The documentary about Larry Isenberg’s passing in 2018 will be featured on HLN’s “Sex and Murder” on Sunday at 7 p.m.
The episode, “Fatal Breakfast Date,” revisited Isenberg’s murder by his wife Lori Isenberg, who is currently in jail serving a 30-year term for second-degree murder. Larry and Lori Isenberg were on a boat ride on Lake Coeur d’Alene on the morning of February 13, 2018. Lori Isenberg called 911 two hours later to report her husband missing after he fell from the boat.
She informed the authorities that morning that he was acting oddly. He looks to have had a stroke just before falling over the side of the boat while operating the broken-down engine. Rescue teams searched for the body for a month but were unsuccessful until a neighbor called early one morning to report that it had washed up outside their house.
An autopsy revealed no evidence of drowning or a stroke. Isenberg’s system had fatal amounts of diphenhydramine, according to a toxicology report. It was stated that Lori Isenberg had left the Northern Idaho Housing League and that an investigation into her actions was in progress on the morning that Larry Isenberg vanished. Isenberg was promptly charged with stealing $500,000 from the charity.
In the midst of the ongoing hunt for Larry Isenberg’s body, Lori Isenberg vanishes and fails to appear in court for an embezzlement case. There is evidence that Isenberg searched for boat rentals, water depths, and drowning on the internet in the weeks before her husband vanished.
Isenberg initially faced a first-degree murder charge, but later changed his plea to one for second-degree murder after speaking with Alford. Due to this, a defendant may enter a general guilty plea.
Isenberg claimed her husband’s death was an accident before being sentenced, and she intended to commit herself the next day by consuming a smoothie laced with diphenhydramine. But for a variety of reasons—some of which will be covered in greater detail in a forthcoming documentary—the family is still not persuaded. In October 2021, this tale was previously captured on NBC’s Dateline.