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Woman Murdered Husband For Farm, Million Dollar Life Insurance Policy · Murder Files Unsealed

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  Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep Dive. Today, we're plunging into a
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  story that, well, it starts with a really chilling image.
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  Imagine a sweltering summer day in rural Missouri. Quiet and
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  then that quiet is just shattered by a frantic nine
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  to one one call. The victim, Ben Rennick. He's found
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  face down, pool of blood at his own snake breeding facility,
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  Rennick reptiles in this place. It's home to over three
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  thousand exotic snakes, right.
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  Speaker 2: And initially, you know, authorities actually suspected one of Ben's
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  own prize serpents, maybe a python, maybe an anaconda, Yeah, could.
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  Speaker 1: Have been responsible. It sounds like something out of a movie,
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  doesn't it.
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  Speaker 2: It really does, that initial idea a rogue snake. It
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  just speaks to how bizarre the scene must have.
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  Speaker 1: Been at first totally. But then they found shellcasings.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly and that discovery well changed everything to spell that
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  whole snake theory pretty.
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  Speaker 1: Fast reveals something much much darker. Ben Rennick had been
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  shot eight times, yeah, including a close range wound to
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  the head.
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  Speaker 2: Just horrific.
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  Speaker 1: So for this deep dive, we're using exer from the
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  Betrayal of Ben Rennick Court documents, news reports, all that stuff,
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  and we're going to try and unravel this three year investigation.
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  It exposed this whole web of betrayal affairs, really serious
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  financial desperation, and ultimately a calculated murder plot.
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  Speaker 2: And you see, this isn't just another crime store you
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  might hear about. What's striking here is how it shows
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  the pressure, the pressure to keep up this image of success,
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  and when that's combined with escalating money problems and lies
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  in a marriage, it can drive someone to well extreme
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  violence against the very person who ironically was sort of
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  enabling that whole facade.
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  Speaker 1: It's a really chilling reminder, isn't it. How trust can
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  be shattered by those closest to you, How everything can just.
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  Speaker 2: Unravel absolutely from the inside out.
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  Speaker 1: And at the center of it all you have Ben
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  Rennick for an August nineteen eighty seven, a Missouri native,
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  and he had this passion apparently from a young age
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  for reptiles.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, and what's truly remarkable, I think, is how Ben
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  built this this empire. It was really you need highly specialize.
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  He took a barn on his family's seventy two acre
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  property and turned it into Rennick reptiles. We're talking thousands
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  of rare exotic snakes, ball pythons, and a condas. Some
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  were thousands of dollars each.
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  Speaker 1: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: He gained international acclaim. His friend Richie Burke called him
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  a pioneer, said he was very well known worldwide in
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  that snake breeding community. One source even called him like
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  a rock star in his field.
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  Speaker 1: He really was building something significant, which just makes the
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  deception happening beneath it all even more shocking. But twenty seventeen,
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  his business was thriving, I mean really thriving. He even
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  had this huge deal one point two million dollars in
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  the works, selling part of his stock to an NHL goalie,
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  Robin Leonard. Things will looking really bright financially.
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  Speaker 2: He built something extraordinary. Yeah, in a very very niche field.
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  But like you said, beneath that shiny surface, a totally
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  different reality was taking shape, So let's.
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  Speaker 1: Talk about that. On the surface, his personal life looked
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  pretty good too. He'd reconnected with Linley Gallaton, someone he
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  knew from childhood, in twenty eleven. They got married in
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  twenty fourteen, had a daughter, Amelia, and they were raising
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  Linley's son, Matthew, from a previous relationship. To people looking in,
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  they seem like this power couple, yeah, building this empire together.
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  Speaker 2: But Lindley had her own entrepreneurial dream, a spa, a
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  Censia Spa, opened it in twenty sixteen in Columbia, Missouri,
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  but it quickly became well. The sources call it a
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  financial albatross.
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  Speaker 1: A financial albatross. It doesn't sound good.
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  Speaker 2: No court documents, even Facebook messages, they confirm her struggle.
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  She was falling behind on everything, loan payments, rent, paying
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  her staff. CBS News reported that Ben actually confronted her
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  about it, about the mismanagement. So you can already see
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  this like intense financial strain creating these deep cracks in
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  the relationship.
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  Speaker 1: Right, and then here's where it gets even messier. Frankly,
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  on top of the money problems, there were personal betrayals.
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  By twenty seventeen, just three years into the marriage, Linley
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  was involved in at least two extra marital affairs, one
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  with an explo boyfriend, Michael Humphrey, another with a man
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  named Brandon.
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  Speaker 2: Blackwell, and Ben knew or suspected.
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  Speaker 1: He suspected, yeah, and his confrontations with her about it
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  that later became really critical evidence for the investigators.
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  Speaker 2: So if you step back and look at the whole picture,
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  you've got this intense financial desperation, right, the failing SPA,
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  and then you layer on top significant marital problems, infidelity.
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  It just created this incredibly dangerous situation like a pressure cooker.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, just waiting and then it ignited. June eight,
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  twenty seventeen, let's go back to that discovery. Linley calls
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  nine to one. One is six point three six pm.
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  She says Ben's dead, says he never showed up to
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  pick up the kids.
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  Speaker 2: And her initial story or suggestion at least was a
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  snake attack, right.
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  Speaker 1: And Ben's and ber brother Sam Rennick, he initially thought
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  the same thing, he told Dateline later. He saw benon
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  quote his skull was crushed, so he thought, okay, it
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  must have been the snakes.
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  Speaker 2: But the coroner's examination that told a very different, much
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  more horrific story. Ben had been shot six times in
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  the back, twice in the head. One of those head
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  wounds was at close range groom and the shell casings
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  found under his body that confirmed it. This wasn't some
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  tragic accident with an animal. This was deliberate, personal, violent,
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  It kind of makes you wonder, doesn't it how they
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  could even briefly think snake attack with that evidence.
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  Speaker 1: Well, the initial scene must have been just chaotic, I imagine.
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  But yeah, once the examination started, the truth came out fast, definitely.
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  So the investigation it briefly looked at Sam Rennick, Ben's brother.
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  Apparently there were some disputes about possibly selling the family farm,
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  but he was cleared really quickly, solid alibi and the
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  gunshot residue test was negative.
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  Speaker 2: So naturally attention turned to Linley and her actions right
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  after Ben's death. They raised some serious red flags, like what, well,
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  within just days, she's contacting the insurance company asking about
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  Ben's life insurance policy. It was for a million dollars
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  and she was the beneficiary, the stole beneficiary. And then
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  within two weeks, two weeks of her husband being murdered,
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  she's already making moves to sell the whole Rennick property,
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  that seventy two acre farm valued at over seven hundred
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  and forty thousand dollars.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, that does seem fast. Not exactly like a grieving
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  widow exactly.
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  Speaker 2: It painted this picture of someone maybe more interested in
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  capitalizing on his death. But despite all these suspicions, and
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  she even failed a polygraph test later that year October fifth,
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  twenty seventeen.
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  Speaker 1: She failed it.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but still the case went cold for almost
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  three years. They just didn't have enough concrete evidence to
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  charge anyone.
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  Speaker 1: Until January twenty twenty. That's when the breakthrough came. A
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  tip from a jail house informant.
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  Speaker 2: Right, and that informant was Brandon Blackwell, remember him, Lindley's
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  former lover.
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  Speaker 1: Ah, yes, what do you say?
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  Speaker 2: Blackwell told investigators that Linley had confessed to him, confessed
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  to orchestrating Ben's murder, and she implicated not just herself,
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  but also Michael Humphrey, the other ex boyfriend, and an
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  employee from her spa asensia named Ashley Shaw.
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  Speaker 1: So what was the motive? According to Blackwell, two things.
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  Speaker 2: Apparently money, obviously that million dollar life insurance payout, and
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  also fear fear that Ben was going to divorce her
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  and take the kids. Linley also allegedly claimed Ben was abusive,
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  but investigators found no evidence to support that, and people
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  close to Ben denied it.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, this is already dark, but he gets even darker,
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  doesn't it. There was an earlier attempt.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, this is really chilling. Earlier in twenty seventeen, according
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  to the investigation, Linley and Ashley Shaw had tried to
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  kill Ben before they allegedly laced one of his protein
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  shakes with percocet.
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  Speaker 1: Wow did he know?
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  Speaker 2: He survived it, obviously, but he became highly suspicious. He
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  even texted a friend saying he thought Linley had tried
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  to poison him.
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  Speaker 1: Unbelievable, So he suspected she might try to harm him.
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  Speaker 2: It seems so, which makes the actual day of the
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  murder even more tragic.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so walk us through that day based on what
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  came out.
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  Speaker 2: All right, So Linley gets Michael Humphrey, the ex boyfriend involved.
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  She asks him to go with her to the snake facility.
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  The story she gave him apparently was that she needed
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  to talk to Ben.
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  Speaker 1: About divorce and the alibi.
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  Speaker 2: Right, the alibi, Lindley left her cell phone back at
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  the SPA with Ashley Shaw. Shaw's job was to send
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  texts from Lindley's phone during that time, making it look
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  like Lindley was still in Columbia at the SPA and
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  had never left.
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  Speaker 1: Pretty calculated.
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  Speaker 2: Very Then Humphrey drove Linley out to the Rennick property,
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  to the snake facility, and.
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  Speaker 1: Then what happened inside. This is where the story's diverge right.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly during the investigation. In trials, their accounts clashed. Humphrey
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  testified that it was Linley who shot Ben. Linley, on
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  the other hand, claimed Humphrey was the shooter and that
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  she was shocked basically an innocent bystander when he suddenly
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  opened fire.
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  Speaker 1: But Humphrey admitted some involvement. He did.
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  Speaker 2: He admitted bringing the gun, and he admitted picking up
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  most of the shell casings afterwards to try and hide
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  the evidence, though he missed a few which crucially investigators
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  found later, and the murder weapon itself it was eventually
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  recovered years later, only because Humphrey finally told them where
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  it was part of his deal.
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  Speaker 1: So, even with the conflicting stories about who pulled the trigger,
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  the planning, the alibi, the weapon cleaning up, it all
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  points towards a conspiracy.
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  Speaker 2: Wouldn You say, oh, absolutely, this wasn't some spontaneous argument
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  that escalated. It clearly points to a deep calculated conspiracy.
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  You have the planned alibi, bringing the weapon, the attempt
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  to conceal evidence, it all screams premeditation, the finger pointing
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  about who fired the shots. That's pretty typical when co
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  conspirators get caught, they try to minimize their own roll,
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  shift the blame. But the core narrative a plan murder
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  that holds up across all the evidence.
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  Speaker 1: So arrests were finally made January twenty twenty, Linley, Rennick,
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  and Michael Humphrey charged. That's right.
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  Speaker 2: Humphrey went to trial first in October twenty twenty one.
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  He was initially convicted of first degree murder, but then
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  he made that deal.
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  Speaker 1: You mentioned the deal for his testimony.
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  Speaker 2: Exactly testify against Lindley, tell them where the gun was,
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  and his charge was reduced to second degree murder. He
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  got sentenced to life, but with the possibility of parol okay.
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  Speaker 1: Then came Lindley trial December twenty twenty one, Boone County, Missouri.
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  Speaker 2: YEP, and prosecutors they laid it all out, painted her
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  as the mastermind. They hammered on the motive, the SPA's
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  financial ruin, the life insurance. They brought up the affairs,
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  and crucially that failed poisoning attempt with a percocet shake
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  all pointing to premeditation.
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  Speaker 1: What about Ashley Shaw, the SPA employee.
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  Speaker 2: She testified. Ashley Shaw was granted immunity in exchange for
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  her testimony, and she told the court that Linley had
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  planned the murder and that Linley admitted to her afterwards
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  that she Linley had shot Ben.
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  Speaker 1: But Linley maintained her innocence throughout the trial.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, her defense was that Humphrey was the killer, that
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  she was essentially manipulated or coerced.
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  Speaker 1: So the jury deliberated for.
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  Speaker 2: A long time, eleven and a half hours, and they
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  came back with a verdict guilty, but not a first
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  degree murder. They convicted Linley of second degree murder and
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  also armed criminal.
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  Speaker 1: Action second degree. What was the sentence recommendation?
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  Speaker 2: The jury recommended thirteen years for the murder charge and
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  three years for the weapons charge, and they recommended those
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  sentences run consecutively, so a total of sixteen years.
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  Speaker 1: Sixteen years. Yeah, after everything. How did Ben's family react
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  to that?
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  Speaker 2: As you can imagine, not well. Ben's brother Sam Rennick,
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  who remember ended up raising Ben's two children, Amelia and Matthew,
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  he was outraged. He called the sentence an injustice. He
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  described Linley in interviews as a manipulator, a sociopath, someone
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  who lived a complete double life, and Linley did she do.
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  She initially filed an appeal but then dropped it in
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  January twenty twenty three. So the sixteen year sentence stands.
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  Speaker 1: It just leads you thinking, you know, what does a
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  sentence like that mean in the face of such a
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  devastating crime, especially for the family left behind.
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  Speaker 2: It's a tough question. And the impact on the family,
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  particularly the children, it's just immense. Financially, yes, the kids,
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  Amelia and Matthew, they did eventually inherit about four hundred
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  and seventy three thousand dollars each from Ben's life insurance
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  policy after legal hurdles. But the emotional cost losing their
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  father in such a violent way and then learning their
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  mother orchestrated it, that's immeasurable.
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  Speaker 1: It is unimaginable, it really is.
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  Speaker 2: And you know, looking at the bigger picture, Ben's legacy,
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  it does live on in the reptile community. They actually
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  named a new type of snake morph in his honor,
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  the Rennick Ghost. But for his family, his friends, the
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  pain of his loss and the sheer calculation behind his
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  betrayal that just lingers.
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  Speaker 1: So wrapping this up, the murder of Ben Rennick, it
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  really is this chilling reminder how that pressure, that need
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  to keep up appearances, even a fabricated appearance of success,
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  how it can.
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  Speaker 2: Spiral absolutely Linley Rennick's actions fueled by the SPA, failing
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  the affairs, the fear maybe of losing her kids in
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  a divorce she saw coming. They just destroyed a family,
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  shocked an entire community, and this.
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  Speaker 1: Deep dive it really shows how those hidden motives, those
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  calculated betrayals, they can have absolutely devastating consequences. It's a
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  story that understandably grab a lot of attention, featured on
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  Dateline forty eight hours, even Hulu's How I Caught My.
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  Speaker 2: Killer, because it's so compelling in a tragic way.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Ben Rennick's death wasn't some freak accident with a snake.
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  It was planned meticulously by the people he should have
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  been able to trust the most, that snake breeding facility.
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  It was his passion, his symbol of success, and it
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  became the stage for his murder, orchestrated by his wife,
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  who seemed to see his death as her only way
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  out her financial salvation.
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  Speaker 2: It really leaves you thinking, doesn't it. What hidden pressure is?
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  What kind of internal desperation could possibly drive someone to
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  extinguish a life like that, especially a life so closely
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  tied to their own, And when those pressures seem entirely
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  self inflicted, it's a deeply unsettling question,