article: 'Double wife killer' Harold Henthorn wants to use a $1.5million life insurance pay out from a policy taken out on his second wife to pay for the defense in his trial for her murder. Henthorn was charged with the murder of second wife, Toni Bertolet, 51, last November and police have since reopened their investigation into the suspicious death of his first wife some 20 years earlier. Both women died in 'freak accidents' to which Henthorn, 59, was the sole witness. Dr Toni Jill Bertolet plunged 140 ft to her death shortly before their 12th wedding anniversary while hiking with Henthorn in a remote stretch of Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. First wife, Lynn Rishell, was crushed to death under Henthorn's jeep when, according to Henthorn, the jack gave way as she reached beneath the vehicle for a lug nut while changing a flat tire at night on an isolated highway near the couple's Colorado home. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Henthorn was charged with the murder of Toni Bertolet, 51, last November and police have reopened their investigation into the suspicious death of his first wife, Lynn Rishell, some 20 years earlier . Lynn Rishell - Henthorn's first wife - was crushed to death under the front of Henthorn's Jeep when, he told first responders, the jack gave way as she reached under the vehicle for a lug night while changing a flat tire in the dark . In both cases Henthorn was the sole beneficiary of the women's substantial life insurance policies totalling $500,000 in the case of his first wife and $4.5million in the case of his second. Now, newly filed documents have revealed that he is fighting for a $1.5million pay out from the policy taken out in July 2001 on the grounds that he needs the money to pay for his attorney for the forthcoming murder trial scheduled to begin next month. The documents, filed yesterday and seen by Daily Mail Online, are part of a bitter civil case being fought in Douglas County .They note that, just weeks before he is due to stand trial, Henthorn is 'focused solely on his own desire to have the insurance proceeds disbursed to himself without any meaningful process.' They go onto state: 'Should Henthorn truly be able to substantiate an inability to afford counsel in the criminal matter, those matters are properly addressed in the criminal case pending in this District.' They point out: 'The Colorado Supreme Court has said: "Killers cannot receive life insurance proceeds from their victims" and insurers cannot disburse proceeds "prematurely", ….when law enforcement is still investigating or a prosecution is pending.' The next named beneficiary is his nine-year-old daughter with Dr Bertolet, Hayley. Dr Bertolet died on 29 September, 2012. The autopsy report, dated 18 December 2012, stated that she 'died as the result of multiple blunt force injuries when she fell or was pushed down a cliff while hiking.' It concluded, 'homicide cannot be excluded.' But when her husband submitted a claim for the life insurance death benefit policy almost exactly a year later, on September 27, 2013 he gave her cause of death as 'Accidental Fall.' At the time Henthorn was unaware that he was already the subject of an FBI investigation that lasted two years and scrutinized every aspect of the widower's life, culminating in his arrest last November. But despite facing murder charges Henthorn has not relinquished the claim his claim to the substantial insurance pay out on his wife's death. Shockingly, not only is he fighting for the pay out to fund his own defense, documents filed in a separate motion in March show that he fought his late wife's family to have funds from Dr Bertolet's estate released into his possession. Last February the District Court of Douglas County, Colorado found in Dr Bertolet's family's favor and barred Henthorn from accessing his late wife's estate on the grounds that allowing him to do so posed an 'imminent risk of substantial harm..to [its] financial interests.' Both ‘freak accidents’ occurred at remote locations with Henthorn the lone witness. Both occurred after about 12 years of marriage and Henthorn, pictured here with his first wife, Rishell, told wildly varying stories about both deaths. Henthorn and Lynn Rishell when he was a new geology graduate from Virginia. The couple moved to Colorado, where after 12 years of marriage, she died in a 'freak accident', now said to be murder . Henthorn (left), pictured with Grace (center) and Lynn (right) Rishell, was named as the sole beneficiary in a string of lucrative life insurance policies totaling $500,000 on the death of his first wife and $4.5million on the death of his second after they both died in what appeared to be freak accident . Henthorn attempted to overturn this decision as recently as December and only finally failed when a court denied him access to the funds and demanded that he appoint a forensic accountant to detail the contents of his late wife's estate. In March Daily Mail Online revealed that, in 2009 Henthorn took out a life insurance policy on his former sister-in-law, Grace Rishell. Grace was going through a divorce and 'concerned for her financial stability,' when she initially agreed to Henthorn's suggestion that she take out a policy that would pay $50,000 to Grace's brother and each of her four daughters for a total of $250,000. According to prosecutors in Dr Bertolet's murder case, 'the evidence will show that Henthorn had a romantic interest in Rishell.' But she had a change of heart in spring 2010 and told the insurance agent to stop the policy from going through. Instead she took out a policy of her own with another insurer. Yet unbeknownst to her, 'her signature was forged to procure the original policy as well,' with Henthorn making payments on the policy until December 2012 and listing himself as the sole beneficiary. The policy was cancelled in 2013 when the insurer concluded that Henthorn had no insurable interest in RIshell. But the very fact of its existence raises the specter that Henthorn had Rishell in his sights as a third potential victim. Henthorn was denied bail by US District Attorney Judge Kathleen Latoyfa who described him as a 'danger' and said, 'there are rather glaring similarities between the loss of his first wife and the loss of his second.' She pointed to large sums of money recently transferred by Henthorn to his brother as suggestive that he was 'hiding funds.' Henthorn's trial is scheduled to begin in September. He has entered a plea of not guilty.
highlights: Harold Henthorn is charged with murdering his second wife and being investigated over the similar death of his first wife .
  He has demanded that he gets access to the $1.5 million life insurance payout from his second wife's death to fund his defense .
  Prosecutors are opposing move to access the funds .
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