October 6, 2023 • 47 mins
Happy Friday, campers! Welcome back for a new episode. The season is almost over, but we still have some great cases to bring you…including this one.
Eric and Kouri Richins seemed to have it all. The beautiful couple started a family and led a life that would be the envy of anyone. It all came crashing down one early morning in March of 2020 when Eric passed away tragically and unexpectedly. The community of Kamas, Utah mourned the loss heavily at his passing. For the next year, they would rally behind his widow and family.
But the cracks slowly began to show and more about the couple's life came to light. No one would be prepared for what would come out.
Information from this episode:
https://people.com/childrens-author-accused-poisoning-husband-her-side-of-story-7963536
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/timeline-utah-mom-kouri-richins-husband-death-fentanyl-rcna85787
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/18/us/kouri-richins-author-murder-witness/index.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65885789
Real Estate Deals Gone Bad
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kouri-richins-utah-family-sues-house-mold-update-rcna111488
UPDATE TO CHECK OUT:
https://www.parkrecord.com/news/summit-county-judge-may-soon-decide-if-kouri-richins-can-talk-to-her-mom-brother/
Eric and Kouri Richins seemed to have it all. The beautiful couple started a family and led a life that would be the envy of anyone. It all came crashing down one early morning in March of 2020 when Eric passed away tragically and unexpectedly. The community of Kamas, Utah mourned the loss heavily at his passing. For the next year, they would rally behind his widow and family.
But the cracks slowly began to show and more about the couple's life came to light. No one would be prepared for what would come out.
Information from this episode:
https://people.com/childrens-author-accused-poisoning-husband-her-side-of-story-7963536
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/timeline-utah-mom-kouri-richins-husband-death-fentanyl-rcna85787
https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/18/us/kouri-richins-author-murder-witness/index.html
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65885789
Real Estate Deals Gone Bad
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/kouri-richins-utah-family-sues-house-mold-update-rcna111488
UPDATE TO CHECK OUT:
https://www.parkrecord.com/news/summit-county-judge-may-soon-decide-if-kouri-richins-can-talk-to-her-mom-brother/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
What Happens in the Woods is atrue crime podcast. We discuss events that
are often violent in nature. Listeners, discretion is advised. Hello campers,
(00:32):
Happy Friday to you. Hopefully thisweek has treated you well and now you
can join us by the campfire whileI bring you a new true crime case
to dive into. Hi brace Hello, any news for us? Any updates?
Yes? Yes, yeah, whatyou got? Our friends across the
(00:59):
pond are back in the lead.Oh the UK UK is the lead.
Well that's new new development there.Okay, awesome, Well thanks for listening.
Thank you. That's it. That'sall you got so far. Okay,
(01:19):
so far, so far. Youlet us know if there's anything else.
Okay, Well, I have somespecial announcements. Okay. The first,
probably the most important, is Welcometo the month of Magic. For
(01:40):
those who are in the know,October is the most special of months for
me personally. Ladies and gents,Welcome to my birth month. You knew
it was coming. This is thethird year that I've celebrated my birthday with
the podcast. Yes, yes,yes, But it's not only my birth
(02:04):
month. It is also our dearfriend and part of the Killer Bees,
Beth over Crimes and Closets. Itis also her birth month. Oh,
I get giggles and scoffs, andshe gets a round of applause. She's
(02:28):
an honor guest, distinguished guests.I think I have some We celebrate you
every episode. You don't. Howdo you celebrate me? I don't get
around of applause. Hm hmm,okay, I applaud you. Okay,
thanks every day. Thanks. Yeah, And I guess since we're speaking of
(02:52):
that, we will go ahead andtouch on this. So we are,
of course gearing up with our friendsfrom Crimes in Closets, Beth and Christy
for our annual Halloween Spooky collab,and well, yeah, they just wrapped
up their serial killer September and thenon their Patreon they do survivor stories,
(03:15):
and I honestly the survivor stories thatthey had were harder for me to hear
than you know, Like, Idon't have a problem talking about serial killers.
I know that you know that's it'snot their forte it's not their preferred
type of cases to discuss. ButI had a harder time listening to the
(03:38):
survivor stories and what they those peoplewent through, those victims went through.
It was it was. It wassomething, So if you guys aren't aren't
listening to them and aren't on theirPatreon, you probably should get on that.
This year, though we are doingour collab, it's a different theme.
(04:00):
I don't want to give too muchaway. We're still going to,
you know, have it be familiar. It's not going to change completely.
So there's still going to be twoepisodes, one on our feed and one
on theirs, and they are releasingMonday, October thirtieth, and we are
releasing the Friday before that, SoOctober twenty seventh, two different episodes on
(04:24):
each other's podcast. It's going tobe good. So make sure you guys
are staying tuned and you're following themand be ready for some fun, fun
stuff. And then that brings usto the most exciting bit of news that
I have to share with you,and that is that our Patreon is now
live, So as of October first, it's going to be up and ready
(04:48):
for you guys. This is thenew platform for WTFS. So the first
episode will be available on Wednesday,October eleventh. There will be two episodes
a month on feed and if youhave a love for the fuckery, it's
now going to be living on Pagreon, so head over there and join us
(05:08):
in all the fun and crazy stuffthat goes on during those episodes. And
they're Bryce's favorites. There are alot of people's favorites. Honestly, they're
fun, a little bit funner,a little bit lighter side of crime.
And a huge thank you to everybodywho's supported us during the WTF seasons and
you know for making that possible.If you guys weren't listening to them and
(05:29):
enjoying them as much, I don'tthink I ever would have wanted to separate
them and make them a little morespecial. So thanks, thank you veryone.
All right, are you ready toget in to this episode today?
Let's do it? All right?So there's a Dayline episode that actually,
like literally last week aired. Iwatched it had a lot of information like
(05:55):
on the family and what led upto the criminal aspect of things. So
some of what I added to thisis from that, but most of the
news articles don't really have too manydetails on that info. This week,
I have a story for you outof camas, Utah. It's a beautiful
(06:15):
area about forty minutes away from SaltLake City and it's kind of known for
like outdoor activities, you know,like playground adult playground activities. So in
the winter it's like you know,winter Wonderland, skiing and snowboarding, snow
machining, and then in the summermonths it's like hiking and outdoor sports things
(06:39):
like that. It's a very affluentarea, I would say, because of
that, and it seems to belike an area that's just very idyllic for
raising a family. Is you know, all the pictures and everything that were
shown on the dateline and also fromall of the things that I researched.
(07:00):
So this is where we will beginour story on Eric and Corey Richins.
And it's Corey with a K.Corey with a K. Yeah, I
had him already and that's a she. I hate her, Okay. So
Eric Richards met his wife, Coreywhile she was working as a cashier in
(07:23):
a home improvement store. Corey,as she was described by a coworker,
was a young and sweet girl.All of the men coming through the checkout
line were enamored with her, andEric was at the time an up and
coming business partner for a stone masonrycompany, and when the two met at
the checkout line. It seemed that, you know, to everybody that there
(07:45):
was just something special there. Becausehe was shy, he would send in
his employees to the store to avoidseeing her, and eventually he got up
the courage to come in and askfor her phone number, and the two
began dating and was very obvious toeverybody that Corey was just as taken with
(08:07):
Eric, and it wasn't long beforethey were planning their future future what we'll
get into that life was great forthe couple. It seemed that they you
know, just couldn't lose. InJuly of twenty twelve, the year before
they were married, they welcomed thesun and they began their family. Their
wedding was held with their close familyand friends in the backyard of their new
(08:30):
dream home. And when I saybackyard, this backyard is like nobody else's
backyard, so it's it's fairly large. There's a it's a tennis court slash
basketball court, and alongside of thatis an Olympic sized pool looking huge thing.
(08:54):
That's it with a surrounding covered barbQ gathering area, and then alongside
that was a little gated in smallish garden area, and then there was
like a triple car garage next tothat, and then just open playground area,
(09:15):
so pretty small backyard. Yeah,it was tiny. How they managed
to fit a wedding back there.Who knows they would go on to welcome
two more sons to their family inthe coming years. They all, you
know, did the things that youwould think of in a picture light,
you know, picture perfect life.They did small town sports, They did
a lot of outdoorsy things in allthe seasons, the kids were involved in
(09:41):
all the Little league that kind ofthing. The rich AND's home was you
know, like I said, ona large parcel of land, so they
they were definitely living a lifestyle,and Eric's business was growing and afforded them
a comfortable lifestyle, so they wereable to try far and wide. They
would go to Mexico a couple timesa year if they could, and many
(10:03):
other places worldwide. And they also, you know, enjoyed being close to
home, and they had, youknow, the adult toys that they could
go out and play with. Coreyhad also began her own business in twenty
nineteen in real estate and was flippinghomes in the area. And it seemed
(10:26):
like, you know, the couplewas just living this very picture perfect life
until they weren't. In the earlymorning of March fourth, twenty twenty two,
and nine to one to one callwould come in from the rich AND's
home. Corey had frantically made acall stating her husband was cold and unresponsive
in the bed they shared. Emergencyservices in the sheriffs would respond to the
(10:50):
call, while the nine to oneto one operator guided Corey to move Eric
to the floor and start performing CPR. Paramedics entered the home to find Eric
on the floor of the couple's bedroom, not breathing, not responsive, and
it was a parent. After assessinghim that he was deceased, the sheriff
who responded to the call question Coreyhad her write a statement, which I
(11:15):
thought was kind of odd given theyjust entered the home and found her husband
dead. Maybe he was just tryingto get an early jump on his paperwork.
Maybe I don't know. I justI've never heard of that before,
not so quickly, you know,I haven't heard of them. Maybe he
thought it was an open shut case. He's like, this is just routine.
(11:37):
Maybe yeah, I mean, regardless, I think it was wise.
I do think they should do that, maybe more often. Because people the
further away from a situation, peopleget the less they remember. So yeah,
so he has her right statement aboutthe events that happened the evening before,
(11:58):
and she stated that they both puttheir kids to bed around nine pm
that night, and the two ofthem were celebrating a big business deal she
had been working on that was goingto be closing the next day. Corey
says Eric had a drink, whichwas a Moscow mule that she made him
at around nine fifteen, and bynine forty five, the two of them
(12:20):
were in bed for the night,big celebration. Nine o'clock. They put
the kids down, nine to fifteen. Everything seems too rigid. Yeah,
about nine fifteen they he was inbed, she brought him a drink and
then who drinks in bed? Idon't know, not alcohol. I guess
(12:41):
this just stoppened in twenty twenty two. Okay, it's not like nineteen sixty
or nineteen fifty were there. No, they're wearing silk pajamas, bed in
separate twenty bed bed. No,she says, robe off and puts it
on, hangs it up. No, that's that's not what happened. And
(13:01):
he says good night to Wally andBeave. Okay, I mean, I
don't know the names of their children, but I doubt it was Wally and
the Beaver. Okay. Yeah.Not long after they went to bed,
one of their sons woke up froma nightmare, and Corey ended up going
to sleep with the Sun in hisroom to you know, comfort him and
(13:24):
get him back to sleep. Andshe wrote in her statement that she and
Eric said good night and I loveyou before she went into the Sun's room
and stabbed him. At three am, she made her way back to their
room and went to cuttle in nextto Eric, but he was cold,
and she said, oddly heavy.She covered him with the blanket and she
(13:48):
said his name. But she realizedquickly that something was very wrong, and
that is when she called nine toone one. The sheriff asked about any
health concerns, you know, wasthere anything that could have caused this?
Did he do drugs, prescription orrecreational? And Corey states that sometimes he
would take a gummy before bed,but she didn't know if he had taken
(14:11):
one that night, gummy or whatthc Okay, yep, I don't know.
Maybe he really likes his vitamins.Gummy bears. I don't know his
multi vitamins, that's right. Yeah, maybe he's taking his flintstones off.
He likes the flintstones. I'm justI'm trying to rule out everything here,
honey. Yeah. It is mentionedthat Eric suffered from lyme disease. Other
(14:35):
than that, he was completely healthyas far as anybody knew. And Corey
also relates that he had an allergyshot the day prior and had complained about
his chest hurting and that was odd, but didn't really seem to stop him
from doing anything. He went abouthis day like normal. Yeah. With
this information and the unknown cause ofdeath and an otherwise healthy thirty nine year
(14:58):
old old man, his body wastaken into undergo an autopsy and a toxicology
work up. The news of EricRichand's death, you know, shocks his
family, his friends in the community. He was pretty well known. It
was a smaller it's a smaller community. So you know, thirty nine,
thirty, that's it. Yep.She was thirty three at this time and
(15:20):
he was thirty nine. Yeah,And as you can imagine, you know,
people are like, what the hellhappened? He's thirty nine years old.
He's a healthy young man. What'sgoing on? That's very you know,
out of the ordinary. Yeah,very unexpected too. Yeah, and
it really you know, people whohad just seen him the day before were
(15:43):
you know, just shocked because heseemed fine, seemed healthy. Right.
The first story that was spreading aroundwas that he you know, quote unquote
died peaceful and he's in his sleep. Everyone seemed to rally around Corey and
the kids, and you know,it's and it was just it didn't make
sense. It was a huge blowand there was no sense to any of
(16:07):
it. And some weeks after hisdeath, it started circulating around that he
had had a brain aneurysm in hissleep and that was how he passed.
So the community that's that's as muchas they know, and it just kind
of goes from there. It juststarts to, you know, stop being
discussed. In the months after Eric'spassing, Corey and the boys tried to
(16:29):
pick up and you know, goon with their lives. Corey shares that
it was very hard for them,especially at night, and she struggled to
find ways to support and help them. And then she had this idea she
would write a children's book that wouldhelp kids during the grieving process. Mind
you, I don't know her qualifications. I don't know if she has counselor
(16:52):
qualifications, or I don't know ifshe was writing this from a perspective of
a professional or just a person whohad dealt with grief and whose children were
dealing with grief. There's no wayfor me to know. The book is
titled Are You with Me? Andit was written and released on Amazon as
(17:17):
an ebook in the early part ofthis year. So the book was dedicated
to Eric her quote amazing husband andwonderful father. Corey reached out to a
local news outlet in Utah, ashow a segment on the news called Good
Things Utah, and she wanted topromote it and share the story and you
(17:38):
know, get the news out there. Quote, this was a compelling story
that could help other families deal withgrief. In the book, there is
a child who asked if his deceasedfather is still with him throughout events,
city experiences in his life, andthe father appears as a guardian angel.
He's watching over you know, thechild as he just kind of navigates daily
(18:00):
through situations. Yeah, that couldeither really help a kid or really mess
him up. And I mean,he's watching me this whole time. I
know that's kind of the thing,like you think of these invisible guardian angels
that are watching you. And Idon't want to dispel anybody's beliefs in that
or whatever, but yeah, you'reright to a child who doesn't understand,
(18:25):
and maybe the concept is a littlefrightening you. Really, I don't know
that as a child I would havebeen comfortable with that, you know.
No, it's kind of freaky ifyou think about it. It's just me
and my cynicism. Well, butthat's what I say. I don't know,
you know, I don't know howthis was written, if it was
(18:47):
written in taking that into consideration,was there was there a professional like counselor
or grief counselor psychologist or something thatshe consulted with or so I just that
kind of stuff I always i'm leeryof because it might help, and of
(19:08):
course parents know their kids, butit might help or it might hurt,
you know. And I do thinkit's it's a good idea to do something
with your kids and for your kidswho are grieving in this type of situation.
I think that there are resources forthat, and there should be resources
for that. You know, griefis very serious to a lot of emotions,
(19:33):
a lot of you know. Butlike you said, we don't know
her qualifications. I don't. Idon't know. It seems weird. It
just seems weird a little bit.I mean, it is a little bit
odd. I don't know that.My immediate response would be, I need
to write a book. I'm goingto help my kids grieve by writing a
(19:53):
book. Weird, I don't.But then I get I don't know,
you know, I get weird ideasall the time about shit that I wanted
to you know, when I growup, I'm going to do this.
Yeah. Yeah, I still don'tknow what I want to do when I
grow up. It changes every day. But you know, I I it's
(20:15):
a good idea. I guess it'sa good thought. You know. Yeah,
are there? Yeah. So,Corey is invited onto the show to
take part in a live segment whereshe shares the backstory of how the book
came about and how she felt itwas unique. This story, you know,
hits home with the co host andthe show producers as they're all you
know, in like relationships, marriagesand and have you know their parents of
(20:41):
you know, varying ages of children, but you know, to lose a
partner and to have to help notonly are you navigating your grief, but
then you're helping your kids navigate theirgrief. Yeah, it's a double whammy.
So everybody you know, really empathizedwith her how hard it would be
for her and the boys. Andat this point it's been a year since
(21:04):
Eric passed, the community at largehas just moved on from the tragedy.
It isn't, you know, sensationalnews anymore, and most people have stopped
talking about it in larger circles.To everyone on the outside, Eric seemingly
passed very tragically, but in anexplainable way. But we wouldn't be talking
(21:27):
about it if there wasn't something moreto the story do tell? And someone
wasn't going to let it be forgotten. The day after Corey recorded the new
segment for Good Things, You tawand email was sent to everyone at the
new station with the subject line areyou with Me? Which is the title
(21:48):
of Corey Richan's book. In theemail, in one sentence in all caps,
simply states you know she killed herhusband. Oh, when we come
back from this break, I willtell you just how twisted this story really
is. In the year after EricRichard's death, the small community of chemists
(22:12):
slowly went back to normal. Itwas accepted that the thirty nine year old
husband and father had passed away ofnatural causes in his sleep. It was
tragic and left the community unsettled,but what could be done but to support
his family and move on. Noone was aware that behind the scenes,
(22:32):
the investigation was still wide open onhis mysterious death and they didn't get an
autopsy back or anything. Oh yeah, yeah, so I mentioned that due
to the nature of his death,an autopsy and toxicology report was ordered.
It was very quickly confirmed from thatreport that the cause of death was a
drug overdose. Damn, how manygummies did he eat? I don't even
(22:56):
know how many gummies you would haveto eat. Yeah, yeah, you
can't overdose on those. You canget really funny, you can get really
fucked up and you get overdose,can't you. I mean not maybe not
die overdose, but you can overdoseand be very sick. Oh yeah,
you can get sick. But there'sa way to take too much. Yes,
(23:19):
So Eric did not have THHC inhis system. Oh, he had
five times the lethal amount of fentanyl. Jesus. Yeah, it's a shock
to the family, cuge shock,as no one believes that he was using
fentanyl and there were no signs thathe had ongoing drug use. Once this
(23:44):
report is back, a warrant wassought to go back and search the home
that he and Corey shared, andthis was just days after his death.
They looked all over the main bedroomand the house and there were no signs
of drug paraphernalia or drugs. Andthis would be just the beginning of a
year long investigation into Corey Rigins.And of course we all know it's common
(24:10):
investigators start looking into the small circleof family and friends and they start with
the spouse. Always Yeah, aforensic accountant. I have never heard of
this. Apparently this is a job. Yeah, is enlisted to research the
finances for the couple. How Imean, wouldn't you just say an accountant?
(24:32):
No? Because he No, hegoes back and he can look at
all he or she they can lookat like transactions everywhere and then figure out
where the money's going, even ifyou wash it or launder it. Yes,
crazy, Yeah, I actually know, you know, I've heard of
that job, and I've actually reada little bit about it. I have
(24:56):
never heard of anything such as that. It seems very boring but also very
cool. No, because it's moreabout tracing than, you know, yeah,
than like figuring out your finances.Now he's figuring out like what you're
spending your money on. Did youmake any transactions to say like a you
know, like a like what didthey go those prepaid cards? And then
(25:19):
what you paid for that. Yeah, there's a lot. I mean,
I'm sure there's a lot that goesinto it because you are looking at the
transactions, but you're also following themoney. Yes, yeah, very much
so following the money. Yeah.So this is the first I've heard of
that. It sounds very cool.What this forensic accountant finds at first is
(25:45):
that everything that is, you know, really apparent by the couple's lifestyle.
Eric is successful in his company.It brings in roughly income of a million
dollars annually. He is the clearsupporter of the family lifestyle. When they
begin to dig a little deeper,they find that there are several lines of
(26:06):
credit in Eric's name that are maxedout, both personal and business, and
accounts that have been closed as unpaid. All of this seems a little odd
in comparison to the business finances andlifestyle that Eric is maintaining. Okay,
(26:26):
then they start to look at Courtney'sassets and finances, and her real estate
business is not doing too well,so things start to click here. She
apparently is in huge financial trouble tothe tune of about four million dollars.
The forensic accountant can see records ofhigh interest loans that Corey has taken out
(26:52):
hasn't been able to pay back.She has also been able to get a
fraudulent POA so power of attorney documentand take a loan out against the house,
like using the house as collateral fortwo hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
There is evidence that she was accessingmoney in Eric's business accounts as well as
personal accounts. It comes out thatthe celebration that Eric and Corey were apparently
(27:15):
having the night of his death wason the purchase of a large twenty thousand
dollars or twenty thousand square feet mansionthat had been abandoned unfinished. Really,
yes, it was going to takemillions of dollars to flip this, but
this was like her dream goal todo, and Eric was known to be
(27:38):
against this purchase. He was nothappy about it. He did not want
her to do it. She metwith a notary public the day after his
death to sign the paperwork for thepurchase and the best for last. Oh.
There are as many as five andmaybe more life insures policies that she
(28:00):
has taken out on Eric. No. Yeah, But what is more shocking
than all of that is that Ericactually had prior knowledge to all of this.
No, that she was doing this. Turns out that Eric was aware
of the financial issues going as farback as twenty twenty, so in September
(28:23):
he didn't. In September of thatyear, Eric met with a lawyer and
set up a living trust for hisbusiness holdings and personal finances. He set
up one of his sisters, Katie, as the controlling person of the trust.
If anything should happen to him.Oh. He told the lawyer never
to contact him personally, but insteadto communicate through his sister. Stated in
(28:48):
the trust, Corey would receive nextto nothing, not even the house they
lived in. Oh. This wasall done to protect his sons and to
keep her from taking the money,just blowing it. Yeah, He apparently
also met with a devoice Alare,but nothing came of it. He didn't
(29:11):
move forward with divorce proceedings. I'mjust curious. Maybe you do know she
set up the life insurance policies ordid they set them up? So that
is still for some discussion. Asyou and I know, high dollar life
(29:33):
insurance, like a lot of lifeinsurance policies that aren't that high dollar you
can get without a physical. Butyou start looking at the high paying life
insurance policies and he would have hadto have gone for a physical. So
one of these policies apparently he didhave to do a physical. Somebody did
(29:57):
a physical. Say that it isnot and I think more will come and
I'll kind of discuss that at theend, but it's not somebody showed up
for the physical. Let's put itthat way. He may have known about
one of those policies, and that'syou know, given that financially they seem
(30:22):
to be, you know, ina very high bracket. Yes, it
all having on paper money or wasit? No? I mean I think
that he had other things polled.Yeah, like he had other resources that
he pulled. Obviously, you know, in a living trust, you you
(30:44):
said up multiple things with that,so I otherwise I think it would have
just been a will you know.So. Cory knew none of this until
after Eric's death. It all cameto light when she hired a locksmith to
get in to a safe in thegarage. Now, the fact that you
don't have access to that safe alreadytells me you shouldn't be getting into that
(31:07):
safe. At the time, Eric'sother sister, Amy was at the home,
because this was just days after hepassed. She stopped Corey in her
tracks by telling her she had noright to anything in the safe, let
alone the house, as it wasall being controlled in the trust. There
(31:27):
was an alleged fight that broke outbetween the two. Amy claims that Corey
punched her in the face. Coreycounters that it was a shove. Regardless,
the assumption was that Corey was desperateto get into that safe and to
access any money that may be init. This wild behavior that Eric's family
claims Corey had in the days afterhis death leads them to take their concerns
(31:51):
to law enforcement. Investigators learned thatEric had worn family members that if something
did happen to him, if hewere to die, they would need to
look at Corey as the primary personof interest. Oh shit. He was
worried that she may kill him,as there was a prenup that was signed
the day they married that entitled herto more money than if they simply divorced.
(32:13):
Apparently there was also a concern ofa prior attempt to poison him.
How long was this just a fewmonths prior to this? And yes,
I don't understand why he stayed.So he and Corey were having dinner that
she made, and apparently he beganhaving problems with breathing and broke out in
(32:42):
hives and ended up having to useone of their son's epi pins. It
didn't say that he had an allergy, and he didn't. It didn't say
why they had the epi pen oranything, but that was a story that
was a less Of course, hecan't corroborate that he's no longer here to
(33:02):
do so. But if that isthe case, and that is something that
he thought was happening, but I'mnot sure. Yeah, I'm just not
sure. And it's it's hard becausenow he can't he can't say, you
know, as investigators are piecing morethings together through you know, phone records
(33:25):
and searches, computer searches, searchesof the home. More odd things were
found that could be connected to Coreybeing the murderer. Phone records show searches
made to questions such as quote deathquote, death certificates are pending? Will
life insurance still pay? Quote?What happens to deleted messages? Quote?
(33:47):
Prisons for rich Americans? And myfavorite quote, can police make you take
a lie detector test? Yes?Yes, yes. There were also text
and phone calls between a person whowas employed to clean homes by Corey,
who has a known criminal record.She has a record for selling and using
(34:08):
drugs. Police were able to makecontact with this person, who cooperated their
suspicions and gave statements to the effectthat this person supplied the fentanyl that they
found in Eric's system to Corey ontwo occasions, one of them being just
(34:29):
days prior to his death, theother one being just prior to Valentine's Day,
which is when the other incident allegedlyoccurred. There is also a check
made out to this person that isdated two days after his death for thirteen
hundred dollars. It does stay onthere that it is for her completing like
(34:50):
a cleaning service job very coincidental inthe timeline of things. Really Yeah.
Just over one year after Eric's death, Mary wrote an email to investigators that
would further quote unquote clarify some thingsthey had been asking her. In it,
she detailed some reasons for some ofher lavish trips taken in the past
(35:10):
year, as well as other questions. In this email, she claims she
just wants to be able to moveon quote without looking over my shoulder constantly
for you guys. And this wasjust two months after her TV appearance for
her book It's Not Normal Behavior.No. Corey Richins was arrested at the
(35:32):
end of April of this year forcharges related to the murder of her husband
Eric. It is suspected that shelaced his drink on the night of his
death, the Moscow mule that hehad while he was in bed, with
the fatal dose of the fitnel.She is being held currently without bail due
to the nature of the charges andthe piling amount of evidence on her.
(35:57):
As of today, you know,as of this recording, from what I
can see, there is no pleathat she has entered on her behalf of
these charges In fact, there wasan addition to the trouble that she may
be facing, as there is nowan accusation of her trying to tamper with
testimony. There was recently found asix page letter to a family member encouraging
(36:19):
them to testify that Eric had purchasedpain medication and fitanol during one of their
trips to Mexico. Really Yes,in a motion filed by the state attorneys.
The letter states that the family memberwould need to create a story and
embellish it to be convincing, whichthe prosecution states amounts to witness tampering.
(36:39):
So to be fair, Corey hasnot gone to trial. She has not
been found guilty or not guilty ofthese crimes. This is still unfolding and
will likely be a topic of discussionfor quite some time. This is made
national news now, obviously the datelineepisode just air. Corey's lawyers state that
(37:02):
there is no motive for her towant to kill her husband, that he
was worth more to her alive thandead. Right. They also claim that
the person who has claimed to havesold the fentanyl to Corey and received payment
for that is not a reliable source. She's a criminal. She's a criminal.
She was just in fact arrested alsoaround the same time on drug related
(37:23):
charges, and that the police couldhave coursed her into making these statements.
Her lawyer has also stated that theevidence presented of the searches of her phone
and computer do not prove that sheis the person who made the searches,
and with the most recent motion filed, her law team stated that the letter
was found in an illegal search andseizure of her room and violates the confidentiality
(37:47):
between her and her lawyer, asthe envelope that the letter was in was
marked attention to her lawyer. Theyalso claimed that the letter was not mailed,
so it could not be considered witnesstampering. As for Corey, she
claims that it is not a letterat all. She claims that it's so
(38:08):
this was in a recorded call toher mother, because all calls in prison
are recorded and then transcribed. Sheclaims that this is part of a book
that she's writing, so she's juston that author kick and she's going to
write the next novel. She claimsthat she told her family when she first
(38:30):
got into jail that she was goingto write a book about a mystery,
and in that book. Her husbandis on pain pills and ventannel and he
gets it in Mexico. That's herstory. Okay. This is also not
the only legal trouble that Corey isin. No, does that have anything
(38:51):
to do with failing real estate business. It absolutely does. Yeah. Six
months prior to her arrest on themurder charges, a lawsuit was filed on
behalf of the purchasers of the firstflipped home that Corey and her real estate
company sold. The couple that purchasedthe home alleged that she knowingly sold them
a home with damage that would resultin a severe mold infestation. Oh,
(39:16):
their family suffered from serious medical issuesfor several months after moving in. They
have children, so especially their sonwhose room was in the basement where there
are pictures where they've removed carpet andpad and it's just black. Okay,
par for the course. I gotjust a horrible person. Yeah. It
(39:37):
would later come out that Corey wasmore than likely aware to the damage in
some text messages and that her family, you know, the family was made
aware that she had failed to ensurethat the correct permits were obtained to fix
the damage to the home. Sothe person that she bought the home from
(39:58):
said he was happy because the pricethat she given was so good, knowing
all of the damage. That theroof had damage, and there was structural
damage, and one of the bathroomshad not been used for quite some time
because of water damage. So sheknew all this, and she knew all
that, and she did not obtainthe correct permits, or whoever did the
(40:22):
contract work for her did not obtainthe correct permits to fix all of that
damage. All that her lawyers say, and Corea has not responded personally,
is that this is all unfounded.It's untrue. That family that bought that
house states that they are now facingfinancial ruin and they have no hope of
(40:45):
recouping their losses now that she isin prison and facing a trial for murder.
They have had to leave their homedue to severe illnesses and rent another
one while paying their mortgage and attemptingto make you know, some construction fixes
to this home. So they've replacedwindows, they've replaced you know, they've
(41:07):
had to rip down drywall and fixthe problem with the mold and then replace
the drywall. It's they're fucked,I mean, basically, they're screwed.
They had hoped because they filed thissix months prior to her being arrested for
murder, they hoped that they wouldbe able to fix something. But I
(41:30):
highly doubt that she's in a positionto address that lawsuit now or pay them
any restitution. No, it'll beokay. She said she's innocent, so
she probably get off of it.I mean, she might be innocent.
That's the thing. I don't know. I'm presenting the evidence that they've found,
and it seems highly suspicious. Therealso is just no mention of them
(41:54):
looking at any other suspect or anyother possibility. The autopsy showed that he
died from this death of an overdose, but you know it was the result
of the overdose. There was noaneurysm, There were no other health concerns
(42:15):
that from what I can see.I did not get to read the report
because this is still part of anongoing trial, but there's no mention of
any other health concerns that could havekilled him. So you're going to give
us an update once we have one. Yeah, yep. It's definitely interesting.
I think that she seemed to belike most people who commit these crimes.
(42:42):
They think they're not going to getcaught. They interject themselves into the
spotlight over and over again. Soyou know, she closes on this million
dollar, multimillion dollar potential deal theday after his death and continues to lead
a very lavish lifestyle with trips thatshe takes, which she claims some of
(43:06):
them are for sports, things thatwere already planned for her sons. And
if that's true, I get that. You know, you wouldn't want to
disappoint them if it's something that they'relooking forward to. Apparently one of them
was in Spain for a soccer camp. Oh yeah, so I mean,
again, that's the lifestyle they're living. If that was something that was planned,
(43:27):
I get it. But it's itis interesting that she would contact a
news outlet so that they could interviewher on her book. I thought that
was just ego mania, like outof control, huge ego. Yeah,
but I don't know. It's again, maybe you're just trying to spread the
word and you really thought that youhad something that was helpful for other children
(43:52):
that are greeping. And I couldsee it both ways, you know,
I could see it. I couldsee you were definitely seems like they have
enough evidence to get a conviction.Yeah, not in her mind though she's
totally innocent. Yeah, I don'tknow. I don't know how you explain
that, you're I mean, moneywill make you do things, they don't
(44:15):
make you do very bad things,and when you need it, you don't
care where it comes from or whoyou screw to get it. So it's
unfortunate, you know, because atthe end of the day, these boys
have lost their father and now they'velost their mother, and all because of
(44:36):
their mother well, and neither oneof neither one of them are going to
be back in their lives like theirlives the same. So their father of
course is gone, but their mother, even if she is not guilty,
or if she serves a prison sentenceand she's gone for a long time,
there is now this absence, youknow, and I think that they have
(44:59):
this part of you know, hishis family is very seems very involved,
but it's they're I think they're young, but there I think they're old enough
to that this will stay with themfor you know, and affect them definitely.
And that's what especially with media coverage, it's not like you can live
that down. You can always justthey'll probably when they get older, just
(45:21):
google it. Well, I'm sureif they don't already. I mean,
their oldest is is old enough tobe able to navigate that kind of stuff.
So, you know, at theend of the day, these these
kids are are the victims here.He's a victim. Eric was a victim
of of something. I think that'spretty obvious. But they're their kids are
(45:45):
a victim, and it's really unfortunatethat that's who pays the price. You
know, these kids pay that theprice because of adults making poor decisions.
So I it's just it's hard.I am very curious to see how this
(46:07):
plays out because it sounds like therewill be some more twists and turns,
honestly, you know, yeah yeah. So all right, Well that's all
we got for you this episode.Make sure that you are looking out for
our social media everyone. Thank youfor joining us. We appreciate it.
(46:28):
Make sure to find us everywhere youget your podcasts. Join us on social
media, let us know what yourthoughts are in this case. And remember
we are now on Patreon, sofind us over there with the wtfs.
And as always, we want tosay we appreciate you, thank you.
Stay safe, everybody, stay outof the damn woods. Bye. Guys bye us
What Happens in the Woods is atrue crime podcast. We discuss events that
are often violent in nature. Listeners, discretion is advised. Hello campers,
(00:32):
Happy Friday to you. Hopefully thisweek has treated you well and now you
can join us by the campfire whileI bring you a new true crime case
to dive into. Hi brace Hello, any news for us? Any updates?
Yes? Yes, yeah, whatyou got? Our friends across the
(00:59):
pond are back in the lead.Oh the UK UK is the lead.
Well that's new new development there.Okay, awesome, Well thanks for listening.
Thank you. That's it. That'sall you got so far. Okay,
(01:19):
so far, so far. Youlet us know if there's anything else.
Okay, Well, I have somespecial announcements. Okay. The first,
probably the most important, is Welcometo the month of Magic. For
(01:40):
those who are in the know,October is the most special of months for
me personally. Ladies and gents,Welcome to my birth month. You knew
it was coming. This is thethird year that I've celebrated my birthday with
the podcast. Yes, yes,yes, But it's not only my birth
(02:04):
month. It is also our dearfriend and part of the Killer Bees,
Beth over Crimes and Closets. Itis also her birth month. Oh,
I get giggles and scoffs, andshe gets a round of applause. She's
(02:28):
an honor guest, distinguished guests.I think I have some We celebrate you
every episode. You don't. Howdo you celebrate me? I don't get
around of applause. Hm hmm,okay, I applaud you. Okay,
thanks every day. Thanks. Yeah, And I guess since we're speaking of
(02:52):
that, we will go ahead andtouch on this. So we are,
of course gearing up with our friendsfrom Crimes in Closets, Beth and Christy
for our annual Halloween Spooky collab,and well, yeah, they just wrapped
up their serial killer September and thenon their Patreon they do survivor stories,
(03:15):
and I honestly the survivor stories thatthey had were harder for me to hear
than you know, Like, Idon't have a problem talking about serial killers.
I know that you know that's it'snot their forte it's not their preferred
type of cases to discuss. ButI had a harder time listening to the
(03:38):
survivor stories and what they those peoplewent through, those victims went through.
It was it was. It wassomething, So if you guys aren't aren't
listening to them and aren't on theirPatreon, you probably should get on that.
This year, though we are doingour collab, it's a different theme.
(04:00):
I don't want to give too muchaway. We're still going to,
you know, have it be familiar. It's not going to change completely.
So there's still going to be twoepisodes, one on our feed and one
on theirs, and they are releasingMonday, October thirtieth, and we are
releasing the Friday before that, SoOctober twenty seventh, two different episodes on
(04:24):
each other's podcast. It's going tobe good. So make sure you guys
are staying tuned and you're following themand be ready for some fun, fun
stuff. And then that brings usto the most exciting bit of news that
I have to share with you,and that is that our Patreon is now
live, So as of October first, it's going to be up and ready
(04:48):
for you guys. This is thenew platform for WTFS. So the first
episode will be available on Wednesday,October eleventh. There will be two episodes
a month on feed and if youhave a love for the fuckery, it's
now going to be living on Pagreon, so head over there and join us
(05:08):
in all the fun and crazy stuffthat goes on during those episodes. And
they're Bryce's favorites. There are alot of people's favorites. Honestly, they're
fun, a little bit funner,a little bit lighter side of crime.
And a huge thank you to everybodywho's supported us during the WTF seasons and
you know for making that possible.If you guys weren't listening to them and
(05:29):
enjoying them as much, I don'tthink I ever would have wanted to separate
them and make them a little morespecial. So thanks, thank you veryone.
All right, are you ready toget in to this episode today?
Let's do it? All right?So there's a Dayline episode that actually,
like literally last week aired. Iwatched it had a lot of information like
(05:55):
on the family and what led upto the criminal aspect of things. So
some of what I added to thisis from that, but most of the
news articles don't really have too manydetails on that info. This week,
I have a story for you outof camas, Utah. It's a beautiful
(06:15):
area about forty minutes away from SaltLake City and it's kind of known for
like outdoor activities, you know,like playground adult playground activities. So in
the winter it's like you know,winter Wonderland, skiing and snowboarding, snow
machining, and then in the summermonths it's like hiking and outdoor sports things
(06:39):
like that. It's a very affluentarea, I would say, because of
that, and it seems to belike an area that's just very idyllic for
raising a family. Is you know, all the pictures and everything that were
shown on the dateline and also fromall of the things that I researched.
(07:00):
So this is where we will beginour story on Eric and Corey Richins.
And it's Corey with a K.Corey with a K. Yeah, I
had him already and that's a she. I hate her, Okay. So
Eric Richards met his wife, Coreywhile she was working as a cashier in
(07:23):
a home improvement store. Corey,as she was described by a coworker,
was a young and sweet girl.All of the men coming through the checkout
line were enamored with her, andEric was at the time an up and
coming business partner for a stone masonrycompany, and when the two met at
the checkout line. It seemed that, you know, to everybody that there
(07:45):
was just something special there. Becausehe was shy, he would send in
his employees to the store to avoidseeing her, and eventually he got up
the courage to come in and askfor her phone number, and the two
began dating and was very obvious toeverybody that Corey was just as taken with
(08:07):
Eric, and it wasn't long beforethey were planning their future future what we'll
get into that life was great forthe couple. It seemed that they you
know, just couldn't lose. InJuly of twenty twelve, the year before
they were married, they welcomed thesun and they began their family. Their
wedding was held with their close familyand friends in the backyard of their new
(08:30):
dream home. And when I saybackyard, this backyard is like nobody else's
backyard, so it's it's fairly large. There's a it's a tennis court slash
basketball court, and alongside of thatis an Olympic sized pool looking huge thing.
(08:54):
That's it with a surrounding covered barbQ gathering area, and then alongside
that was a little gated in smallish garden area, and then there was
like a triple car garage next tothat, and then just open playground area,
(09:15):
so pretty small backyard. Yeah,it was tiny. How they managed
to fit a wedding back there.Who knows they would go on to welcome
two more sons to their family inthe coming years. They all, you
know, did the things that youwould think of in a picture light,
you know, picture perfect life.They did small town sports, They did
a lot of outdoorsy things in allthe seasons, the kids were involved in
(09:41):
all the Little league that kind ofthing. The rich AND's home was you
know, like I said, ona large parcel of land, so they
they were definitely living a lifestyle,and Eric's business was growing and afforded them
a comfortable lifestyle, so they wereable to try far and wide. They
would go to Mexico a couple timesa year if they could, and many
(10:03):
other places worldwide. And they also, you know, enjoyed being close to
home, and they had, youknow, the adult toys that they could
go out and play with. Coreyhad also began her own business in twenty
nineteen in real estate and was flippinghomes in the area. And it seemed
(10:26):
like, you know, the couplewas just living this very picture perfect life
until they weren't. In the earlymorning of March fourth, twenty twenty two,
and nine to one to one callwould come in from the rich AND's
home. Corey had frantically made acall stating her husband was cold and unresponsive
in the bed they shared. Emergencyservices in the sheriffs would respond to the
(10:50):
call, while the nine to oneto one operator guided Corey to move Eric
to the floor and start performing CPR. Paramedics entered the home to find Eric
on the floor of the couple's bedroom, not breathing, not responsive, and
it was a parent. After assessinghim that he was deceased, the sheriff
who responded to the call question Coreyhad her write a statement, which I
(11:15):
thought was kind of odd given theyjust entered the home and found her husband
dead. Maybe he was just tryingto get an early jump on his paperwork.
Maybe I don't know. I justI've never heard of that before,
not so quickly, you know,I haven't heard of them. Maybe he
thought it was an open shut case. He's like, this is just routine.
(11:37):
Maybe yeah, I mean, regardless, I think it was wise.
I do think they should do that, maybe more often. Because people the
further away from a situation, peopleget the less they remember. So yeah,
so he has her right statement aboutthe events that happened the evening before,
(11:58):
and she stated that they both puttheir kids to bed around nine pm
that night, and the two ofthem were celebrating a big business deal she
had been working on that was goingto be closing the next day. Corey
says Eric had a drink, whichwas a Moscow mule that she made him
at around nine fifteen, and bynine forty five, the two of them
(12:20):
were in bed for the night,big celebration. Nine o'clock. They put
the kids down, nine to fifteen. Everything seems too rigid. Yeah,
about nine fifteen they he was inbed, she brought him a drink and
then who drinks in bed? Idon't know, not alcohol. I guess
(12:41):
this just stoppened in twenty twenty two. Okay, it's not like nineteen sixty
or nineteen fifty were there. No, they're wearing silk pajamas, bed in
separate twenty bed bed. No,she says, robe off and puts it
on, hangs it up. No, that's that's not what happened. And
(13:01):
he says good night to Wally andBeave. Okay, I mean, I
don't know the names of their children, but I doubt it was Wally and
the Beaver. Okay. Yeah.Not long after they went to bed,
one of their sons woke up froma nightmare, and Corey ended up going
to sleep with the Sun in hisroom to you know, comfort him and
(13:24):
get him back to sleep. Andshe wrote in her statement that she and
Eric said good night and I loveyou before she went into the Sun's room
and stabbed him. At three am, she made her way back to their
room and went to cuttle in nextto Eric, but he was cold,
and she said, oddly heavy.She covered him with the blanket and she
(13:48):
said his name. But she realizedquickly that something was very wrong, and
that is when she called nine toone one. The sheriff asked about any
health concerns, you know, wasthere anything that could have caused this?
Did he do drugs, prescription orrecreational? And Corey states that sometimes he
would take a gummy before bed,but she didn't know if he had taken
(14:11):
one that night, gummy or whatthc Okay, yep, I don't know.
Maybe he really likes his vitamins.Gummy bears. I don't know his
multi vitamins, that's right. Yeah, maybe he's taking his flintstones off.
He likes the flintstones. I'm justI'm trying to rule out everything here,
honey. Yeah. It is mentionedthat Eric suffered from lyme disease. Other
(14:35):
than that, he was completely healthyas far as anybody knew. And Corey
also relates that he had an allergyshot the day prior and had complained about
his chest hurting and that was odd, but didn't really seem to stop him
from doing anything. He went abouthis day like normal. Yeah. With
this information and the unknown cause ofdeath and an otherwise healthy thirty nine year
(14:58):
old old man, his body wastaken into undergo an autopsy and a toxicology
work up. The news of EricRichand's death, you know, shocks his
family, his friends in the community. He was pretty well known. It
was a smaller it's a smaller community. So you know, thirty nine,
thirty, that's it. Yep.She was thirty three at this time and
(15:20):
he was thirty nine. Yeah,And as you can imagine, you know,
people are like, what the hellhappened? He's thirty nine years old.
He's a healthy young man. What'sgoing on? That's very you know,
out of the ordinary. Yeah,very unexpected too. Yeah, and
it really you know, people whohad just seen him the day before were
(15:43):
you know, just shocked because heseemed fine, seemed healthy. Right.
The first story that was spreading aroundwas that he you know, quote unquote
died peaceful and he's in his sleep. Everyone seemed to rally around Corey and
the kids, and you know,it's and it was just it didn't make
sense. It was a huge blowand there was no sense to any of
(16:07):
it. And some weeks after hisdeath, it started circulating around that he
had had a brain aneurysm in hissleep and that was how he passed.
So the community that's that's as muchas they know, and it just kind
of goes from there. It juststarts to, you know, stop being
discussed. In the months after Eric'spassing, Corey and the boys tried to
(16:29):
pick up and you know, goon with their lives. Corey shares that
it was very hard for them,especially at night, and she struggled to
find ways to support and help them. And then she had this idea she
would write a children's book that wouldhelp kids during the grieving process. Mind
you, I don't know her qualifications. I don't know if she has counselor
(16:52):
qualifications, or I don't know ifshe was writing this from a perspective of
a professional or just a person whohad dealt with grief and whose children were
dealing with grief. There's no wayfor me to know. The book is
titled Are You with Me? Andit was written and released on Amazon as
(17:17):
an ebook in the early part ofthis year. So the book was dedicated
to Eric her quote amazing husband andwonderful father. Corey reached out to a
local news outlet in Utah, ashow a segment on the news called Good
Things Utah, and she wanted topromote it and share the story and you
(17:38):
know, get the news out there. Quote, this was a compelling story
that could help other families deal withgrief. In the book, there is
a child who asked if his deceasedfather is still with him throughout events,
city experiences in his life, andthe father appears as a guardian angel.
He's watching over you know, thechild as he just kind of navigates daily
(18:00):
through situations. Yeah, that couldeither really help a kid or really mess
him up. And I mean,he's watching me this whole time. I
know that's kind of the thing,like you think of these invisible guardian angels
that are watching you. And Idon't want to dispel anybody's beliefs in that
or whatever, but yeah, you'reright to a child who doesn't understand,
(18:25):
and maybe the concept is a littlefrightening you. Really, I don't know
that as a child I would havebeen comfortable with that, you know.
No, it's kind of freaky ifyou think about it. It's just me
and my cynicism. Well, butthat's what I say. I don't know,
you know, I don't know howthis was written, if it was
(18:47):
written in taking that into consideration,was there was there a professional like counselor
or grief counselor psychologist or something thatshe consulted with or so I just that
kind of stuff I always i'm leeryof because it might help, and of
(19:08):
course parents know their kids, butit might help or it might hurt,
you know. And I do thinkit's it's a good idea to do something
with your kids and for your kidswho are grieving in this type of situation.
I think that there are resources forthat, and there should be resources
for that. You know, griefis very serious to a lot of emotions,
(19:33):
a lot of you know. Butlike you said, we don't know
her qualifications. I don't. Idon't know. It seems weird. It
just seems weird a little bit.I mean, it is a little bit
odd. I don't know that.My immediate response would be, I need
to write a book. I'm goingto help my kids grieve by writing a
(19:53):
book. Weird, I don't.But then I get I don't know,
you know, I get weird ideasall the time about shit that I wanted
to you know, when I growup, I'm going to do this.
Yeah. Yeah, I still don'tknow what I want to do when I
grow up. It changes every day. But you know, I I it's
(20:15):
a good idea. I guess it'sa good thought. You know. Yeah,
are there? Yeah. So,Corey is invited onto the show to
take part in a live segment whereshe shares the backstory of how the book
came about and how she felt itwas unique. This story, you know,
hits home with the co host andthe show producers as they're all you
know, in like relationships, marriagesand and have you know their parents of
(20:41):
you know, varying ages of children, but you know, to lose a
partner and to have to help notonly are you navigating your grief, but
then you're helping your kids navigate theirgrief. Yeah, it's a double whammy.
So everybody you know, really empathizedwith her how hard it would be
for her and the boys. Andat this point it's been a year since
(21:04):
Eric passed, the community at largehas just moved on from the tragedy.
It isn't, you know, sensationalnews anymore, and most people have stopped
talking about it in larger circles.To everyone on the outside, Eric seemingly
passed very tragically, but in anexplainable way. But we wouldn't be talking
(21:27):
about it if there wasn't something moreto the story do tell? And someone
wasn't going to let it be forgotten. The day after Corey recorded the new
segment for Good Things, You tawand email was sent to everyone at the
new station with the subject line areyou with Me? Which is the title
(21:48):
of Corey Richan's book. In theemail, in one sentence in all caps,
simply states you know she killed herhusband. Oh, when we come
back from this break, I willtell you just how twisted this story really
is. In the year after EricRichard's death, the small community of chemists
(22:12):
slowly went back to normal. Itwas accepted that the thirty nine year old
husband and father had passed away ofnatural causes in his sleep. It was
tragic and left the community unsettled,but what could be done but to support
his family and move on. Noone was aware that behind the scenes,
(22:32):
the investigation was still wide open onhis mysterious death and they didn't get an
autopsy back or anything. Oh yeah, yeah, so I mentioned that due
to the nature of his death,an autopsy and toxicology report was ordered.
It was very quickly confirmed from thatreport that the cause of death was a
drug overdose. Damn, how manygummies did he eat? I don't even
(22:56):
know how many gummies you would haveto eat. Yeah, yeah, you
can't overdose on those. You canget really funny, you can get really
fucked up and you get overdose,can't you. I mean not maybe not
die overdose, but you can overdoseand be very sick. Oh yeah,
you can get sick. But there'sa way to take too much. Yes,
(23:19):
So Eric did not have THHC inhis system. Oh, he had
five times the lethal amount of fentanyl. Jesus. Yeah, it's a shock
to the family, cuge shock,as no one believes that he was using
fentanyl and there were no signs thathe had ongoing drug use. Once this
(23:44):
report is back, a warrant wassought to go back and search the home
that he and Corey shared, andthis was just days after his death.
They looked all over the main bedroomand the house and there were no signs
of drug paraphernalia or drugs. Andthis would be just the beginning of a
year long investigation into Corey Rigins.And of course we all know it's common
(24:10):
investigators start looking into the small circleof family and friends and they start with
the spouse. Always Yeah, aforensic accountant. I have never heard of
this. Apparently this is a job. Yeah, is enlisted to research the
finances for the couple. How Imean, wouldn't you just say an accountant?
(24:32):
No? Because he No, hegoes back and he can look at
all he or she they can lookat like transactions everywhere and then figure out
where the money's going, even ifyou wash it or launder it. Yes,
crazy, Yeah, I actually know, you know, I've heard of
that job, and I've actually reada little bit about it. I have
(24:56):
never heard of anything such as that. It seems very boring but also very
cool. No, because it's moreabout tracing than, you know, yeah,
than like figuring out your finances.Now he's figuring out like what you're
spending your money on. Did youmake any transactions to say like a you
know, like a like what didthey go those prepaid cards? And then
(25:19):
what you paid for that. Yeah, there's a lot. I mean,
I'm sure there's a lot that goesinto it because you are looking at the
transactions, but you're also following themoney. Yes, yeah, very much
so following the money. Yeah.So this is the first I've heard of
that. It sounds very cool.What this forensic accountant finds at first is
(25:45):
that everything that is, you know, really apparent by the couple's lifestyle.
Eric is successful in his company.It brings in roughly income of a million
dollars annually. He is the clearsupporter of the family lifestyle. When they
begin to dig a little deeper,they find that there are several lines of
(26:06):
credit in Eric's name that are maxedout, both personal and business, and
accounts that have been closed as unpaid. All of this seems a little odd
in comparison to the business finances andlifestyle that Eric is maintaining. Okay,
(26:26):
then they start to look at Courtney'sassets and finances, and her real estate
business is not doing too well,so things start to click here. She
apparently is in huge financial trouble tothe tune of about four million dollars.
The forensic accountant can see records ofhigh interest loans that Corey has taken out
(26:52):
hasn't been able to pay back.She has also been able to get a
fraudulent POA so power of attorney documentand take a loan out against the house,
like using the house as collateral fortwo hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
There is evidence that she was accessingmoney in Eric's business accounts as well as
personal accounts. It comes out thatthe celebration that Eric and Corey were apparently
(27:15):
having the night of his death wason the purchase of a large twenty thousand
dollars or twenty thousand square feet mansionthat had been abandoned unfinished. Really,
yes, it was going to takemillions of dollars to flip this, but
this was like her dream goal todo, and Eric was known to be
(27:38):
against this purchase. He was nothappy about it. He did not want
her to do it. She metwith a notary public the day after his
death to sign the paperwork for thepurchase and the best for last. Oh.
There are as many as five andmaybe more life insures policies that she
(28:00):
has taken out on Eric. No. Yeah, But what is more shocking
than all of that is that Ericactually had prior knowledge to all of this.
No, that she was doing this. Turns out that Eric was aware
of the financial issues going as farback as twenty twenty, so in September
(28:23):
he didn't. In September of thatyear, Eric met with a lawyer and
set up a living trust for hisbusiness holdings and personal finances. He set
up one of his sisters, Katie, as the controlling person of the trust.
If anything should happen to him.Oh. He told the lawyer never
to contact him personally, but insteadto communicate through his sister. Stated in
(28:48):
the trust, Corey would receive nextto nothing, not even the house they
lived in. Oh. This wasall done to protect his sons and to
keep her from taking the money,just blowing it. Yeah, He apparently
also met with a devoice Alare,but nothing came of it. He didn't
(29:11):
move forward with divorce proceedings. I'mjust curious. Maybe you do know she
set up the life insurance policies ordid they set them up? So that
is still for some discussion. Asyou and I know, high dollar life
(29:33):
insurance, like a lot of lifeinsurance policies that aren't that high dollar you
can get without a physical. Butyou start looking at the high paying life
insurance policies and he would have hadto have gone for a physical. So
one of these policies apparently he didhave to do a physical. Somebody did
(29:57):
a physical. Say that it isnot and I think more will come and
I'll kind of discuss that at theend, but it's not somebody showed up
for the physical. Let's put itthat way. He may have known about
one of those policies, and that'syou know, given that financially they seem
(30:22):
to be, you know, ina very high bracket. Yes, it
all having on paper money or wasit? No? I mean I think
that he had other things polled.Yeah, like he had other resources that
he pulled. Obviously, you know, in a living trust, you you
(30:44):
said up multiple things with that,so I otherwise I think it would have
just been a will you know.So. Cory knew none of this until
after Eric's death. It all cameto light when she hired a locksmith to
get in to a safe in thegarage. Now, the fact that you
don't have access to that safe alreadytells me you shouldn't be getting into that
(31:07):
safe. At the time, Eric'sother sister, Amy was at the home,
because this was just days after hepassed. She stopped Corey in her
tracks by telling her she had noright to anything in the safe, let
alone the house, as it wasall being controlled in the trust. There
(31:27):
was an alleged fight that broke outbetween the two. Amy claims that Corey
punched her in the face. Coreycounters that it was a shove. Regardless,
the assumption was that Corey was desperateto get into that safe and to
access any money that may be init. This wild behavior that Eric's family
claims Corey had in the days afterhis death leads them to take their concerns
(31:51):
to law enforcement. Investigators learned thatEric had worn family members that if something
did happen to him, if hewere to die, they would need to
look at Corey as the primary personof interest. Oh shit. He was
worried that she may kill him,as there was a prenup that was signed
the day they married that entitled herto more money than if they simply divorced.
(32:13):
Apparently there was also a concern ofa prior attempt to poison him.
How long was this just a fewmonths prior to this? And yes,
I don't understand why he stayed.So he and Corey were having dinner that
she made, and apparently he beganhaving problems with breathing and broke out in
(32:42):
hives and ended up having to useone of their son's epi pins. It
didn't say that he had an allergy, and he didn't. It didn't say
why they had the epi pen oranything, but that was a story that
was a less Of course, hecan't corroborate that he's no longer here to
(33:02):
do so. But if that isthe case, and that is something that
he thought was happening, but I'mnot sure. Yeah, I'm just not
sure. And it's it's hard becausenow he can't he can't say, you
know, as investigators are piecing morethings together through you know, phone records
(33:25):
and searches, computer searches, searchesof the home. More odd things were
found that could be connected to Coreybeing the murderer. Phone records show searches
made to questions such as quote deathquote, death certificates are pending? Will
life insurance still pay? Quote?What happens to deleted messages? Quote?
(33:47):
Prisons for rich Americans? And myfavorite quote, can police make you take
a lie detector test? Yes?Yes, yes. There were also text
and phone calls between a person whowas employed to clean homes by Corey,
who has a known criminal record.She has a record for selling and using
(34:08):
drugs. Police were able to makecontact with this person, who cooperated their
suspicions and gave statements to the effectthat this person supplied the fentanyl that they
found in Eric's system to Corey ontwo occasions, one of them being just
(34:29):
days prior to his death, theother one being just prior to Valentine's Day,
which is when the other incident allegedlyoccurred. There is also a check
made out to this person that isdated two days after his death for thirteen
hundred dollars. It does stay onthere that it is for her completing like
(34:50):
a cleaning service job very coincidental inthe timeline of things. Really Yeah.
Just over one year after Eric's death, Mary wrote an email to investigators that
would further quote unquote clarify some thingsthey had been asking her. In it,
she detailed some reasons for some ofher lavish trips taken in the past
(35:10):
year, as well as other questions. In this email, she claims she
just wants to be able to moveon quote without looking over my shoulder constantly
for you guys. And this wasjust two months after her TV appearance for
her book It's Not Normal Behavior.No. Corey Richins was arrested at the
(35:32):
end of April of this year forcharges related to the murder of her husband
Eric. It is suspected that shelaced his drink on the night of his
death, the Moscow mule that hehad while he was in bed, with
the fatal dose of the fitnel.She is being held currently without bail due
to the nature of the charges andthe piling amount of evidence on her.
(35:57):
As of today, you know,as of this recording, from what I
can see, there is no pleathat she has entered on her behalf of
these charges In fact, there wasan addition to the trouble that she may
be facing, as there is nowan accusation of her trying to tamper with
testimony. There was recently found asix page letter to a family member encouraging
(36:19):
them to testify that Eric had purchasedpain medication and fitanol during one of their
trips to Mexico. Really Yes,in a motion filed by the state attorneys.
The letter states that the family memberwould need to create a story and
embellish it to be convincing, whichthe prosecution states amounts to witness tampering.
(36:39):
So to be fair, Corey hasnot gone to trial. She has not
been found guilty or not guilty ofthese crimes. This is still unfolding and
will likely be a topic of discussionfor quite some time. This is made
national news now, obviously the datelineepisode just air. Corey's lawyers state that
(37:02):
there is no motive for her towant to kill her husband, that he
was worth more to her alive thandead. Right. They also claim that
the person who has claimed to havesold the fentanyl to Corey and received payment
for that is not a reliable source. She's a criminal. She's a criminal.
She was just in fact arrested alsoaround the same time on drug related
(37:23):
charges, and that the police couldhave coursed her into making these statements.
Her lawyer has also stated that theevidence presented of the searches of her phone
and computer do not prove that sheis the person who made the searches,
and with the most recent motion filed, her law team stated that the letter
was found in an illegal search andseizure of her room and violates the confidentiality
(37:47):
between her and her lawyer, asthe envelope that the letter was in was
marked attention to her lawyer. Theyalso claimed that the letter was not mailed,
so it could not be considered witnesstampering. As for Corey, she
claims that it is not a letterat all. She claims that it's so
(38:08):
this was in a recorded call toher mother, because all calls in prison
are recorded and then transcribed. Sheclaims that this is part of a book
that she's writing, so she's juston that author kick and she's going to
write the next novel. She claimsthat she told her family when she first
(38:30):
got into jail that she was goingto write a book about a mystery,
and in that book. Her husbandis on pain pills and ventannel and he
gets it in Mexico. That's herstory. Okay. This is also not
the only legal trouble that Corey isin. No, does that have anything
(38:51):
to do with failing real estate business. It absolutely does. Yeah. Six
months prior to her arrest on themurder charges, a lawsuit was filed on
behalf of the purchasers of the firstflipped home that Corey and her real estate
company sold. The couple that purchasedthe home alleged that she knowingly sold them
a home with damage that would resultin a severe mold infestation. Oh,
(39:16):
their family suffered from serious medical issuesfor several months after moving in. They
have children, so especially their sonwhose room was in the basement where there
are pictures where they've removed carpet andpad and it's just black. Okay,
par for the course. I gotjust a horrible person. Yeah. It
(39:37):
would later come out that Corey wasmore than likely aware to the damage in
some text messages and that her family, you know, the family was made
aware that she had failed to ensurethat the correct permits were obtained to fix
the damage to the home. Sothe person that she bought the home from
(39:58):
said he was happy because the pricethat she given was so good, knowing
all of the damage. That theroof had damage, and there was structural
damage, and one of the bathroomshad not been used for quite some time
because of water damage. So sheknew all this, and she knew all
that, and she did not obtainthe correct permits, or whoever did the
(40:22):
contract work for her did not obtainthe correct permits to fix all of that
damage. All that her lawyers say, and Corea has not responded personally,
is that this is all unfounded.It's untrue. That family that bought that
house states that they are now facingfinancial ruin and they have no hope of
(40:45):
recouping their losses now that she isin prison and facing a trial for murder.
They have had to leave their homedue to severe illnesses and rent another
one while paying their mortgage and attemptingto make you know, some construction fixes
to this home. So they've replacedwindows, they've replaced you know, they've
(41:07):
had to rip down drywall and fixthe problem with the mold and then replace
the drywall. It's they're fucked,I mean, basically, they're screwed.
They had hoped because they filed thissix months prior to her being arrested for
murder, they hoped that they wouldbe able to fix something. But I
(41:30):
highly doubt that she's in a positionto address that lawsuit now or pay them
any restitution. No, it'll beokay. She said she's innocent, so
she probably get off of it.I mean, she might be innocent.
That's the thing. I don't know. I'm presenting the evidence that they've found,
and it seems highly suspicious. Therealso is just no mention of them
(41:54):
looking at any other suspect or anyother possibility. The autopsy showed that he
died from this death of an overdose, but you know it was the result
of the overdose. There was noaneurysm, There were no other health concerns
(42:15):
that from what I can see.I did not get to read the report
because this is still part of anongoing trial, but there's no mention of
any other health concerns that could havekilled him. So you're going to give
us an update once we have one. Yeah, yep. It's definitely interesting.
I think that she seemed to belike most people who commit these crimes.
(42:42):
They think they're not going to getcaught. They interject themselves into the
spotlight over and over again. Soyou know, she closes on this million
dollar, multimillion dollar potential deal theday after his death and continues to lead
a very lavish lifestyle with trips thatshe takes, which she claims some of
(43:06):
them are for sports, things thatwere already planned for her sons. And
if that's true, I get that. You know, you wouldn't want to
disappoint them if it's something that they'relooking forward to. Apparently one of them
was in Spain for a soccer camp. Oh yeah, so I mean,
again, that's the lifestyle they're living. If that was something that was planned,
(43:27):
I get it. But it's itis interesting that she would contact a
news outlet so that they could interviewher on her book. I thought that
was just ego mania, like outof control, huge ego. Yeah,
but I don't know. It's again, maybe you're just trying to spread the
word and you really thought that youhad something that was helpful for other children
(43:52):
that are greeping. And I couldsee it both ways, you know,
I could see it. I couldsee you were definitely seems like they have
enough evidence to get a conviction.Yeah, not in her mind though she's
totally innocent. Yeah, I don'tknow. I don't know how you explain
that, you're I mean, moneywill make you do things, they don't
(44:15):
make you do very bad things,and when you need it, you don't
care where it comes from or whoyou screw to get it. So it's
unfortunate, you know, because atthe end of the day, these boys
have lost their father and now they'velost their mother, and all because of
(44:36):
their mother well, and neither oneof neither one of them are going to
be back in their lives like theirlives the same. So their father of
course is gone, but their mother, even if she is not guilty,
or if she serves a prison sentenceand she's gone for a long time,
there is now this absence, youknow, and I think that they have
(44:59):
this part of you know, hishis family is very seems very involved,
but it's they're I think they're young, but there I think they're old enough
to that this will stay with themfor you know, and affect them definitely.
And that's what especially with media coverage, it's not like you can live
that down. You can always justthey'll probably when they get older, just
(45:21):
google it. Well, I'm sureif they don't already. I mean,
their oldest is is old enough tobe able to navigate that kind of stuff.
So, you know, at theend of the day, these these
kids are are the victims here.He's a victim. Eric was a victim
of of something. I think that'spretty obvious. But they're their kids are
(45:45):
a victim, and it's really unfortunatethat that's who pays the price. You
know, these kids pay that theprice because of adults making poor decisions.
So I it's just it's hard.I am very curious to see how this
(46:07):
plays out because it sounds like therewill be some more twists and turns,
honestly, you know, yeah yeah. So all right, Well that's all
we got for you this episode.Make sure that you are looking out for
our social media everyone. Thank youfor joining us. We appreciate it.
(46:28):
Make sure to find us everywhere youget your podcasts. Join us on social
media, let us know what yourthoughts are in this case. And remember
we are now on Patreon, sofind us over there with the wtfs.
And as always, we want tosay we appreciate you, thank you.
Stay safe, everybody, stay outof the damn woods. Bye. Guys bye us
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