- Female narrator: They were the perfect couple,
Living their golden years in a wilderness paradise.
- Nancy: People were drawn to her because of her smile,
Because she has kind of a giddy laugh.
- Ben: Hard work was his mantra.
You worked hard for what you wanted
And worked hard to get what you got.
- Kaye: They had a perfect marriage, a storybook marriage.
They had the kind of partnership that other people aspired to.
- Narrator: But one frigid morning,
Tragedy will alter the rest of their lives.
- Larry went below the surface and wasn't seen again.
- Narrator: Dark secrets lie beneath these icy waters.
- Hayley: This was a woman whose entire world,
Entire life was unraveling before her eyes.
- Nancy: Why on earth would you take off?
Why would you disappear? What are you doing?
- It really made you stop and think,
How well do I know my neighbor?
- ♪
- Narrator: February 13, 2018. Coeur d'alene, idaho.
A four-season playground for residents and visitors alike,
Coeur d'alene offers a lush sanctuary
For nature enthusiasts.
- We have lakes, mountains, skiing, hikish, ngfiing,
All the outdoor activities you possibly want.
- Narrator: The crown jewel of the region
Is lake coeur d'alene,
A vast, and eatabrthking expanse of water
More than 25 miles long and up to 200 feet deep.
- Hayley: Lake coeur d'alene
Is what continues to draw people to the area.
It is absolutely stunning every single season.
- Narrator: But on the morning before valentine's day,
The serenity of lake coeur d'alene would be pierced
By a woman's cries for help.
- Narrator: At 10:23 am dispatchers
At the coeur d'alene police department
Receive a panicked call from 64-year-old lori isenberg
About her husband, 68-year-old larry isenberg.
- Brad: She was reporting that she was out
On lake coeur d'alene
And that her husband had possibly had a stroke
And fallen overboard.
- She was obviously very distraught.
Uh, somewhat panic stricken, crying.
- Narrator: Though coeur d'alene is a tourist hub today,
This area is home to generations
Of proud loggers and mill workers.
Larry isenberg spent a lifetime carrying on that tradition.
- Virginia: Larry was very active in the community.
Old-time coeur d'alene person.
You know, you'd be hard-pressed 20 years ago not to have known
Larry isenberg from one function or another.
- Narrator: Born in 1950, larry joined the logging industry
After graduating from the university of idaho
With a degree in forestry.
- Ben: The lumber industry in times past certainly
Drew a type of person.
They were hard workers and hard players really.
They knew how to pick themselves up by the bootstraps.
Hard work was uh his mantra.
You worked hard for what you wanted and you worked hard to
Get what you got.
He wasn't the free handout sort of guy.
- Narrator: Larry met and fell in love with
A woman named ann in 1974.
The couple flourished in the bucolic backdrop
Of coeur d'alene
And had two children, jessica and dean.
- They were the kind of folks you could always count on
When you- if you were down.
They were uh "salt of the earth" type of folks.
- Hayley: He was a loving father.
He was a hard worker. He was the kind of person
You would have loved to have be your neighbor.
- I met larry in the early mid 90s
Through the chamber of commerce.
Everybody seemed to like larry. Larry was one of those peoe
Pl that always had a smile through thon his face. Commerce.
- Brad: Larry had been married for I believe
As much as twenty-nine years.
There was difficulties in the marriage and they stuck it out
Until uh their last child came of age,
And then ultimately broke that off.
- Narrator: Soon after his dircvoe,
Larry found his perfect match
At the coeur d'alene chamber of commerce,
A fiery blonde, who shared larry's passion for business,
50-year-old lori barnes.
- Nancy: She was good to people.
I think that people were drawn to her because of her smile,
Because she has, um, kind of, a giddy laugh.
- Narrator: Born in 1953,
Lori loveall came from humble beginnings.
- Virginia: She came from a sect of the lds religion.
However, her father, according to lori,
Often didn't have adequate funds,
And they often stayed the night in farmhouses.
Basically, didn't have a home to live in
So stayed where they could
Until they got caught and removed.
- Narrator: In 1973, when she was just 19,
Lori married stephen barnes.
The couple made building a family their top priority
And over the next decade, they had six daughters together.
- Nancy: I really felt like lori was really all about family and
All about doing the best that she could for all of them.
- Narrator: Citing irreconcilable differences,
Lori divorced her husband in 1996.
Shortly after, lori made a bold move and left the church
To be a single mother to her daughters.
She found a new home in coeur d'alene.
- I know that her, her daughters meant everything to her.
- Narrator: Lori began working as a self-employed liaison
For city councils in the northern idaho region
Eager to prove that she was a formidable businesswoman.
- Virginia: She often facilitated group meetings
For civic projects.
She was very active in the community
And very active in politics.
- Narrator: In 2004, eight years after lori's divorce
She settled down with newly single larry isenberg,
And their blended family didn't skip a beat.
- Kaye: By all accounts, they had a perfect marriage,
A storybook marriage.
They had the kind of partnership that other people aspired to.
- Narrator: By 2009, the isenberg's were pilars
Of coeur d'alene and bonded by love and family.
They used their good fortune to give back to the community.
- Larry ran the firesmart program here
Which helped clear land
And make sure that we could try to control wildfires.
- Narrator: Lori forged a different path
As executive director of the north idaho housing coalition.
- Kaye: The coalition purchases homes that have been foreclosed,
Hires contractors to renovate the homes,
And then either sells those homes or rents them
To low to moderate-income buyers.
- Nancy: Lori and larry lived a very comfortable life.
I'd be hesitant to say they were rich,
Bebu t cause of where they live, because of how they dress,
Because of the travels that they made,
Because of the cars that they drove.
They were living a lovely life.
- Narrator: The isenbergs were entering their golden years
On a pink cloud.
Until a cold day in February of 2018,
When larry isenberg suddenly disappeared
Into the frigid waters of lake coeur d'alene.
- Brad: The sheriff's deputies got there fairly quickly
Probably within fifteen minutes of receiving the call
They had arrived at lori's location on the lake
Where lori was floating alone distraught and crying.
- Kaye: Lori was a little banged up
When first responders located her.
She had a bloody nose.
Her blood was found in various parts of the boat.
- Barry: Lori isenberg said that she tripped
And sustained the bloody nose
During the time that she was running around
In the boat, trying to save larry isenberg.
- As first responders rush to the scene, obviously,
They were hopeful that they would be able to find larry.
But due to the time of year and the temperature of the water
It was likely going to be a recovery rather than a rescue.
- Narrator: Coming up...
The search for larry isenberg intensifies as questions emerge.
- Brad: Investigators began to take a sendco look at
Whether or not there's potential motive there.
- Narrator: How much deception could be lurking
Just beneath the surface?
- Ben: There was a newspaper article that morning where
She alleged to have embezzled
Several hundred thousand dollars.
- Nancy: It's one of those moments of shock,
I remember just shaking my head and telling my husband,
This just can't be.
This can't be happening.
- ♪
- Narrator: February 13, 2018.
Rescue teams are fanned out across lake coeur d'alene,
Hoping to find 68-year-old larry isenberg alive.
According to his wife, lori,
The couple were on an early morning cruise
When larry fell overboard.
- Brad: Coeur d'alene lake can be dangerous.
Probably the most dangerous part of the lake at that time of year
Is the water temperatures.
- Barry: I've been told that at the water temperature
On that day, which was approximately 38 degrees.
Someone could only survive for maybe up to a minute.
- You're going to succumb to hypothermia or-
Or drown or both.
- Narrator: With the search of the massive lake underway,
Lori is transported to shore to give a full account of
What happened on the boat.
- Nancy: They had gone out for a sunrise cruise
To make their way down the lake
To have breakfast at the coeur d'alene resort.
- Kaye: Lori told first responders that larry
Was looking at the motor.
Lori went on to say that he suddenly straightened up
And looked at her, and she said he just looked awful.
He had this look of confusion on his face,
And he collapsed and fell over the side of the boat.
- Brad: He leaned against the console and was experiencing
What she described as stroke symptoms.
- Barry: Lori isenberg indicated that she got up and tried to get
To larry isenberg to try to grab him in some fashion.
- Kaye: She was not able to reach him as he was falling
Or immediately after he fell.
- Ben: Larry went below the surface and uh,
Wasn't seen again.
- Kaye: Lori said that she wasn't able to call 911
Right away, because she had left her cell phone in the truck
When they parked to go launch the boat.
- Barry: She said that she
Couldn't find larry isenberg's phone
And believed that it may have gone into the lake with him.
- Narrator: Unable to summon help,
Lori continued to search for her husband.
- Kaye: She described going from log to log and driving around in
Kind of a fugue state for more than an hour
Before the motor gave out.
- Lori told us that as she moved about the boat uh she discovered
Larry's phone wrapped in a blanket.
- She eventually did make that 911 call
From larry's cell phone.
- Narrator: There is one detail of lori's account that would
Only stand out to seasoned residents of coeur d'alene.
- Barry: Lori isenberg's statement that she went
From log to log doesn't make sense
During this time frame.
- Brad: In the wintertime, particularly around that time
Of year in February, there really isn't that many, uh,
Floating objects in the lake.
- As someone who is familiar with the area and familiar with
The lake, she would have known that there were occupied houses
That she was steering past.
That there would have been a number of docks
Where she could have stopped.
There were points when she would have been able to see cars
Driving past on the roadway.
But at no point did she attempt to utilize any of those
Resources to contact help.
- Narrator: Despite the lingering questions,
It appears to detectives
That lori is genuinely shaken by the events.
- Narrator: At this point, investigators have no reason
To suspect lori of foul play.
By all accounts, their marriage was on solid ground.
- I wasn't aware of conflict between she and larry.
As I understood and as I saw them, they were a loving couple.
- Their kids described them as soulmates.
- Narrator: The very same morning that larry isenberg
Disappears, a startling headline hits the local newsstands.
- Ben: There was a newspaper article that morning where lori
Was alleged to have embezzled
Several hundred thousand dollars.
- Narrator: And what's worse, lori is accused of defrauding
The very non-profit she worked for.
- Brad: The sheriff's office was notified
By the coeur d'alene police department
That they were actually involved in an investigation
Related to possible theft of funds from the organization
That lori worked for.
There were accounting irregularities that were
Discovered by the accountant that was assigned to review
The books for the north idaho housing coalition.
- Narrator: The alleged improprieties began two years
Prior to larry's disappearance.
- Virginia: I became involved with
The north idaho housing coalition
When it first began its mission to provide
Affordable workforce housing.
I volunteered initially
Eventually, the entity grew to the point
Where we became, uh, paid accountants for them.
And we did the tax return on an annual basis.
My position as an outside accountant was to be a guardian,
In that I would raise a flag if I saw something wrong.
I began to be concerned in about late 2015, early 2016,
That there was a problem with the books and records.
There were many checks being signed
And the signatures on the checks
Weren't necessarily authorized signatures.
Some are in north idaho housing coalition's name,
Some are in lori's name, some are in larry's name,
Where she is charged all sorts of items she claims to be
Involved in rehabbing these houses.
It was very clear by the books and records that the officers
And the board of north idaho housing coalition
Had not authorized all these transactions.
- Narrator: The timing of the headline
And larry's disappearance is now on the forefront
Of those investigating lori and searching for larry.
- There was immediate and strong speculation that lori
Had something to with larry's disappearance.
The timing was too unusual.
- Narrator: Coming up...
As the search for larry wears on--
Suspicions begin to surface.
- Hayley: Family members say
He would have been absolutely disgusted.
- ♪
- Narrator: On the morning of February 13, 2018,
While the sheriff's department searches lake coeur d'alene for
Larry isenberg's body,
A breaking story hits the newsrack.
- Hayley: Lori isenberg was accused of embezzling more than
$500,000 from the non-profit where she was working,
So people were reading about that and then shortly after
Finding that larry isenberg was missing,
It certainly had people talking.
- The newspaper that came out
The day that-that larry fell,
Basically contained that lori had been excused from
Her position as the executive director of north idaho housing
And that there was monies missing.
It's one of those moments of shock of how that could happen
On the same day that a newspaper report is coming out.
I remember the moment.
I remember just shaking my head
And telling my husband, this can't be happening.
- Narrator: On March 8th, sheriff's investigators speak
With the forensic accountant assigned to the fraud case
Against lori, virginia tate, who reveals lori had begun
Exhibiting strange behavior two years prior.
- I would say the biggest red flag of them all
Is that lori stops inviting outside people,
Such as the real estate agent,
The contractors, myself, to the board meetings.
Back in 2015 and going into 2016
When we were attempting to get documents,
Once I start asking questions about where are these documents?
Why did the dollars not match?
I stopped getting invited to the board meetings.
When the realtor started asking
Why lori was acting in the manner of a real estate agent
Even though she wasn't licensed as a real estate agent,
The real estate agent stopped being invited
To the board meetings.
- Narrator: As the months wore on,
Lori had systematically taken
Full control of the coalition's finances...
- Virginia: During the 2016, 2017 time period,
I'm not able to get into the bank account.
My login had been revoked.
I call the treasurer, and he went down to the bank
And found out that were many checks being signed,
And the signatures on the checks
Weren't necessarily authorized signatures.
And that immediately pushed the forensic exam.
- Narrator: By January of 2018, it became clear to investigators
The depth of the embezzlement when it was revealed
An estimated $580,000 had gone missing.
- Virginia: Mid to late January,
We've determined there's a very big problem.
North idaho housing coalition
Has to suspend lori for an investigation.
During the course of reviewing the documents and records
We did determine that four of her daughters were either named
In the alter ego companies, had received funds.
Over the course of the next two, three weeks,
I am in regular contact with lori, who's dodging my calls,
Of course, she's not anxious to talk to me.
- Narrator: The final straw comes when virginia tate demands
Access to lori's computer and lori reluctantly agrees.
- Virginia: I really wanted to get my hands on the computer
Because it had the e-mail tracers,
It had where lori has clearly authorized the banks accounts.
It has all the forensic trails to be able to prove that she was
The one that initiated the transactions.
When lori comes in my office, I talk her out of her computer,
And she is in tears. She knew she'd done wrong.
Gone was the woman who had well kept hair,
And looked put together, and attended social functions.
The woman in front of me that day looked as if she hadn't
Brushed her hair in weeks, her- her skin coloring was horrible,
Her clothes were unkempt, whatever it was so upset inside
Of her was rotting her from the inside out.
- Narrator: With an indictment of fraud pending against lori,
Police investigating larry's disappearance try to uncover
How much larry knew about lori's financial misdeeds.
When larry's children dean and jessica pay a visit
To the sheriff's office with their spouses,
They make it clear it was all news to them.
- Narrator: If his children were in the dark,
Perhaps larry was as well.
With the news already breaking of lori's white collar crime,
What motive would she have to harm larry?
- Narrator: Two weeks after larry's disappearance
And the bombshell news report about lori,
Investigators working the embezzlement case execute
A search warrant of the isenberg home.
And lori seems to be expecting them.
- Virginia: When the police department arrived,
Lori was in the process of shredding documents.
- Narrator: Police arrest lori on the spot.
- Lori was initially arrested
On 40 counts of fraud,
And one count of grand theft.
A judge ordered that she'd be held on $75,000 bail.
The following day, one of lori's daughters bailed her out.
- Narrator: While out on bail, lori does little to keep
The gossip mill from spinning.
- Kaye: Lori said that she intended to sell their house
As soon as possible.
- Brad: Investigators began to take a second look at
Whether or not her story was a plausible story,
Whether or not there's potential motive there.
- Kaye: It seemed like unusual behavior even for a person who's
In the midst of a lot of turmoil and grief.
- Hayley: That just added kind of fuel to the fire,
To people's suspicions.
It was certainly strange to know that she was trying to leave
The area when her husband was still out there.
He was still missing.
- Narrator: With larry still unaccounted for,
There's no way to prove foul play...
Until police get the call
The whole town has been waiting for.
- Kaye: About two weeks later, following larry's disappearance
A resident called 911 because they saw what they believed to
Be a human body floating face-down in sunup bay about
30 miles south of coeur d'alene.
- Brad: The sheriff's office dispatched officers to the scene
And confirmed in fact uh what she had seen was indeed a body
And that body was the body of larry isenberg.
- Narrator: With his body preserved in the icy waters
Of lake coeur d'alene, larry isenberg is quickly identified.
Larry's body is taken for an autopsy,
But while investigators
Had hoped for a clear cause of death,
What they get instead only further muddies the water.
- Brad: We got the initial autopsy report on larry.
We learned that he had not ingested a lot of water and
The death appeared to be not so consistent with drowning.
And at that point it became even more suspicious.
- The autopsy results ultimately showed that larry isenberg
Did not die of a heart attack.
He did not die of a stroke.
- Narrator: Coming up...
A web of lies begins to unravel.
- Narrator: But would one final clue seal the fate
Of this do-gooder gone bad?
- The coroner has ruled out any drowning or natural causes
As the cause of his death.
- Brad: It would send a person into a delirium.
They'd become extremely dizzy, confused and disoriented.
And then ultimately, expire as a result of it.
- ♪
- Narrator: Two weeks after his wife, lori,
Reported him missing, larry isenberg's body has been found
On the shore of lake coeur d'alene.
- The coroner has ruled out any drowning or natural causes
As the cause of his death.
- Narrator: It's not until the toxicology results come in that
The cause of death is finally revealed,
And the results are red flags to investigators.
- In the end, it was a fatal dose of benadryl
That killed larry isenberg.
- Kaye: A normal therapeutic dose would be between 100
And 1,000 nanograms per milliliter.
What was found in larry's body was more than
7,000 nanograms per milliliter.
- Brad: An overdose of benadryl
Would send a person into a delirium.
They'd become extremely dizzy, confused, and disoriented.
And then ultimately expire as a result of it.
We see a level of diphenhydramine
In the bloodstream that is so extraordinarily high
That clearly this is not an accidental dose of benadryl.
This is a homicide.
- Hayley: This was a poisoning. This was not a drowning.
Larry's body was disposed of in lake coeur d'alene.
- Brad: That pretty much sent the case into a full-fledged
Homicide investigation.
We definitely realized that there was more to this story
Than what lori was saying.
It was only lori and larry out on the boat.
Lori isenberg is the prime suspect.
- Narrator: All eyes are on lori isenberg.
But rather than spook their prime suspect,
Investigators circle back to the isenbergs' friends and family.
- Barry: Larry isenberg's son dean indicated that larry
Certainly would not have been keen at all with the idea that
Lori isenberg was stealing money.
- Family members say he would have been absolutely disgusted.
So he would have gotten as far away from her as he could.
- Hayley: Lori was a woman on edge.
This was a woman whose entire world,
Entire life was unraveling before her eyes.
- Barry: During the investigation,
It was determined that between the time that she was fired
And the time that larry isenberg was killed,
Lori isenberg had canceled their subscription
To the coeur d'alene press, the local newspaper.
Again, a piece of information that indicated she was trying
To avoid larry isenberg finding out
About what she had been doing
Should an article appear in that paper.
- If larry was to have found out that lori was involved in
Some sort of a theft he very likely would end the marriage.
- Narrator: Detectives conclude
Their interview with dean isenberg,
And while reviewing the nonfinancial evidence
Found on lori's computer, they find something startling.
- Brad: We began to analyze her internet activity prior to
The event of February the 13th, and found quite a few searches
That we felt were very, very suspicious
And actually quite incriminating to say the least.
She was researching drowning deaths.
- Narrator: While internet searches may suggest
Lori's state of mind,
It's her actions that speak loudly
With regard to larry's estate.
- Kaye: At the time, the fraud investigation was still ongoing.
Uh the state was still building its case against her.
- Virginia: During my investigation,
I was able to go over to the police department
To look at documents that they had seized.
One of the first pieces I wanted to look at
Were wills and trusts.
- Kaye: The forensic accountant
Discovered some handwritten changes
That had been made to larry isenberg's will
In January 2018 about a month before his death.
- Virginia: Without notifying larry,
Lori was making changes to the allocations of larry's estate
In that instead of naming his two kids to his assets,
She was reallocating it to his two kids and her six.
- Hayley: The discrepancies or changes in the will did support
The suspicion that this was a financially motivated homicide.
It did seem like a great deal of planning
Had gone into larry's death,
And that just made it seem all the more diabolical.
- Narrator: By late may 2018, homicide detectives have
A bevvy of circumstantial evidence against lori.
But before they can file murder charges,
Lori surprises everyone yet again when dealing with
The fallout surrounding her embezzlement allegations.
- Lori had a court date in may, and she was a no show.
That was extremely suspicious.
- I immediately wondered if she was going to be seen again.
- Ben: The general reaction of myself,
And pretty much the community
Was that she didn't want to face the music.
The local newspaper and local media picked it right up
And got the word out as best they could.
- Hayley: This was certainly the talk of the newsroom.
It was so shocking, and it was so disturbing, yet intriguing.
People wanted to know what was going to happen next.
- Narrator: On July 25th, after being missing for four weeks,
Lori isenberg again captures the media's attention
When she struts into her court appearance after surrendering
To authorities.
- She'd had her hair done, um, she looked very, you know,
Well coiffed and put together.
She had this nice smile in her mug shot.
She looked like she had been on vacation
And not like she had been hiding from the law.
- Nancy: Doesn't that mean that
She really was guilty of killing larry?
And why on earth would you take off?
Why would you disappear? What are you doing?
- Narrator: Coming up...
A stunning allegation is about
To bring the waters of coeur d'alene to a boil.
- Hayley: The bombshell botched suicide claim
Was absolutely wild.
It was incredibly dramatic, and I don't think anyone in
The community saw that coming.
- Virginia: How else would you put it?
The angel and devil exist in the one woman.
- ♪
- Narrator: After a brief time on the lam,
Former non-profit executive director lori isenberg is back
In idaho facing charges of embezzlement.
...But that's just the tip of the iceberg.
- Brad: Lori is now the prime suspect in the murder
Of her husband, larry,
And we're preparing to take this to a grand jury.
- Nancy: Lori pled guilty to the embezzlement charges.
It was actually quite a relief
Because then it meant that she was owning up to
What she had actually done and willing to
Take the punishment for that.
- She was sentenced to five years in prison for wire fraud
And for theft from a federal program.
- Hayley: But keep in mind the embezzlement charges that was
Only one piece of this puzzle,
And what people were really thinking now is,
When is larry going to get justice?
- Narrator: Nearly three years later,
Larry's family and friends get their answer
On January 31, 2021
When lori isenberg is formally charged with murder.
But rather than face a jury, lori makes a bold move
And submits an alford plea.
- This means a person does not admit guilt but acknowledges
That there is enough evidence to convict them at trial.
- Narrator: Lori's sentencing is scheduled for may 24, 2021.
And when she has a chance to explain herself,
The court is left in awe.
- Nancy: There's a sense of dissatisfaction with
Not knowing, not having it go to trial
To discover what really happened.
I so wanted her to have had
Some reason that this could've happened.
And honestly, as I listened to more and more of it,
I was sad, I was angry,
I was confused. I felt betrayed.
- Kaye: Lori told the court that she was responsible for
Larry's death, but she still had not intended to kill him.
- Brad: She got to the end of her statement,
And she makes a statement that she was suicidal
And that larry had accidentally consumed the juice
That she had originally intended for herself that day.
- Hayley: The bombshell botched suicide claim
Was absolutely wild.
I don't think anyone in the community saw that coming.
- Kaye: She told the court that while she was asleep
In the boat,
Larry had somehow come upon this beverage that
She brought with her and drank it himself.
- Hayley: It was just kind of the shocking finale to a story
That has had more twists and turns
Than likely any other case I'll ever cover.
- Nancy: It's just unsettling
That there's still so many unanswered questions.
Didn't he taste something in the drink?
Was he really alive when he got there?
Was lori really gonna commit suicide?
- Narrator: 67 year old lori isenberg's claims fail to garner
Leniency from the judge.
- Barry: Lori isenberg sentence was 30 years fixed,
Which means she will actually 30 years
Before she'll be considered for parole.
- Virginia: Judge wayman stated that the community
Has seen good lori and bad lori.
That the angel and devil exist in the one woman.
- Hayley: Lori isenberg will likely die behind bars,
And I think a lot of people in our community believes she got
Exactly what she deserved.
- Kaye: The elaborate lengths that she went to,
Not only to plan this murder, but then to hide it afterward,
It feels like an appropriate sentence.
- Hayley: So many thought lori was an upstanding citizen,
A good person doing good work.
It really made you stop and think,
How well do I know my neighbor?
- Narrator: As for the family and friends of larry isenberg,
The sentence does little to fill the hole
Left by larry's absence.
- Nancy: I think larry isenberg will be remembered as a hard,
Tough, funny logger.
A good guy whose life went way too early.
- ♪
♪♪