Montgomery County Coroner Dave Colbert's job normally entails him exhibiting up at against the law scene after the motion has subsided. However within the heat early night hours of June 8, 2017, Colbert responded to a 911 name of a male sufferer believed to be lifeless by snakebite, and he stated he proceeded to stroll into one of the vital weird and harmful dying scenes of his 20-year profession as a coroner. "Somebody being killed by a snake is just not one thing that occurs daily, particularly in Missouri," Colbert says.
"48 Hours" and correspondent Peter Van Sant take viewers inside the weird case in "The Toxic Spouse" airing Saturday, March 12 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Colbert quickly realized that the person mendacity face down in a pool of blood within the unique snake breeding facility in New Florence, Missouri, wasn't simply "somebody," it was Ben Renick, the proprietor of the enterprise Renick Reptiles and a world famend snake breeder. Physique cameras on responding sheriff's deputies captured the frantic scene that Colbert walked into.
"They're holding shotguns in hand," Colbert stated of the deputies, "There have been weapons out. ... Strolling right into a dying scene with 1000's of snakes, leaping on the cages … it was only a loopy scene to be at."
Certainly, the physique digicam footage reveals sheriff's deputies brandishing shotguns, strolling via the ability lined with containers containing pythons and anacondas weighing upwards of 200 kilos, with one thought in thoughts: that a killer snake was on the free. One sheriff's deputy tells one other, "I do not care if it is a 5-inch-long snake — if one thing tries to chew me I am gonna mild its a-- up."
There have been weapons out as a result of within the preliminary 911 name, Ben Renick's brother Sam Renick indicated that the sufferer appeared to have been bitten or crushed by one of many many snakes within the constructing the place he was discovered. Sam Renick, in his interview with "48 Hours," stated that Ben's spouse, Lynlee Renick, made the preliminary discovery, then referred to as him to come back over. "I assumed it was a snake," Sam says of taking a look at his brother's physique, as a result of it appeared Ben's cranium was crushed and two puncture wounds on his arm gave the impression to be chew marks.
However Colbert says he quickly made a stunning discovery when he examined Renick's physique: "The 2 marks he has on his arms aren't from a snake." Moreover, a shell casing a number of toes away from the corpse modified the investigation fully, and Colbert realized the place of Ben's physique hid his true explanation for dying: murder.
Ben Renick had been shot eight instances, as soon as at shut vary. "For some purpose," Colbert says, "any individual simply actually did not like Mr. Renick — due to the quantity of harm that was inflicted upon him. And, clearly, from bullet holes within the ground. This was one thing that was not only a random act." In simply moments, the main target of the investigation modified for Colbert from a cold-blooded serpent to a human who killed in chilly blood.
By all accounts, Ben was properly preferred each in his small city of New Florence, Missouri, and around the globe within the reptile neighborhood. Ben lived on the farm the place he was discovered murdered almost his complete life, constructing a life and a enterprise along with his spouse Lynlee by his facet. Sam Renick lived close by on the identical property in a separate home. Investigators realized that Ben shipped his serpents all around the world, from the U.Okay. to Japan, and that the snakes within the Renick Reptiles facility have been value greater than 1,000,000 dollars, with some uncommon albino anacondas capable of fetch costs of tens of 1000's of dollars. These info made theft an preliminary principle, however a sweep of the constructing was conclusive: no snakes have been lacking.
What adopted was an nearly unbelievable investigation into the folks round Ben Renick that led detectives and "48 Hours" to study greater than we ever bargained for concerning the worldwide neighborhood of reptile breeders and fans, the place Ben Renick was so legendary.
To assist "48 Hours" perceive that distinctive tradition of reptile fans, we reached out to Ben Renick's good friend and colleague Dāv Kaufman, a snake professional and breeder and YouTube persona who travels the world to study and uncover uncommon and harmful reptiles. The very first thing he informed us is that he was not shocked that it was assumed Ben was killed by a snake. Kaufman spends numerous his time debunking myths and assumptions about snakes that he says come from a lack of information about them.
"If you're afraid of snakes … then every part you understand about snakes is mistaken," Kaufman informed Peter Van Sant.
Kaufman additionally launched "48 Hours" to a couple forms of snakes that Ben Renick was well-known for breeding and promoting. Our interview happened at Twin Metropolis Reptiles in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the place Kaufman pulled out a large reticulated python to assist clarify to us precisely why it's that folks wish to preserve these animals of their houses. Van Sant was noticeably skeptical — and greater than a bit of nervous — when Kaufman gave the snake to him, instructing him to carry the animal with open fingers and let it slither and cling to him. "I've received a brand new scarf," Van Sant joked because the yellow snake wrapped a bit of too intimately round his neck. Nearly instantly, Van Sant was enamored with the snake he'd been reluctant to carry simply two minutes earlier. "It is a outstanding sensation," Van Sant informed Kaufman.
Whereas Kaufman informed "48 Hours" he wasn't shocked that an anaconda did not kill his good friend Ben, he was shocked to study, nearly three years after the homicide, that Ben's spouse Lynlee had been charged with the homicide. Sam Renick was additionally shocked. He could not consider that the lady who led him to his brother's bloody physique may have had one thing to do along with his homicide. However the extra he realized concerning the investigation, the extra he realized what Lynlee was able to. ", the Lynlee that we knew again then was very candy, variety. She was outgoing. Nonetheless, there was — there have been different sides of her that we did not know."
To study extra concerning the case that took investigators inside a snake pit of conspirators and slippery lies tune in to "48 Hours" as Peter Van Sant stories in "The Toxic Spouse" airing March 12 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming o nParamount+.