Idaho Grandmother's Financial Crimes Revealed After Husband's Death in Boating Accident

Idaho grandmother Lori Isenberg was living an enviable life by nearly anyone’s standards. 

Married to her long-time love Larry Isenberg, the couple had created their own lakeside oasis in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, a popular vacation destination for many, according to Dateline: Unforgettable. Their breathtaking home, known as Cougar Gulch, was nestled into the nearby mountains and had its own custom garden.

Larry, a one-time timber executive, was enjoying his retirement, while Lori, the head of a non-profit, was on the verge of retirement herself. The couple spent their days traveling, visiting with their 15 grandchildren and dreaming about their life ahead.

But Lori was also keeping a dark secret — and she’d go to extreme lengths to keep it from being exposed. 

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“Some stories are not only unforgettable, they’re just too unlikely to believe,” Correspondent Keith Morrison remarked.

Lori and Larry Isenberg's Love Story

Lori Isenberg found love early in life, marrying her high school sweetheart Steve. Together, the couple had six daughters together. 

“We had the perfect little family, you know?” daughter Amber Barnes recalled. “We went to church every Sunday, we were taught to live right, make good choices, get good grades, do your chores, you know, the whole nine yards.”

But the life Lori, who was once named the volunteer of the year for the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce, was leading took a sudden turn when she was hired to work as a secretary for Larry Isenberg, a married executive with two children of his own.

The two soon found themselves in love and after both marriages ended, they embarked on a new chapter together. 

"I just decided, I’ve always, always loved and respected Larry and I saw my mom happy with him and I was happy for her,” daughter Chrislyn Woolston said.

What Happened to Larry Isenberg? 

Lori and Larry settled into that idyllic life together and after 14 years of marriage still seemed to be the epitome of a couple in love. 

"He always looked at her with eyes of just admiration and he would always just tell us just how amazing she was,” Woolston said. 

But on the morning of February 13, 2018, the couple’s union would come to a sudden end. Lori told 911 dispatchers the couple had been taking a romantic boat trip up the lake when they began to have motor trouble. Larry went to the front of the boat to try to get that motor running when he suddenly gave her a strange look and then fell into the water.

“I’m on the lake, but I don’t know where,” a distraught Lori told the dispatcher. “My husband has — he had a stroke, and he fell over.” 

Authorities used cell phone data to triangulate her location and rushed to the scene. By then, it had been hours since Larry had fallen overboard. Lori said she left her cell phone in their truck and thought she was stranded on her own — until she realized that Larry’s phone was hiding under some blankets on the boat and used it to call 911.

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Lori, who was banged up and bloody, told emergency responders that after seeing Larry start to fall, she rushed to try to get to him and fell, hitting her face against the door on her way down.

“I couldn’t grab him,” she said through tears.

Emergency responders believed it was likely just a tragic accident. Search teams tried to find Larry, but the water where the boat was found was 130 feet deep, making it difficult to find anyone who may have gone overboard in those depths.

Lori Isenberg's Secret Revealed

Larry’s death wasn’t the only trouble Lori was facing. For years, she’d been hiding a dark secret. Lori had been embezzling money from the North Idaho Housing Coalition where she worked. 

The nonprofit estimated that Lori stole around $1 million over a three year period by creating false companies and invoices, which she had the state and federal government pay, and then filtered the money into her own pockets. 

Even more damaging, Lori set up some of the fake accounts in the names of four of her daughters, who also received some of the stolen money, implicating them in the sophisticated scheme.

“I think she was very cunning,” Coalition President Kerri Thoreson said.

Lori was fired from the Coalition as the investigation into her activities continued, but she never told Larry, a man who prided himself on fiscal responsibility, or her family. The day of his death, an article came out in the local paper exposing the secret and the ongoing investigation.

Less than two weeks after Larry’s death, Lori was arrested and charged with one count of grand theft and 40 counts of forgery.

Woolston put up the money for her $75,000 bond. 

Then on March 1, 2018, Larry’s body washed ashore. Woolston said when the body was discovered her mom “became pretty shut down.” 

“It was all about her worries and her comfort and her problems,” she remembered.

Then, Lori suddenly disappeared, leaving Woolston on the hook for her bail. 

"It was awful you know, when you put yourself out there for somebody else, just to find out that they don’t care if they hurt you or turn on you, it’s very painful,” Woolston said.

Lori eventually turned herself in to face the financial charges against her. 

Larry Isenberg's Cause of Death

But, by then, detectives were also taking a closer look at what happened to Larry. The toxicology report showed he had a very high level of diphenhydramine — the active component in Benadryl — in his system. 

Det. Brad Maskell said that would have left Larry feeling dizzy, foggy, and stumbling that morning on the boat.

“Basically, it’s a delirium that you go into,” he said.

Just weeks earlier, Larry had reported feeling the same type of symptoms during a trip to Florida with Lori. 

“I had the shakes, terrible equilibrium and even my brain was foggy,” he had written in an email to his doctor. “I am better today by quite a bit.” 

A search of Lori’s Google search history, revealed that before the trip, she had researched information on drownings in the Florida area, the water current and where the deepest water was just off the shore. 

Detectives believe Lori may have tried to take her husband’s life on that trip, but when it failed, she revised her plan to drug him again once they got home. 

According to Maskell, detectives believe on the morning of Feb. 13, 2018, Lori convinced Larry to take that chilly morning boat trip,  laced a bottle of juice with diphenhydramine, waited until he began to feel the drug’s effects and either let him fall into the lake or pushed him, before he ever discovered her embezzlement.

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“She knew that there was no way he would be able to stomach what had been doing and she was left with no choice, but to eliminate him,” Maskell said. 

With the pieces falling into place, Lori was charged with second-degree murder in the death of her husband.