December 13, 2025 • 44 mins
Kouri Richins remains in Summit County Jail, after the judge denies a defense motion to reconsider bail and release. In addition to the murder charges in the death of her husband, Richins faces over two dozen charges in a separate case alleging she committed mortgage fraud, submitted falsified banks statements, committed money laundering and issued bad checks.
Meanwhile, Kouri Richins' defense alleges that the Summit County Sheriff’s Office illegally obtained evidence while investigating the death of Eric Richins.
Defense attorneys Kathy Nester and Wendy Lewis say detectives violated Richins' constitutional rights and argue that the evidence should be ruled inadmissible during her murder trial.
At the center of the motion are the "Walk the Dog" letter and data from her phone and Apple accounts. Defense attorneys argue that investigators took Kouri’s phone without a proper warrant and failed to inform her of her right to remain silent, her right to request a lawyer, and her right to refuse questioning.
The case began when Eric Richins became violently ill on multiple occasions after having dinner with his wife, Kouri.
The couple, who owned a successful real estate business, was celebrating a big sale when Kouri Richins prepared a drink for her husband. She then went to care for their children. Hours later, when she went to bed, Eric Richins was dead.
Investigators believe his wife killed him by putting a fatal dose of fentanyl in his drink. Police also discovered that Kouri Richins attempted to change the beneficiary of her husband's life insurance policy.
Joining Nancy Grace Today:
- Jeffrey Wolf - Criminal Defense Attorney; Twitter: @JeffWolf5280 and @WolfLawLLC
- Dr. Angela Arnold - Psychiatrist, Atlanta GA.- Expert in the Treatment of Pregnant/Postpartum Women; Former Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Obstetrics and Gynecology: Emory University; Former Medical Director of The Psychiatric Ob-Gyn Clinic at Grady Memorial Hospital
- Bobby Chacon- Former Special Agent FBI, Screenwriter for “Criminal Minds;” Instagram/Twitter: @BobbyChaconFBI
- Dr. Paul Christo - Opioid Expert, Associate Professor for The John Hopkins School of Medicine, Division of Pain Medicine; Author and Host of "Aches & Gains: A Comprehensive Guide To Overcoming Your Pain"
- Dr. Kendall Crowns- Chief Medical Examiner Tarrant County (Ft Worth), Lecturer: University of Texas Austin and Texas Christian University Medical School
- Jen Smith- Chief Reporter for DailyMail.com, Twitter: @jen_e_smith
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
So called Moscow mule mom Corey Richins, charged in the
poisoning death of her husband, the father of her children,
now facing a slew of new felony charges, and of
course she's whining behind bars.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Look woman, that's what happens when you.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Kill your husband, according to prosecutors. I'm Nancy Grace.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
This is Crime Stories.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I want to thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The so called Moscow mule mom, Corey Richands set to
go to trial now facing a host of brand new
criminal charges.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Guess what they are?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Five counts of mortgage fraud, seven counts of money laundering,
one count of communications fraud, and one count of engaging
in a pattern of unlawful activity. All of those are
second degree felonies, plus five counts forgery and seven counts
issuing bad check third degree felonies. You know what, even
(01:17):
if she was convicted on all of those, she got
out of jail in no time.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
It's the murder charge I'm interested in.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
But as of right now, the mother and realtor charge
with aggravated murder and the death of husband thirty nine
year old Eric Richins, and attempting to murder him a
month before jury selection is set to go forward in
just weeks.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
This is what police say happened.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
First of all, take a listen to our friends say
Ku TV.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
This is the home where police found Eric Richards dead
on his bedroom floor in March. Richins in his wife, Corey.
We're celebrating a business accomplishment.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
The night he died.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Corey made Eric a moscow mule which he drank in
the bedroom.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
They say. Corey told authorities that.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
She left to help one of their children and return
to the bed several hours later. It was then, they say,
she noticed Eric was cool to the touch and called.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Nine one one.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
What a horrible event to leave your husband go fall
asleep in the bedroom with.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
One of your sons.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
She wanders back in there to sleep in their bed
around three am and her husband is cold to the touch.
With me in all star panel to make sense of
what we know right now. But first I want to
go to Chief Medical Examiner out of Terrent County. That's
Fort Worth Lecturer, University of Texas, Austin and Texas Christian
University Medical School, Dtor Kendall Crowns, Doctor Crowns. It's such
(02:52):
an honor to have you and doctor Paul Christo with us.
Doctor Crown's, my first question to you is how long
has a body How long has the person been dead
before their body is cold to the touch.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Well usually wants your hearts stop reading and your body
started taking on the temperature of the surrounding environment. It
can happen in a probably about a half hour to
an hour where you can start noticing the body has
change of temper, temperature gotten cold.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Okay, you know, doctor Kindle Crowns. I know you're the
MD and I'm the JD. But I believe I'm going
to seek a second opinion. I'm going to go to
doctor Paul Christo, professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,
author of Aches and Gains, A Comprehensive Guide to Overcoming
(03:44):
Your Pain, Doctor Paul Christo, I thought it would take
so much longer for a body to get completely cold
to the touch. And I do agree with doctor Kendall
Crowns regarding the ambient air in the room and what
difference that would make. But in this case, they were
at home with their three little boys, so I'm assuming
(04:07):
I think it's safe to assume the temperature would have
been between sixty nine and let's just say seventy one, right, I.
Speaker 7 (04:15):
Mean, I would probably say somewhere around similar, Doctor Crown, probably,
you know, forty minutes to an hour's.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Doctor Paul Christo. How often do people just die in
their sleep? I mean, this is a young man who
was thirty nine years old at the time of his death.
Speaker 7 (04:31):
Not very often surprised to say, I mean, this is
this is a rare event. It doesn't happen unless you have,
you know, maybe some underlying cardiac problems, for example, maybe
pulmonary problems. It's very rare just to drop dead in
your sleep.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
You know, Doctor Angela Arnold joining me psychiatrist, renowned psychiatrist
in the Atlanta jurisdiction at angela Arnold MD dot com.
Doctor Angie. Maybe it's just my line of business. But
when I ever I hear eye in your sleep, there's
always something bad attached to that.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
But I guess people really do die in their sleep.
Speaker 8 (05:05):
Well, they do, Nancy, And it's usually older people who
die in their sleep. They can suffer in a rhythmia
of their heart, and those are the people that can
die in their sleep. But like you said, Nancy, whenever
we hear of a younger person dying in their sleep.
There's some curiosity about that. I mean, young people don't
(05:26):
have heart issues typically, so young people don't typically die
in their sleep, and that's typically what you die from
in the at night.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I disagree with you too, all three of you, doctors.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I and my vast knowledge of medicine disagree with all
of you. Because my dad had his first coronary thrombosis
at age thirty nine.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
That's pretty young. And this guy is thirty nine.
Speaker 8 (05:50):
Well it is, nancy, but that's still unusual. It's not
that that's not the norm. That's all I would say.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Okay, all right, let me get back on track. This
guy is actually celebrating, you know. Let me let Jen
Smith tell you. Jen Smith is joining us chief investigative
reporter for dailymail dot com on this from the very beginning,
the unusual death of Eric Rich's just thirty nine years old,
father of three little boys. Jen, thank you for being
(06:17):
with us. Explain to me how this whole thing went down,
because they were having a celebration that evening. From what
I understand, the wife, Corey Rich and flips houses she'll
buy and she's got a business partner, they buy houses,
they improve them, and then they flip them, like on
(06:38):
AHGTV the flip your house.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
That's what she does.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
And that evening they were having some kind of a
celebration because she had closed on a home.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
You tell me, Jen, Yeah, that's that's exactly right now.
Speaker 9 (06:51):
But the actually our understanding all of it is that
they worked pretty closely together a career and her husband, Eric,
like you say, exactly the type of business that you
just described. They flipped houses. So when Eric came home
that evening and his wife is at the house with
the kids, they're celebrating because he has just closed a
(07:13):
deal on a sale of a home, so bringing more
money into the family. And listen, this is a picture
perfect family. They lived in a really nice area not
too far outside of Park City in Utah. The house
called Tamas, really beautiful rural in the mountains, and they
had this great life. They themselves lived in a one
(07:35):
point one million dollar home, and as you rightly pointed out,
Eric had just closed another deal. So it was a
happy occasion for the Richards family this evening.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Now let me understand they're Mormons, correct, they are?
Speaker 9 (07:48):
Yeah, So Eric Richards actually comes from a pretty prominent
Mormon family. The Richards family is a large family in
at least Summit County. This is the area of Utah
that we're talking about, many many relatives and very well
known in the community. I and Fury had been married
for nine years and they had three beautiful boys together
(08:08):
when he dies.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Here's my question. I have several friends that are devout Mormons.
They don't even drink chocolate milk gin because chocolate is
a stimulant.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
So these two are having moscow mules.
Speaker 10 (08:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (08:22):
So what we know now is that after he returns
home from closing this deal, as a celebration, Curry, his
wife makes him a moscow mule, the vodka ba his cocktail,
and that is where they kind of leave things for
the night. Like you say, she goes.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Off to get with the son who is having a nightmare,
sleeps in the room with the sun having a nightmare.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yeah, and she leaves him sitting up.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
In bed having his drink, TV going, everything's fine. So
this mom devastated finding her husband cold in the bed
and having all sorts of survivor guilt.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Why did I leave him? I'm alive, He's dead.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
That she and her children get together, and they actually
write a book called are.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
You with Me?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Because it's not like are you with me? Like do
you understand? It's literally, are you with me?
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Dad? Are you still with me?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Because her three little boys were having such a horrible
time dealing with their father's sudden death, she writes the
book and she's on local TV promoting it, and I
want you to hear her words, devastated after her husband's death.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Take a list an hour. Cut eight.
Speaker 11 (09:37):
My husband passed away unexpectedly last year, so it's March
fourth was a one year anniversary for us, and he
was thirty nine. It completely took us all by shock.
And we have three little boys, ten, nine, and six,
and you know, we kind of my kids and I
kind of wrote this book on the different emotions and
(10:02):
grieving processes that we've experienced last year, and you know,
hoping that it can kind of help other kids, you know,
deal with this and kind of, you know, find happiness
some some way or another.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And let's hear a little bit more of Corey Rich's
on Good Things Utah that's on KTVX, describing what she
and her children had in der are cut nine.
Speaker 11 (10:29):
I'm new to all of this so kind of doing
all you know, research and reading books and things to
try and understand you know, not only how to grieve
as a widow, as a wife, but also you know,
with my kids, how to help them, how to help
them understand what just happened. And what I have kind
of found is, as I mentioned, it's kind of the
(10:51):
three c's is how I has visualized it, and it's
you know, connection, continuity, and care, and it's you know,
making sure connection is the one major one, and making
sure that their spirit is always a life in your home,
you know, and memories are always brought up, and doing
things that your loved ones love to do, whether it's
(11:11):
riding bike, served their favorite dinner, and just constantly you know,
talking about that.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And I'm just thinking about how children cope.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
With the death of a dad and doing things that
remind you of your loved one. To doctor Angie Arnold,
I know, every year on my dad's birthday, every night
after dinner, because my dad and mom had largely moved
(11:38):
in with us, spending a lot of times with us
because you know, the children were so little, just as
he passed away, and every night after supper, I would
make him a cup of decaf.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So every year, on.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
His birthday or really throughout the year, I will send
my sister a picture, you know, I kind of text
of a cup of daycaf is steaming, because we both
know what that means. And I'm just wondering what you,
as a parent can do to help your children.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
How excruci you. I mean as an.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Adult when my father passed away, but these are little
little boys well.
Speaker 8 (12:17):
And Nancy, it's important for all of us to remember
that each child will will remember this differently according to
how old they are. Each child is going to have
a different experience of this grief, so it's very important
to work with each child where they are when this happens,
and not gloss it over as if everyone's experiencing the
(12:39):
same kind of grief. Depending how young some of the
children are, they may not have the words to express
how they feel about the fact that their father is gone.
The older ones have had more time with their dad,
and they're going to have different memories with their dad.
So it's very important to help the children remember the
things that they remember according to what their ages were
(13:00):
when the when the.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Parent passed away, and this is how they came up
with the name of the book.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Are you with me? And our cut eleven?
Speaker 11 (13:11):
The first day of school and you know all the
nerves that kids face on the first day of school
with nuke, you know, and just hoping, you know, Dad,
like walk with me, like help me get through today.
They give me the strength to do that, and it
has found you know, it's been a lot of peace
for my kids to you know, to really remember that
in the back of their head, that they're never alone.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we
practiced to deceive. I can't take credit for that, but
I do know how to add. Corey Richens allegedly used
a power of attorney to get a two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars home equity line of credit on her husband,
(14:04):
Eric Richards's premarital home without his knowledge.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Remember that math.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
That's two hundred and fifty thousand reasons she had to
kill him. She used the proceeds from that home equity
loan to fund Kay Richard's realty translation Corey Richard's realty
and hard money loans to finance its ongoing operations. You
(14:34):
don't think he'd get angry when he finds out she
takes out a quarter million dollar equity loan on his home.
This was the home he had before they got married.
When he learned about that, prosecutor say it was a
quote source of tension.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I guess it was. Oh, I can tell.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You this right now, all h w LB break loose
if I found out my husband David took out a
home equity loan without telling me.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Aunt n oh. So it all came to a head.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
The night her husband died from a poisoning death.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
What happened to Eric Richards?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Doctor Crowns, I'm just thinking about these three little boys
in that home when mom is doing CPR on Eric Richards,
who is dead in the bedroom, already cold to the touch.
And I guess once your call to the touch, there's
no bringing you back. Would you agree with that, doctor Crowns?
Speaker 8 (15:35):
Yeah, I would.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Agree with that. Once you've gotten called, you're probably pat
of the time period where you can be saved.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So, Doctor Kendl Crowns, it is unusual for thirty nine
year old man to just die in his sleep. So
what would the medical examiner do in order to determine
cause of death?
Speaker 6 (15:54):
Well, what you do is a complete autopsy. A thirty
nine year old usually don't die suddenly like that, usually
something else going on. So by doing a complete autopsy,
you would check all the organs for any disease, processes,
cornary promposas, cordinary or disease, different heart and abnormalities, et cetera.
And then what you'd also do as draw toxicology to
(16:16):
run toxicology screens to see if there any for any
drugs on board, and also do electrolyte or fluids from
the eyeball where you could look at his dehydration status,
his gluecose the CFP had diabetes.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
Or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
To just men joining us from dailymail dot com, I've
taken a long look at what we have of the
medical examiner's report. What exactly is the cause of death
for Eric Richards, Well.
Speaker 9 (16:44):
We believe it according to this report, it's facial dose
of sensil, which is a synthetic opioid. Now you need
maybe two milligrams of this, doctor chillies. He had five
times out in.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Mind body, five times the amount of a lethal dose
a sentinel. You know I introduced to you doctor Paul
Christo earlier. In addition, to being an associate prophet John
Hopkins School of Medicine.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
That's not shabby. He's also an opioid.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Expert, doctor Christo. As I said earlier, this is a
devout Mormon family. Again, they don't even drink chocolate milk
because they think it's a stimulant.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
So I've got.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Them drinking Moscow mules plus fentunnel. What exactly is fentanyl?
I know there's an opioid crisis. I know there's a
fentanyl crisis. I know people are dying every day a
fentyl overdoses. But could you give us some street names?
What is fentanyl and what does it.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Do to you?
Speaker 7 (17:50):
Well, fentanyl is an opioid first and foremost, and opioids
are used as pain relievers. They enter the bloodstream, bind
to various different what are called opuid receptors in the
brain and spinal cord to reduce pain. First and foremost.
We use them for many many years as pain specialists
(18:11):
and also in the operating room in anisphysiologists. But fentanyl
is synthetic, So non synthetic opioids would be like codeine,
for example, or morphine. Synthetic means it's just made in
the laboratory of a pharmaceutical company typically can be very
useful as a pain reliever.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
You mean light Walter White breaking bad. Yes, you make
it in a lab well, then make it.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
In an RV sometimes, but you just make it, you
cook it up.
Speaker 7 (18:37):
Yeah, that's right. You can make it an RV. You
can make it illegally, certainly, yes, and then pharmaceutically it's legal.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I'm so glad you said that, doctor Christo, because a
further analysis reveals that the fentanyl in Eric's blood was
not legal. So apparently you can tell whether fentanyl is
eagle such as prescribed by a doctor and you go
get it at the pharmacy or illegal. And I guess
(19:05):
that goes trace back to how it's made.
Speaker 12 (19:07):
That's right.
Speaker 7 (19:08):
We have more sophisticated methods now determining whether medications or
drugs are legal or illegal, and in this case, it
sounds like it was illegal.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So bottom line, he's not getting it from the Walgreens
or the CBS or the Dwayne Reid. He's getting it
somewhere else. Okay, uh, you know who would know this
on this panel. Let's just go with doctor Angie Arnold.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Do you know what's in a moscow mule?
Speaker 8 (19:36):
No, I'm sorry I don't.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Oh man, I got a surprise that you just surprised
me because I could just see you kicked bat with
some of those copper I bet Bobby Chacone does.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Bobby Chacone, former special.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Agent with the FBI and screenwriter for Criminal Minds. You
can find him at Bobbychecone dot com.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Bobby, there is no way you don't know what a
moscow mule is?
Speaker 10 (19:57):
No. Yeah, the basic ingredients of ginger beer and vodka
or some kind of hard or liquor. It's usually served
in like a copper cup. It's a very specific drink.
Ginger beer obviously ginger people familiar with ginger has a
very strong kind of taste, a very unique kind of taste,
almost overpowering if you use too much of it. So, yeah,
it's a very specific drink. It's become very trendy in
(20:17):
recent years. And ginger beer is kind of the overwhelming
taste that you get that ginger from the ginger beer,
which is the main ingredient to.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Doctor Paul Christa joining us. If you're an expert, what
does what does fennyl taste like?
Speaker 7 (20:32):
Mill is usually tasteless. It's usually tasteless.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
So if I chewed up an oxy, it would taste
like nothing.
Speaker 7 (20:39):
Well, oxy now is different from fentanyl.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Okay, that shows how much I know.
Speaker 7 (20:43):
But yes, probably would taste a bit different.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Well, what's a straight name for fentyl?
Speaker 7 (20:49):
There really is no street I mean, it typically goes
by fentanyl.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Can it mean a tablet?
Speaker 7 (20:53):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
And so if I chew up a fentyl tablet, I
taste nothing.
Speaker 7 (20:58):
Typically you're not going to taste anything unless something's been
added to the tablet.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Interesting. Interesting, doctor Paul Christo.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
According to my crack legal analyst Jackie, there are some
street names crazy what did you say?
Speaker 9 (21:13):
Crazy One?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Crazy One, Dance Fever, Dragon's Breath. I've never heard any
of that, so I don't know how reliable that is.
Speaker 8 (21:21):
Can I make a statement?
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yes? Jump in.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
So, when it first came out, it was called drop
dead because a lot of the people who were injecting
fennyl died so quickly they left the needle in the
in their arm. So the street name was originally dropped
dead because when you took it, you dropped dead instantly.
I think that's kind of fallen out of favor because
every every area has regional names for it.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Well, I guess that's a little bad for business for dopers.
Speaker 6 (21:48):
Well for business, that's why it started.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Only you, Candle Crowns.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Only Well you can imagine the shock that reverberates through
the community when this goes down. Take a listen now
cut fourteen katib X.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
But we have breaking news of this.
Speaker 13 (22:04):
Our local children's book author charged with murder. Thirty three
year old Corey Richards of Chemus is being held in
the Summit County Jail with no bail.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Now.
Speaker 13 (22:14):
She promoted her book on the Grief on Good Things
to Utah. That's the video you're seeing here. This is
about a month ago. Court documents today showing the murder
happened in March of twenty twenty two, an online obituary
showing her husband, thirty nine year old Eric Richards, died
that same month.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
As it turns out, according to investigators, there had been
other previous instances where the wife in this case had
tried to murder her husband. And I find it extremely
interesting and I want to go to Jeffrey Wolf on
this criminal defense attorney, high profile criminal criminal defense attorney
(22:53):
joining us out of Colorado. You can find them at
Wolflaw Colorado dot com.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Jeffrey, you know what I love.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I love what we call in my jurisdiction similar transactions. Typically,
as we saw in the Alex Mardack case, for instance,
a person's history of bad acts cannot come in at
trial unless and until it is proven that those bad
(23:22):
acts are let's just say a fingerprint of the case
in chief to show motive, course of conduct, scheme, frame
of mind. Would you agree with that, Jeffrey Wolf.
Speaker 12 (23:35):
Yeah, one hundred percent. The rule you're talking about is
Rule four or four B, which is a federal rule
of evidence that is mirrored in almost all fifty states.
That's going to talk about whether somebody's prior bad acts
can come in as evidence in the case against them. Currently,
it can't come in to show act and conformity therewith,
meaning just because they did something before they did it again.
(23:57):
But it can come in for all these other reasons
that you're talking about, plan, motive, scheme, modus operandi, to
show who this person is, how they operate, and how
that ties them to this event too.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Jen joining us from dalimail dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Jensmith, what can you tell us about prior incidents, including
one on Valentine's Day just a month the month before
Eric drops dead in sleep, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 9 (24:25):
So we know about the Valentine's Day incident that you mentioned. Man,
they ate a meal together and he became very ill afterwards.
As a result, he ended up telling friends, I think
my wife had poisoned me. Not only is that disturbing,
but more so is the fact that this was the
second time he thought she had tried to poison him.
(24:46):
Once previously, during a vacation with the family, he told
his sister that he thought she had tried to poison him,
so once by what happens after that.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
So the first time we believe Now this is according
to him, And I'm going to go back to Jeff
Wolf for just a moment about how you can or
cannot use the words of someone now dead in court.
Because under the sixth Amendment, everybody on trial has the
right to cross examine witnesses, evidence, documents, tests used against them,
(25:21):
and if the person's now dead, you cannot cross examine them.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
It's hearsay.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So how can you get this information into evidence to
show if you can, that there were.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Prior attempts on Eric's life.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
The first one, Jenn Smith, is I believe about three
years ago in Greece, family vacation, as you described, and
they had dinner and drinks together and he got very
very ill. And that's when he called his sister. Was
that when he called a sister?
Speaker 9 (25:51):
Yeah, we think so, we know that. We're not sure
exactly when this vacation was, only that it was several
years ago, maybe a few years ago, and he can
his sister.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And this is a.
Speaker 9 (26:02):
Sister who he continued to confide in, especially about his
marital problems with Curry. So that was the first instance.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
So I believe it was about three years ago. That
was Angreece.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Fast forward, he didn't die, fast forward to this past March.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Okay, March a year ago.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, that's when he died the month before on Valentine's Day.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
What happened, Jen? What happened? Jan Smith?
Speaker 9 (26:32):
We know that they sat down to have dinner together
in their home and for whatever reason, even though he
has this previous suspicion that his wife has tried to
poison him at least once before he sits down with her.
He has a meal with her, and again he becomes
incredibly ill. He doesn't die, and we don't really know
even if he went to the hospital. We're just going
(26:54):
off of what we've seen in the start for it,
and it's been released so far. He became very very
l after that violin.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
And see and it was so bad he had used
an EpiPen and benadrill and still went unconscious.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Guess what, He didn't die again.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Prosecutor's note in charging documents that five months before Eric's death,
Corey Richand's realty was swimming in debt, her nose just
barely above water.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Let me quote.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Despite Kay richards realty's existing debt and insufficient revenue, Richards
continued to use hard money loans to purchase three additional properties,
adding debt upon debt upon debt, including one point one
(27:47):
million and high interest debt to her already staggering and unserviceable.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
In other words, you can't pay it off debt load.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
She needed that life insurance policy see proceeds, and she
needed it quick.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
This is what we know, doctor Angie Arnold.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
If I had two brushes with death while David is
hovering over me, I would leave. But I've got a
feeling this guy, Eric Richards did not want to believe
his wife would try to kill him, even though he verbalized.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
That I think she's trying to poison me.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
I think he didn't want to truly accept it and
leave the boys.
Speaker 8 (28:30):
I completely agree with you, Nancy. And if you thought
that someone was actually trying to kill you, and this
is the person that has been called the love of
your life, then what could she possibly do to your
children if you're not there? So you can't abandon your
children for your own sake. No, people don't do that.
(28:51):
So he was just taking his chances. I guess, scared,
probably in some disbelief that she would actually want to
kill him. Right, So you might think it, but you're
still going to be a disbelief that this woman who
you're sleeping with and who you're going on trips with
and you're going to the kids' baseball games with, is
(29:11):
actually trying to kill you and who you're practicing your
Mormon religion with. How we call that an incongruent thought?
How incongruent could that be to this man? Okay, maybe
she's trying to kill me, but really is she is?
Speaker 11 (29:27):
She?
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I think page just really he may have said that,
but he couldn't truly take it in.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
You know another thing.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
I love Bobby Chacone as I know you do too,
former special agent with the FBI.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
I love cell phone data. I love it so much.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
I want you to take a listen to our cut
seventeen our friend Ariel Harrison.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
Evidence gathered in the death investigation revealed Corey claims she
was away from her phone that night and it was
left on the charger by her bed teams. However, gathered
evans the phone was in use during that time and
sent mess that just had been deleted. Additional evidence showed
Corey was in contact with a drug dealer in Ogden
leading up to Eric's death. The legal document state she
(30:09):
received both hydrocodone pills and fentanyl from the dealer, claiming
the drugs were intended for a client experiencing back pain.
At one point, please say, she requested for quote the
Michael Jackson stuff, asking specifically for fentanyl. Information from the
autopsy report determined Eric died from an overdose of fentanyl
five times the lethal dosage.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Well that's like drinking from the fire hydrant. That is
so much, way too fast. I can't drink it in.
Let's just start with Bobby ch cone the phone evidence
because she says, I wasn't on the.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Phone all night.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
I plugged it in and our room, and then I
went down the hall to sleep with one of my
boys who was having nightmares. I go back at three
am ish and I find him call to the touch.
Did I immediately perform CPR? But the phone says and
helped me out? Jasmith, I believe the phones showed that
(31:06):
there have been a lot of texting back and forth
during the time where she says the phone was plugged in,
not in use while she was in her son's room, and.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
All those texts were deleted. So what is she.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Doing texting back and forth while her husband is dying
and then lying about it? I mean, Ja Smith, are
those that are those facts correct?
Speaker 9 (31:30):
Those facts are absolutely correct. Now, she obviously thought that
she was outsmarting the authority when she told them that
she left her phone plugged in. Maybe she thought that
it was the location inside the heismand show. But yees,
she there is a record. There's a digital record. We
know that we've spoken about it many times. Then you
can't get rid of it, this digital footprint.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yes, Bobby Cohen just saw digital evidence basically convict Alex
Murdogg and the double murderer, his wife and son, Maggie
and Maggie and Paul. So what about this had my
phone plugged in the whole night, you know, until I
find him keeled overdead?
Speaker 10 (32:08):
Yeah, I mean, when you have a case like this
where she's the only other person that could have, you know,
either rendered aid or caused harm. There's no fourth century,
there's no Blount trauma, you immediately start to get her
story and for her initial statement. The minute those phone
records come back and you realize she lied to you,
she has to become suspect number one because now, why
would a wife lie about using her phone in the
(32:30):
immediate aftermath of finding her husband dead, or during the
period where she found him dead, or shortly before that.
So the minute you find out she lied to you
about the phone, you have to start taking a much
harder look at her, who her associates, look at her
phone records, harder, who is she been calling? Who should
being in contact with? So she made her by lying,
she made herself suspect number one. If she would have
(32:52):
simply come up with a different excuse on why she
was texting, maybe she had the phone in bed with
her with the kid and she was but the minute
she lied about that, she has to become suspect one right.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Then the gig's up.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Jeffrey Wolf, high profile lawyer joining us out of Colorado
at Wolflaw Colorado dot com. I want you to take
a listen to another alarming circumstance and ourcut three our
friends from crime online dot com.
Speaker 14 (33:18):
Valentine's Day twenty twenty two. Eric Richins becomes violently ill
after suffering an allergic reaction after having dinner with his
wife of nine years, Corey. He breaks out in hives,
can't Breathe passes out after using his son's EpiPen and
taking benadrel. When Eric wakes up, he calls his business partner,
Cody Wright to let him know what has just happened. Then,
(33:39):
without Corey knowing, Eric changes the beneficiary of his will
and his power of attorney, replacing his wife Corey with
his sister. Legal paperwork suggests that Eric believes Corey might
kill him for the money, and he wants his children
to be financially secure.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Quote on the day of Eric Richards's death, Kay Richard's
realty owed hard money lenders at least one point eight
million dollars, and the day after his death.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
It owed nearly five million dollars.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
So why did she agree to purchase an unfinished mansion
using two point nine million dollars of high interest debt
due payable in just six months.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
She knew she didn't have that money. It's all so clear.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
And then when he kills over, she could use that
life insurance policy money to pay it all off. She
goes into his life insurance policy where his partner, Cody
is his beneficiary, his business partner, and she changes it
(35:08):
to make her exclusively the life insurance policy beneficiary. And
he's so worried after this Valentine's Day incident where he
gets horribly ill, he cracks.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
A joke, Hey, she might kill me for the money,
and he.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Changes his will. I mean, Jeffrey Wolf, that is no joke.
Speaker 12 (35:31):
No, it certainly is no joke. And what you saw
here in this case is you see her attempt to
take his business life insurance policy. I have one with
my law partner. If something happens to one of us,
we want to make sure the business is secure. And
so she goes into that policy and attempts to change
it so that she gets the money if he dies,
and then he has this magic allergic reaction. My wife
(35:54):
has a severe allergy that could cause problems for her.
One of my employees, does you can bet your bottom
dollar if I'm making them food or if I'm buying
a meal for them, I'm making sure that those ingredients
are not present, because those are people I care about
who I have a knowledge would be in trouble.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
What is your wife allerging to you? By the way,
She's allergic to raw tomatoes.
Speaker 12 (36:12):
It's a very unique allergy that a lot of restaurants
have trouble with. But you can bet your bottom dollar
there's no raw tomatoes than anything I buy her or
serve her, because I know what would happen. Okay, And
so the fact that she did that is incredibly concerning.
And she did it after attempting to make that change.
The company caught it, by the way, and it was
(36:34):
changed back. And then when he wakes up from that,
he calls his business partner to tell him his suspicions.
Joking or not, that could be a present sense impression,
which is a reason to get hearsay in at the
trial since you were mentioning hearsay before. Wasn't aware I
had an evidence test today, but I'm going to pass it.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
I was ready to pounce on you with a hearsay
loophole that I go ahead.
Speaker 12 (36:59):
I'm ready for it. I'm ready for it. My evidence
practicum professor from law school would be so proud and
so present. Sense impression allows those statements of somebody who
is not available to be cross examined to come in.
But it's going to require a recency to the event
and something to say that they were still under the
impression of that event in order to be able to
(37:19):
get that statement in. So how quickly he called him
after he woke up needing to use an EpiPen in
benadryl is going to matter a great deal.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
How would you compare presences impression to excited utterance exception?
Speaker 12 (37:33):
So, excited utterance is something that happens right then you're
seeing something and you're saying exactly what you're seeing in
that moment. It happens a lot. On nine to one
one calls right right.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
When you wake up from an overdose offenal. That kind
of excited.
Speaker 12 (37:47):
Utterance It could be an excited utterance, but it has
you have to be excited, right, So it's not just
that you're saying something that's happening and relaying it as
it's happening. You have to be in an excited state
as well. That emotional state. If he called and he's
making a joke about it, that could still be a
present sense impression to say that this is something that
I have recently seen.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
You think there's any problem getting these statements in?
Speaker 12 (38:09):
Honestly, I think that it's going to be a tough
road to hoe to get these, you know, statements of
somebody who's not able.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
I totally disagree.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
That's why we have the exceptions to the hearsay role
for situations just like this.
Speaker 12 (38:23):
It is exactly why we have the hearsay exceptions. However,
in a court and you're doing a criminal trial, the
only person who has a right to a fair trial
is the criminal defendant, and some judges will err on
the side of caution.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
True, Okay, you know what, let me throw something else
at you. Let me throw something else at you. Now
we already know that you know what's your cut?
Speaker 15 (38:45):
Five KSL core papers say Corey first bought painkillers from
a drug dealer. Weeks later, asking for something stronger, she
called it some of the Michael Jackson stuff. That was
just before Valentine's Day last year. Records say on Valentine's Day,
Eric became very ill and believed he had been poisoned,
and told a friend he thought his wife was trying
(39:05):
to poison him. The dealer told police that two weeks later,
Corey purchased morpheentanyl. Six days later, on March fourth, twenty
twenty two, Eric was found dead of a fentanyl overdose.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Let me get this straight.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Jen Smith, chief investigative reporter dailymail dot Com, on the
story from the very beginning. So he has the horrible
episode in Greece where he calls his sister and says,
I swear.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
I think she's trying to kill me. Ha ha ha.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Then fast forward to February twenty twenty two, Valentine's Day,
another horrible episode after eating and drinking.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
There is your similar transaction Jeff Wolfe always after ingesting
food or or drink beverage with his wife. Always the
same mo modus operandi, method of operation. She puts whatever
it is. If whatever he.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Is ingesting, so is Valentine, They have a dinner and drinks.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Bam, he's out again. This time he lives. The second time,
changes his insurance back, changes his will.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
And then we find out that prior to the February incident,
Valentine's and the March incident, she goes back to the
drug dealer and she says, hey, I need some more.
She buys nine hundred dollars worth of fentinyl. In March,
he doesn't die. She goes back to the same dealer says, hey,
give me some more.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Man.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
She buys nine hundred dollars worth more. This time he dies.
You know, have you ever seen those pictures? If you
want to be an artist, you can just paint between
the lines and suddenly have this beautiful picture.
Speaker 12 (40:46):
Jeff Wolf's Yeah, I have seen it. And that's what
we're looking at here, is that the pieces of this
just keep coming into focus. And throw on top of
the fact that these are similar transactions that could go
to a modus operande or a pattern behavior. But throw
into that that a lot of states, my state Colorado
being one of them, have domestic violence allowances for similar transaction.
(41:09):
Four be evidence as well to show the certain types
of behaviors that can occur in a domestic violence relationship
as well. And you're going to start seeing all of
this stuff like an avalanche coming in against the defense,
and it is going to be very, very tough to
beat it all back with, no matter how big you
that is.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Bobby Chacon and Jenna Smith, I want you to hear
our cut seven are friends at ABC.
Speaker 16 (41:30):
A Utah woman who wrote a children's book about coping
with grief after the death of her husband last year
has now been charged with his murder. Corey Richins was
arrested yesterday accused of poisoning her husband Eric with fentanyl.
She also faced the drug charges. Just last month, Richards
appeared on local TV to promote her book about a
boy who lost his dad. At the time, she said
her husband's unexpected death left her and their three boys reeling.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Bobby Chicon not only the cost belief she murdered him.
She then writes a BOOKOK and tries to sell it
on TV and on Amazon.
Speaker 10 (42:04):
Really, yeah, I'm not sure that. I mean, I'm sure
the investigators are watching that. I'm not sure it's axacted
that much. I mean, they probably already had her in
their sight. You know her journey to do this kind
of brings the next level evil to her. But I'm
sure that you know, once they saw the toxicology report,
once they got those phone records back, which was all
within six eight ten weeks of the event of the murder,
(42:26):
they had her in their sites and it was a
matter of finding that drug dealer, getting a statement from them,
and just tying everything together with the prosecutor and putting
it all together. That her writing the book, I mean,
I just I think that impacts her reputation in the
community more than this actual case because everything was put together.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
Well, that's going to hurt her a whole lot more
than murdering her husband.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Doctor as Arnold, will you.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Help me out please, I mean, to murder your husband
and then write a book about how much your children
are suffering what they're going through. We had one child
that I was already having nightmares according to her.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
But doing that not just.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
To your husband, but to your children and then trying
to profit off of it with a book.
Speaker 8 (43:12):
Nancy, I think it shows that she has a complete
lack of attachment to her husband. Lots of people do
not develop attachment. There's something called attachment theory. Okay, So
I believe that she lacks attachment to the people in
her life, and that is what It doesn't mean you're insane, no,
but she doesn't have any attachment. How do you kill
(43:33):
your husband? So to me, that's the worst thing that
she's done. So anything after that, Okay.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Murder suspect Corey Richan's clearly swimming in millions of dollars
of debt and she believed, according to prosecutors, her husband's
life insurance policy would take care of it all.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
But first he had to die.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Wait, as this case goes to trial and justice Unfalds
Nancy Grace signing off, goodbye friend.
Speaker 9 (44:14):
Hmm,
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
So called Moscow mule mom Corey Richins, charged in the
poisoning death of her husband, the father of her children,
now facing a slew of new felony charges, and of
course she's whining behind bars.
Speaker 3 (00:28):
Look woman, that's what happens when you.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Kill your husband, according to prosecutors. I'm Nancy Grace.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
This is Crime Stories.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
I want to thank you for being with us.
Speaker 2 (00:40):
The so called Moscow mule mom, Corey Richands set to
go to trial now facing a host of brand new
criminal charges.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Guess what they are?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Five counts of mortgage fraud, seven counts of money laundering,
one count of communications fraud, and one count of engaging
in a pattern of unlawful activity. All of those are
second degree felonies, plus five counts forgery and seven counts
issuing bad check third degree felonies. You know what, even
(01:17):
if she was convicted on all of those, she got
out of jail in no time.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
It's the murder charge I'm interested in.
Speaker 2 (01:24):
But as of right now, the mother and realtor charge
with aggravated murder and the death of husband thirty nine
year old Eric Richins, and attempting to murder him a
month before jury selection is set to go forward in
just weeks.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
This is what police say happened.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
First of all, take a listen to our friends say
Ku TV.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
This is the home where police found Eric Richards dead
on his bedroom floor in March. Richins in his wife, Corey.
We're celebrating a business accomplishment.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
The night he died.
Speaker 5 (02:04):
Corey made Eric a moscow mule which he drank in
the bedroom.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
They say. Corey told authorities that.
Speaker 5 (02:09):
She left to help one of their children and return
to the bed several hours later. It was then, they say,
she noticed Eric was cool to the touch and called.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
Nine one one.
Speaker 2 (02:18):
What a horrible event to leave your husband go fall
asleep in the bedroom with.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
One of your sons.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
She wanders back in there to sleep in their bed
around three am and her husband is cold to the touch.
With me in all star panel to make sense of
what we know right now. But first I want to
go to Chief Medical Examiner out of Terrent County. That's
Fort Worth Lecturer, University of Texas, Austin and Texas Christian
University Medical School, Dtor Kendall Crowns, Doctor Crowns. It's such
(02:52):
an honor to have you and doctor Paul Christo with us.
Doctor Crown's, my first question to you is how long
has a body How long has the person been dead
before their body is cold to the touch.
Speaker 6 (03:06):
Well usually wants your hearts stop reading and your body
started taking on the temperature of the surrounding environment. It
can happen in a probably about a half hour to
an hour where you can start noticing the body has
change of temper, temperature gotten cold.
Speaker 2 (03:23):
Okay, you know, doctor Kindle Crowns. I know you're the
MD and I'm the JD. But I believe I'm going
to seek a second opinion. I'm going to go to
doctor Paul Christo, professor at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine,
author of Aches and Gains, A Comprehensive Guide to Overcoming
(03:44):
Your Pain, Doctor Paul Christo, I thought it would take
so much longer for a body to get completely cold
to the touch. And I do agree with doctor Kendall
Crowns regarding the ambient air in the room and what
difference that would make. But in this case, they were
at home with their three little boys, so I'm assuming
(04:07):
I think it's safe to assume the temperature would have
been between sixty nine and let's just say seventy one, right, I.
Speaker 7 (04:15):
Mean, I would probably say somewhere around similar, Doctor Crown, probably,
you know, forty minutes to an hour's.
Speaker 2 (04:20):
Doctor Paul Christo. How often do people just die in
their sleep? I mean, this is a young man who
was thirty nine years old at the time of his death.
Speaker 7 (04:31):
Not very often surprised to say, I mean, this is
this is a rare event. It doesn't happen unless you have,
you know, maybe some underlying cardiac problems, for example, maybe
pulmonary problems. It's very rare just to drop dead in
your sleep.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
You know, Doctor Angela Arnold joining me psychiatrist, renowned psychiatrist
in the Atlanta jurisdiction at angela Arnold MD dot com.
Doctor Angie. Maybe it's just my line of business. But
when I ever I hear eye in your sleep, there's
always something bad attached to that.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
But I guess people really do die in their sleep.
Speaker 8 (05:05):
Well, they do, Nancy, And it's usually older people who
die in their sleep. They can suffer in a rhythmia
of their heart, and those are the people that can
die in their sleep. But like you said, Nancy, whenever
we hear of a younger person dying in their sleep.
There's some curiosity about that. I mean, young people don't
(05:26):
have heart issues typically, so young people don't typically die
in their sleep, and that's typically what you die from
in the at night.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I disagree with you too, all three of you, doctors.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
I and my vast knowledge of medicine disagree with all
of you. Because my dad had his first coronary thrombosis
at age thirty nine.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
That's pretty young. And this guy is thirty nine.
Speaker 8 (05:50):
Well it is, nancy, but that's still unusual. It's not
that that's not the norm. That's all I would say.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Okay, all right, let me get back on track. This
guy is actually celebrating, you know. Let me let Jen
Smith tell you. Jen Smith is joining us chief investigative
reporter for dailymail dot com on this from the very beginning,
the unusual death of Eric Rich's just thirty nine years old,
father of three little boys. Jen, thank you for being
(06:17):
with us. Explain to me how this whole thing went down,
because they were having a celebration that evening. From what
I understand, the wife, Corey Rich and flips houses she'll
buy and she's got a business partner, they buy houses,
they improve them, and then they flip them, like on
(06:38):
AHGTV the flip your house.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
That's what she does.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
And that evening they were having some kind of a
celebration because she had closed on a home.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
You tell me, Jen, Yeah, that's that's exactly right now.
Speaker 9 (06:51):
But the actually our understanding all of it is that
they worked pretty closely together a career and her husband, Eric,
like you say, exactly the type of business that you
just described. They flipped houses. So when Eric came home
that evening and his wife is at the house with
the kids, they're celebrating because he has just closed a
(07:13):
deal on a sale of a home, so bringing more
money into the family. And listen, this is a picture
perfect family. They lived in a really nice area not
too far outside of Park City in Utah. The house
called Tamas, really beautiful rural in the mountains, and they
had this great life. They themselves lived in a one
(07:35):
point one million dollar home, and as you rightly pointed out,
Eric had just closed another deal. So it was a
happy occasion for the Richards family this evening.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Now let me understand they're Mormons, correct, they are?
Speaker 9 (07:48):
Yeah, So Eric Richards actually comes from a pretty prominent
Mormon family. The Richards family is a large family in
at least Summit County. This is the area of Utah
that we're talking about, many many relatives and very well
known in the community. I and Fury had been married
for nine years and they had three beautiful boys together
(08:08):
when he dies.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Here's my question. I have several friends that are devout Mormons.
They don't even drink chocolate milk gin because chocolate is
a stimulant.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
So these two are having moscow mules.
Speaker 10 (08:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 9 (08:22):
So what we know now is that after he returns
home from closing this deal, as a celebration, Curry, his
wife makes him a moscow mule, the vodka ba his cocktail,
and that is where they kind of leave things for
the night. Like you say, she goes.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
Off to get with the son who is having a nightmare,
sleeps in the room with the sun having a nightmare.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
Yeah, and she leaves him sitting up.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
In bed having his drink, TV going, everything's fine. So
this mom devastated finding her husband cold in the bed
and having all sorts of survivor guilt.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Why did I leave him? I'm alive, He's dead.
Speaker 2 (09:06):
That she and her children get together, and they actually
write a book called are.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
You with Me?
Speaker 2 (09:14):
Because it's not like are you with me? Like do
you understand? It's literally, are you with me?
Speaker 1 (09:19):
Dad? Are you still with me?
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Because her three little boys were having such a horrible
time dealing with their father's sudden death, she writes the
book and she's on local TV promoting it, and I
want you to hear her words, devastated after her husband's death.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Take a list an hour. Cut eight.
Speaker 11 (09:37):
My husband passed away unexpectedly last year, so it's March
fourth was a one year anniversary for us, and he
was thirty nine. It completely took us all by shock.
And we have three little boys, ten, nine, and six,
and you know, we kind of my kids and I
kind of wrote this book on the different emotions and
(10:02):
grieving processes that we've experienced last year, and you know,
hoping that it can kind of help other kids, you know,
deal with this and kind of, you know, find happiness
some some way or another.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And let's hear a little bit more of Corey Rich's
on Good Things Utah that's on KTVX, describing what she
and her children had in der are cut nine.
Speaker 11 (10:29):
I'm new to all of this so kind of doing
all you know, research and reading books and things to
try and understand you know, not only how to grieve
as a widow, as a wife, but also you know,
with my kids, how to help them, how to help
them understand what just happened. And what I have kind
of found is, as I mentioned, it's kind of the
(10:51):
three c's is how I has visualized it, and it's
you know, connection, continuity, and care, and it's you know,
making sure connection is the one major one, and making
sure that their spirit is always a life in your home,
you know, and memories are always brought up, and doing
things that your loved ones love to do, whether it's
(11:11):
riding bike, served their favorite dinner, and just constantly you know,
talking about that.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And I'm just thinking about how children cope.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
With the death of a dad and doing things that
remind you of your loved one. To doctor Angie Arnold,
I know, every year on my dad's birthday, every night
after dinner, because my dad and mom had largely moved
(11:38):
in with us, spending a lot of times with us
because you know, the children were so little, just as
he passed away, and every night after supper, I would
make him a cup of decaf.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
So every year, on.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
His birthday or really throughout the year, I will send
my sister a picture, you know, I kind of text
of a cup of daycaf is steaming, because we both
know what that means. And I'm just wondering what you,
as a parent can do to help your children.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
How excruci you. I mean as an.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Adult when my father passed away, but these are little
little boys well.
Speaker 8 (12:17):
And Nancy, it's important for all of us to remember
that each child will will remember this differently according to
how old they are. Each child is going to have
a different experience of this grief, so it's very important
to work with each child where they are when this happens,
and not gloss it over as if everyone's experiencing the
(12:39):
same kind of grief. Depending how young some of the
children are, they may not have the words to express
how they feel about the fact that their father is gone.
The older ones have had more time with their dad,
and they're going to have different memories with their dad.
So it's very important to help the children remember the
things that they remember according to what their ages were
(13:00):
when the when the.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Parent passed away, and this is how they came up
with the name of the book.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Are you with me? And our cut eleven?
Speaker 11 (13:11):
The first day of school and you know all the
nerves that kids face on the first day of school
with nuke, you know, and just hoping, you know, Dad,
like walk with me, like help me get through today.
They give me the strength to do that, and it
has found you know, it's been a lot of peace
for my kids to you know, to really remember that
in the back of their head, that they're never alone.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we
practiced to deceive. I can't take credit for that, but
I do know how to add. Corey Richens allegedly used
a power of attorney to get a two hundred and
fifty thousand dollars home equity line of credit on her husband,
(14:04):
Eric Richards's premarital home without his knowledge.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Remember that math.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
That's two hundred and fifty thousand reasons she had to
kill him. She used the proceeds from that home equity
loan to fund Kay Richard's realty translation Corey Richard's realty
and hard money loans to finance its ongoing operations. You
(14:34):
don't think he'd get angry when he finds out she
takes out a quarter million dollar equity loan on his home.
This was the home he had before they got married.
When he learned about that, prosecutor say it was a
quote source of tension.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
I guess it was. Oh, I can tell.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
You this right now, all h w LB break loose
if I found out my husband David took out a
home equity loan without telling me.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
Aunt n oh. So it all came to a head.
Speaker 4 (15:07):
The night her husband died from a poisoning death.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
What happened to Eric Richards?
Speaker 2 (15:17):
Doctor Crowns, I'm just thinking about these three little boys
in that home when mom is doing CPR on Eric Richards,
who is dead in the bedroom, already cold to the touch.
And I guess once your call to the touch, there's
no bringing you back. Would you agree with that, doctor Crowns?
Speaker 8 (15:35):
Yeah, I would.
Speaker 6 (15:36):
Agree with that. Once you've gotten called, you're probably pat
of the time period where you can be saved.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So, Doctor Kendl Crowns, it is unusual for thirty nine
year old man to just die in his sleep. So
what would the medical examiner do in order to determine
cause of death?
Speaker 6 (15:54):
Well, what you do is a complete autopsy. A thirty
nine year old usually don't die suddenly like that, usually
something else going on. So by doing a complete autopsy,
you would check all the organs for any disease, processes,
cornary promposas, cordinary or disease, different heart and abnormalities, et cetera.
And then what you'd also do as draw toxicology to
(16:16):
run toxicology screens to see if there any for any
drugs on board, and also do electrolyte or fluids from
the eyeball where you could look at his dehydration status,
his gluecose the CFP had diabetes.
Speaker 8 (16:30):
Or anything like that.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
To just men joining us from dailymail dot com, I've
taken a long look at what we have of the
medical examiner's report. What exactly is the cause of death
for Eric Richards, Well.
Speaker 9 (16:44):
We believe it according to this report, it's facial dose
of sensil, which is a synthetic opioid. Now you need
maybe two milligrams of this, doctor chillies. He had five
times out in.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Mind body, five times the amount of a lethal dose
a sentinel. You know I introduced to you doctor Paul
Christo earlier. In addition, to being an associate prophet John
Hopkins School of Medicine.
Speaker 1 (17:14):
That's not shabby. He's also an opioid.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
Expert, doctor Christo. As I said earlier, this is a
devout Mormon family. Again, they don't even drink chocolate milk
because they think it's a stimulant.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
So I've got.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Them drinking Moscow mules plus fentunnel. What exactly is fentanyl?
I know there's an opioid crisis. I know there's a
fentanyl crisis. I know people are dying every day a
fentyl overdoses. But could you give us some street names?
What is fentanyl and what does it.
Speaker 1 (17:50):
Do to you?
Speaker 7 (17:50):
Well, fentanyl is an opioid first and foremost, and opioids
are used as pain relievers. They enter the bloodstream, bind
to various different what are called opuid receptors in the
brain and spinal cord to reduce pain. First and foremost.
We use them for many many years as pain specialists
(18:11):
and also in the operating room in anisphysiologists. But fentanyl
is synthetic, So non synthetic opioids would be like codeine,
for example, or morphine. Synthetic means it's just made in
the laboratory of a pharmaceutical company typically can be very
useful as a pain reliever.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
You mean light Walter White breaking bad. Yes, you make
it in a lab well, then make it.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
In an RV sometimes, but you just make it, you
cook it up.
Speaker 7 (18:37):
Yeah, that's right. You can make it an RV. You
can make it illegally, certainly, yes, and then pharmaceutically it's legal.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Ah.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
I'm so glad you said that, doctor Christo, because a
further analysis reveals that the fentanyl in Eric's blood was
not legal. So apparently you can tell whether fentanyl is
eagle such as prescribed by a doctor and you go
get it at the pharmacy or illegal. And I guess
(19:05):
that goes trace back to how it's made.
Speaker 12 (19:07):
That's right.
Speaker 7 (19:08):
We have more sophisticated methods now determining whether medications or
drugs are legal or illegal, and in this case, it
sounds like it was illegal.
Speaker 2 (19:16):
So bottom line, he's not getting it from the Walgreens
or the CBS or the Dwayne Reid. He's getting it
somewhere else. Okay, uh, you know who would know this
on this panel. Let's just go with doctor Angie Arnold.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Do you know what's in a moscow mule?
Speaker 8 (19:36):
No, I'm sorry I don't.
Speaker 2 (19:37):
Oh man, I got a surprise that you just surprised
me because I could just see you kicked bat with
some of those copper I bet Bobby Chacone does.
Speaker 1 (19:45):
Bobby Chacone, former special.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
Agent with the FBI and screenwriter for Criminal Minds. You
can find him at Bobbychecone dot com.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
Bobby, there is no way you don't know what a
moscow mule is?
Speaker 10 (19:57):
No. Yeah, the basic ingredients of ginger beer and vodka
or some kind of hard or liquor. It's usually served
in like a copper cup. It's a very specific drink.
Ginger beer obviously ginger people familiar with ginger has a
very strong kind of taste, a very unique kind of taste,
almost overpowering if you use too much of it. So, yeah,
it's a very specific drink. It's become very trendy in
(20:17):
recent years. And ginger beer is kind of the overwhelming
taste that you get that ginger from the ginger beer,
which is the main ingredient to.
Speaker 2 (20:26):
Doctor Paul Christa joining us. If you're an expert, what
does what does fennyl taste like?
Speaker 7 (20:32):
Mill is usually tasteless. It's usually tasteless.
Speaker 2 (20:35):
So if I chewed up an oxy, it would taste
like nothing.
Speaker 7 (20:39):
Well, oxy now is different from fentanyl.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Okay, that shows how much I know.
Speaker 7 (20:43):
But yes, probably would taste a bit different.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Well, what's a straight name for fentyl?
Speaker 7 (20:49):
There really is no street I mean, it typically goes
by fentanyl.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Can it mean a tablet?
Speaker 7 (20:53):
Absolutely?
Speaker 1 (20:54):
And so if I chew up a fentyl tablet, I
taste nothing.
Speaker 7 (20:58):
Typically you're not going to taste anything unless something's been
added to the tablet.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
Interesting. Interesting, doctor Paul Christo.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
According to my crack legal analyst Jackie, there are some
street names crazy what did you say?
Speaker 9 (21:13):
Crazy One?
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Crazy One, Dance Fever, Dragon's Breath. I've never heard any
of that, so I don't know how reliable that is.
Speaker 8 (21:21):
Can I make a statement?
Speaker 1 (21:22):
Yes? Jump in.
Speaker 6 (21:23):
So, when it first came out, it was called drop
dead because a lot of the people who were injecting
fennyl died so quickly they left the needle in the
in their arm. So the street name was originally dropped
dead because when you took it, you dropped dead instantly.
I think that's kind of fallen out of favor because
every every area has regional names for it.
Speaker 1 (21:46):
Well, I guess that's a little bad for business for dopers.
Speaker 6 (21:48):
Well for business, that's why it started.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Only you, Candle Crowns.
Speaker 2 (21:54):
Only Well you can imagine the shock that reverberates through
the community when this goes down. Take a listen now
cut fourteen katib X.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
But we have breaking news of this.
Speaker 13 (22:04):
Our local children's book author charged with murder. Thirty three
year old Corey Richards of Chemus is being held in
the Summit County Jail with no bail.
Speaker 1 (22:13):
Now.
Speaker 13 (22:14):
She promoted her book on the Grief on Good Things
to Utah. That's the video you're seeing here. This is
about a month ago. Court documents today showing the murder
happened in March of twenty twenty two, an online obituary
showing her husband, thirty nine year old Eric Richards, died
that same month.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
As it turns out, according to investigators, there had been
other previous instances where the wife in this case had
tried to murder her husband. And I find it extremely
interesting and I want to go to Jeffrey Wolf on
this criminal defense attorney, high profile criminal criminal defense attorney
(22:53):
joining us out of Colorado. You can find them at
Wolflaw Colorado dot com.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Jeffrey, you know what I love.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
I love what we call in my jurisdiction similar transactions. Typically,
as we saw in the Alex Mardack case, for instance,
a person's history of bad acts cannot come in at
trial unless and until it is proven that those bad
(23:22):
acts are let's just say a fingerprint of the case
in chief to show motive, course of conduct, scheme, frame
of mind. Would you agree with that, Jeffrey Wolf.
Speaker 12 (23:35):
Yeah, one hundred percent. The rule you're talking about is
Rule four or four B, which is a federal rule
of evidence that is mirrored in almost all fifty states.
That's going to talk about whether somebody's prior bad acts
can come in as evidence in the case against them. Currently,
it can't come in to show act and conformity therewith,
meaning just because they did something before they did it again.
(23:57):
But it can come in for all these other reasons
that you're talking about, plan, motive, scheme, modus operandi, to
show who this person is, how they operate, and how
that ties them to this event too.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Jen joining us from dalimail dot com.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
Jensmith, what can you tell us about prior incidents, including
one on Valentine's Day just a month the month before
Eric drops dead in sleep, Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 9 (24:25):
So we know about the Valentine's Day incident that you mentioned. Man,
they ate a meal together and he became very ill afterwards.
As a result, he ended up telling friends, I think
my wife had poisoned me. Not only is that disturbing,
but more so is the fact that this was the
second time he thought she had tried to poison him.
(24:46):
Once previously, during a vacation with the family, he told
his sister that he thought she had tried to poison him,
so once by what happens after that.
Speaker 2 (24:57):
So the first time we believe Now this is according
to him, And I'm going to go back to Jeff
Wolf for just a moment about how you can or
cannot use the words of someone now dead in court.
Because under the sixth Amendment, everybody on trial has the
right to cross examine witnesses, evidence, documents, tests used against them,
(25:21):
and if the person's now dead, you cannot cross examine them.
Speaker 1 (25:25):
It's hearsay.
Speaker 2 (25:26):
So how can you get this information into evidence to
show if you can, that there were.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Prior attempts on Eric's life.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
The first one, Jenn Smith, is I believe about three
years ago in Greece, family vacation, as you described, and
they had dinner and drinks together and he got very
very ill. And that's when he called his sister. Was
that when he called a sister?
Speaker 9 (25:51):
Yeah, we think so, we know that. We're not sure
exactly when this vacation was, only that it was several
years ago, maybe a few years ago, and he can
his sister.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
And this is a.
Speaker 9 (26:02):
Sister who he continued to confide in, especially about his
marital problems with Curry. So that was the first instance.
Speaker 1 (26:09):
So I believe it was about three years ago. That
was Angreece.
Speaker 2 (26:14):
Fast forward, he didn't die, fast forward to this past March.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Okay, March a year ago.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Yeah, that's when he died the month before on Valentine's Day.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
What happened, Jen? What happened? Jan Smith?
Speaker 9 (26:32):
We know that they sat down to have dinner together
in their home and for whatever reason, even though he
has this previous suspicion that his wife has tried to
poison him at least once before he sits down with her.
He has a meal with her, and again he becomes
incredibly ill. He doesn't die, and we don't really know
even if he went to the hospital. We're just going
(26:54):
off of what we've seen in the start for it,
and it's been released so far. He became very very
l after that violin.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
And see and it was so bad he had used
an EpiPen and benadrill and still went unconscious.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Guess what, He didn't die again.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
Prosecutor's note in charging documents that five months before Eric's death,
Corey Richand's realty was swimming in debt, her nose just
barely above water.
Speaker 3 (27:26):
Let me quote.
Speaker 2 (27:26):
Despite Kay richards realty's existing debt and insufficient revenue, Richards
continued to use hard money loans to purchase three additional properties,
adding debt upon debt upon debt, including one point one
(27:47):
million and high interest debt to her already staggering and unserviceable.
Speaker 3 (27:54):
In other words, you can't pay it off debt load.
Speaker 2 (27:58):
She needed that life insurance policy see proceeds, and she
needed it quick.
Speaker 1 (28:04):
This is what we know, doctor Angie Arnold.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
If I had two brushes with death while David is
hovering over me, I would leave. But I've got a
feeling this guy, Eric Richards did not want to believe
his wife would try to kill him, even though he verbalized.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
That I think she's trying to poison me.
Speaker 2 (28:26):
I think he didn't want to truly accept it and
leave the boys.
Speaker 8 (28:30):
I completely agree with you, Nancy. And if you thought
that someone was actually trying to kill you, and this
is the person that has been called the love of
your life, then what could she possibly do to your
children if you're not there? So you can't abandon your
children for your own sake. No, people don't do that.
(28:51):
So he was just taking his chances. I guess, scared,
probably in some disbelief that she would actually want to
kill him. Right, So you might think it, but you're
still going to be a disbelief that this woman who
you're sleeping with and who you're going on trips with
and you're going to the kids' baseball games with, is
(29:11):
actually trying to kill you and who you're practicing your
Mormon religion with. How we call that an incongruent thought?
How incongruent could that be to this man? Okay, maybe
she's trying to kill me, but really is she is?
Speaker 11 (29:27):
She?
Speaker 1 (29:28):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (29:28):
I think page just really he may have said that,
but he couldn't truly take it in.
Speaker 1 (29:34):
You know another thing.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
I love Bobby Chacone as I know you do too,
former special agent with the FBI.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
I love cell phone data. I love it so much.
Speaker 2 (29:43):
I want you to take a listen to our cut
seventeen our friend Ariel Harrison.
Speaker 5 (29:47):
Evidence gathered in the death investigation revealed Corey claims she
was away from her phone that night and it was
left on the charger by her bed teams. However, gathered
evans the phone was in use during that time and
sent mess that just had been deleted. Additional evidence showed
Corey was in contact with a drug dealer in Ogden
leading up to Eric's death. The legal document state she
(30:09):
received both hydrocodone pills and fentanyl from the dealer, claiming
the drugs were intended for a client experiencing back pain.
At one point, please say, she requested for quote the
Michael Jackson stuff, asking specifically for fentanyl. Information from the
autopsy report determined Eric died from an overdose of fentanyl
five times the lethal dosage.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
Well that's like drinking from the fire hydrant. That is
so much, way too fast. I can't drink it in.
Let's just start with Bobby ch cone the phone evidence
because she says, I wasn't on the.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Phone all night.
Speaker 2 (30:46):
I plugged it in and our room, and then I
went down the hall to sleep with one of my
boys who was having nightmares. I go back at three
am ish and I find him call to the touch.
Did I immediately perform CPR? But the phone says and
helped me out? Jasmith, I believe the phones showed that
(31:06):
there have been a lot of texting back and forth
during the time where she says the phone was plugged in,
not in use while she was in her son's room, and.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
All those texts were deleted. So what is she.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
Doing texting back and forth while her husband is dying
and then lying about it? I mean, Ja Smith, are
those that are those facts correct?
Speaker 9 (31:30):
Those facts are absolutely correct. Now, she obviously thought that
she was outsmarting the authority when she told them that
she left her phone plugged in. Maybe she thought that
it was the location inside the heismand show. But yees,
she there is a record. There's a digital record. We
know that we've spoken about it many times. Then you
can't get rid of it, this digital footprint.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yes, Bobby Cohen just saw digital evidence basically convict Alex
Murdogg and the double murderer, his wife and son, Maggie
and Maggie and Paul. So what about this had my
phone plugged in the whole night, you know, until I
find him keeled overdead?
Speaker 10 (32:08):
Yeah, I mean, when you have a case like this
where she's the only other person that could have, you know,
either rendered aid or caused harm. There's no fourth century,
there's no Blount trauma, you immediately start to get her
story and for her initial statement. The minute those phone
records come back and you realize she lied to you,
she has to become suspect number one because now, why
would a wife lie about using her phone in the
(32:30):
immediate aftermath of finding her husband dead, or during the
period where she found him dead, or shortly before that.
So the minute you find out she lied to you
about the phone, you have to start taking a much
harder look at her, who her associates, look at her
phone records, harder, who is she been calling? Who should
being in contact with? So she made her by lying,
she made herself suspect number one. If she would have
(32:52):
simply come up with a different excuse on why she
was texting, maybe she had the phone in bed with
her with the kid and she was but the minute
she lied about that, she has to become suspect one right.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
Then the gig's up.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
Jeffrey Wolf, high profile lawyer joining us out of Colorado
at Wolflaw Colorado dot com. I want you to take
a listen to another alarming circumstance and ourcut three our
friends from crime online dot com.
Speaker 14 (33:18):
Valentine's Day twenty twenty two. Eric Richins becomes violently ill
after suffering an allergic reaction after having dinner with his
wife of nine years, Corey. He breaks out in hives,
can't Breathe passes out after using his son's EpiPen and
taking benadrel. When Eric wakes up, he calls his business partner,
Cody Wright to let him know what has just happened. Then,
(33:39):
without Corey knowing, Eric changes the beneficiary of his will
and his power of attorney, replacing his wife Corey with
his sister. Legal paperwork suggests that Eric believes Corey might
kill him for the money, and he wants his children
to be financially secure.
Speaker 1 (34:03):
Crime Stories with Nancy Grace.
Speaker 2 (34:10):
Quote on the day of Eric Richards's death, Kay Richard's
realty owed hard money lenders at least one point eight
million dollars, and the day after his death.
Speaker 3 (34:21):
It owed nearly five million dollars.
Speaker 2 (34:25):
So why did she agree to purchase an unfinished mansion
using two point nine million dollars of high interest debt
due payable in just six months.
Speaker 3 (34:40):
She knew she didn't have that money. It's all so clear.
Speaker 2 (34:44):
And then when he kills over, she could use that
life insurance policy money to pay it all off. She
goes into his life insurance policy where his partner, Cody
is his beneficiary, his business partner, and she changes it
(35:08):
to make her exclusively the life insurance policy beneficiary. And
he's so worried after this Valentine's Day incident where he
gets horribly ill, he cracks.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
A joke, Hey, she might kill me for the money,
and he.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
Changes his will. I mean, Jeffrey Wolf, that is no joke.
Speaker 12 (35:31):
No, it certainly is no joke. And what you saw
here in this case is you see her attempt to
take his business life insurance policy. I have one with
my law partner. If something happens to one of us,
we want to make sure the business is secure. And
so she goes into that policy and attempts to change
it so that she gets the money if he dies,
and then he has this magic allergic reaction. My wife
(35:54):
has a severe allergy that could cause problems for her.
One of my employees, does you can bet your bottom
dollar if I'm making them food or if I'm buying
a meal for them, I'm making sure that those ingredients
are not present, because those are people I care about
who I have a knowledge would be in trouble.
Speaker 1 (36:09):
What is your wife allerging to you? By the way,
She's allergic to raw tomatoes.
Speaker 12 (36:12):
It's a very unique allergy that a lot of restaurants
have trouble with. But you can bet your bottom dollar
there's no raw tomatoes than anything I buy her or
serve her, because I know what would happen. Okay, And
so the fact that she did that is incredibly concerning.
And she did it after attempting to make that change.
The company caught it, by the way, and it was
(36:34):
changed back. And then when he wakes up from that,
he calls his business partner to tell him his suspicions.
Joking or not, that could be a present sense impression,
which is a reason to get hearsay in at the
trial since you were mentioning hearsay before. Wasn't aware I
had an evidence test today, but I'm going to pass it.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
I was ready to pounce on you with a hearsay
loophole that I go ahead.
Speaker 12 (36:59):
I'm ready for it. I'm ready for it. My evidence
practicum professor from law school would be so proud and
so present. Sense impression allows those statements of somebody who
is not available to be cross examined to come in.
But it's going to require a recency to the event
and something to say that they were still under the
impression of that event in order to be able to
(37:19):
get that statement in. So how quickly he called him
after he woke up needing to use an EpiPen in
benadryl is going to matter a great deal.
Speaker 2 (37:28):
How would you compare presences impression to excited utterance exception?
Speaker 12 (37:33):
So, excited utterance is something that happens right then you're
seeing something and you're saying exactly what you're seeing in
that moment. It happens a lot. On nine to one
one calls right right.
Speaker 1 (37:42):
When you wake up from an overdose offenal. That kind
of excited.
Speaker 12 (37:47):
Utterance It could be an excited utterance, but it has
you have to be excited, right, So it's not just
that you're saying something that's happening and relaying it as
it's happening. You have to be in an excited state
as well. That emotional state. If he called and he's
making a joke about it, that could still be a
present sense impression to say that this is something that
I have recently seen.
Speaker 1 (38:06):
You think there's any problem getting these statements in?
Speaker 12 (38:09):
Honestly, I think that it's going to be a tough
road to hoe to get these, you know, statements of
somebody who's not able.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
I totally disagree.
Speaker 2 (38:16):
That's why we have the exceptions to the hearsay role
for situations just like this.
Speaker 12 (38:23):
It is exactly why we have the hearsay exceptions. However,
in a court and you're doing a criminal trial, the
only person who has a right to a fair trial
is the criminal defendant, and some judges will err on
the side of caution.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
True, Okay, you know what, let me throw something else
at you. Let me throw something else at you. Now
we already know that you know what's your cut?
Speaker 15 (38:45):
Five KSL core papers say Corey first bought painkillers from
a drug dealer. Weeks later, asking for something stronger, she
called it some of the Michael Jackson stuff. That was
just before Valentine's Day last year. Records say on Valentine's Day,
Eric became very ill and believed he had been poisoned,
and told a friend he thought his wife was trying
(39:05):
to poison him. The dealer told police that two weeks later,
Corey purchased morpheentanyl. Six days later, on March fourth, twenty
twenty two, Eric was found dead of a fentanyl overdose.
Speaker 1 (39:18):
Let me get this straight.
Speaker 2 (39:18):
Jen Smith, chief investigative reporter dailymail dot Com, on the
story from the very beginning. So he has the horrible
episode in Greece where he calls his sister and says,
I swear.
Speaker 1 (39:30):
I think she's trying to kill me. Ha ha ha.
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Then fast forward to February twenty twenty two, Valentine's Day,
another horrible episode after eating and drinking.
Speaker 1 (39:41):
There is your similar transaction Jeff Wolfe always after ingesting
food or or drink beverage with his wife. Always the
same mo modus operandi, method of operation. She puts whatever
it is. If whatever he.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Is ingesting, so is Valentine, They have a dinner and drinks.
Speaker 1 (40:02):
Bam, he's out again. This time he lives. The second time,
changes his insurance back, changes his will.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
And then we find out that prior to the February incident,
Valentine's and the March incident, she goes back to the
drug dealer and she says, hey, I need some more.
She buys nine hundred dollars worth of fentinyl. In March,
he doesn't die. She goes back to the same dealer says, hey,
give me some more.
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Man.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
She buys nine hundred dollars worth more. This time he dies.
You know, have you ever seen those pictures? If you
want to be an artist, you can just paint between
the lines and suddenly have this beautiful picture.
Speaker 12 (40:46):
Jeff Wolf's Yeah, I have seen it. And that's what
we're looking at here, is that the pieces of this
just keep coming into focus. And throw on top of
the fact that these are similar transactions that could go
to a modus operande or a pattern behavior. But throw
into that that a lot of states, my state Colorado
being one of them, have domestic violence allowances for similar transaction.
(41:09):
Four be evidence as well to show the certain types
of behaviors that can occur in a domestic violence relationship
as well. And you're going to start seeing all of
this stuff like an avalanche coming in against the defense,
and it is going to be very, very tough to
beat it all back with, no matter how big you
that is.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Bobby Chacon and Jenna Smith, I want you to hear
our cut seven are friends at ABC.
Speaker 16 (41:30):
A Utah woman who wrote a children's book about coping
with grief after the death of her husband last year
has now been charged with his murder. Corey Richins was
arrested yesterday accused of poisoning her husband Eric with fentanyl.
She also faced the drug charges. Just last month, Richards
appeared on local TV to promote her book about a
boy who lost his dad. At the time, she said
her husband's unexpected death left her and their three boys reeling.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
Bobby Chicon not only the cost belief she murdered him.
She then writes a BOOKOK and tries to sell it
on TV and on Amazon.
Speaker 10 (42:04):
Really, yeah, I'm not sure that. I mean, I'm sure
the investigators are watching that. I'm not sure it's axacted
that much. I mean, they probably already had her in
their sight. You know her journey to do this kind
of brings the next level evil to her. But I'm
sure that you know, once they saw the toxicology report,
once they got those phone records back, which was all
within six eight ten weeks of the event of the murder,
(42:26):
they had her in their sites and it was a
matter of finding that drug dealer, getting a statement from them,
and just tying everything together with the prosecutor and putting
it all together. That her writing the book, I mean,
I just I think that impacts her reputation in the
community more than this actual case because everything was put together.
Speaker 2 (42:45):
Well, that's going to hurt her a whole lot more
than murdering her husband.
Speaker 1 (42:49):
Doctor as Arnold, will you.
Speaker 2 (42:51):
Help me out please, I mean, to murder your husband
and then write a book about how much your children
are suffering what they're going through. We had one child
that I was already having nightmares according to her.
Speaker 1 (43:05):
But doing that not just.
Speaker 2 (43:07):
To your husband, but to your children and then trying
to profit off of it with a book.
Speaker 8 (43:12):
Nancy, I think it shows that she has a complete
lack of attachment to her husband. Lots of people do
not develop attachment. There's something called attachment theory. Okay, So
I believe that she lacks attachment to the people in
her life, and that is what It doesn't mean you're insane, no,
but she doesn't have any attachment. How do you kill
(43:33):
your husband? So to me, that's the worst thing that
she's done. So anything after that, Okay.
Speaker 2 (43:39):
Murder suspect Corey Richan's clearly swimming in millions of dollars
of debt and she believed, according to prosecutors, her husband's
life insurance policy would take care of it all.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
But first he had to die.
Speaker 2 (44:00):
Wait, as this case goes to trial and justice Unfalds
Nancy Grace signing off, goodbye friend.
Speaker 9 (44:14):
Hmm,
Host
Nancy Grace
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