DENVER (AP):

A suburban Denver man charged with pushing his wife to her death off a cliff in Colorado's Rocky Mountain National Park could not explain to investigators why he had a park map with an 'X' drawn at the spot where she fell.

Newly unsealed court documents say Harold Henthorn denied using the map during the deadly September 29, 2012, hike. But he told friends that he scouted out the park's steep and craggy terrain at least six times, trying to find the perfect place to take Toni to celebrate their 12th year of marriage.

Previous atttempt of murder

In more than 20 search warrants made public Wednesday, authorities say Henthorn studied his wife's financial status before marrying her, gave conflicting stories about what he was doing when she fell and may have tried to kill her previously.

Henthorn, 58, was indicted last week on a first-degree murder charge in the death of Toni Henthorn, 50, a wealthy ophthalmologist from Mississippi. Prosecutors say she fell more than 140 feet off a cliff in a remote area far from the trail the couple had been hiking.

Henthorn's attorney, Craig L Truman, declined to comment Wednesday.

Henthorn told authorities his wife was trying to take a photo of one of the park's majestic views when she slipped, according to the search warrants. The documents describe Henthorn as a controlling and obsessive husband who stood to benefit from his late wife's three life insurance policies totalling $4.5 million.

Prosecutors at a hearing last week said they also believe Henthorn killed his first wife 17 years earlier, though he has not been charged in that case. Sandra Lynn Henthorn, who died in May 1995, was crushed to death when a car slipped off a jack while she and her husband were changing a flat tyre. Henthorn received nearly $500,000 from her life insurance policies.

In both of his wives' deaths, investigators said, Henthorn was the lone witness.

Relatives and friends told investigators there were other times that they were concerned about the Henthorns' relationship. They said Henthorn controlled his wife's phone calls and limited her contact with their daughter, now nine. A baby sitter wondered if Henthorn was having an affair because he claimed to travel for work so much, the documents show.

Those close to Henthorn at the funeral said he seemed more distraught over the knowledge that he was under investigation than he did over his wife's death, the documents say. He told one relative that a park ranger had a vendetta against him and had accused him of taking the $12,000 ring off Toni's finger after she had fallen.

If there was an indictment, he said, law enforcement can "come in my house and cabin, and dig for girlfriends in my backyard."