Kristen Trickle: Autopsy of the Mind | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] there's definitely Mysteries involved in this case it was a cold Halloween morning
even had some snow on the ground the call came out at 5:37 in the morning my wife sh
KOB trickle had called our dispatch he met us on the porch exactly where's the house it's
right here it's this one with red and white did he seem upset I mean there were tears coming down and was hard to
understand was choked up we go up to the door start making announcements inside hey Police
Department looking to my left is when I first see Kristen I kind of focused in on her jaw
moving I could see the movement of her jaw we got a p start CPR you have a p yeah
y so she was still alive we were hopeful could she be saved no after you did your autopsy how did
you rule on Kristen trickle's death homicide or s suicide suicide suicide y the victim's family in this right out
of the gate was just adamant that this was not a suicide the scene was kind of unusual we had a female with a large
weapon laying in bed and it's not common to see that you have a replica a very similar
type of gun can you show it to me sure how large oh it's pretty hefty as you can tell it's a hand I'm a little
surprised yeah it's awkward to maneuver not something you'd easily turn on yourself we had evidence that led us to
believe that Colby trickle had killed his wife I do not believe he did it I was Colby trickle's defense attorney
when he called 911 she was still showing signs of Life had he intended to murder
her it just seems odd that he would call immediately I think it's very possible that Kristen trickle picked up a gun
that night in great anguish and ended her life a professional came in and looked
at the life of Kristen dug into basically every aspect of her life got into who Kristen was prior to her
death so basically this is a psychological autopsy trying to figure out the State of Mind of a person who
died that's difficult to do isn't it yeah and had this ever been done in the state of Kansas before never in a
criminal case no [Music] [Music] Sergeant Brandon halman of the Hayes Police Department vividly remembers the
dark cold Halloween morning as he arrived at Kristen trickle's home the bedroom shoes in is actually
this window on the left oh the bedroom's right there yeah that's the bedroom right there and the moment he found the
26-year-old near death in bed I could see the firearm from what I could tell initially a large caliber revolver and
laying across her abdomen about like this how was she dressed uh almost fully undressed she
was just wearing underwear after Kristen showed Signs of Life the sergeant quickly moved the revolver away from her
and carried Kristen into the living room for CPR the only injury that I could see at
that point was the the entrance wound and where was that entrance wound underneath her uh chin here there was
nothing the First Responders could do for Kristen I went out to Colby on the porch and told him that she had died
hello mother's brain and hman I'm the sergeant working today hopman's body camera was only recording audio that day
she died I'm so [Music] sorry are you sure are you sure Sergeant hman says he asked Kristen's husband
Colby to go to the police station so he could tell investigators what happened did he seem to be cooperative he was yep
agreed to go up we got him some shoes at the station kby said that hours earlier
Kristen had come home from Walmart where she worked in the gardening center and the couple had played video games he
went to bed before his wife he said and woke up to his ears ringing and then found Kristen lying
next to him with a gunshot wound to to her head ran up to her she was looking at
[Music] me then what did you do I ran over to my phone and I called 911 Kobe told investigators that while
he was on the phone with 911 he checked Kristen's polls but felt nothing and then picked the revolver off her body
where was the gun at it was laying by her neck I pulled it back what did you do with the guy for a
moment he says he thought about taking his own life I started put in my head but I was on the
phone they said they wereing saying people I thought maybe they can help her while Kobe Tri was still at the
station Kristen's aunt delin and uncle brand rice a local Pastor found out Kristen had died I got a call from my
mom and the worst phone call ever to get she said Kristen's dead she's been shot
and it was just awful I said Mom that can't be right that can't be right that doesn't even make sense but more
baffling was that kby had said Kristen's death was a suicide what did you tell investigators
initially we just don't think she would do this oh 100% I said there's no way of
all the people I know in this world the last person that I would ever think would take their own life would be
Christen because of the joy she she has it's so out of character to Christen and
how she solves problems she's not a runner from problems delin and brand wri say christen's family and her two dogs
meant the world to her the thought of her hurting herself in any way or anyone or anyone is so foreign she
would never take her life and not tie up loose ends with her family make sure her dogs
had somewhere to go and they believe they knew her better than just about anyone else they had watched her grow up
it is hard to find a photograph she is not smiling just fully she had had that smile even though
delin and bran say Kristen had a tough childhood her mother left her and her father when Kristen was 2 years old when
she was 17 Kristen moved in with her aunt and uncle and their three kids delin and bran say she thrived she loved
being with our family she loved the peace in our home Chloe is brand and D's daughter Kristen was my older sister
figure in my life and I really looked up to her and she she was just like always
there to make me smile and feel important the family remembers when Kristen met Colby they were both 18
years old Colby attended our church Colby for a time was on the worship team at our church they are the band that
plays the worship music during our services he wowed her with his guitar playing abilities songs that he had
written on I quickly grew but just 5 years later Kristen was dead and Colby was saying she took her
own life coroner Lyall Nord hook examined the scene and looking at the wound he believed the revolver was in close range
to her chin when it was fired and in Nord Hook's experience that was not unusual for a self-inflicted gunshot
wound how would you believe the revolver was being held close to the chin and parallel to the body like this yeah but
detective JB Burkholder had also been called to the house we respond to suicides they happen several times a
year and to him this didn't seem like suicide having a female with a gunshot wound especially to the Head uh was uh
was unusual for us why why is that more unusual for women you think for women they're a little bit more concerned
about looks even after death and so they think about that and there was something else when I
got there I remember an alarm going off Kristen's cell phone alarm is heard repeatedly on audio recorded by First
Responders I think I actually silenced it 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 they're not setting alarms to doesn't matter when
they get up there was candy set out in the kitchen area she and Kobe had planned
for hallowe to go on as it normally would with trick-or-treating and nothing troubled him more than that weapon found
at the scene detective Burkholder wasn't sure Kristen was the one who fired it the gun was a full-size 357 revolver a
large caliber weapon approximately 11 to 12 in it can be hard to handle and so being able to place that gun under your
chin and discharge that firearm just didn't seem very likely for a smaller female in what was described as a dark
bedroom this wasn't an open and shut suicide case there was questions after his wife Kristen died in the early
morning hours on Halloween Kobe trickle spoke with investigators for more than 11 hours what's your namee Kobe yes
ma'am I'm so sorry he was asked over and over again to recount the events of the night
before do you guys have any fights anything like that yesterday no Kobe also told him investigators about his
job with the US military as part of human intelligence there's some interesting places they send you with being
Intel but they sent me to Middle East and they sent me down into Central America so some movy stuff there first
impressions of kobby trickle is that he was a guy who was in the military he had a I guess a
decorated past of overseas tours and then also Kobe trickle was a guy who loved his wife but detective JB
Burkholder says he had questions about Kobe's account of the morning Kristen died after finding Kristen Kobe says he
called 911 and as he later told police he picked up the gun and thought about ending his life what troubl Burk holder
is where Kobe put the gun after he changed his mind back on Kristen's stomach I put it back down and ran
outside just very odd it doesn't seem as though if I'm calling 911 if my wife's dying um on on the bed that I would
place the gun back down on her body Kobe was asked if there was any life insurance on Kristen I have some on
me from military but that's it no insurance on Kristen he said and then was asked if he had anything to do with
Kristen's death uh did you in fact kill her [Music] no Kobe left the police station that day
but first responder Sergeant hman was increasingly suspicious about Kobe's actions at the scene he wondered why
Colby didn't demand to be by Kristen's side as they tried to save her life your wife's inside and here she is you know
Bleeding Out dying and you're on the porch well First Responders were administering CPR Colby was chatting
with officers about video games that conversation was recorded by a police body cam what kind of games do you guys
like to play Counter Strike everything from Call of Duty to Minecraft that day as investigators got
a search warrant for Colby's cell phone an autopsy for Christen trickle was underway at the scene coroner ly nor
Nord hook who suspected suicide had looked for any evidence that someone else was involved like signs of a
struggle were there any signs of defensive wounds or any signs that she had fought with anyone before she died
no there coroner Nord hook says he also examined Kristen's body for signs of past physical abuse typically if there's
a series of progressive injuries over a period of time so you can tell that they've been beating on each other in
this case I wasn't really seeing that so I'm going well I have to take the husband's statement at word value that
he was there and the gun went off and she is dead Nordo says 3 days after Kristen's
death based on the information he had at the time he determined that the manner of death was a
suicide but Christen Uncle brand and aunt delin say the more they learned about the facts of the case the more
questions they had when I heard that it was a Gun there's no way we knew Kristen
was scared of guns Kristen was also very very private in her body very modest when I found out she was not
dressed that was shocking to me reflecting on Chris 's relationship with Colby brand and delin told authorities
that for years they were bothered by what they say was col's controlling Behavior if she didn't immediately
respond to a text or wasn't able to answer her phone he would get very frustrated with her he wanted her at his
beckon call at the time the Rises say they told Kristen they had serious concerns about
Colby we know that she was not happy with us I believe that he convinced her that we were against her and therefore
she separated herself somewhat Kristen decided to marry Colby and eventually moved almost 300 miles
away to Kansas City but life for the couple was difficult says brand Kobe enlisted with
the Army Reserve and did odd jobs Kristen worked at a vet clinic money was tight in early 2019 the couple moved
back to the Hayes area and the r to say Kristen was coming to their church again
oh we were thrilled we were so thrilled to reconnect with Kristen and it was just
like it was when she lived in our home yeah and in the months before her death they say she was making plans to launch
her pet boarding business say she had picked out a little house that's south of town and has a little Barn behind it
and she wanted to turn the little Barn into the the boarding area to the rice family Kristen seemed happy and excited
for her future but after her death brand and delim wondered about Colby was Colby capable of murder
as investigators began digging into K's story they poured over the data in his cell phone well there's several I guess
two big aha moments they discovered kobby had been exchanging flirtatious Snapchat messages with another woman he
um had conversations with her which would be described as a sexy conversation also on that cell phone
according to detective JB Burkholder was evidence that contradicted what Kobe had
first told investigators when asked about life insurance on his wife I have some on
me from military but that's it cell phone data revealed that Not only was Kobe aware Christen was covered by a
life insurance policy called sgli for VES of military members in the days before her death they say he Googled the
amount the policy would pay out detective Ridgeway was able to find a well I believe was a screenshot of a
search that he had conducted uh 10 days prior to Kristen's death um asking what his spouse's life insurance would
be on November 4th 2019 investigators asked Colby to return for more questions name appro 10 days
ago you looked up a life insurance issue when when I I never did you did I never
did if if I if I would die no if your spouse died Colby who agreed to talk without a lawyer
suggested that Christen might have done the search herself on his phone we always gave each other access to each
other's funds and stuff investigators also asked kby about his online relationship kby admitted that it had
started a few months prior to his wife's death after he met the woman on a group
chat while playing video games did Christen find out about that relationship that I know Kobe told them
the relationship was a virtual one that he had never actually met the woman but invest instigators discovered he had
been texting with her just hours after Kristen's death while he was still at the police station I guess to his credit
he said that he was busy and couldn't talk right now uh but then he said I wish I could Aaron Cunningham is
assistant Ellis County attorney which is probably the last thing that you should
say to a woman you're having an online affair with when you're being investigated about your wife's death
when Kobe trickle left the police station after his second interview detective Burkholder checked out his
claim that Kristen had used his phone to research life insurance policies we were
able to uh get video surveillance video from the Walmart store what they discovered was that Kristen was at work
at Walmart at the time the cell phone search was made we were able to see that she didn't have access to a phone the
inconsistent IES in Kobe's statements kept piling up says Burk holder like this one she keeps the revolver on her
side Kobe had said Kristen had kept the 357 revolver by her side of the bed but that didn't seem to line up with what
Burk holders saw at the scene when we looked at the scene we saw multiple firearms on what was described as
Colby's side of the bed there were also photos of the couple's bedroom found on Colby's phone
so this picture was taken I believe um a month prior to Kristen's death um you see a large framed revolver on the bed
where Colby trickles uh described as being his and do you think that's the 357 that's the only 357 in the house
that we found that tells me that this was col's gun still the investigation stalled you
have all these investigators who are un covering more and more evidence that there's something really wrong with this
case and you've got the coroner who calls this a suicide I mean that's a problem isn't it uh it it is and it
isn't and it was initially was it sure it was certainly as far as their ability to investigate as efficiently as they
normally would Cunningham says that the Corner's determination that Kristen had died by Suicide limited the
investigator's ability to obtain search warrants there was still elements of the
investigation law enforcement wanted to follow up on in the winter of 2020 kobby
began collecting payouts from two insurance policies 23,000 from Walmart and $100,000 from the US military meanwhile
investigators contined to learn more about his time in the military he was a Reserve officer in the military
um that was never deployed wait so wait a minute so he was never deployed to Central America he had no overseas
deployments that were told to us by the United States military and he had no experience talking to informants as part
of his job as an intelligence analyst right but even with what looked like blatant lies and an apparent motive to
kill his wife police didn't arrest Colby so in the year after christen's death authorities watched as Kobe trickle went
on with his [Music] life it is very frustrating to me I would run into him in public playing music at a restaurant in
town made my skin crawl so whatever storm you're in keep pushing forward posting Facebook selfhelp videos get to
the outside where you're free and enjoy life but then nearly 2 years after Kristen's
death a newly elected County attorney decided to try something very new that he thought could put Kobe away for
[Music] Life County attorney Robert Anderson was just days into his new job in January of
2021 when assistant County attorney Aaron Cunningham and detective JB Burkholder
pulled him aside JB and I both cornered him and said this is something that's clearly homicide help us to get the
nails put in this coffin after reviewing the file Anderson believed that the coroner got it wrong and that this was a
homicide on July 14 2021 he charged Kobe trickle with the murder of his wife certainly the insurance money provides
motive in addition being in bed next to your husband naked shooting on in the face after having set alarms uh to get
up the next day for work after setting out candy for Halloween these circumstances don't point to a woman who
was planning a suicide hey uh you you step out of the car and come to the back of the car with me when police arrested
Kobe he didn't seem surprised uh detectives I have some questions for you place you under arrest you turn around
put your hands behind your back sure and Deni killing Kristen I didn't do it and I know you I
know many people don't believe that and I respect that I believe him you don't believe that he would shoot his wife I
do not Cassie Ziggler is one of Kobe trickle's defense attorneys he cares about his spiritual life he's a devoted
Christian I don't see that in him this ability to connive and plan all of this instead she says Kristen had suffered
from depression since childhood I think that Kristen dealt with a lot more pain in her life than people acknowledged I
don't think there's any worse rejection in life than to be rejected by your biological mother at an early age that's
exactly what happened Kobe's attorney felt confident going into the trial the coroner was standing by his assessment
that Kristen's death was a suicide you had the ability you had the power to change this determination if you wanted
to prior to trial yes you could have but you didn't if I've made a determination am I going to change it to
homicide based on an accusation before court proceeding no so County attorney Anderson knew he
had to do something to convince a jury that Kristen didn't die by Suicide and that's when he pursued a different type
of autopsy a psychological one an autopsy of the mind and to conduct it Anderson hired a forensic psychologist
Dr Ashley Christensen her job to determine Christan state of mind leading up to her death being unable to speak
with them because because they're of course no longer here they have to speak with their family their friends their
co-workers they review any social media Diaries journals um anything that they can christenson's conclusions would
eventually take center stage at Kobe trickle's trial it was September 2023 of the jury and prosecutor
Cunningham began by telling the jury that Christ trickle was murdered for the oldest reasons in the world this case is
a simple as a b c a an affair b a breakdown control and C Cold Hard Cash Kobe's attorney disputed that you
may proceed whenever you're ready zler thank you your honor Cassie Ziggler says Kobe's alleged Affair was really just an
online flirtation I don't think there was a plan to have this long longterm intimate
affair she also denies that Kobe plotted to kill Kristen for cash and about that
Google search into the life insurance payout zegler says Kobe doesn't remember doing that search but she acknowledges
he had been filling out paperwork around that time for his own military life insurance and if he did do it maybe
that's why it's just a coincidence that this is happening days before unfortunately so yeah bad
timing at trial the jury learned that Kobe trickle had not only collected more than
$120,000 from two life insurance policies on his wife he had already gone through it I think he had spent all of
the money in approximately 8 months what did he spend the money on when detective JB Burkholder took the
stand he was asked to describe one expenditure in particular say $1,942 payment to true touch dolls were
you able to determine what that was this is a company that made manufactur and distributes life-size sex
dolls col's attorney says Colby was having trouble sleeping alone and was quite open about the purchase he went
and talked to his mother about it if you're going to buy yeah if you're going to buy a sex toy a grown man's not going
to go talk to his mother about this sex doll he's going to buy what was your reaction to that disgusted just
disgusted it was described at trial that he needed this doll for comfort for comfort and warmth we have electric
blankets that we use for that when Brandt rice took the stand he told the jury that his niece had become more
assertive in her relationship with her husband in the months before her death I feel that she had really begun to stand
up for herself we were proud of her for that and there were texts as Cunningham that seemed to support that Kobe feared
he was losing control over Kristen on April 8th 2019 when Kobe texted that Kristen seemed different and pushy with
things she responded I'm just deciding to stick up for myself just like you I'm taking control of the situation
and then prosecutors called their star witness Dr Ashley Christensen around the time of her death
there was a lot of data suggesting that she had a lot of Hope Dr Christensen testified that Kristen talked to family
members about future plans and seemed optimistic she wanted to open her own either pet boarding or or dog grooming
business and had discussed his goal for opening her business but Christensen also testified that She interviewed
Colby for her report and he offered what sounded like a reason why Kristen might
have been stressed he told the doctor Kristen knew about his online relationship with that other woman he
reported that they had lost his best at relationship the week of her bad but remember in his police interview Colby
had told investigators that he didn't think Kristen knew did Kristen find out about that
relationship that I know so which is it did she know or she didn't know I believe she
knew whether or not Kristen knew Dr Christensen told the jury she believed that at the time of her death Kristen
was at a low risk for suicide it is my opinion that it is relatively less likely that her death
was the result of suicide I love those words relatively less likely that doesn't tell me
anything we can't know the mind of someone who's going to end their life defense attorney Ziggler does not think
the report should have been allowed in his evidence she points out that Dr Christensen who never met Kristen
trickle did interviews and prepared her report nearly two years after Kristen's death and Zigler believes people's
memories change over time that is a long time to go back and talk to people about
Kristen but prosecutors thought there was another piece of evidence that could bring them a guilty
verdict what do you think is the most powerful evidence against Colby trickle chat now with the 48 Hours team on
Facebook [Music] andex nearly four years have passed since Kristen trickle died from a
gunshot wound to her head how would you describe the last 4 years hellish on September 22nd
2023 it was Kobe trickle's last chance to convince a jury that he had nothing to do with his wife's death he decided
not to testify but his attorney Cassie Ziggler called his mother Tina C her to the stand is it fair to say that
Christen was pretty reserved at first when you met her yeah very to herself kryer described her daughter-in-law as a
woman who rarely revealed her feelings couldn't read her very um emotionless it's a drastically different
Kristen says attorney Ziggler than the one her family describes by their explanation just the happiest most
joyful person never stops smiling she almost is walking on water I mean when the reality is we have no idea how she's
really feeling now you find out he's having an emotional relationship with someone else online I just I can imagine
that being the last straw but in his final argument to the jurors prosecutor Aaron Cunningham shows them the weapon
that killed Kristen and says she couldn't have fired it members of the jury just doesn't add up in state is
going to demonstrate it to you prosecutor Cunningham showed us with a similar gun if you look at the autopsy
photos you see a little divot at the 3:00 Mark which is believed by the coroner to be the sight imprint of the
gun that and I knew Kristen was right-handed the Natural Way a right-handed person would hold a gun to
their head for suicide would be something like this or maybe something like this putting the site Mark
somewhere between 9:00 and 6:00 so for the sight Mark to have wound up over at the 3:00 angle would be very unnatural
Cunningham showed us how he believes Kobe trickles shot his wife while she slept next to him it would be consistent
with the placement of the sight Mark that he would have grabbed the gun from his nightstand rolled over in bed and
place the gun just underneath her chin and pull the trigger so if you keep it here than this then would explain
appears on her neck here as the case went to the jury seigler had hoped that they would still have too many doubts
how significant is it the fact that the coroner went to trial still saying it was a suicide when the the prosecutors
are saying it's a homicide yeah it's huge we have to show doubt that's reasonable and I think there's plenty of
that do you that's what christen's family feared as well all they have to do is convince one
of those 12 that they have a reasonable doubt what are we going to do if he walks out
a free man they don't have to wait long less than 2 hours later there was a verdict count one we the jury find the
defendant guilty of premeditated murder in the first degree of christen triple kobby trickle was found guilty for
first-degree premeditated murder an interference with law enforcement falsely reporting
information what do you remember of the verdict what did you hear just feeling like I could breathe yeah just feeling
of breath the relief for safety for our family I feel like we got our life back yeah after the verdict we spoke with
coroner Lyall Nord hook who said he planned to amend Kristen trickle's death certificate to Now read
homicide he admitted he had decided on suicide before talking to anyone in Kristen's family or seeing the weapon
used to kill her but I'm a little surprised wouldn't that have been important for you to make to know the
size of the weapon to be able to make your death investigation determination the police should have all that
information and it's usually correlated with the pathologist but it wasn't in this case the fact that he had done
research on insurance were you aware of that no were you aware that they found evidence that he was having an online
Affair no they didn't share that with me either if you had known that would you have left that as suicide no
investigators acknowledge they should have done a better job keeping him informed on November 20th 2023
Kobe trickle returned to court for sentencing admitting only that he could have been a better husband something
that I cannot apologize for is harming Chris that morning because I cannot apologize for what I didn't do
regardless of that fact I still take partial blame for that morning I always wonder if she would still be here out I
that her husband judge Glenn braa senten Kobe Trickle the court will sentence you
to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years with k trickle in prison the Rises
say their family is finally beginning to grieve the young woman gone way too soon Kristen's Cousin Chloe who grew up
with Kristen wrote a song for [Music] her goodbye how often do you think about Kristen all
the time every day every day you know we drive by that little house the house where Kristen one day
hoped to start her dream business you call it Kristen's house don't you yeah she had a
future she had found her faith again when you were with her you felt loved a beautiful heart a gentle gentle
spirit and she was just an amazing girl now I'm youe [Music] a well-known respected detective his
wife is shot dead everyone was in a State of Shock he's a suspect but the prosecution has a problem a family of a
victim sticking up for the accused murder of their loved one he couldn't have killed her could he 48 hours
Saturday on CDs and streaming on Paramount Plus [Music]

A Kansas woman is found dying from a gunshot wound. Evidence at the scene doesn’t add up, so a prosecutor gets creative. "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

Kristen Trickle's death ruled a suicide, but evidence leads to her husband's murder conviction after a lengthy investigation.

Key points

The Mysterious Death of Kristen Trickle. Kristen Trickle's death on Halloween morning raises questions of suicide versus homicide.
Colby's Alibi Under Scrutiny. Colby Trickle's actions after Kristen's death lead to suspicions about his involvement.
New Evidence Emerges. Investigators uncover Colby's flirtatious messages and life insurance searches before Kristen's death.
Charges Filed After Two Years. A new county attorney charges Colby with murder, believing the coroner was wrong.
Kobe Trickle's Trial. Kobe Trickle's trial reveals shocking details about his wife's death and his alleged motives.
Verdict Delivered. The jury finds Kobe Trickle guilty of first-degree murder after a tense trial.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

This can't be right, that doesn't even make sense.

Kristen's aunt reacts to the news of her death.

7:15WatchMay 3, 2024

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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