N.D. woman sentenced for poisoning boyfriend’s iced tea with antifreeze over large inheritance

MINOT, N.D. (TCN) -- A 47-year-old woman was ordered to spend over two decades in prison for poisoning her boyfriend’s iced tea with antifreeze because she believed he was going to inherit $30 million in what investigators suspect was a scam.

Ward County court records show a judge sentenced Ina Kenoyer to 25 years in prison and 10 years of probation on Oct. 16 after she pleaded guilty to the murder of her boyfriend in May. Kenoyer also gets 353 days of credit for time served.

According to court documents cited by KXMB-TV, Kenoyer and her boyfriend, Steven Riley Jr., had been in a relationship for about 10 years. Riley reportedly received information that he was going to inherit tens of millions of dollars, and once he did that, he planned to break up with Kenoyer. On Sept. 3, 2023, Riley and some friends went to an airport to speak with the attorney who reached out to him about the money and sign the paperwork. However, Riley reportedly began feeling sick and couldn’t walk. Kenoyer reportedly told the friends he had heatstroke and needed to relax.

Riley became sicker, and on Sept. 5, 2023, one of his friends went to Kenoyer’s house to check in on Riley. She allegedly claimed he went to get medical attention, but the friend checked all health centers in the area and could not locate him. The same day, EMS responded to Kenoyer and Riley’s home after getting a call about an unresponsive male. He was airlifted to a hospital and died that day.

The coroner reportedly detected fatal amounts of ingredients in antifreeze in Riley’s blood. KXMB reports Riley’s friends told detectives that Kenoyer spoke in the past about poisoning her longtime boyfriend.

Minot Police Department detectives arrested Kenoyer on Oct. 30, 2023. Police said Riley’s cause of death was ethylene glycol poisoning and that Kenoyer "had financial motives to murder Riley."

According to the Minot Daily News, Detectives searched Kenoyer’s home and reportedly discovered antifreeze in a Windex bottle. She said she poisoned his sweet tea the day he planned to go to the airport and that the tea flavor masked the taste of the antifreeze. She reportedly told police she was going to share the money with Riley’s son. Police do not think there was ever an actual inheritance.

Kenoyer saw herself as Riley’s common-law wife because they had been in a relationship for so many years, but North Dakota does not recognize common-law marriages.

KXMB reports Riley’s sister, Stephanie Gonzalez, gave a victim impact statement at Kenoyer’s sentencing hearing and called her "an exact reflection of the home that you kept and lived in: vile, filthy, disgusting, embarrassing, gross, full of feces, and pure trash."

Gonzalez said, "As so many other families of victims often feel, the punishment should fit the crime. But lucky for you, the Department of Corrections doesn’t serve antifreeze in your iced tea."