A woman from North Dakota has been convicted of murdering her boyfriend and given a 25-year imprisonment. Steven Edward Riley Jr, 51, was poisoned by 48-year-old Ina Thea Kenoyer. On October 16, 2024, the sentencing was made after Kenoyer entered a guilty plea to the charge in May.
Kenoyer learnt that Riley would soon receive $30 million in inheritance after he received an email from someone. The detectives did not identify the man who contacted Riley about the inheritance, which later turned out to be fake.
As per KXNET-TV, On September 3, 2023, Kenoyer killed Riley by lacing his sweet tea with antifreeze, specifically ethylene glycol. He started experiencing symptoms a day after drinking the contaminated tea and was found dead the next day. While Kenoyer testified that her boyfriend had a heat stroke due to excessive drinking, the autopsy report revealed that he died from ethylene glycol poisoning, KXNET-TV reported.
Kenoyer’s friends reportedly claimed the perpetrator jokingly mentioned poisoning him.
CBS affiliate KXMB reported that during court proceedings, the family members let out their frustrations and sorrow. Stephany Gonzalez, Riley’s sister, told the court that Kenoyer was lucky to get what she thought was a light punishment for the crime committed. She emphasised the pain caused by Kenoyer’s actions, stating, “To have you take away someone so important… it’s just hurtful”.
KXNET-TV reports that Kenoyer received a 25-year sentence together with a 25-year suspended sentence. She will also be on ten years of supervised probation and she will have to pay $3455 as restitution to the family of Riley. At first, sentenced for the Class AA felony murder charge with life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, her plea agreement ensured a lowered possible prison term.
During the trial, Riley’s son Ryan Riley gave an insight into how the death of his father impacted him and the entire family. He spoke of the greed of Kenoyer and how this ruined them for life, Minot Daily Life reported.
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