Bishop Black
Former Member
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2021
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Snake suspected in man's death until cops realize it can't pull trigger
Montgomery County Coroner Dave Colbert's job usually entails him showing up at a crime scene after the action has subsided. But in the warm early evening hours of June 8, 2017, Colbert responded to a 911 call of a male victim believed to be dead by snakebite, and he said he proceeded to walk into one of the most bizarre and dangerous death scenes of his 20-year career as a coroner. "Someone being killed by a snake is not something that happens every day, especially in Missouri," Colbert says.
But Colbert says he soon made a surprising discovery when he examined Renick's body: "The two marks he has on his arms are not from a snake." Furthermore, a shell casing a few feet away from the corpse changed the investigation entirely, and Colbert realized the position of Ben's body hid his true cause of death: homicide.
Ben Renick had been shot eight times, once at close range. "For some reason," Colbert says, "somebody just really didn't like Mr. Renick — because of the amount of damage that was inflicted upon him. And, obviously, from bullet holes in the floor. This was something that was not just a random act." In just moments, the focus of the investigation changed for Colbert from a cold-blooded serpent to a human who killed in cold blood.
Montgomery County Coroner Dave Colbert's job usually entails him showing up at a crime scene after the action has subsided. But in the warm early evening hours of June 8, 2017, Colbert responded to a 911 call of a male victim believed to be dead by snakebite, and he said he proceeded to walk into one of the most bizarre and dangerous death scenes of his 20-year career as a coroner. "Someone being killed by a snake is not something that happens every day, especially in Missouri," Colbert says.
But Colbert says he soon made a surprising discovery when he examined Renick's body: "The two marks he has on his arms are not from a snake." Furthermore, a shell casing a few feet away from the corpse changed the investigation entirely, and Colbert realized the position of Ben's body hid his true cause of death: homicide.
Ben Renick had been shot eight times, once at close range. "For some reason," Colbert says, "somebody just really didn't like Mr. Renick — because of the amount of damage that was inflicted upon him. And, obviously, from bullet holes in the floor. This was something that was not just a random act." In just moments, the focus of the investigation changed for Colbert from a cold-blooded serpent to a human who killed in cold blood.
