Where Is Lori Isenberg Now? Inside the Grandmother's Life After Being Convicted of Poisoning Her Husband

Laurcene “Lori” Isenberg appeared to have an ordinary life with her husband, Larry Isenberg. However, that all changed on Feb. 13, 2018, when Larry fell overboard and died during a sunrise boat ride on an Idaho lake.

“I was in shock,” Larry’s son Dean told PEOPLE in April 2020. “I just couldn’t believe he fell overboard.”

Lori initially called police and claimed that he slipped and fell into the water while trying to reach the boat’s motor, subsequently vanishing. At the time, Lori alleged that she tried looking for him, according to The Coeur d’Alene Press.

However, around the same time that Larry went missing, Lori was facing her own legal troubles. On Feb. 27, 2018, she was charged with 40 counts of forgery and one count of grand theft, per The Coeur d’Alene Press. An investigation later revealed that she had embezzled over $500,000 from the North Idaho Housing Coalition, a nonprofit that she was the executive director of, per the District of Idaho.

A few days later on March 1, 2018, Larry’s body washed ashore, and a coroner determined that he had actually died as a result of a drug overdose — not drowning, per The Coeur d’Alene Press. The coroner specifically pointed to diphenhydramine toxicity, the main ingredient in the over-the-counter drug Benadryl.

Authorities began taking a closer look at Lori as a potential suspect after learning about her legal problems. In February 2020, Lori was charged with first degree murder, per NBC News.

So where is Lori Isenberg now? Here’s everything to know about the events that unfolded leading to Larry Isenberg’s death and what she has said in her defense.

Who is Lori Isenberg?

Lori is a mother and grandmother from Idaho. Before marrying Larry, Lori was in a marriage with her high school sweetheart, Steve, according to Oxygen. The former couple had six daughters together.

“We had the perfect little family, you know?” their daughter Amber Barnes said on a 2024 episode of Dateline, per Oxygen. “We went to church every Sunday, we were taught to live right, make good choices, get good grades, do your chores, you know, the whole nine yards.”

Lori and Steve divorced in 1996, before she wed Larry in 2004, per Oxygen. The couple were married for 14 years at the time of Larry’s death.

“He always looked at her with eyes of just admiration and he would always just tell us just how amazing she was,” her daughter Chrislyn Woolston told Dateline.

Lori also served as the executive director at the North Idaho Housing Coalition, a nonprofit organization that renovated homes to rent or sell to low-income families.

Who was Lori Isenberg’s husband, Larry Isenberg?

Larry was also previously married and had two kids, Dean Isenberg and Jessica McPherson, with his first wife. Larry was close with both of his children, with Dean telling KHQ in February 2020, “My dad was my world.”

“Everybody loved my dad,” Dean told PEOPLE in April 2020. “He’d always show up with a smile on his face … to him it was just like, ‘Every day is the greatest day I’ve ever had.’ ”

Dean further shared that his dad loved to hunt, fish and spend time with his dog, Echo, whom he described as his “pride and joy.”

“She misses him a lot,” he said of Echo. “We drove by the entrance to the road that would go back to Dad’s house. And Echo got really, really, really excited and she keeps waiting for me to go see Dad.”

Dean also shared that he was unaware of Lori and Larry having any marital problems, calling their relationship “perfect.”

“For all intents and purposes, Lori and Dad had an absolutely perfect marriage,” Dean told PEOPLE. “If you believe in soulmates, they were soulmates.”

At the time of his death, Larry had retired. He was 68 years old.

What happened to Larry Isenberg?

On the morning of Feb. 13, 2018, Lori and Larry took a sunrise cruise on their boat in Lake Coeur d’Alene. They planned on traveling from a spot known as Sun-Up Bay and later getting breakfast at a resort, per The Coeur d’Alene Press.

However, around 10 a.m. that morning, Lori called 911 and told authorities that her husband fell overboard while trying to fix a problem with the boat’s motor, according to The Coeur d’Alene Press.

“I’m on the lake, but I don’t know where,” Lori told the dispatcher, per Oxygen. “My husband has — he had a stroke, and he fell over.” 

Later that same day, The Coeur d’Alene Press reported that Lori was fired from the North Idaho Housing Coalition. Further, an internal financial audit was being conducted in search of “accounting irregularities.”

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On Feb. 26, 2018, Lori was arrested and charged with 40 counts of forgery and one count of grand theft, per The Coeur d’Alene Press. She pleaded not guilty.

Less than one week later on March 1, 2018, Larry’s body was found. A subsequent toxicology report revealed that he had died from an overdose of Benadryl.

While Lori was initially a suspect in the case, authorities conducted a full investigation for two years. They later confirmed that Lori was aware that the local paper was going to publish her offenses and her life would fall apart.

“From the very beginning, I say a week or two after the embezzlement was discovered, I knew my life was over and I had two options. Death or life in prison,” Lori later said, per East Idaho News.

Detectives later determined that Lori laced a bottle of juice with a lethal amount of Benadryl, and he drank the concoction.

Police officially arrested Lori on Feb. 24, 2020, charging her with first degree murder.

What was Lori Isenberg charged with?

Before Lori was charged with her husband’s death, she had to face her financial crimes. In November 2018, Lori pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud and one count of federal program theft, per the District of Idaho. She was sentenced to five years in prison and was also ordered to pay over $570,000 that she stole in restitution.

Four of her six daughters admitted to some involvement in the scheme as well. Both Tracy Tesch and April Barnes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit program theft, while Amber Hosking and Jessica Barnes pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit federal program fraud, according to the DOI.

Two years after Larry died, Lori was officially charged with first degree murder in February 2020. She pleaded not guilty while serving her five-year sentence for embezzlement.

However, by February 2021, she changed her plea and took an Alford plea, which meant she didn’t fully confess guilt but pleaded guilty because there was enough evidence to convict her. In exchange for her guilty plea, her charge was reduced from first degree to second degree murder.

In May 2021, she was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, per The Coeur d’Alene Press. During her sentencing, Lori spoke for nearly an hour about what she claimed happened on that February morning.

“I want to state emphatically that I am responsible for Larry’s death, absolutely. I’m so sorry for everything I did, starting with the embezzlement that resulted in the lies and deceit and ultimate betrayal of the love and the trust of the people I love, especially Larry,” she said in court, per East Idaho News.

Lori alleged that after learning about her embezzlement scandal surfacing, she made a drink laced with Benadryl and planned to drink it herself. However, she claimed that Larry drank it instead.

“It was a shock of horror and confusion,” Lori said. “After Larry’s death on the boat, I told him, ‘I’m going to join you, but it can’t be right now because I can’t leave the family in a mess like this.’ The thought did come to me to just jump over the boat and join him.”

Where is Lori Isenberg now?

Before she was charged with Larry’s death, Lori was serving her five-year sentence at a federal facility in Seattle. However, after she was sentenced to 30 years behind bars, she was transferred to Pocatello Women’s Correctional in Pocatello, Idaho, according to the Idaho Department of Corrections. She will become eligible for parole in 2050.

Lori still appears to be estranged from some of her daughters and Larry’s children.

“I wanted her to know and the world to know, no, we loved Larry too. And she took him from us too and we do not support her. We do not stand by her,” her daughter Amber told Dateline.

Meanwhile, Larry’s daughter Jessica told The Coeur d’Alene Press that the Alford plea, which allowed Lori to not totally admit guilt, felt like a “slap in the face.”

“The loss of my father has left a hole in my soul,” she said. “We will never get the justice we deserve.”