Killer spent wife's life insurance cash on a sex doll

Kristen Trickle was sleeping when her husband pulled out a gun

- GAIL SHORTLAND

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.