Inside Karl Karlsen’s shocking murder of wife Christina and son Levi, believed to be an accident before the motive was revealed

A FATHER who murdered his wife and son got away with it for years – until police discovered his shocking motive for killing his family.

The deaths of Christina and Levi Karlsen were initially thought to be an accident, but information eventually emerged revealing that her husband and father, Karl Karlsen, had killed them on purpose.

3

3

3

The shocking details of the Karlsen family saga are explored in a new installment of NBC date line.

The murders of Christina and Levi took place 10 years apart and both were initially thought to be accidents.

Eventually, someone close to the family came forward with information about Karl’s involvement, sparking an investigation that revealed the man had murdered his loved ones and used their deaths to secure hefty insurance payments.

Details about the case reveal a long history of physical and psychological abuse that ultimately led to an insurance plan and two murders.

First, Christina died in a house fire on New Year’s Day 1991.

Then Levi was killed by a pickup truck in 2001, with the fatal incident initially suspected to be an accident.

But that conclusion eventually proved wrong.

“Investigators later determined that both deaths had more sinister causes,” the Oxygen article reads.

“And a member of the Karlsen family was slowly killing those closest to him for financial gain.”

Eventually, a possible motive emerged, leading investigators to realize they had murder on their hands.

According to family members, Karl mentally controlled and bullied his wife Christina.

There were also signs of physical abuse.

“He would tell her she was chubby,” says the woman’s sister, Colette Bousson, on the episode of “American Greed.”

“He knew that because she was so sensitive to her weight that he could destroy her self-esteem.”

According to Oxygen, Christina went against the advice of her loved ones and decided to stay with Karl because of the children.

Thanks to a boarded up window, Christina was stuck in the bathroom and unable to get out when her California home caught fire on January 1, 1991.

After the fire, Karl received $215,000 from an insurance policy and moved the family across the country to New York.

The family moved to the town of Varick in the Fingerlakes area of ​​New York, where they lived on a farm.

The abusive husband became an abusive father, especially towards his son Levi.

“Levi was hit with everything my father had within reach. His fists, whistles, shovels, pitchforks, belts, electric cattle prods,” Erin DeRoche, one of Karl and Christina’s other three children, told the television series.

“You name it, it was used as a weapon against my brother.”

Eventually, the family barn caught fire, killing several horses, earning Karl another lucrative insurance claim.

Then, in 2008, a pickup truck fell off a jack while Levi was working on it, crushing his body and killing him in what again appeared to be a tragic accident.

A few years later, however, new information emerged blaming Karl.

The woman Karl was dating at the time of Levi’s death eventually provided information to local New York authorities, which raised enough questions to spark an investigation.

The Seneca County Sheriff’s Office eventually conducted a covert operation and gathered enough evidence to try to convict Karl Karlsen of both murders and sent him to prison.