Human Snakes

New Florence, Missouri, sits in Montgomery County in east central Missouri, roughly an hour and fifteen minutes from St Louis and two hours and forty minutes from Kansas City. It has a population of 859 and calls itself the crossroads of east central Missouri. The town was first named Florence, not after the Italian city but after Florence Lewis, the daughter of its first settler, and its post office has been open since 1858. Archaeologists have found evidence of human habitation in the area going back 10,000 years, including at Graham Cave. German immigrants settled much of the surrounding county in the mid-nineteenth century and founded towns such as Rhineland, while others arrived from Kentucky and Virginia. The southern part of the county is associated with those German settlers and the northern part with Missouri's Little Dixie, which earned Montgomery County the nickname Gateway to Little Dixie. The only local business with online reviews is the Love's Travel Stop on Tree Farm Road, rated 4.3 stars, with complaints about the lack of directional signs and the state of the bathrooms.

Benjamin Rennick was born in 1987 and grew up on his family's 72-acre farm, which adjoins the Danville Conservation Area. His parents were Frank and Kim Rennick. In 1992 one of the houses on the property exploded after gas plugs were removed from the gas line; the family was staying in St Louis at the time and no one was hurt. Kim died of cancer. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed Before the case could proceed, Frank shot himself in the head. Ben, then in his early twenties, found his father's body.

Ben had kept snakes since childhood and turned the barn on the farm into Rennick Reptiles, breeding designer pythons and shipping them around the world. He was regarded as a leading figure in the reptile trade, and some of his snakes sold for upwards of a hundred thousand dollars. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it She was a cheerleader in high school and trained as a massage therapist. this part of the story is covered for now In 2011 she reconnected with Ben on Facebook, and they married in 2014. details of the account remain covered until revealed

By 2017 Ben's business was thriving. He planned to sell most of his ball python collection for about 1.2 million dollars and had received a first payment of 200,000 dollars. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it Sam Rennick, Ben's older brother, lived in another house on the property.

this part of the story is covered for now Ben sent her a text asking whether he needed to collect the children. At four o'clock she replied that he did, and an hour later she texted that she would meet him and the children at home. details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it She picked them up and then drove to Rennick Reptiles, where she found Ben on the floor in a pool of blood and called 911 at 6.36 p.m. Sam arrived before the police. He told the operator that it must have been a snake, because Ben's business held between three and four thousand snakes. The first officers entered with guns drawn, fearing a loose python.

When they moved the body they found shell casings underneath it, and the coroner, Dave Colbert, saw another casing on a shelf above Ben's head. Ben had been shot six times in the back and once in the head at close range with a handgun. No snakes were missing and nothing had been taken. Investigators began looking at the people closest to him. this part of the story is covered for now Sam voluntarily gave a gunshot residue test, his phone, his clothing and a polygraph, and was cleared.

details of the account remain covered until revealed Police also learned that her spa was losing money, that Ben was covering its bills, and that she owed thousands to suppliers and banks. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed Blackwell confirmed the relationship had begun three days before the murder, and he had a solid alibi.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it She denied it. this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed Their daughter was born in 2018. the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it

this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now

details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed He told her she was awfully lucky.

the rest of this account is covered until you choose to reveal it this part of the story is covered for now details of the account remain covered until revealed She also sued Blackwell for defamation, claiming his statements to police had been false and malicious. DAV Kaufman, a snake breeder and documentary filmmaker, later named a new snake mutation the Rennick Ghost in Ben's memory.