{"id":1630,"date":"2022-03-11T13:08:12","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T13:08:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worabia.com\/news\/2022\/03\/11\/a-snake-is-eyed-as-the-culprit-in-mans-death-until-cops-realize-it-cant-pull-a-trigger\/"},"modified":"2022-03-11T13:08:12","modified_gmt":"2022-03-11T13:08:12","slug":"a-snake-is-eyed-as-the-culprit-in-mans-death-until-cops-realize-it-cant-pull-a-trigger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worabia.com\/news\/world-news\/united-states\/1630\/","title":{"rendered":"A snake is eyed as the culprit in man’s death until cops realize it can’t pull a trigger"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The work of Montgomery County Medical Examiner Dave Colbert usually involves him appearing at the crime scene after the action has subsided. But in the hot early afternoon hours of June 8, 2017, Colbert answered the 911 call of a male victim believed to have died from a snake bite and said he had proceeded to one of the most bizarre and dangerous death scenes of his 20s. -year career as a medical examiner. “Someone killed by a snake is not something that happens every day, especially in Missouri,” says Colbert.<\/p>\n

“48 Hours” and correspondent Peter Van Sand take viewers into the unusual plot of “The Poisonous Wife,” which airs Saturday, March 12 at 10 \/ 9c on CBS and streamed on Paramount +.<\/p>\n

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Ben Renick was a world-renowned snake breeder.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ben Renick \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

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Colbert soon learned that the man lying face down in a pool of blood at an exotic snake farm in New Florence, Missouri, was not just “someone,” it was Ben Renick, owner of the Renick Reptiles and a world-renowned snake breeder. . The body cameras to the sheriff’s deputies who responded recorded the frantic scene in which Colbert entered. <\/p>\n

“They are holding shotguns in their hands,” Colbert told lawmakers. ” <\/p>\n

Indeed, the camera footage shows the sheriff’s employees wielding shotguns, walking through facilities filled with containers containing pythons and anacondas weighing up to 200 kilograms, with one thought in mind: that a killer snake was free . A sheriff’s deputy tells the other: “I do not care if it is a 5-inch snake – if something tries to bite me, I will light it.” <\/p>\n

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Camera video shows a Montgomery County deputy sheriff being taken aback as he walked through the facility full of snakes.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Evidence<\/p>\n

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There were guns because in the initial 911 call, Ben Renick’s brother, Sam Renick, indicated that the victim appeared to have been bitten or crushed by one of the many snakes in the building where he was found. Sam Renick, in an interview with “48 Hours”, said that Ben’s wife, Lynlee Renick, made the initial discovery and then invited him to come. “I guessed it was a snake,” says Sam, looking at his brother’s body, because it looked like Ben’s skull was crushed and two wounds on his arm seemed to be bite marks. <\/p>\n

But Colbert says he soon made an astonishing discovery when he examined Renick’s body: “The two marks on his hands are not from a snake.” In addition, a shell a few feet away from the body completely changed the investigation, and Colbert realized that the location of Ben’s body hid the real cause of death: homicide.<\/p>\n

Ben Renick had been shot eight times, one at close range. “For some reason,” says Colbert, “Mr. Renick just didn’t like it – because of the damage it did. And, obviously, from bullet holes in the floor. It was something that was not just an accident.” Within minutes, the focus of the search shifted for Colbert from a cold snake to a cold-blooded man. <\/p>\n

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Ben and Linley Renick<\/span><\/p>\n

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Ben Renick \/ Facebook<\/p>\n

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In every way, Ben was very nice both in his small town of New Florence, Missouri, and around the world in the reptile community. Ben lived on the farm where he was found murdered for most of his life, building a life and a business with his wife Lynlee by his side. Sam Renick lived near the same property in a separate house. Researchers have learned that Ben sent his snakes around the world, from the United Kingdom to Japan, and that the snakes at the Renick Reptiles facility were worth more than a million dollars, with some rare albino anacondas capable of fetching tens of thousands of dollars. . These events made the robbery an initial theory, but a scan of the building was final: there was no shortage of snakes.<\/p>\n

An almost incredible search for the people around Ben Renik followed that led detectives and “48 Hours” to learn more than we ever did about the international community of breeders and enthusiastic reptiles, where Ben Renik was so legendary.<\/p>\n

To help “48 Hours” understand this unique reptile culture, we contacted Ben Renick’s friend and colleague D\u0101v Kaufman, a snake breeder and YouTube personality who travels the world to learn and discover rare and dangerous reptiles. The first thing he told us was that he was not surprised that Ben was supposedly killed by a snake. Kaufman spends much of his time debunking myths and assumptions about snakes that he says come from a lack of knowledge about them. <\/p>\n

“If you are afraid of snakes, then everything you know about snakes is wrong,” Kaufman told Peter Van Sant. <\/p>\n

Kaufman also introduced “48 Hours” to some species of snakes that Ben Renick was famous for breeding and selling. Our interview took place at the Twin City Reptiles in Minneapolis, Minnesota, where Kaufman pulled out a giant web python to explain exactly why humans want to keep these animals in their homes. Van Sad was visibly skeptical – and more than a little nervous – when Kaufmann gave him the snake, instructing him to hold the animal with open arms and let it slide and cling to it. “I have a new scarf,” Van Sad joked as the yellow snake wrapped itself more or less tightly around his neck. Almost immediately, Van Sad fell in love with the snake he hesitated to hold just two minutes earlier. “It’s a remarkable feeling,” Van Sand told Kaufmann. <\/p>\n

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“48 Hours” correspondent Peter Van Sant with a giant network python and D\u0101v Kaufman.<\/span><\/p>\n

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CBS News<\/p>\n

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While Kaufman told “48 Hours” that he was not surprised that an anaconda did not kill Ben’s friend, he was shocked to learn, almost three years after the murder, that Ben’s wife, Linley, had been charged with murder. Sam Renik was also shocked. He could not believe that the woman who led him to his brother’s bloodied body could have anything to do with his murder. But the more she learned about research, the more she realized what Lynlee could do. “You know, the Lynlee we knew then was very sweet, kind. She was extroverted. However, there was – there were other aspects of her that we did not know.”<\/p>\n

To find out more about the case that led investigators into a conspiracy pit and slippery slope, tune in to “48 Hours,” as Peter Van Sant reports in “The Poisonous Wife,” which airs March 12 at 10 \/ 9c on CBS and streaming o nParamount +.<\/em><\/p>\n

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