The death of All That Remains guitarist Oli Herbert surprised many in 2018, and nearly four years later the case has not been closed. Not long after the death, the toxicology report stated that the musician had drowned, but police were treating the death as “suspicious.” Now, in her first interview since Herbert’s death, the musician’s wife Beth has stated publicly, “‘I absolutely did not kill my husband.”
‘Everybody’s telling me to shut up, but all shutting up has done is let this stuff solidify as truth, and it’s not,” said Beth in speaking with The Daily Mail.
Herbert’s body was discovered on Oct. 16 in a pond near where he lived with his wife. In the aftermath of the guitarist’s death, Beth found herself under suspicion from both police and those who had been close to the musician. Herbert had notarized his will a week prior at a car dealership that would leave everything to Beth, also stating that his sister Cynthia would receive nothing. Beth explained that the timing of the will change was coincidental, noting that they’d recently had a friend who passed and that led the musician to make the decision to prepare for the unexpected.
“We loved each other, we trusted each other and we were husband and wife, despite everyone else doing whatever they could to break us up,” she stated, adding, “We were leaving each other everything, including making each other beneficiaries of each other’s life insurance policies.”
Within the interview, the guitarist’s widow states that she’s been targeted since Oli’s death with police trying to “railroad” her into a confession. She adds that her religious beliefs were even used against her, claiming, ‘The police department tried to get an arrest warrant based on witchcraft, saying I was casting black spells on him and slipping him drugs.”
As for the night of Herbert’s death, Beth recalls that the guitarist had been feeling sick that day. They had stood in the yard together, and she says, “He was out of it. I had to lead him back to the house several times that evening.” Beth says they went inside around 9PM, adding, ‘I asked him if he wanted to go to bed and he said, “No, I just want to sit here and listen to the wind blowing through the trees,” The last thing he said before I went up to bed was, ‘Thank you, I love you.”’
Later that night, she was woken by some bumping that occurred downstairs, and when she got up the next morning, he wasn’t there. He was reported missing in the afternoon, and later discovered in the water just shortly down from the house.
Within the investigation of Herbert’s death, it was revealed that in July 2018 the musician had made a complaint that a woman in the area near the pond had pushed him into the water.
Beth told The Daily Mail that they had been involved in a strange account with a woman named Penelope who had showed up one night as the couple were searching for one of their dogs near the pond. Though neither Beth nor Oli claimed to have known her, they accepted her help to search for the animals. But according to Beth, at one point Penelope pushed Oli into the water and then ran off. They reported the incident to the police, but the mystery woman was never seen again
“They (police) thought maybe she had something to do with his death, but they can’t find her,” says Beth, who later added, “Police accused me of being Penelope and pushing him. But I was like – how can I split myself in two?”
Beth also goes into detail about the relationship with a Hartford auto dealership employee Wendy Skrivner, who notarized the will that Herbert had signed about a week before his death.
Becth claimed that Wendy had slept with her husband, then got so upset when he broke it off that she called to apologize to Beth and they then started to have a friendship. But as the police investigation into Herbert’s death continued, the two had a falling out. Wendy told The Daily Mail that she had never slept with Herbert, and denied flirting with the musician as Beth had suggested in her interview.
When the subject of Oli’s death came up, Beth stated, “I absolutely did not kill my husband.”
She went on to elaborate on the investigation, stating, ‘The police, they were talking to all these people who had an axe to grind with me. People are accusing me for various reasons, for revenge, for free publicity, to try to build careers for themselves.” She also called out lead detective, Michael Zeila, adding, ‘You could tell he was fan of the band. Here he is, this country cop, and he’s working on a rock star who died. I think he got star struck and was on a power trip.”
When asked if she had any theories on how her husband died, Beth stated that she had no idea. She suggested Ambien as one possibility. She also circled back to Penelope as an option.
“That did cross my mind when the police found my husband’s body – that it was Penelope. Did Penelope come back? Did he stumble down there on his own? We don’t know. All I know is I was upstairs in bed and when I came downstairs in the morning he wasn’t in the house.”
In the time since Herbert’s death, All That Remains released Victim of the New Disease, their final album with the musician that had been completed just before his death. Jason Richardson initially subbed in to help with touring for the record, then eventually signed on permanently to handle lead guitar duties.
Now nearly four years removed from Herbert’s death, Beth said she intends on moving away from the home where her husband passed. You can read more from the interview with the Daily Mail at this location.
Rockers We Lost in 2018
