This week on Diabolical, the case of high-school sweethearts Lyle and Carol Kopenskey whose 40-year marriage ended in cold blooded murder.
Petoskey, MI, and the Kopenskeys had been sweet on each other at high-school and had married soon after they graduated. Their marriage seemed to stand the test of time and after 39 years together they were still husband and wife.
However, on morning of Oct. 2, 2012, Carol drove Lyle out to an isolated road near Resort Township where she had him get into a ditch where she shot him four times, still alive he then pleaded for his life before she shot him a fifth and final time, this time in the head.
Lyle’s body was discovered the next day and detectives soon saw his wife as a person of interest. It turned out she had been having an affair with a man called John Ernst.
Initially Carol entered a not-guilty plea but she changed this shortly before the trial, when a witness came forward to say she’d try to hire someone to kill Lyle.
Carol then pleaded guilty to the less charge of second-degree murder and some related firearm charges. She tried to persuade the judge that she’d snapped after years of physical and verbal abuse, but the judge did not believe her story. He pointed out that she’d murdered Lyle in a chilling manner and that there had never been any reports to the police or anyone else of abuse in the marriage.
The 60-year-old was sentenced to a minimum of 18 years, with her first chance of parole coming when she is 78-years-old.
Her lover and the man who she says helped her dispose of the gun, Ernst, was later sentenced to between 2 and 15 years for perjury.
Diabolical airs at 7:00 PM on Investigation Discovery.