Laurcene Isenberg Idaho wife charged w/ husband, Laurcene Isenberg murder after autopsy revealed man poisoned with Benadryl after wife’s claim of falling off boat accident.
An Idaho woman who claimed her husband died after falling from his boat in 2018 has been charged with murder after an autopsy found a lethal dose of Benadryl – authorities say she surreptitiously gave him.
Laurcene ‘Lori’ Isenberg, 66, was arrested Monday on a murder charge by the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office according to a Facebook post. She is being held on $2 million bond.
Isenberg’s husband, Larry Isenberg, disappeared on Feb. 13, 2018. In an email afterward to family and friends obtained by the Coeur d’Alene Press, Lori claimed she and Larry had taken a boat onto Lake Coeur d’Alene to watch the sunrise, only for Larry to fall into the water while inspecting a broken motor.
Lori in her note claimed she tried to save Larry, only to trip on a space heater and hit her head. For about an hour, she claimed, she drove the boat around the lake looking for Larry before eventually calling 911.
Larry’s body was recovered some four weeks later after a neighbor called 911 to report seeing a body floating in the lake.
A subsequent autopsy found no evidence of drowning, KXLY reported. Instead, a lethal amount of Benadryl was found in the missing husband’s system.
Pled guilty to wire fraud and embezzlement:
Now, court documents allege Isenberg — a longtime person of interest in the case — planned to kill her husband by intentionally creating the situation in which he was submerged in the lake and died, the Associated Press and The Spokesman-Review report.
The Washington Post reports the charges carry a special enhancement alleging she may have killed her husband by poisoning him, torturing him and/or lying in wait.
But there’s more.
Laurcene Isenberg was the former executive director of an organization that works with low-income families, but in January 2019 she pleaded guilty to wire fraud and federal program theft for stealing $500,000 from the organization, KREM reports. She was sentenced to five years in prison.
KHQ reports Isenberg was additionally ordered to pay $1.7 million in damages to the non-profit as part of a civil judgment.
The Post Register reports two of Isenberg’s daughters pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in Oct. 2018 for taking money their mother had embezzled.
It was not immediately clear if Isenberg has entered a plea to the murder charge.
