The Murder of Larry Isenberg
For this case, I watched an episode of Sex and Murder. It’s season 3 episode 5, titled ‘Deadly Breakfast Date.’
A woman reports that her husband had a stroke and fell off their boat.
Background
Larry Isenberg lived with his wife, Lori in the beautiful resort town of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. They had been married for 14 years. They each had grown children and grandchildren.
Larry was retired, and Lori worked as the executive director of North Idaho Housing Coalition. Larry and Lori were described an amazing couple, and were very well known in the community.
Larry was an avid outdoorsman. He loved to spend time on the lake, hunt and go on long walks. He also really loved his family, especially Lori.
Larry Isenberg
The Date
On February 13, 2018, Larry had planned to take Lori to the resort in Coeur d’Alene for a date. They had planned to watch the sunrise, and have breakfast at the resort.
Instead, Lori called 911. Lori could be heard on the calling saying, “help, I’m on the lake.” She then went on to say that Larry had a stroke, and fell overboard. Lori seemed very distraught. The dispatcher asks her several times to repeat herself.
Lori explained that Larry thought they were having motor issues. She said Larry stood up to check the motor, turned towards her to say something, and then fell overboard.
Lori was told by the dispatcher to put a life jacket on. She had set the phone down, and later claimed that she bumped the phone, and it fell into the water.
The Search
Lori would later admit that she called 911 about 2 hours after Larry had fallen into the water. Lori said it took her that long for her to find Larry’s phone, which she had used to call 911.
The Marine unit assisting with the case immediately noticed that there was blood drops in the boat. There was blood on the windshield and motor. Lori claimed she had fallen and hit her head while she was frantically searching for Larry.
The police also found it odd that the Isenberg’s were out boating in February while it was only 20 degrees in the morning.
A dive team was sent to search for Larry. Due to the depths of the water, they couldn’t perform the search.
The search for Larry lasted several weeks.
The Discovery
On the morning that Larry had disappeared, Lori had made front page headlines in the local newspaper. The headline read, “housing nonprofit, leader part ways.” The North Idaho Housing Coalition had discovered that Lori was stealing funds. It’s believed that she knew that the newspaper article was coming out, and that Larry would discover what she had done.
There were over 33 credit cards involved in the missing nonprofit funds. There were credit cards issued to Lori’s daughters and to Larry. However, it was stated that Larry seemed to have no idea about what Lori had been doing. Lori had also been transferring money out of the bank accounts. The amount of money stolen added up to about $600,000.
On February 23, the police obtained a search warrant for Lori’s house. Larry’s wallet was found in the home in a desk. It was odd because Lori had claimed that they were going out on a breakfast date that day.
A bloody latex glove and bloody tissue were also found inside the house.
The Arrest
On February 26, 3 days after the search of Lori’s home, Lori was arrested for theft. She was charged with one count of theft and 40 counts of forgery.
A few days later, on March 1, a body washed up in Windy Bay. It was about 4 miles from where Lori had called 911 from.
It was the body of Larry Isenberg. He was found floating face down in the water. The police immediately knew something was off about the location of where Larry’s body was found.
An experiment was performed with dummies. The dummies all floated in the opposite direction of where Larry’s body was found.
Larry’s autopsy showed no signs of drowning. There was no sign of a stroke at all. The toxicology report showed that Larry had died of a fatal overdose of diphenhydramine or Benadryl. It was clear that Larry had died as a result of a homicide, and not due to a fatal accident.
The Evidence
The medical examiner also examined the contents of Larry’s stomach. He had tomato or tomato skins and green peppers in his stomach. It was suggested that maybe he had died before fully digesting his lunch or dinner from the previous day.
This theory was thrown out. There was a photo that had been texted out to both Larry’s children and some of Lori’s children. It was an Apple live photo, and it contained a small portion of a video. A man’s voice was heard in the background. It was believed to be Larry. A friend of Larry’s listened to the video, and identified the voice as being Larry’s. It was proof that he was alive when he got into the boat.
The police also searched through the Isenberg’s vehicle. In the center counsel, a Benadryl bottle was found. An empty bottle of Naked juice was found in Lori’s purse. It’s believed that the pills had been put into the juice, and Larry had ingested it.
Sergeant Brad Maskell of the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office, performed another experiment. He wanted to see how long it would take for Benadryl to dissolve in a Naked juice. It only took a few minutes for it to dissolve. Sgt. Maskell didn’t swallow the juice with the pills inside, but he didn't have it in his mouth. He said he felt a little dizzy, and he hadn’t even ingested it. He believed that Larry had chugged the juice, and maybe hadn’t realized the bitter medicine aftertaste.
The First Attempt
Just days before the boat ride, Lori and Larry had taken a trip to Florida to watch a rocket launch. Larry was apparently not feeling well during the trip.
Larry had emailed his doctor and said that he was getting the flu bug. He went on to describe his symptoms, and said he had the shakes, terrible equilibrium, and his brain was foggy.
The police checked Lori’s phone. She had made searches about various coastal areas in Florida. Some of her other searches included water deaths, water depths and boat rentals.
Larry’s homicide investigation was kept quiet for 2 years. Lori had been in jail for fraud charges, so they were able to build their case without her out on the street.
On January 31, 2020, Lori was charged with murder. One year later, Lori entered an Alford plea, and was charged with second degree murder. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Lori was 67 at the time of her sentencing, so basically she will in prison for the rest of her life.
At her sentencing, Lori never admitted to intentionally killing Larry. She claimed she had made the drink with the Benadryl for herself to commit suicide. She said Larry had taken a drink from it while she was asleep.
Lori Isenberg
Other
Four of Lori’s daughters were implicated in the theft scheme. They admitted to receiving over $58,000 in stolen funds. They were sentenced to 3 years probation.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Lori knew that her life was over, and that Larry would probably leave her. However, she didn’t know that for sure. Larry could have decided to stay with her, and work out their issues. They seemed to be the perfect couple, but no one truly knows what goes on behind closed doors. It’s really sad what Lori did to Larry, to her company, and to her daughters.
Sources
https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2021/may/24/isenberg-sentenced-to-life-for-drugging-husband-on/
