Ina Thea Kenoyer North Dakota woman sentenced 25 years jail for killing long term boyfriend, Steven Riley Jr, thinking she was in line for $30M inheritance only to find out it was a scam all along and had killed the man for nothing after fatally poisoning him.
When greed slaps you in the face … A North Dakota woman was sentenced to 25 years jail for poisoning her boyfriend after mistakenly believing he had inherited $30 million and planned to break up with her, officials said.
Ina Thea Kenoyer, 48, was convicted for the murder of Steven Riley Jr., 51, who died on September 5, 2023, from ethylene glycol poisoning, the same toxin found in antifreeze.
Addressing her brother’s killer during sentencing, Stephanie Gonzalez, said Kenoyer was ‘lucky to get such a lenient sentence,’ KXMB reported.
‘How does it feel to have taken so much for absolutely nothing?’
‘As so many other families of victims often feel, the punishment should fit the crime,’ Gonzalez said during sentencing on Wednesday. ‘But lucky for you the Department of Corrections doesn’t serve antifreeze in your iced tea.’
Adding, ‘You stole more than a human life. You stole my son from his mother and stepfather. You stole a father from five sons, a brother from two sisters, an uncle from 12 nieces and nephews, and a great uncle to eight, and many friends. How does it feel to have taken so much for absolutely nothing?’
State District Judge Richard Hagar sentenced Kenoyer to 25 years after she pleaded guilty in May, with an additional 10 years of supervised probation and $3,455 in restitution paid to Riley’s family, according to court documents. She faced up to life in prison without parole on the charge had the case gone to trial.
Unbeknownst to Kenoyer, there was no inheritance in the first place, the Minot Daily News reported.
Officials said Kenoyer poisoned Riley just hours after she found out from an email he had received that he was supposedly going to inherit $30 million.
But Ryan Riley, the victim’s 21-year-old son, said that the couple had unwittingly fallen victim to an online scam and there never was any money.
It was an online scam all along
When meeting with the so-called estate lawyer on Sept. 3, 2023, Riley became ill, with paramedics arriving at his home the next day to find him unresponsive. The boyfriend was declared dead on Sept. 5.
Kenoyer told police Riley had been drinking alcohol all day and suffered a heat stroke in the days leading up to his death, according to the affidavit.
Kenoyer and Riley were in a relationship for 10 years, but investigators believe he was planning to leave her after being told he would receive a $30 million inheritance from a distant relative, The New York Times reported.
She told police she planned to split Riley’s alleged $30 million inheritance with his son, claiming she was entitled to a portion of it as his common-law wife. North Dakota, however, does not recognize such relationships.
Kenoyer reportedly declined to provide a statement of her own when prompted during sentencing.