Suspect Charged in Wife's 2012 Murder Enters Not Guilty Plea
Harold Henthorn's second wife died after falling off a cliff in 2012.
— -- A Colorado man accused of killing his wife after she fell off a cliff while hiking with him in a national park in 2012 pleaded not guilty in federal court this afternoon.
Harold Henthorn did not speak in the Denver federal court during the first session of the day but sat beside his attorney while wearing a khaki jumpsuit and his wedding ring.
Authorities confirmed last week that they had also launched an investigation into the 1995 death of his first wife, Sandra Henthorn. Sandra, then 38, died when a jack slipped while she and her husband were changing a flat tire and their car crushed her to death, authorities said.
"Mr. Henthorn was the only person in deserted areas in both of his wives' deaths," U.S. Attorney Blair Spencer said in court today.
Henthorn was not charged with his second wife Toni's 2012 death until last week after police said they determined that they have enough evidence to argue that it was not an accident.
After Toni’s 2012 death, her hometown best friend Allison Talley said she saw no signs of grief from Harold.
"I expected at least for him to be in such heavy grief and apologizing all over the place for something to happen to her on his watch," Talley told ABC News. "We’ve never heard a 'I can’t believe this happened and I’m so sorry it happened when I was with her and it was such a bad accident.' We never heard any of that, and that just reassured us really quickly that it was no accident. There were no signs of grief."
When asked by the judge if he had enough money to pay for bond, Henthorn's attorney Craig Truman said that he would be getting financial help from family and friends because he has not had "steady employment" for years.
Concerns about Henthorn's financial standing were raised by Dana Chamberlain, an auditor in the economic crime section of the U.S. Attorney's office who reviewed his tax returns and bank accounts for the case. She said that Henthorn had told friends that he worked as a fundraiser for nonprofits but there was no money trail to support that claim.
Toni Henthorn had three $1.5 million life insurance policies in her name at the time of the accident, authorities said. Though the Special Administrator of the Estate noted that a claim was made for one of those policies just two days after she fell 140 feet to her death -- on the same morning that her autopsy was being performed -- that money was never paid.
Chamberlain noted that Harold Henthorn has not received any payments as a result of Toni's life insurance policies but he did get $495,000 from his first wife's policy following her 1995 death.
Truman reminded the court that "claims on Sandra's death were paid after the Douglas County Sheriff investigation was over."
"I'm sure when all the facts are known in this difficult and complex case, justice will be done," Truman told ABC News after his client's arrest Thursday.
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