Early on Halloween morning 2019, Colby Trickle called 911 saying his wife of 26 years, Kristen Trickle, shot herself at their home in Hays, Kansas. Sergeant Brandon Hauptman of the Hays Police Department was the responding officer. After talking to Colby Trickle and observing the scene, he became suspicious. Hauptman wondered if Colby Trickle had anything to do with his wife’s death. But three days later, coroner Dr. Lyle Noordhoek ruled Kristen Trickle’s death a suicide. Colby Trickle was free to move on with his life., but investigators continued working on the case.

Colby Trickle, who was in the Army Reserve, collected 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 the insurance payment.

Detective Joshua “JB” Burkholder told “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty, “There’s a grieving process that I think everyone has to go through (should go through when a loved one dies) and that he asks this type of doll just a few months later. His wife’s death was troubling.” The investigation into Colby Trickle’s expenses is part of this week’s new broadcast, “Kristen Trickle: Autopsy of the Mind,” airing Saturday, April 27 at 10/9c on CBS and on Paramount+.

When Kristen Trickle’s aunt, Delynn Rice, found out about the doll, she told Moriarty, “I was horrified that he would use Kristen’s life insurance money for a sex doll. It was like he bought a replacement with his money.” . “.

Ellis County Deputy Prosecutor Aaron Cunningham told “48 Hours” that Colby Trickle spent the $120,000 in insurance money in about eight months. In addition to purchasing the life-size sex doll, she also spent thousands of dollars on video games, paying off debt, and purchasing music equipment in hopes of becoming an artist.

Colby Trickle would be free for nearly two years as investigators build a case against him. Hauptman told “48 Hours” that he saw Colby Trickle right after reporting that Kristen Trickle had shot herself in the head. Hauptman says that although Colby Trickle appeared to be mourning the death of his wife, there were certain aspects of the scene that he thought were unusual. Kristen Trickle was wearing only underwear and told “48 Hours” that although it happens, it is unusual for women to complete a suicide that causes injuries to their face. Hauptman added that the gun found at the scene appeared large for her to have fired.

Another red flag for police was the alarm on Kristen Trickle’s phone that kept ringing at the location that morning. Burkholder remembers silencing him. “I had set an alarm to get up, get ready to go to work, and I had plans for that day. A lot of times, people 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 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 the intelligence work he claimed to have done for the military and his tours in the Middle East and Central America, but when investigators asked the military, they were told that Colby Trickle had never been deployed overseas or outside the country. . Investigators say his lies, along with inconsistencies at the scene, made them more suspicious of 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 first-degree murder and interfering with law enforcement. At his trial in September 2023, prosecutors told the jury about Colby Trickle’s purchase of sex dolls. His mother, Tina Kreutzer, took the stand as a defense witness. She told the jury that Colby Trickle was having nightmares and trouble sleeping after his wife’s death and says the doll was for warmth and comfort, and that she didn’t believe it was for sex.

After hearing Colby Trickle’s mother testify, Kristen Trickle’s uncle Brant Rice told “48 Hours” that he was “disgusted. Just disgusted.” And as for the doll’s need to provide warmth and comfort, he said, “We have electric blankets that we use for that.”

Jurors would eventually hear from Dr. Ashley Christiansen, a psychologist hired by the prosecution to perform a psychological autopsy on Kristen Trickle, essentially to analyze her mental state before her death. Christiansen concluded that it was unlikely that Kristen Trickle would have taken her own life.

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