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

[Music] there's definitely Mysteries involved in this case it was a cold Halloween morning
even had some snow on the ground that call came out at 5:37 in the morning my wife sh
kobat 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's 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 got a going to start CPR you have a PO 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 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] go 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 was 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 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 Kobe 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 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 PSE but felt nothing and then
picked the revolver off her body where was the gun at it was laying by your neck I P it back
what did you do with the guy for a moment he says he thought about taking his own life I started put my
head but I was on the phone they said they wereing saying People Help thought may
can help her while Kobe was still at the station Kristen's aunt delin and uncle Brandt
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 Kobe 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 Brandt W 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 brand say she thrived she
loved being with our family she loved the peace in our home Chloe is Brandt and dein's daughter Kristen was my older
sister figure in my life and I really looked up to her and 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 after death and so they think about that and there was something else when I
got there I remember 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 doesn't matter when they
get up there was candy set out in the kitchen area she and Colby had planned for Halloween 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 Ines 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 movie stuff right there first impressions of kobby trickle it's
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 kobby says he called 911 and as he later told police
he picked up the gun and thought about ending his life what trouble Burkholder 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 Christen 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 Lyall 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 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 Rices 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 haze 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
Kobe's story they poured over the data in his cell phone there's several I guess two big aha moments they
discovered Kobe had been exchanging flirtatious Snapchat messages with another woman he um had conversations
with her which would be described as a SE 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 Kristen was covered by a life insurance policy called sgli for bces 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 it 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 kobby 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 well if your spouse died Colby who agreed to talk without a lawyer
suggested that Kristen 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 Kristen find out about that relationship I know Hobie 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 col's
side of the bed there were also photos of the couple's bedroom found on col'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 wasn't 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 Christen
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 kby 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 milit milary 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 informs 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 Kristen death authorities watched as Kobe trickle went on with his
life foolish is very frustrating to me I would run into him in public playing music at a restaurant in
town being 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 Howen 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 put 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 kobby 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 CO'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 Christen 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 never of the jury and prosecutor Cunningham began by telling the jury
that christon trickle was murdered for the oldest reasons in the world this case is a simp 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 Z
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 long-term intimate affair she also denies that
Kobe plotted to kill Kristen for cash and about that Google search into the life insurance payout Zigler 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 a $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
dos Kobe's attorney says Kobe 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 CET 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 discussed that relationship the week of her dad
but remember in his police interview Kobe had told investigators that he didn't think Kristen knew did Kristen
find out about that relationship I so which is it did she know or she didn't know I believe she
knew whether or not Christen 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 as 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 Ziggler 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 and [Music] X 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 trickles 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 chist
was pretty reserved at first when you met her yeah very to herself Chrysler 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 this doesn't add up 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 sight 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
site 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
Kristen'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 chrisen triple
Colby trickle was found guilty for first-degree premeditated murder and 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 coron 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 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 risers 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 [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 the 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 CBS and streaming on Paramount Plus [Music] welcome to postmortem I'm your host
anarie green today we're talking about the murder of Kristen trickle a 26-year-old woman who died from a
gunshot wound to the head but did Kristen pull the trigger or was her husband Colby trickle capable of murder
with me to discuss the case is correspondent Aon morard producer asena bassek and field producer Iris Carreras
welcome guys thank you so much hi hi andry hello we always love to talk about cases that have some very unusual
aspects and so if you have not listened or watched this episode I urge you to go
back uh the episode is Kristen trickle autopsy of the mind you're going to find it just below this podcast in your feed
so check it out and listen and then come back but if you have let's get started something a little unusual Aaron what
sets this hour apart from others this season I think the main reason why we did this story was that we encountered
something we had never ever encountered in a case before and it was something that was called a psychological
evaluation essentially an autopsy of the Mind where the prosecution hired a forensic psychologist to talk to
everyone in the victim's life um to try to determine what was her State of Mind leading up to her death the psychologist
Dr Christensen talked to kby and members of his family and talk to christen's friends and family she interviews many
people in christen's life she also looks at Medical Records journals Diaries um her legal past if she had any
convictions she just tries to review everything that's possible out there to review uh that'll give her any idea
about who Kristen was um leading up to her death yeah and Erin you have the document this Psych olcal assessment and
it's pretty thorough oh absolutely and what she does is she kind of weighs against the risk factors what makes you
more likely to be depressed or maybe consider taking your life against the protective factors the things that would
keep you from taking actions like that so I'd said to you that I was a little suspicious of this and I was surprised
that they allowed it this report to be entered in as evidence and part of it had to do with you don't know what's in
other people's minds we often present ourselves differently in public than you know maybe the way we feel inside and I
just thought we don't know what happened in those Final hours of her life with her with her relationship with her
husband yeah nobody knows the last 48 hours of Kristen's life except for Colby except for Colby right um so her family
um saw her three days before her death so they're not really sure what was there a huge fight uh we don't know any
details about the night before other than what Colby had had told investigators so there's a bit of a
information Gap there um in the report and complicating it is that this psychologist didn't start interviewing
people till nearly two years after Kristen died um so the defense in this case as you can imagine um Kobe trickle
uh defense as you know people's memory they're changed they're degraded after two years so or something stays in their
head that may not be accurate also they're going through a grieving process so that makes it harder for people I
think um to give a fair assessment two years later ultimately do we know why the judge determined that this report
was valuable was essential I think what made this so controversial was the fact that um the defense objected to allowing
in a report when this psychologist never got to talk to Kristen herself I mean it's often done with defendants and they
are alive and they're able to talk to psychologists it's rare for someone to be hired to try to figure out what was
in the State of Mind of the victim uh you can't talk to the victim and in this case what the defense really objected to
was that she didn't interview anyone until almost two years later it's almost like putting together a puzzle with with
a piece missing in the middle the most important piece yeah the psychologist does not say suicide or homicide I guess
the conclusion of the report was that it is relatively less likely that Miz trickle's death was the result of
suicide so I think the Judge felt that this was not a determination of homicide or suicide the big question I think was
how much did it influence the jury you know even if they only hear it's relatively less likely do they then take
the word of a PHD psychologist who had interviewed people on both sides and do they take that as a determination but I
think I I have to say I know you have your questions about it I found the report so helpful I'm taking this report
with me um as a reporter to analyze every case that I run into when there's a question between homicide and suicide
I found it very helpful of according to Kristen's family they don't believe that
she killed herself because she was planning for her future she was excited about a business that she wanted to
start boarding animals she was looking at at that cute little house was there any evidence at all any warning signs
that she had consider taking her own life not that it seemed to be clear to the prosecution or or really even the
defense couldn't there was evidence that Kobe trickle had at times talked about I
had suicide I mediations but not with Kristen and in fact there were all these signs that she was thinking about the
future she was plan to go to her grandmother's house and decorate a Christmas tree the next day she didn't
plan to have someone take the dogs the only big question was did she know about the online relationship I I think their
marriage was less than perfect they had a lot of financial issues and they had just gotten back from Kansas City so
they were living in Kansas City and was a little bit isolated uh living about 300 miles away from Hayes Kansas where
um Kristen's family was after Kristen came back to Hayes she was reconnecting with her family she was back at her
church she had future plans long-term and short term so those are the things that Dr Christensen looked at to see if
she would be suicidal uh towards the end of her life and she decided was less likely looking at all of that yeah there
was a lot made of the fact that she had planned yes and her you know one of the things that cops noticed right away when
they got to the house is they heard her alarm going off that really struck me yes very eerie and that's that was
actually recorded on the police body cam you hear it it's very so would she if she thought she was taking her life that
night set her alarm why would you set your alarm and it wasn't just once she had multiple alarms set you're right
here's the big here's the big question we can't answer the investigators can't answer so Kobe was having some kind of
online virtual relationship did Kristen know about it at one point he tells the psychologist she did know uh that she
had known that week but he told the police she didn't know and col's a liar anybody who watches the show knows that
Colby doesn't always tell the truth and so that's the big mystery here so I imagine they must have searched through
her phone looked for text messages any indication that maybe she shared this concern with family or friends no huh no
as you mentioned in the hour the death certificate listed Kristen's death as a suicide and this actually really limited
investigators ability to obtain warrant which was new to me I didn't realize that that could happen was there any
evidence that Colby was I don't know like a violent person or that he abused Kristen the coroner actually at the
scene looked for signs of abuse or signs that something had happened that night any kind of marks on her body and he did
not see any he took Kobe's word that Kobe woke up uh with his ears ringing and found his wife dying next to him um
with a single gunshot wound the gun had not been held right up against her chin but close enough that it was consistent
in the Corner's mind with suicide so he went with that what we learned from speaking with him was that he never did
see the weapon because the weapon had been taken um he did not get to talk to Kristen's family um and the
investigators did not share everything they could have with him so three days after he's at the scene the corner rules
suicide so something that was not in the hour was this essay that Colby wrote and
he gave it to Kristen's Uncle Brent rice and in the essay you know he talks about
his life he talks about his childhood in detail it's pretty long he wrote this essay so that uh christen's Uncle can
get to know him a little more and he described a situation when he was younger um with his father he had a very
tumultuous relationship with his father and they were out hunting and um there was a moment when he thought that he
might shoot his father but then he backed out and he describes that and that was very alarm ing to BR rice kby
goes into more detail later on uh during that day he he goes back home and he thinks about uh killing himself he picks
up a gun he puts it in in his head and pulls the trigger and the bullet somehow gets stuck um so he doesn't end up
taking his own life but uh his suicide ideation was also mentioned in that essay he wrote that did not get into the
trial but of course as you can imagine it really worried Kristen's a uncle and they were very worried about her
marrying him after that um but she married him anyway and so of course even though her death occurs five years later
they keep thinking back when he had thought about he wrote down he gave it to her uncle so he wanted his her uncle
to see it where he' actually talked about thinking about killing his own dad and so you can imagine that that
definitely played a part in her family's view that this was a murder not a suicide um the investigators right away
are not kind of they're not buying suicide did they and I don't think this was in the hour did they check to see if
there was any residue on his hand anything to indicate that he had been holding the gun there was justr
everywhere so all over the room I mean they were in the bed together so um gunshot res gunshot residue uh from what
we found out from the prosecutors uh it just wasn't any reliable evidence uh to include in the trial because GSR was as
I said everywhere if he's lying that close to her even if she was holding the gun he would get gunshot residue on him
as well so that that wasn't admitted into evidence and I not to be morbid but it was 48 hours I assume like blood not
much blood there wasn't there wasn't an exit single just a single shot in fact when they first looked at her they were
uh surprised I mean she was fine except for that horrible wound below her yeah one of the officers said she looked
like she was sleeping peacefully with her arms on her side um 26 I don't know why that just breaks my heart when I
hear those details so young so much potential for both of them you know I mean I don't know what was happening in
their marriage but both of them could have called it quits and restarted because they were so young um so it's
such a shame it's say plus anyone who likes animals you know I got a soft spot for them because I'm an animal lover the
coroner testified at trial yes and he was steadfast yes it was still a suicide but um you know it wasn't that oh I know
it's a suicide he just said that is how I rule based on what I saw the scene he said um state of cancas requires you to
make a determination within 3 days on the death certificate but he had the option to keep that as pending as well
and he didn't do that he still checked the suicide box he could have checked it on the
termit welcome back at trial prosecutors show text messages from Colby and Christen alleging their relationship
could be both loving but also toxic in your reporting what else did you learn about those text messages it did appear
when you read those messages and I I think my colleagues will agree that she opened up more to him than to anybody
else yes she really she loved him but I also think they would agree and they can
speak more on this there was a real controlling tone on his part on those messages wouldn't you say yeah yeah like
he was asking her very intimate questions about her life before him but it was very obvious that she did love
him and Colby admits in those text messages that he likes control what made me really sad when I read through them
and that's what one of the hard parts of our job I think sometimes is that when someone dies you know all of a sudden
their private messages become public information and remember they're very young and he's questioning her about any
man she's been with in the past and she doesn't have much of an experience so it's kind of heartbreaking to read where
she's talking about really very little contact with other men and she may have had one really bad experience and he's
pushing her on it and that made me incredibly sad yeah actually I have at least part of the text message exchange
and Kristen says in this text message please tell me what I've been doing wrong I will be waiting and he says it's
about you being lovey-dovey with other people all right controlling Kristen later says I'm not talking with anyone
so I have nothing to hide I'm tired of hurting you so do what you need to do to feel better just don't shut me out he
says no I shouldn't have to monitor your actions connections and whereabouts just
to make myself feel better I have enough things to worry about without that on my
mind as well and it does sound a little condescending it does sound like a an adult talking to a child and you should
know better and that he thinks he has to to monitor her yeah so that is of course
an issue that came up at trial uh because the prosecution when they talk about the three motives they say for
murdering her um one of them was loss of control another one was Cash um and the
other one was his virtual relationship with another woman but control was part of it according to the prosecution he
felt that he was losing control of his wife that relationship was that anything really the online one the the the texts
are pretty pretty um explicit Kobe trickle was uh in an online relationship with this woman and she testified a
trial I would think this was very uncomfortable for her because all of these very private sexually explicit
conversations were now part of the trial and the jurors had access to them and uh
yeah I I would assume this wasn't um comfortable for her to talk about Ain one of my favorite parts of the hour was
when you actually held at 357 uh revolver well I mean I have shot many guns um most mostly 9mm I think a lot of
women would agree that 9mm it's an easier gun to use it doesn't have as much of a a kick um so and i' never held
a 357 and so I was actually a little surprised by the weight of it and the idea that she would choose a gun that
heavy that large looked bar the barrel according to um the prosecution and investigators was 11 to 12 Ines long uh
but yes I was surprised so that was a very honest reaction when he gave me the replica it's a very similar gun I didn't
actually hold the actual gun um it it was Heavy yeah and Kristen was a was small um and it was dark when she did
this and she would have had to position this very large gun under her chin in the dark it just yeah I have not shot
many guns uh the last one was for 4 hour shoot but one of the things that always
surprises me is the amount of pressure needed to pull the trigger because when you watch it on TV it looks like very
simple but it's it's a lot of pressure depending on the gun and then if you're holding it in an awkward manner then
it's not as easy it's not like uh it's something that could happen by accident you know also shooting yourself in bed
next to your husband that was also a red flag for the prosecutors usually people
are private you don't usually do that that next to someone else yeah so Colby is talking but he's kind of changing his
stories his lies are piling up he tells investigators that Kristen was researching life insurance policies on
his cell phone because they're they're asking why is this on your cell phone and he says oh she was doing it but then
they find Surveillance footage of the exact time they see that she's working at Walmart she's not on the phone when
these searches are being conducted but to me the lies that really stood out the most and perhaps the most troubling were
the lies about his military service yeah he sometimes would tell untruths that didn't need to be told even when he
didn't need to and why that's such a problem is that jurors are always reminded you know what's the credibility
of a witness and even though he never took the stand the idea that he would not tell the truth about things that
could be checked makes his credibility very problematic even his own brother testified that he didn't always tell the
truth truth what's the jury supposed to think he was really into video games so we we had this uh thought that maybe he
played so much you know the video games became his world so he was living in this fantasy world and perhaps that's
where the military lies came in from and that's where he had full control as well
fascinating um in the year after uh Kristen's death kby trickle went on with his life what did authori say he was up
to um well he cashed out two life insurance policies he got about 120,000 from two different policies so
he paid off his debts to his credit but he also he splurged one of the purchases
was a a LIF siiz sex doll oh yes um true touch doll which I had to look up because i' never actually seen one I
still have never seen one in real life but I did see it online I've seen it online too for research
purposes yeah and he told his mother he wanted something um because he was having trouble sleeping so he needed
something for comfort so that's whyg dogs yeah they're very com and that thing was $2,000 $2,000 yeah and he he
bought that two days after he got the money from Kristen's uh life insurance two days later did did they admit that
into evidence like do we know what that doll looked like I saw a picture well we
have the bank statement and it says the the the name model if you will yeah the the where he got it from and then we
we've seen yeah I saw seen photos does it look I mean it it's pretty disturbing um it to me it looked like a kid it
wasn't very tall 53 maybe and it had no hair um and uh I was told that hair cost
extra interesting um yeah it it was an oddl looking thing when I was doing research um you know we spend a lot of
time on Facebook and when I was on kby trickle's page I realized that he had a different page for his 3D printing
business he bought a 3D printing machine with some of the life insurance money and he was trying to I guess start his
business um of printing things and he also went on with his lives he went he was performing he was a musician so he
played around in town in restaurants he also had a podcast he was giving people self-help advice you know he talked
about uh grief some seemed very optimistic he talked about pulling through the storm and coming out
in the other hand and uh moving on with life things like that goodness um wow you never know who's giving you advice
in January of 2021 a new County attorney Robert Anderson he took a look at the evidence against kobby trickle he
believed that the coroner reached the wrong conclusion and that Kristen's death was indeed a homicide in July of
2021 Colby was charged with the murder of his wife why did County attorney Robert Anderson decide no we're going to
trial before you take a case to trial you have to believe that you have the evidence to convince a jury Beyond a
reasonable doubt that this person did in fact kill his wife and the first da may
not have felt it but what's different it by this time is that Robert Anderson who
is the county attorney had decided to do that psychological evaluation and so that was the new evidence of
trial uh that the first uh first prosecutor did not have and so that really was the only new evidence an
analysis of uh the factors in her life uh Pro and Comm whether she would take her life and and then a decision by a
psychologist Cole ble was found guilty of first-degree murder premeditated murder and interference with law
enforcement for reporting false information he is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 50
years um any closing thoughts at all on this your biggest takeaway well my biggest takeaway is that I think other
jurisdictions will look at this idea of a psychological autopsy um and consider it because you would not believe well
actually you would Amory because you work with 48 Hours how many times we have these cases where where
investigators have to decide between homicide and suicide it's very difficult to determine at times I think there will
be other jurisdictions that at least try judges may not allow these evaluations in but I don't think this is the last
time we'll hear about a psychological autopsy well Ain asena Iris this has been great this is another 48 hours with
a Twist that I did not see coming I did not expect um so thank you so much ladies thank you thank you it was great
being here thank you [Music] so everyone join us next Tuesday for another postmortem watch 48 hours on
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and the wry app or the 48 Hours Plus subscription on Apple podcast

A prosecutor gets creative after a woman is found dying from a gunshot wound and evidence at the scene doesn't add up.

Watch "Kristen Trickle: Autopsy of the Mind" and then join "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty and producers Asena Basak and Iris Carreras on "Post Mortem" as they discuss the suicide-turned-homicide case of Kristen Trickle. They delve deeper into text messages between her and her husband, Colby, which prosecutors alleged showed his motive for murder. They also cover why Colby claimed he needed to buy a life-size sex doll with the insurance money he received after Kristen’s death.

00:00 Kristen Trickle: Autopsy of the Mind 41:53 Listen to a post-mortem on the episode

Listen to "Post Mortem" wherever you get your podcasts: https://apple.co/3YQjw6J

Crime. Social justice. Impact. "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 was murdered; her husband Colby was convicted after a psychological autopsy challenged the suicide ruling.

Key points

The Mysterious Death of Kristen Trickle. Kristen Trickle's death on Halloween raises questions of homicide versus suicide.
Colby Trickle's Alibi. Colby claims he found Kristen shot and called 911, but his actions raise suspicion.
The Investigation Unfolds. Detectives uncover evidence that contradicts Colby's story and suggests foul play.
Kobe Trickle's Trial Begins. The trial for Kobe Trickle begins with a focus on the psychological evaluation of Kristen.
Verdict Delivered. After less than two hours of deliberation, the jury finds Kobe Trickle guilty of murder.
Sentencing of Kobe Trickle. Kobe Trickle is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 50 years.

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.

7:21WatchNov 22, 2024

Tension

75/ 100High tension

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