While Kristen Trickle worked shifts at a Walmart store, she dreamed about starting her own business. Kristen, 26, had found a property that she could convert for a dog boarding and grooming business. She was an animal lover, and treated her two dogs like they were her babies, so it came as no surprise when she told her family her plans.
It was 2019 and Kristen had recently moved back to Hays, Kansas, with her husband Colby Trickle. They had moved to Kansas City after they’d married, where Kristen had worked for a vet. Trickle, an Army reservist, did odd jobs. Kristen’s aunt and uncle, who had raised her since she was abandoned by her biological mother as a child, were thrilled to have her nearby again.
Kristen had been with Trickle since they were both 18, and some found him controlling. He liked her to reply to messages straight away and didn’t like it when she spoke to other men. But Kristen had started attending the local church again, where her uncle was a pastor, and appeared to have a more determined idea of what she wanted.
On Halloween morning in 2019, Trickle called 911. He hysterically told the dispatcher than he’d found his wife with a gunshot wound to the head.
When officers arrived, they found Kristen covered in blood in her bed, wearing just her underwear. A revolver was lying on her stomach and a bullet had entered under her chin. When they realised she was showing faint signs of life, paramedics rushed to save her. They took her into the living room to start CPR.
Trickle was out on the porch as emergency workers tried to save his wife. Officers thought it was strange he didn’t want to be by her side. Body cams recorded him talking to the police about video games while Kristen was between life and death. Tragically, Kristen couldn’t be saved. When the police told Trickle his wife was dead, he started to cry. “Are you sure?” he sobbed.
Trickle was taken to the station to make a statement. He said Kristen had come home from work and they’d played video games together. He said he went to bed and Kristen must have followed a little afterwards.
Trickle described waking up to a loud sound that made his ears ring. When he looked over, Kristen had a gunshot wound to the head. He said he’d dialled 911.
As he continued to talk, Trickle admitted he had considered taking his own life and had picked up the gun, but he hadn’t gone through with it as he hoped she could be saved. Officers found it strange that he had then placed the gun on Kristen’s abdomen.
Was it suicide?
When Kristen’s family found out about the suspected suicide, they were devastated – and confused. They told investigators that Kristen didn’t want to die, and said she would never have left them without making sure her family and her dogs were okay. She also hated guns and was fiercely private – she wouldn’t have wanted people to find her in her underwear. And why would she shoot herself with her husband in bed next to her?
The coroner examined the scene and concluded that it was typical of a self inflicted gunshot. Cause of death was ruled a suicide. But investigators weren’t convinced about Trickle’s version of events. Things didn’t add up, and it is unusual for a woman to kill herself by a gun to the head.
The revolver was long, making it difficult for a petite woman to hold under her chin and pull the trigger. When officers arrived at the scene, Kristen’s phone alarm was going off. Why had she set an alarm if she knew she’d be dead by morning? Plus, she had sweets out ready for Halloween trick or treaters that evening.
Trickle said Kristen kept the revolver on her side of the bed, but there were multiple firearms on his side. Photos on his phone of the bedroom showed the revolver was usually on his side.
During further questioning, Trickle continued to deny killing Kristen, but the things he said raised more concerns.
There were lies and inconsistencies. He talked about his time in the military and how he’d done tours of the Middle East and Central America. But when the police checked, he’d never been deployed overseas.
When asked, Trickle said Kristen didn’t have any life insurance, but she did through work and as a spouse of a military member. Ten days before her death, he’d looked up how much the military payout would be.
When confronted, Trickle said Kristen often used his phone and could have looked it up herself. But records showed she was at work, confirmed by CCTV, at the time the search was made.
Insurance payout
Trickle had plenty to hide on his phone. The police found he’d been sending sexual messages to a woman he’d met online while playing video games a few months earlier. Trickle didn’t deny it but said they’d never met, and Kristen didn’t know. Records showed that he was texting her from the police station in the hours after Kristen’s death.
The police were convinced Trickle had killed his wife, but with the official cause of death being suicide, their hands were tied.
By the end of 2020, Trickle started to get the two life insurance payouts and went on with his life. He played in bands at bars and posted on social media about making the most of life.
At the start of 2021, a new county attorney was elected and the case was reviewed. Finally in July 2021, nearly two years after Kristen’s death, Trickle was arrested and charged with murder. He pleaded not guilty.
The trial started in September 2023. The defence said Kristen was more unhappy than she let on and that suicide was likely. She’d been abandoned by her biological mum, and while Trickle had told the police she didn’t know about his “online flirtation”, his defence team said she might have found out.
The prosecution said the case was as simple as “A, B, C” and went on to explain: “A, an affair. B, a breakdown of control, and C, cold hard cash.” An expert and family members testified that Kristen was a low risk for suicide at the time of her death.
The jury heard that Trickle had collected over $120,000 from two life insurance policies, which he’d spent in just eight months on debts, music equipment and video games.
One purchase stood out – a $2,000 life-size sex doll. The defence and his mother told the court that Trickle had been lonely and had trouble sleeping so the doll was for “comfort and warmth” not sex. The revelation was upsetting to Kristen’s family who felt as though Trickle had “replaced her” with a sex doll.
The prosecution showed the jury the gun used and said Kristen would have struggled to fire it due to the length. They said Trickle shot his wife as she was sleeping next to him.
The jury found Trickle, 29, guilty of first-degree murder. That November, he was sentenced to life in prison with the chance of parole in 50 years.
Trickle made a statement. “Something that I cannot apologise for is harming Kristen that morning because I cannot apologise for what I didn’t do,” he said. “Regardless of that fact, I still take partial blame for that morning. I always wonder if she would still be here had I been a better husband.”
The judge said Trickle hadn’t taken any responsibility for the act that had been committed for “financial gain”.
