Woman sentenced to 25 years for poisoning her boyfriend because she thought she had inherited $30 million

A North Dakota woman was sentenced to 25 years in prison for poisoning her boyfriend after mistakenly believing he had inherited $30 million and was planning to break up with her, officials said.

Ina Thea Kenoyer, 48, was convicted of killing Steven Riley Jr., 51, who died last year of ethylene glycol poisoning, the same poison found in antifreeze.

Stephanie Gonzalez, Riley’s sister, told Kenoyer during the court hearing in Minot that she was lucky to receive such a lenient sentence, KXMB reports.

“As so many other victims’ families often find, the punishment should fit the crime,” Gonzalez said of her brother’s killer. “But luckily for you, the Department of Corrections doesn’t put antifreeze in your iced tea.”

State District Judge Richard Hagar sentenced Kenoyer last Wednesday to 25 years after she pleaded guilty in May, with an additional 10 years of supervised probation and $3,455 in restitution paid to Riley’s family, according to court documents.

But in a tragic twist, there was probably no inheritance at all.

Officials said Kenoyer poisoned Riley just hours after learning from an email he received that he would supposedly inherit $30 million.

But Ryan Riley, the victim’s 21-year-old son, told The Post that the couple had unknowingly fallen victim to online scams and that no money was ever forthcoming.

During a meeting with the so-called estate attorney on September 3, 2023, Riley became ill and the next day, paramedics arrived at his home and found him unresponsive. He was pronounced dead on September 5.

Kenoyer told police that Riley had been drinking alcohol all day and had suffered heat stroke in the days leading up to his death, the affidavit said.

She told police she planned to share Riley’s alleged $30 million inheritance with his son, claiming that as his wife she was entitled to a share of it. However, North Dakota does not recognize such relationships.

The case was one of many in the US at the time in which husbands were accused of poisoning their partners.

The same month as the Riley case, Dr. Connor Bowman, a poison specialist and former doctor at the famed Mayo Clinic, accused of poisoning his wife amid marital problems.

He allegedly attempted to have her body cremated immediately while planning to cash in on a $500,000 life insurance policy.

Five months before these cases, Utah mother Kouri Richins was accused of inflicting a deadly fentanyl-laced Moscow mule on her husband the day before cashing in on a $2 million mansion she hoped to sell.