Featured Image Credit: Kansas Department of Corrections/Family handout
Topics: News, US News, Crime, Sex and Relationships, Money
Niamh Shackleton
Topics: News, US News, Crime, Sex and Relationships, Money
Warning: This article contains discussion of suicide which some readers may find distressing.
A husband who was eventually found guilty of murdering his wife bought a sex doll with her insurance money.
On the morning of Halloween 2019, Colby Trickle called 911 after supposedly waking up to find his wife Kristen was dead.
According to Colby, his wife had taken her own life. She was found by police with a gunshot wound to the head.
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The gun supposedly used to kill herself was led on her stomach.
While Colby suggested it was suicide, police had their suspicions from the very beginning.
Following Kristen's sudden passing, Colby - an army reserve - received a $120,000 insurance payout.
According to investigators, just days after receiving the payout the bereaved husband forked out $2,000 on an expensive life-size sex doll, something which they found 'concerning'.
Speaking to 48 Hours correspondent Erin Moriarty, Detective Joshua Burkholder said: "There's a mourning process that I think everyone needs to go through - should go through when a loved one dies - and to have him ordering this type of doll just months after his wife's death was concerning."
Meanwhile Kristen's aunt was 'appalled' that Colby spent the money on the NSFW item and suggested that he 'bought a replacement of her with her money', CBS News reported.
As well as the sex doll, Colby's said to have spend the large sum of money on things like video games, paying off debts, and buying music equipment in hopes of becoming a performer.
He reportedly spent all $120,000 in just eight months.
Colby was a free man for almost two years following Kristen's tragic death while prosecutors built up a case against him.
One red flag that investigators noted was that on the day the 26-year-old woman died, she'd set a phone alarm to get up for work as usual - implying that she'd planned to go about her day she she normally did.
"She had set an alarm to get up, to get ready for work, and had plans for that day," Detective Burkeholder recalled. "A lot of times, individuals who are thinking about suicide and do [take their own life] - they don't have any plans for the day. They're not setting alarms. It doesn't matter when they get up."
It wasn't until July 2021 that Colby was charged with Kristen's murder and during his trial last year, his mother stood as a witness and insisted that the sex doll he purchased after his wife's death was simply 'for warmth and comfort'.
Taking everything into account that was presented to them, the jury went on to find Colby guilty and in November 2023 he was sentenced to life imprisonment.
If you or someone you know is struggling or in a mental health crisis, help is available through Mental Health America. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org. You can also reach Crisis Text Line by texting MHA to 741741.