Ex-sister-in-law reveals how she discovered secret life insurance policy Harold Henthorn took out on her

Grace Rishell was Herald Henthorn's first wife Lynn Rishell's sister-in-law. She said that the FBI told her about a secret $400,000 life insurance policy Henthorn had taken out on her

 

The former sister-in-law of a man who has been charged with the murder of his second wife and is being investigated over the mysterious death of his first wife has said that she feared she might have been next.  

Henthorn was charged with the murder of second wife, Toni Bertolet, 51, last November and police have reopened their investigation into the suspicious death of his first wife, Lynn Rishell, some 20 years earlier. 

In both cases Henthorn was named as the sole beneficiary in a string of lucrative life insurance policies totaling $500,000 on the death of his first wife and $4.5million on the death of his second.

And Lynn Rishell's brother's wife, Grace Rishell, has opened up to say that the FBI told her about a secret $400,000 life insurance policy Henthorn had taken out on her. 

He had forged her signature and made himself the sole beneficiary on the policy, Rishell told CBS's 48 Hours.

'That was his doing. I did not authorize that policy,' she said. 'He profits, not my girls. I feel he came in and just preyed on my vulnerability.'

Both of Henthron's wives died in 'freak' accidents to which Henthorn, 59, was the sole witness. Dr Toni Jill Bertolet plunged 140ft to her death shortly before her 12th wedding anniversary while hiking with Henthorn in a remote stretch of Rocky Mountain National Park.

Lynn Rishell - his first wife - was crushed to death under the front of Henthorn's Jeep when, he told first responders, the jack gave way as she reached under the vehicle for a lug night while changing a flat tire in the dark. 

'I think it's logical to conclude that he was planning on taking my life at some point,' Grace Rishell said. 'He's a dangerous man... He needs to be behind bars.'

Grace Rishell was going through a divorce and ‘concerned for her financial stability,’ when she initially agreed to Henthorn taking out a policy that would pay $50,000 to Grace’s brother and each of her four daughters for a total of $250,000.

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