Five years later, convicted Kansas murderer still inspires outrage
- Kristen Trickle died in 2019 in what was ruled a suicide
- Police in Hays, Kansas worked the case for two years
- Colby Trickle bought a sex doll with life insurance money
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(NewsNation) — Even after Colby Trickle’s conviction for killing his wife, and his life sentence, the outrage over the Kansas case isn’t over.
Just two months after Kristen Trickle’s death by what Colby claimed was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, Colby cashed in two life insurance policies totaling $120,000.
Investigators tell CBS’s “48 Hours” that, Trickle used $2,000 of that money to buy a life-sized sex doll.
The network’s story on Trickle, which aired Saturday, also says that he blew through the rest of the money in just eight months, buying video games, music equipment and paying off debts.
It took investigators two years to build a case against the Army reservist after the death of Kristen Trickle in October 2019. The coroner in Hays, Kansas ruled her death a suicide.
But from the start, even the first officer to respond said he noticed things at the crime scene. Sergeant Brandon Hauptman said, while it happens, it’s very unusual for a woman to shoot herself in the head or complete any suicide that would involve injuries to the face.
Hauptman also heard the woman’s phone alarm ringing.
Detective Joshua Burkholder adds context: “She had set an alarm to get up, to get ready for work, and had plans for that day. A lot of times, individuals who are thinking about suicide and do commit suicide they don’t have any plans for the day. They’re not setting alarms. It doesn’t matter when they get up,” he told CBS.
Prosecutors charged Colby Trickle with first degree murder in July of 2021. He was tried and found guilty in November of last year. He was sentenced to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 50 years.
