00:00:00
48 hours is bringing us more on an unusual case linked to a missouri snake breeder his name is ben
00:00:06
renick who was found dead in his facility in 2017. now at first it seemed he was killed by one of his snakes but
00:00:14
investigators soon found that he had been murdered 48 hours correspondent peter vanzant spoke with a reptile
00:00:19
expert for his investigation if you're afraid of snakes then everything you think you know about them
00:00:27
is wrong when dave kaufman a reptile expert heard that his friend ben renick had been
00:00:33
found dead in his snake breeding facility he didn't assume that he had been killed by a snake
00:00:38
his first thought was that rennick had been killed for his snakes so the first question that i asked was
00:00:46
how many snakes were missing a facility like ben's it unfortunately attracts a lot of bad
00:00:54
people bad people that see these snakes not as these beautiful amazing creatures that
00:00:59
they are but see them as dollar signs rennick's snake business was wildly successful he was shipping his snakes
00:01:06
around the world and traveling to reptile conventions across the united states some of his snakes were not just
00:01:13
exotic they were expensive some worth tens of thousands of dollars each ben loved these snakes because how can
00:01:21
you not love these snakes dave kaufman introduced me to a reticulated python a snake ben was known for throughout the
00:01:29
world they're big they're beautiful they're personable just gonna go right over your
00:01:34
shoulder and try to go on the cage behind you let's see if i'm right oh no she's gonna
00:01:39
wrap around yeah my new scarf there you go hello hello sweetheart how are you this is a first
00:01:46
it is a remarkable sensation it is and people that are no thanks look at peter vanzant looking
00:01:53
like he's not afraid and doesn't need an adult diaper a little bit of tension in
00:01:57
his voice yes you can hear his voice cracking my new scarf crunch very creepy looking at them but
00:02:04
the people that work with snakes really hold them in such high regard very much so and some of them as peter i talked to
00:02:10
peter about this they are worth thousands of dollars um they are incredibly valuable some of these rare
00:02:15
snakes so it's a fascinating story uh you can see peter vanzant's full report it's called the poisonous wife that
00:02:22
should give you a hint yeah tonight at eight eastern seven centuries wait why is that a hint uh you gotta watch the
00:02:28
show but it they thought the snake you gotta watch it you can watch that on cbs news streaming network