Tuesday, October 22, 2024 –A North Dakota woman has been sentenced after
she admitted to fatally poisoning her boyfriend because she believed
he was going to inherit $30 million.
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 de@th of her longtime boyfriend, 51-year-old Steven
Riley Jr.
Kenoyer put antifreeze into some sweet tea she made for Riley on Sept. 3, 2023
and he d!ed two days later, authorities said.
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 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. 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 they 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. 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 d!ed on
Sept. 5, 2023.
An autopsy determined Riley died of ethylene glycol poisoning, the Minot
Daily News reports. Following Riley’s de@th, friends told police that
Kenoyer had previously made comments about poisoning Riley with
antifreeze.
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.
However, no alcohol was found in his system during the autopsy.
According to court documents, Kenoyer admitted to knowing about the
inheritance, which she believed she was entitled to a portion of as his
common-law wife. But their 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.
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.”
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