New Report In Henthorn Case: 'Contradictions' In First Wife's Death
DENVER (CBS4) - Harold Henthorn made major contradictions in his statements to authorities on the night his first wife died and in subsequent days, according to a report authored by a private investigator at the behest of the Douglas County Coroner's Office.
Henthorn's wife, Sandra Lynn, was crushed to death by the right front wheel of a Jeep driven by her husband in a remote area of the county on May 6, 1995. Henthorn told investigators he was changing a tire when the Jeep fell off the jack and pinned his wife.
For years, the county ruled Henthorn's death accidental. But last Friday, the coroner changed the manner of her death from "accident" to "undetermined."
The report, prepared by Charles B. McCormick Jr. of the McCormick Detective Agency, summarizes six reports from sheriff's deputies and other investigators who interviewed Harold Henthorn at the scene of the accident and in the following days.
The coroner released the report from McCormick, a retired homicide detective, to CBS4 on Tuesday.
Sandra Lynn was Harold's first wife. His second wife, Toni Bertolet, also died when she fell 140 feet from a cliff in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2012. That death was initially ruled an accident, but authorities have charged Henthorn with murder in that case. He has pleaded not guilty and his trial in Bertolet's death is scheduled for May.
Here are the three contradictions in statements, according to McCormick:
- Harold Henthorn told different investigators what time the couple left their home to drive to Deckers. In two statements, he said they left at 3 p.m. on May 6, a Saturday. But in a more formal statement, he told an investigator that their departure was around 5:45 p.m. to 6 p.m.
- The private investigator said it's unclear whether the accident happened before or after the Henthorns ate dinner at a restaurant in Sedalia. In his second statement, Henthorn said they were returning to Sedalia from Deckers to eat when they stopped to change the tire. But in the next statement, to a sheriff's deputy, Henthorn said they had already eaten dinner in Sedalia when the accident occurred. In his sixth statement, Henthorn describes driving a longer trip to Cheesmen Reservoir and that they changed the tire on the way back.
The investigator said that by that account, the Henthorns would have attempted to change the tire no later than 9 p.m., even though the call for help didn't come until 10:27 p.m.
- The third contradiction, according to the private investigator, is over what direction the Henthorns were traveling when they stopped to change the tire. He said different accounts indicate the Jeep was at various points along Highway 67 -- some miles apart -- and the Jeep was either "facing south" or "pointed in a north-westerly direction."
In another portion of the report, McCormick writes in all capital letters:
"ON THE RIGHT FRONT PASSENGER FENDER OF THE VEHICLE, TOWARDS THE REAR OF THE FENDER RIGHT BEHIND THE WHEEL WELL OF THE MISSING WHEEL, WAS AN APPARENT PARTIAL FOOT PRINT TYPE MARK."
McCormick doesn't elaborate on that detail, except to say he "found no further mention of this important observation in any of the reports in the file, nor is it included in the photo log compiled by Technician Sharon Bronner."
Among other new details:
- Harold Henthorn used two jacks to prop up the Jeep. The first jack, a standard-issue device that came with the car, didn't work, so he employed a "boat jack" and a flat piece of cinder block to prop up the car. That jack failed, and Henthorn used another jack to lift the car off his wife.
- Sandra Lynn was conscious after the car fell on her. According to one investigator's statement at the time, she called out Harold's name after the Jeep pinned her. She was conscious, breathing and talking after the accident, but she soon lost consciousness, Henthorn told a deputy.
In another statement, Henthorn told authorities that his wife called his name and said, "I think something's on me."
- Five people stopped to help the Henthorns after the Jeep had fallen on Sandra Lynn. One remained with the couple while four others left to get help at a nearby home. People in that group left before police arrived because they had been drinking, according to a statement from Henthorn.
One person from that group, Pat Montoya, called Bronner -- the technician with the sheriff's department -- to ask whether Henthorn had been arrested. "There is no way the woman got under the car like that," Montoya said, according to an investigator.
- Henthorn told investigators he had recently got several flat tires due to construction around his home, and he noted that he had a tire with a nail embedded in it in his garage.
- In his fifth statement, Henthorn told an investigator with the county that he and his wife obtained reciprocal $300,000 life insurance policies, with each other as sole beneficiaries. He told the investigator that his wife was to undergo surgery to remove tumors on her uterus because the couple was trying to have a baby. The policy was obtained in anticipation of that procedure, Henthorn said.
