom made it to where it's at and him being gone is the reason why it has to one of those last listen you've been interviewed like five times and every single time during those interviews it's my understanding that things reason you had to be interviewed more times is because more stuff came came to light that you weren't for cheating yeah there was a lot more than that the text conversations that were deleted from your phone were actually recovered from pens about showing that there was there was there were there were definite arguments with within the hours of of his death there was were you reconted with Mike Humphrey? Okay. All right. You you're tracking me? Okay. And then then then the day of the murder after that you all haven't had that much contact. No, I don't have that much coming in from the side. But the thing is is that that right there is very suspicious. Makes us appear makes it appear like you have something to do with and you would have held that and told them about one of the last interviews. The thing is we know we know you were involved. I know that I am confident in my abilities to do a photograph. I know that when I asked that question to you that and you said no that you would not be approved. I know that and it's my it's my obligation to give you a chance to tell him why that is, why you were involved in this because I know that you were. I asked you specifically, did you shoot him? I don't think you would have triggered me. There is a big difference between standing in front of somebody and pulling a trigger and asking someone to do it. That's what I'm saying. People when they hear things like this, they think of someone standing in front of them shooting someone dead. And that's not what I don't think you're that type of person. I really don't either. But I don't I I don't think you stood in front of a shot. I think you probably talked to somebody about it and maybe they went and did more than what you wanted to do. I don't know. All I'm saying is if when I asked you the question, did you plan to participate in the death of that man? That was the specific question that I asked you and you had a significant reaction. Not not going to Sorry. I can't explain that, but I didn't plan my house. We know you did. We know you I know at some level you talked to someone. You talked to someone and I've got people there are investigators talking to other people right now. Okay. And I hope they find who did it. Yeah. Well, what I'm telling you, Lily, is we you failed the test. You failed the test. We And and guess what? I'm going to write a report and I'm going to send that in with the case file to the prosecutor showing that you failed the polygraph. When I ask these questions and they're going to be like, "Why did Lenley fail those questions on that test? Why? Why did she do that?" You know what they're going to say? They're going to say she had something to do with it and she didn't have the courage to step up and tell what why she did what she did. This is this is huge for you. This is a turning point. This is a turning point. We know that you were involved at some level. I know it. You are. We know you were. We're past that. We are way past that. We know you were at some level. We're past that. We just need to know if you're sorry for for for what happened. I didn't have anything to do with it. Murder. We know you did. We know at some level you did. We know it. I sit here and just explain all this to you. I don't understand how it works. Like I'm I'm sorry. I can't go back and tell you exactly what I was thinking in those moments. I can tell you what you were thinking. You were thinking about what actually occurred about your conversations with whoever it was that did this because when I asked you did you plan or participate in any way, you had the most significant reaction. And that tells me that when you said no, I saw that reaction means at some level you talked to somebody about the problems you were having with Ben and maybe not have asked them to do it. It they just took it upon themselves. Maybe that's what it is. I don't know. We will never know. All I know is that when I ask you that question, you answer no. It was a lie. And that's all anybody's going to know until you because the only person that knows is you. I I don't know. Why can't you explain that? I have a tremendous amount of guilt for cheating on Ben and everything that I did. And then it's happening. Yeah. Lley felt so guilty about cheating on Ben that she decided to sell his belongings and kick his brother out of the home. Because barely 12 days after Ben died, Lynley not only had a buyer lined up for the property, but also gave Sam a 30-day notice to vacate the property before she sold it off. That doesn't really scream guilty morning wife, if you ask me. I understand what your apolog any any denial that you had anything to do with it. I'm telling you you did. No, I understand that you believe that, but no, I'm not going to say that I understand we're past that because I didn't have anything to do. Okay. Well, I'm telling you you did have something to do with it. You were involved and they did at some level. You did and I'm passing the investigations. That's That's fine. But I'm not going to agree with that because I didn't I don't believe that I did on any level in any capacity. So, that's fine. Did you all want to? But no, I won't admit to that because I didn't. Am I going to be able to pick my children up for school? What time? I need to leave here by 2:30. Yeah. I'm going to come in cuz this is my case. So I remember done it. So we got the timelines down better than Marcus does. Okay. Before you came in today, I knew you were involved. Okay. This this instrument that you use, Marcus used as a tool. I was I was 100% confident that you were involved in this before you came in today. Okay. Okay. There is so much circumstantial evidence against you in this case. It's mindboggling. There was prosecutors in the state that would take this case just based on what I found out so far. I've talked to you four times and I told you I think it was at the spa and I told you did we figure all this stuff out? There's stuff you think is deleted. Remember that there's stuff you think that's deleted if not. And and so that's what I've been doing for the last few months. I've been doing search warrants for different kinds of records and I've been talking to people and some of the other guys been talking to people too. Um, but basically what I've what I have now is just a timeline and I know all this stuff about your life and Ben's life and then other people that are in your life. So, and I said this during another interview too. I said, "Every time that I find out something that you didn't tell us, I have to ask myself, we have to ask ourselves, why didn't you tell us that?" Remember that? So, so here we are again. And I can just sit here and put on a whiteboard all this stuff. So, I'll just run down through some of it for you. Our first couple times, I had no idea that you and Ben had a poor relationship at all because it never came up. At the spa, you kind of hit on it a little bit. Um, but I had no idea about that. Your relationship was actually was horrible. You You guys had a warship. You You did it probably 6 months beforehand, but you definitely did that. And the reason I know that is cuz I read all your Facebook messages between them. I didn't read yours cuz you deleted all of them. You didn't have any text messages with Ben until the 8th. Ben's Facebook account is 15 14,000 something pages because I got all that. Okay. Yours is around it's a little less than 5,000. All of your conversations, all the fights you guys had was not present on your Facebook account, but it was present on Ben's cuz Ben doesn't believe anything. He's got text from like 2008 or whenever. So, I know about the fights you guys had. I know what they were about. I know why. I know he didn't trust you, but he was not pointed enough to say, "I know you're cheating." He just he wouldn't come out at least he might have done it in person, but he wanted to do it. And that's a lot of information for me to read through. He never came right out and said, "I know you're having he kind of probably did because he saw a text or this or that or whatever. You're gone 12 hours a day." But and that's just a small part of it, the the the relationships. Um, so I read all that stuff. I know what kind of person that he can be that a lot of people don't know about Ben. I know that he could be or or was a controlling person. Um probably not a lot of people know that. I definitely get that now because if you read six months worth of messages between you two and all the rest of his friends. I've read stuff with his friends and and all his all of them. You can imagine or you know how many there are. So that's one of those things. Why is that on your Facebook anymore? It's not because you deleted all of it. So I had to ask myself, why did you do that? Why did you delete all this history before the a before the day of the murder? It's all gone. But I was lucky enough to get to read it all on Vince cuz you didn't delete all of your conversations. Okay, so that's one thing. The next thing is when you finally told me that you were having a relationship with Eric Bmer, that the very first thing you I said to you after I said, "Who is it?" You said, "Eric." And I said, "Who else?" Remember? Yeah. So, what's that? It's a lie. So, I have to ask myself, why is she lying about this now? Why is there another lie from Lenny? Does that make sense? Yeah. So, why and I had like just met a couple days before that and three days before? And I mean, in my mind, it was a question that was asking if you could be involved in that. And I had no question that it was this person that I just met. Like I didn't want to drag him into it, you know, knowing that he had nothing to do with it. And and honestly, it's something that Brandon and I have been like helping each other and working a lot through. It's not my job to, you know, decide what's going to be important information for someone else and and really just like opening up and and, you know, talking about all of this stuff. So tragically, even though Ben suspected Linley of cheating, he still gave her the benefit of the doubt and did everything he could to support her struggling business. Asia Spa was already drowning in $200,000 of debt. As recently as the day before his death, Ben had been in talks with Chuck in hopes of arranging money to pay off the huge loan. But Lynley had been hiding just how catastrophic her financial situation really was. Beyond the $200,000 in spa debt, she was also behind $15,000 in rent. Her landlord was preparing to evict her until she suddenly paid off the overdue balance using GoFundMe donations collected in Ben's memory. By early June, Ben started managing Asentia Spa meticulously so he could help Lin Lee achieve her dream. In return, he got a bullet to the head. He didn't know that you also owed 15 to $20,000 in rent, right? and he was probably going to find that out because after the fifth he was starting to get more involved in your business. He said, "You've got your Mondays off to figure out do your admin stuff. I've been sending you these not spreadsheets, but these these worksheets, spreadsheet things to do your finances." I don't mean to be caddyy, but if you went back far enough, then you would see that Ben did that like every 3 months, you would get on it and be there and say that he was going to help me with all of this stuff and then he didn't. So like them getting more involved in my business like that happened about every 3 months for like a week and then it would go back to Randy without a doubt. The fact of the matter is that you had some sort of involvement in some way and that you know more than you're telling me. I know but it didn't work out like that. It didn't work out like that. And I know that because I read all that stuff. I know you guys, which is which is odd, but I do. It's all I've done for four months now. I know you guys. I know that you have been good at that. And I don't know how that would have played out with him. I know what kind of guy he is. And I know no one else knows that except for you. And all I want to know is your side. I want other people to know more of your side. So you can let But the only reason the only way you can do that is if you can help me get the people who are responsible for this. I don't know. You have to let me know who's responsible for this. I don't know. You have to let me know how that happened. I don't How did this begin to happen? What do you mean? How did this ball start rolling? What? What do you know about what happened? I don't know what happened with him. Who did you tell you wanted out of that relationship with? Who did you tell? My friend who Rebecca knew. And Ashley knew knew that you wanted out of the relationship with Ben. Yeah, you wanted to end the marriage. Who else? I talked to Eric about it a little bit, but we didn't talk about it a lot. So, all we have and the case file is not in here. But all I have is a case file and it's this big in the binder and it's this big. In the first inch or so, like the first month we were doing everything with everybody and the rest of it is about you. It's just facts. It's all facts. It's just cold, hard facts and that's it. No one knows your side of the story because that's all we got. Does that make sense? That's all that thing is. So that thing is it handy. Mhm. All that thing is is cold hard facts. And most of it is you. It's stuff that I've done to get you here to to and it's brought us to where we are today is what I'm saying. And that's all it is. But no one knows what's in your head. This is it. These are all of you. That's what all that is. This is all my work since June 8th. And and I hate people. But a lot of this is what I've done. So what I'm saying is I know and people did think you guys were perfect. Everybody did. Everyone want to be just like Ben and Lindley. Want to be just like Ben and Lindley. I know. But I never want anything bad to happen to them. And I do that so bad. Cheating on. And I know that that just took all my time away. talking about this. I don't want this happening, Lenley. It's it's it's too easy for me. There's too much. This polygraph is it's science. It's too easy for me. This is all this is all fact. That instrument is fact. That it's just cold hard facts. It's the same thing as people thinking you're perfect but not knowing. That's what this is. It's all facts, but not knowing why. Not knowing who. I know that's not exactly what you wanted to have happen. And I'm the person that wants to go hold the people that did that accountable for it. I want to know who did that. I want to know I want to know I want to know who I need to go talk to to go down that route. I don't know. Let me I want to know who I need to go talk to to go down that route. I don't know. All I have is this case, this entire case, all these leads, all these report, all these interviews, all that stuff. It's all cold hard facts. I know a little bit about your side story, but I don't know everything. I know he was a controlling person. Not everyone knows that when this gets written up, it's not going to be Ben was a controlling person. That's not going to be in a report when it gets submitted. You see what I'm saying? What I can tell you with 100% certainty is I'm sitting right here in this room in front of you is that when I ask you those questions and you said no, you were lying. You were lying. I take my children. With Lley asking for an attorney, the case comes to a screeching halt. Not for a few days, weeks, or even months, but for three whole years. Without forensic evidence directly linking her to the murder, detectives had little to go on. Most of their suspicions were circumstantial, and even Limley's GSR test had come back negative. In the meantime, Asentia Spa shut down in 2017 with financial records kept hidden, and it didn't take long for Lenley to move on from Ben either. She soon entered into a relationship with Brandon, another man she was cheating on Ben with. By late 2018, they had a child together. During this period, Lynley sold off Ben's prize snake collection and received nearly $40,000 in donations from the reptile breeding community. However, this relationship also went up in flames. In 2019, Lynley filed a restraining order against Brandon for stalking and harassment. Later that year, he violated the order and ended up in jail. This decision would come back to haunt Lyn Lee. By January 14th, 2020, Brandon was desperate to get out of jail, and he knew exactly what would do the trick. He contacted officers and told them that he had a tip to give them regarding Lin Lee. A tip that would finally answer everything left unanswered. Why did Linley Le's GSR test come back clean? What role did she really play in Ben's murder? And most importantly, was she acting alone? I'm here uh because you used to be dating Lenley. That's correct. Okay. Your dad gave me a call today and said that you had reached out to him and that you wanted to talk to us. Yeah. Yeah. Just Yeah. Okay. Uh, well, we're here. Uh, your dad said you were wanting a deal, uh, or or some leniency. I've talked to the prosecutor. Okay. Prosecutor's office said that if you can give us actual valuable information in this, they're they'd be willing to work with you because obviously a homicide's a little more important than violation of an exparte. So, I mean, basically what happened was it was a I think them was getting to the point where he was going to leave her. She was sucking money out of him for her business and they're just relationship didn't wasn't going well. And so, her and a friend of her from work started this little hatching this little plan and it it evolved into when he passed away. That was not the first attempt on his life. And I don't think he's aware of or anybody else is aware of the first one, but he was given a a protein drink one night that was laced full of enormous amounts of and he was sick as and somehow lived through it. But the plan was for that to be the last day of his life. So from there, the plan switched to, you know, how you know, kind of back up a little bit. I think she expressed to me that she was concerned that he with her history would could in his financial ability take take the babies from her. He he could, you know, slip something into her drink one time and then get the process started and have her drug tested and prove her out to be, you know, an addict. All this stuff, which I think is [ __ ] I don't I think it's just I think that was just talk you know as far as the allegations against him in her sleep that's complete [ __ ] as well as far as I'm concerned I slept many nights next to her and rolled over and she didn't sleep that hard but anyway so her and the friend from work contacted well they took a little journey up to Jefferson City drove around, went to Best Buy, then ended up at the trailer park. That didn't go so well, so they left and went back to the trailer park to visit an acquaintance that she used to date. And then that's when the the final plan got hatched. and they think were in very minimal communication from that point until the day it happened. But her and Michael Humphrey um he went to the spa. She got in the car with them. They left supposedly they went and got gas somewhere. Um I think from what I could gather is this this is over multiple conversations you know it got said and then I just in the back of my mind knew okay I need you know get as much out of it as I can in case I'm sitting right here and so anyway I believe it's the one um the break time like you go down uh grindstone and you go all the way south to tease that break time I believe that's the gas station they hit. They drove to the farm. He had gloves. He had a firearm. Plan was for him to do it. Um they get there, he hands her the gun and says he doesn't feel comfortable doing in case she regrets it later, blah blah blah. That something she's got to take care of. Um they pull up, he's outside throwing trash away, so it's a really awkward situation. and she plays it off like um this an old friend that came in. They wanted to see all the snakes. So, they go in, look at snakes, and [ __ ] around. Um they act like they're leaving, go back out, get the gun, go back in. Ben's in there, you know, cleaning whatever up against that back wall. And um she walks in with the gun and Ben's like, "What the are you doing?" And she just shoots him a bunch of times and leaves. And Mike's there. Michael name is is she gets into the car and he's in there trying to clean up or pick up shells or whatever. And then they leave. Um Michael kept the gun supposedly to dispose of. They he takes her back to the spa. Her friends at the spa and her go back into the shower body spray room where they can clean. she could wash off. Basically, they took her clothes. Michael's still out there. Bag of clothes up. He takes the clothes. They wash her off. Getting the gunshot residue off, shower down, and plays out her day. And then, you know, the rest her phone stayed at the spa that day. Then, yeah, she drives back home and you guys know the rest from there, I think. Who's the friend? Ashley. Ashley is it? What did it? Yeah. So, Ashley was involved with the planning and everything as far as I know. Yes. Okay. Can you go back and tell me about the You said she she tried to poison him. Can you tell me about that a little more? I don't really know much about it. There wasn't really much other to be said. I mean, it was a couple months, I believe, before um the actual date. Um, but yeah, she just said she got some, you know, uh, I can't remember exactly what she said. Some, you know, pretty intense, you know, um, like oxycottton or something like that. And yeah, it's they put them all in the drink. This is an incredibly important statement from Brandon as it points toward not one, not two, but three conspirators behind Vince's murder who had tried to kill him once before with a poison drink. Moreover, they also explain why Lenley's GSR test came back clean. The three had planned this out, and she was given a full body scrub at her spa, quite literally wiping away the evidence. Immediately after this, detectives approached Lin Lee to question her, but she refused. As for Ashley, she would testify against Lyn Lee and corroborate Brandon's statements in exchange for immunity. That left just one piece of the puzzle, Michael Humphrey. Two days later on January 16th, Michael was brought in for questioning. Basically, what we're here to do is we're just here to give you one last chance to tell us everything that happened. Okay. So, I know you've had some time to think about some stuff on the way up here, obviously. So, what we're more concerned with is the where the gun got introduced in this whole situation. Okay. Okay. So, when did the gun get brought into the situation here? Who interjected the gun? Did you bring the gun? No. When I first found out that it was there on like whenever everything went down was whenever Lynn tried to push it into my hip right here to like give it to me. You know what I'm saying? Okay. What kind of gun was it? I got told him I mean I I don't know what you told him about the details of the gun. Oh, well at first I said you know it was black and he said, "Well, you know more than not about guns." I said, "Yeah, it was like semi-auto, like probably something like a Glock about what it looked like to me. I don't you know, I didn't I didn't have but about a split second to figure out, you know, like I said, I shoved it off like this. She ended up walking off with it. And the next thing was was whenever we were inside um like I don't know if you guys you said you did have or haven't gone over all this with them, but um inside whenever it went off, I wasn't actually looking in the same direction. So it was, you know, small room, pretty loud in there. Um, and so like that when I look back over like this, that was that was where she had it up like that and I turned I went towards the door. You know, you're going to kill him that at that time. You know, Michael, we we know we you're we've talked to everybody involved in this case today. Okay. It's not a coincidence that you're sitting where you're sitting and we're at at the Montgomery County Jail. Okay. Sure. We we know the whole plan. We know when you were first contacted. We know everything. We know that on that day, you were supposed to come that morning, but you had car problems and you kept pushing it back, pushing it back, pushing it back, but the plan was to kill Ben Renick that day. We know that that was the end goal. It it that was their that was their end goal. You were in on that goal, Michael. No, Michael, you helped plan that. So So here's the thing. You are either You can either help be a witness to this or you can be a coldblooded killer who helped plan everything or you got caught up with Lley. We know Lynley's a liar. We know Lindley's a manipulator. We know Lindley went to you to get you to kill Ben. And we know Lley told you lies about Ben to pull on your heartstrings. Yeah. So, and and it worked. And you went there to kill Ben, but you made her do it because you didn't want to do it. I told her from from whenever she first brought up any of that. I thought she was like being exaggerate. You know what I mean? Like a lot of people say, "Oh, you know, I mean, I wish I could just, you know, I told her no. That was something she needed to think over and everything." There was a gap of about a week and a half or two weeks before we ever left to go and do this. And it's because she contacted me and said that she wanted to separate from him. And that's why I come up there. But you knew she already tried to kill him once and you told her she didn't give him enough. Uh, I told her that was up. You know, obviously if it didn't work then like in that sense, not not trying to give her directive as to how to do it. But she it didn't work obviously didn't give up. But I mean it wasn't like but you knew she wasn't exaggerating. You knew she was trying to kill him and she wanted him dead cuz she already tried to kill him. You knew you knew on June 8th he was going to die and you knew when you went to pick Wley up. Yes, Michael. I don't know because I told her I would never do that and stuff. I didn't think that she even had that in her. Then what did you go with her to to the snake farm for? Because she had been telling me he'd been on her and everything else just to try and make sure [ __ ] didn't get out of hand. She told me she was separating from him. She told you they were just going to separate. That's that's a lie. We know that you guys planned it. We've got multiple witnesses that tell us that. Well, their their stories have been worked out ahead of time. No, their stories have been corroborated. The stories that were worked out ahead of time were the radio [ __ ] the the phone call about, "Hey, we're canceling massages." And you saying, "Oh my god, Ben's dead. I didn't know that." You knew Ben was dead. You said that when you were called from the spa phone and you were even interviewed about that and you lied about that. That story was worked out ahead of time. The stories we heard today were the first time we've heard the truth in this. We've been working on this case for 2 years. I understand that the stories that were worked out were stories between you and Lley and Ashley and whoever else at that spa. Those were the stories that were worked out ahead of time. I told you guys when she called me, she said, "Well, they're coming around to interview all of our clients." D I told you guys actually called me and told me that. And she called you and told you a heads up that police were coming. And she called you because Lindley asked her to because I told you guys she called me. I I don't have nothing to hide on that level. I didn't There wasn't nothing worked out upon that. I told you guys it was weird that she had called me and then let you guys know that she did. I gave you guys the number that she called from. We already had that information. I'm sure you did. and you're still not telling us the whole truth. So that's why we're sitting here in this situation and you're going to let Lley continue to manipulate you and control you as you sit here in jail for first-degree murder. You're going to let her control you because she's a sociopathic liar. Clearly lying isn't going to do Michael any good as he is slowly pushed into a corner. Right now, the most important piece of information he can provide is the location where he dumped the gun. Because if investigators can find it using his statements, it will only add to the mountain of evidence against him. When we leave here, we're not coming back to talk to you again. Well, that's what you guys need to know from me is whether it got thrown out the window or not. No, we need to know where the gun came from and how everything actually went down. It I I told you earlier and I'll say it again. I'll say it till I'm blew in the face cuz you really have two choices. You can either continue to protect Lenley and try to save face for yourself or you can just lay it all out there and be honest cuz that's the choices you got right now. But I I can tell you right now before you even stop when you tell a lie, we know this case inside and out. And we know every lie that you're about to tell. And I I'll call you on [ __ ] I don't care. I've been up all day. I've been up the last 72 hours working on this case. Okay. The rubber meets the road right here and it's your only chance to cut the [ __ ] and tell what happened. We know Lindley. We know she's crazy. We know she's a liar and she manipulated you. She manipulated a lot of people and Ben Renick is dead because of it. That guy did nothing. Where'd the gun come from? Uh did you get somebody to get her the gun? No. the the first she told me it's going to come from Ashley's boyfriend. That's what she first told me. Where it actually came from, I don't know. I mean, that's that's that's 100% what I mean. I don't know. Um, as for where it went, it it went out the window, but we're at um one of the bridges on the way back like probably the third one or something. Second, third one somewhere in there. Who threw it out the window? Her. Okay. What's on the bridge? I mean, is it over water? Is it over? It looks like there was a little bit of water underneath it. Not a ton, but but a little bit. Like one of them concrete railed um a good 20 30 foot up probably. You talking like on the interstate? You talking? Third bridge on the interstate or third bridge all together I7 or whatever it is there. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Is it flat between two hills? On top of a hill? What? Um, bottom. What is it, man? It's been two years ago, dude. Where' the shell casings go? I would assume out with that. Who picked up the shell casings? Okay. Why are people saying that you picked up the shell casings? That I I don't know. I seen them in her hand when we were in the car, but I didn't pick them up. I was the first one out the door once I heard one shot. How many times did she shoot him? Um, like I told him, there was that one probably when I went out the door and then like if I and this has been two years, one or two more once I was outside. What' you say after you guys got back in the car? Uh, we need to go. We need to go. We need to go. Um, and so, you know, it probably wasn't but a half a second, but I do remember kind of being hesitant to put the car over into reverse and stuff. And then she started just, you know, we got to go. Come on. We got to go. You know what I mean? And so I just went up through there. I didn't try to drive like nobody hit no, you know, squealing tires, no crazy [ __ ] or anything like that. Um, we got we got on the highway and everything. And she said she felt nauseous and [ __ ] and felt sick and everything. She put her head on the dash and everything, you know, I mean, just like on the ride back, put her head down. Um, really wasn't a whole lot said otherwise. I mean, she only ended up smoking a cigarette, you know, once or twice and and um quite honestly, I was in a little bit of a day just just trying to wrap my mind around everything that realistically just really really happened. She needed to think that [ __ ] over and really think it over. There's a lot more other options that she can go rather than doing something crazy like that. That's exactly what I told her. And yet, here we are. The bottom line is is that you still went and picked her up. You still drove her over there. She still killed her husband and you still drove her back and then you didn't call anybody. I mean, so how how do you how do you think we're going to be able to sit here and explain that Michael doesn't know what's going on or he didn't know? I didn't initially know if he was he was dead or not. I mean, I didn't stick around inside to try to find out. you. Well, you knew when she messaged you that he was dead or you knew when uh Ashley called you and told you that he was dead. Yeah, I knew by then. I'd seen it on the news like 2 days afterward. Yeah. Based on the description of where the gun was dumped, law enforcement was able to recover the firearm used to kill Ben. And with that, the mystery behind Ben Renick's murder finally came to a close. Lley was brought to trial. Though prosecutors pursued a first-degree murder charge, the jury couldn't unanimously agree that she had acted with premeditated intent. Instead, she was found guilty of secondderee murder and armed criminal action, a verdict considered unfair given that she had pulled the trigger, previously attempted to poison Ben, and ultimately benefited from his death. The jury recommended a total sentence of 16 years, 13 for murder, and three for armed criminal action. Under Missouri law, Judge Kevin Crane imposed that sentence bound by the jury's recommendation. But it was clear he did so reluctantly, a sentiment shared by Sam and everyone who had loved Ben. 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. That's it. As for Michael Humphrey, although he didn't fire the weapon, he was initially convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life without parole. However, after cooperating with investigators, helping them to recover the gun and testifying against Lindley at trial, his conviction was reduced to seconddegree murder, making him eligible for parole. Ashley, meanwhile, received full immunity under a proper agreement. In exchange, she identified Lin Lee as both the mastermind and the shooter and Michael as her accomplice.