CAMBRIDGE, Mass. --A radio journalist accused of slowly poisoning his wife by spiking her Gatorade with antifreeze allegedly told friends he had plans for the money from her life insurance policy, including buying a new BMW convertible.
James Keown pleaded innocent on Thursday and was ordered held without bail. He was arrested earlier this week during a commercial break at the radio station where he worked in Jefferson City, Mo., and charged with first-degree murder in the September 2004 death of 31-year-old Julie Keown.
Prosecutors have said the couple was struggling financially after moving to the Boston area in early 2004 and that James Keown may have killed his wife for her $250,000 life insurance policy.
According to documents filed Thursday by prosecutors, Keown had several conversations with a close friend after his wife's funeral in Kansas City, telling the friend, "I am going to take Julie's insurance money, buy a BMW Z4 convertible, go back to Kansas City and build a house. With what money is left over, I am going to start a foundation in Julie's name and run it for a few years."
About a month after her death, Keown did move back to Missouri, where he grew up, and got a job as a reporter and talk show host at radio station KLIK. But he never collected the insurance money because her death came under investigation.
