A snake is eyed as the culprit in man's death until cops realize it can't pull a trigger
CBSN
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.
"48 Hours" and correspondent Peter Van Sant take viewers inside the unusual case in "The Poisonous Wife" airing Saturday, March 12 at 10/9c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
Colbert soon learned that the man lying face down in a pool of blood in the exotic snake breeding facility in New Florence, Missouri, wasn't just "someone," it was Ben Renick, the owner of the business Renick Reptiles and a world renowned snake breeder. Body cameras on responding sheriff's deputies captured the frantic scene that Colbert walked into.
