Judge rules Lori Isenberg’s silence as not guilty plea; trial date pending

A Kootenai County District Court judge decided Lori Isenberg’s silence during her arraignment on a first-degree murder charge Tuesday afternoon was effectively a “not guilty” plea, KHQ reported.

Isenberg, 66, is accused of creating the situation where her husband, Larry Isenberg, 68, became submerged in Lake Coeur d’Alene and died in March 2018, according to court documents.

Isenberg was charged last week, nearly two years after the death of her husband.

Larry Isenberg’s body contained lethal levels of Benadryl, and Lori Isenberg’s charges cite poison, lying in wait or torture as potential factors in the killing.

KHQ reported District Court Judge Scott Wayman did not set a trial date, but expects proceedings to take about six weeks.

Weeks after her husband died in the lake, Isenberg was charged with embezzling a half-million dollars from her former employer. She pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud in January 2019 and was sentenced to five years in federal prison for embezzling from the North Idaho Housing Coalition.

Isenberg has continually been under investigation for her husband’s death, including a Jan. 31 grand jury indictment that eventually led to the murder charge.

Isenberg, who was serving her federal sentence in Western Washington, is awaiting trial in the Kootenai County Jail on a $2 million bond.