‘Dateline’ to feature story of Idaho woman who killed husband as embezzlement scheme unraveled

IDAHO FALLS — The story of an Idaho woman who killed her spouse in the midst of an embezzlement investigation will be featured on a new ‘Dateline NBC’ Friday.

Insiders close to Lori Isenberg are speaking out for the first time on television after she was convicted earlier this year of murdering her husband Larry Isenberg. The case gained national attention after Isenberg claimed Larry had died in a boat accident.

“This is a very unusual story about an unusual character for whom it was tremendously important to be respected and liked by her husband and the love of her life – Larry,” Dateline correspondent Keith Morrison tells EastIdahoNews.com. “She was somebody who was looked up to in the community who served on a nonprofit agency helping people get into the housing market.”

Isenberg was sentenced 30 years to life in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. The couple launched a boat on Feb. 13, 2018, on Lake Coeur d’Alene. Two hours later, Isenberg called 911 to report her husband went overboard while attempting to fix the boat’s motor. She claimed she left her cell phone onshore.

Larry Isenberg’s body wasn’t found until March 1, 2018, and a subsequent autopsy showed he died from a drug overdose.

“They found his body loaded up with Benadryl,” Morrison says. “We looked quite carefully into the question of whether or not that much Benadryl would kill a person. The question was would it allow someone else, someone smaller…to control them completely and make them do anything he or she wanted them to do? The answer was yes.”

During the broadcast, Isenberg’s daughter, Amber Barnes, opens up to Morrison about her mother’s crimes, which included involving her in an embezzlement scheme.

“I regret not saying more in the beginning. I regret not talking to the investigators. I regret not standing up for Larry,” Barnes says. “We do not support her. We do not stand by her.”

The two-hour broadcast, ‘Kill Switch,’ features new details in the case, as well as never-before-seen bodycam footage and jailhouse video from the investigation. Morrison also speaks with Larry’s son Dean Isenberg, Lori’s daughter Chrislyn Woolston, Detective Brad Maskell and Lori’s former managers Amy Evans and Kerri Thoreson.

“This is a story about how well do you know those closest to you. How well do you know your spouse, how well do you know your own mom and if your mother tells you something which may be a little off, should you believe her or should you check more thoroughly into what she’s told you? There are a lot of lessons in this story,” Morrison says.

Dateline airs Friday at 8 p.m. MT on NBC.