Kansas murder suspect uses wife's life insurance payout to buy a sex doll

Early on Halloween morning 2019, Colby Trickle called 911 saying his 26-year-old wife, Kristen Trickle, shot herself in their home in Hays, Kansas. Sergeant Brandon Hauptman from the Hays Police Department was the responding officer. After speaking with Colby Trickle, and looking at the scene, he was suspicious. Hauptman wondered if Colby Trickle had something to do with his wife's death. But three days later, the coroner, Dr. Lyle Noordhoek, ruled Kristen Trickle's death a suicide. Colby Trickle was free to go on with his life, but investigators kept working the case.

Colby Trickle, who was in the Army Reserve, cashed in on two life insurance policies for his wife totaling more than $120,000. Investigators say he spent nearly $2,000 on a life-size sex doll just two days after receiving an insurance payout.


Detective Joshua "JB" Burkholder tells "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty, "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." The investigation into Colby Trickle's spending is part of this week's all-new broadcast, "Kristen Trickle: Autopsy of the Mind,"now streaming on Paramount+.

When Kristen Trickle's 's aunt, Delynn Rice, heard about the doll, she told Moriarty, "I was just appalled that he would use Kristen's life insurance money for a sex doll. It just was like he bought a replacement of her with her money."

Assistant Ellis County Attorney, Aaron Cunningham told "48 Hours" that Colby Trickle spent all $120,000 of the insurance money in about eight months. In addition to buying the life-size sex doll, he also spent thousands of dollars on video games, paying off debts, and buying music equipment in hopes of becoming a performer.

Colby Trickle would be free for almost two years while investigators built a case against him. Hauptman told "48 Hours" about seeing Colby Trickle right after he reported that Kristen Trickle had shot herself in the head. Hauptman says even though Colby Trickle appeared to be grieving his wife's death, there were certain aspects about the scene he thought were unusual. Kristen Trickle was only wearing underwear and he told "48 Hours" that although it happens, it is unusual for women to complete a suicide that causes injury to the face. Hauptman added that the gun found at the scene seemed large for her to have fired.

Unusual autopsy ordered in Kansas after crime scene divides investigators
Another red flag for police was Kristen Trickle's phone alarm that kept going off at the scene that morning. Burkholder remembers silencing 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 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 said.

Colby Trickle agreed to sit down and talk to investigators without a lawyer on several occasions. He shared detailed stories about intel work he claimed he did for the military and his tours to the Middle East and Central America, but when investigators inquired with the military, they were told Colby Trickle had never been deployed overseas or out of the country. Investigators say his lies, along with the inconsistencies at the scene, made them more suspicious about Colby Trickle's account of how Kristen Trickle died.

On July 14, 2021, 21 months after Kristen Trickle's death, Colby Trickle was charged with murder in the first degree and interfering with law enforcement. At his trial in September 2023, prosecutors told jurors about Colby Trickle's sex doll purchase. His mother Tina Kreutzer took the stand as a defense witness. She told jurors Colby Trickle was having nightmares and trouble sleeping after his wife's death and says the doll was for warmth and comfort — and she didn't think it was for sex.

After hearing Colby Trickle's mother testify, Kristen Trickle's uncle, Brant Rice, told "48 Hours" he was, "Disgusted. Just disgusted." And as far as needing the doll for warmth and comfort he said, "We have electric blankets we use for that. "

Eventually jurors would hear from Dr. Ashley Christiansen, a psychologist hired by the prosecution to conduct a psychological autopsy of Kristen Trickle, essentially to look into her state of mind before her death. Christiansen concluded Kristen Trickle was unlikely to have taken her own life.

A jury found Colby Trickle guilty. In November 2023, more than four years after Kristen Trickle died, he was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 50 years.

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"I was just appalled that he would use Kristen's life insurance money for a sex doll. It just was like he bought a replacement of her with her money."
A couple of thoughts here: First, it was not her money. Insurance payouts are the beneficiaries money not the person who died. A more apt and crushing statement would have been: "He traded her life for a sex doll." Second, I guess she did not have much of an opinion of Kristen if a sex doll is a replacement. (I realize this is cheap and callous but I am MARL right now and everything is pissing me off.)
"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 said.
I am obviously not arguing for innocence here but this is such a vague non-statement. What percentage? Where is he getting this information? Is it anecdotal?

Like how many people are depressed and just come home one day and hang themselves? Does their alarm for tomorrow matter? Do they think I should cancel lunch with Mom?
 
Yeah, there was a lot better evidence that the article doesn't get into (Link)

Motive:
View attachment 5944919

Wife is dying in front of him and he's more interested in talking gaming with the cops:
View attachment 5944920

Lied about military service for seemingly no reason and was collecting insurance on wife he lied about not having:
View attachment 5944921

Forensics made suicide unlikely:
View attachment 5944922
So the real takeaway here is that journos are fucking retarded and focus on the most useless bits of information when they type out their retardation.
 
I am obviously not arguing for innocence here but this is such a vague non-statement. What percentage? Where is he getting this information? Is it anecdotal?

Like how many people are depressed and just come home one day and hang themselves? Does their alarm for tomorrow matter? Do they think I should cancel lunch with Mom?
I don't know if they've ever run the numbers, but, I was told back in high school health class when the topic of mental disorders and suicide came up that a person suddenly canceling all plans out of the blue was an indicator of a suicide attempt.... Not just cancelling lunch, but, say they start to cancel all their magazine subscriptions, book clubs, social events, because they know they won't need them soon.....

Again, don't know if it's true, but it's "old wives knowledge" for sure.
 
I don't know if they've ever run the numbers, but, I was told back in high school health class when the topic of mental disorders and suicide came up that a person suddenly canceling all plans out of the blue was an indicator of a suicide attempt.... Not just cancelling lunch, but, say they start to cancel all their magazine subscriptions, book clubs, social events, because they know they won't need them soon.....

Again, don't know if it's true, but it's "old wives knowledge" for sure.
I am sure it is true but I am not sure that I would be convinced as a juror by alarms not being turned off alone or as the main argument.

It would be about as effective as: There was no sign of forced entry.

Like come on my dude that is really not convincing. Maybe the door was unlocked. Maybe the perp knew how to pick a lock or jimmy a door competently so they do not damage the frame. I used to do that shit all the time when I was a kid. I would forget my key and have to break into my own house. No one ever saw signs of forced entry or I would have heard about it.

Also, I am actually kind of curious what the breakdown is between a kind of gradual decommissioning vs Well I got fired today and my wife is going to leave me better eat my gun.
 
What the fuck, can you really just hire a psychologist to get on the stand and testify to the mental state of a person they never met?
That seems to be the real stretch here.
Also, life insurance pays out for suicide?
 
Yeah, there was a lot better evidence that the article doesn't get into (Link)

Motive:
View attachment 5944919

Wife is dying in front of him and he's more interested in talking gaming with the cops:
View attachment 5944920

Lied about military service for seemingly no reason and was collecting insurance on wife he lied about not having:
View attachment 5944921

Forensics made suicide unlikely:
View attachment 5944922
i hate journalists so much for leaving out the meat of the prosecution. googling the payout makes him guilty as fuck
 
The 48 Hours is up on YouTube:


Spoilers: he couldn't be more guilty, holy fuck, there's something very wrong with him to even imagine he could get away with a murder so blatant. It's one of those cases where you start feeling sorry for the defense lawyer. If you reach the end, the coroner admits he made the initial suicide diagnosis in an information vacuum and without knowing whether she was right handed or left handed. Trigger Warning: her cousin is armed with a ukulele.
 
So the real takeaway here is that journos are fucking retarded and focus on the most useless bits of information when they type out their retardation.
What you're seeing here is a great example of a stupid person trying to be smart.

Have you ever watched a TV show about a genius? Sherlock, House, etc? The way their genius is demonstrated is always that they pick up on incredibly tiny, seemingly insignificant details. It's never "I know he's guilty because the blood pattern matches a million other homicides and a suicide doesn't look like that", it's "I know he's guilty because the way he holds his pen is a special style that they teach in a Peruvian assassin's guild" or some stupid bullshit.

As a result, idiots think that obsessing over minutiae is smart person behavior. You see it all the time on Reddit. It's why Redditors can't help themselves but do that "charge your phone looooool" thing every single time someone posts a screenshot with a low battery. It makes them feel smart to ignore the subject of a picture and focus on shit that doesn't matter.
 
What you're seeing here is a great example of a stupid person trying to be smart.

Have you ever watched a TV show about a genius? Sherlock, House, etc? The way their genius is demonstrated is always that they pick up on incredibly tiny, seemingly insignificant details. It's never "I know he's guilty because the blood pattern matches a million other homicides and a suicide doesn't look like that", it's "I know he's guilty because the way he holds his pen is a special style that they teach in a Peruvian assassin's guild" or some stupid bullshit.

As a result, idiots think that obsessing over minutiae is smart person behavior. You see it all the time on Reddit. It's why Redditors can't help themselves but do that "charge your phone looooool" thing every single time someone posts a screenshot with a low battery. It makes them feel smart to ignore the subject of a picture and focus on shit that doesn't matter.
Not Shit Sherlock.png
Of all the sad words of tongue and pen, none are as sad as these: 4chan was right again.
 
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