A North Dakota woman has admitted to fatally poisoning her boyfriend after believing he was going to inherit $30 million, according to multiple news outlets, citing authorities.
Ina Kenoyer, 48, was sentenced to 25 years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation on Wednesday, Oct. 16 after pleading guilty to murder in May, according to online Ward County court records. She was also ordered to pay $3,455 in restitution to the victim’s family.
Kenoyer was arrested on a felony murder charge on Oct. 30, 2023, nearly two months after the poisoning death of her longtime boyfriend, 51-year-old Steven Riley Jr., KXNET-TV reports, citing an affidavit. Kenoyer put antifreeze into some sweet tea she made for Riley on Sept. 3, 2023 and he died two days later, authorities said, per the affidavit.
Prosecutors said Kenoyer poisoned Riley, whom she had been dating for 10 years, after he reportedly received information that he was going to inherit $30 million, according to KXNET-TV.
According to court documents cited by the Minot Daily News, friends of the couple told investigators that Riley planned to break up with Kenoyer once he received the purported multi-million dollar inheritance. But investigators claim the inheritance was a scam and that they haven’t identified the person who communicated with Riley about it, the Minot Daily News reports.
On Sept. 3, 2023, Riley planned to meet with a lawyer at an airport to discuss the inheritance, authorities said, according to KXMB-TV. But later that day, he became ill. Authorities said his friends tried to get him medical treatment but Kenoyer insisted that he was suffering from heat stroke and took him home to rest, the outlet reported.
When a friend checked on Riley the next day, Kenoyer told them he had gone to a walk-in clinic, KXNET-TV reports, citing court documents. However, no clinic or hospital records showed that Riley had been treated, according to the outlet.
As the days passed, Riley’s condition worsened and authorities were eventually called to Riley’s home on a report of an unconscious person, the outlet reports, citing authorities. He was airlifted to a hospital, where he died on Sept. 5, 2023.
An autopsy determined Riley died of ethylene glycol poisoning, the Minot Daily News reports. Following Riley’s death, friends told police that Kenoyer had previously made comments about poisoning Riley with antifreeze, according to the outlet.
When speaking with investigators, Kenoyer claimed that Riley had been drinking alcohol all day on Sept. 3, 2023, and that he suffered from heat stroke, KXMB-TV reports, citing authorities. However, no alcohol was found in his system during the autopsy, per the outlet.
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The outlet further reported, citing court documents, that Kenoyer admitted to knowing about the inheritance, which she believed she was entitled to a portion of as his common-law wife. According to the outlet, the state doesn’t recognize such relationships.
After searching the home, authorities said they found several items, including a Windex bottle containing a green liquid suspected to be antifreeze, the Minot Daily News reports. Kenoyer later confessed to adding it to Riley’s sweet tea to disguise the taste, per the outlet.
Riley’s son, Ryan Riley, faced Kenoyer in court at her sentencing, sharing how hard the loss has been on him.
“To have you take away someone so important, it’s just hurtful,” he said, per the Minot Daily News. “I can’t even find the words to describe how I feel and how much it burdens everyone. I just wish none of this ever happened. I never expected to lose my dad to something so selfish.”
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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