Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / "Moscow Mule Murderer's" Children Beg Judge to Put Mom Away for Life | Crime Alert 05.15.26

Transcript

"Moscow Mule Murderer's" Children Beg Judge to Put Mom Away for Life | Crime Alert 05.15.26 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alard hourly update, Breaking crime news Now.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Sidney Silvanni. The search for justice in a case
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  Speaker 2: that captivated the nation has reached a definitive conclusion in
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  Speaker 2: a Utah court room. Corey Richins, the children's book author
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  Speaker 2: who rose to infamy for allegedly writing about grief while
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  Speaker 2: masking her own role in creating it, has been sentenced
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  Speaker 2: to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The sentencing,
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  Speaker 2: handed down Wednesday by Judge Richard Morosick, marks the final
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  Speaker 2: chapter in the saga defined by what prosecutors called a
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  Speaker 2: lethal cocktail of greed and deception. Richards was convicted of
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  Speaker 2: murdering her husband, Eric Richins, by spiking his drink with
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  Speaker 2: a fatal dose of fitanol five times the lethal limit.
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  Speaker 2: In a courtroom thick with tension, Judge Morosick was blunt
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  Speaker 2: about the necessity of the sentence, stating that Richards is
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  Speaker 2: simply too dangerous to ever be free. He noted that
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  Speaker 2: even under a lesser sentence, she wouldn't have seen a
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  Speaker 2: parole board until her mid sixties, but the severity of
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  Speaker 2: her actions and the terror she instilled in her own
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  Speaker 2: own children demanded the maximum penalty. The most heartbreaking testimony
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  Speaker 2: came not from investigators, but from the couple's three sons.
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  Speaker 2: In statements read to the court, her boys expressed a
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  Speaker 2: profound fear of their mother, even asking the judge to
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  Speaker 2: keep her behind bars for life.
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  Speaker 3: You took away my dad for no reason other than greed,
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  Speaker 3: and you only cared about yourself and your stupid boyfriends.
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  Speaker 3: Now my dad can't be my coach anymore, can't be
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  Speaker 3: at any of my games. He won't be at my birthdays,
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  Speaker 3: he can't teach me how to drive, he won't be
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  Speaker 3: at my graduation, and he can't take me camping or fishing.
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  Speaker 3: You made me paranoid about sleeping on my dad's side
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  Speaker 3: of the bed by saying I might die or get
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  Speaker 3: harmed when I was just trying to be close to
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  Speaker 3: my dad after you killed him. You took away everything
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  Speaker 3: from me and my brothers. I don't want you out
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  Speaker 3: of jail because I will not feel safe if you
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  Speaker 3: are out.
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  Speaker 2: The defense attempted to paint a different picture, presenting letters
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  Speaker 2: of leniency and highlighting Richan's participation in jail programs. When
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  Speaker 2: it was her turn to speak, Corey Richins turned her
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  Speaker 2: attention to her sons, maintaining her innocence in a statement
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  Speaker 2: that investigators might call one last manipulation.
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  Speaker 1: Nice sweet baby boys, And now that today you don't
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  Speaker 1: want to speak to me, have a relationship with me,
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  Speaker 1: or you may think you hate me, and that's okay.
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  Speaker 1: I will never be angry at you for your feelings.
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  Speaker 1: But I need you boys to know that I have
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  Speaker 1: been desperately trying to get in contact with you any
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  Speaker 1: way that I can for years. I did not abandon you.
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  Speaker 1: I did not just walk out of your lives one
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  Speaker 1: day to never return, to never call, to never show up.
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  Speaker 1: Regardless of what anyone tells you, I would never ever
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  Speaker 1: leave you boys.
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  Speaker 2: She went further, claiming the idea that she murdered their
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  Speaker 2: father was an absolute lie and absurd. However, the evidence
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  Speaker 2: presented at trial told a story of a woman drowning
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  Speaker 2: in seven and a half million dollars of debt, who
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  Speaker 2: closed on a two point nine million dollar mansion the
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  Speaker 2: day her husband died in immediately began spending insurance proceeds.
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  Speaker 2: Eric's sister, Katie Richins Benson, stood before the court on
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  Speaker 2: what would have been Eric's forty fourth birthday to remind
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  Speaker 2: everyone who the real victim was.
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  Speaker 4: Corey used the boys as bargaining chips with my dad.
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  Speaker 4: She repeatedly threatened not to let him see his grandson's
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  Speaker 4: unless he could convince me, as Eric's trustee, to capitulate
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  Speaker 4: to her legal demands and give her all the trust assets.
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  Speaker 2: Richind's legal team has already signaled their intent to appeal,
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  Speaker 2: with her brother issuing a statement to Fox News claiming
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  Speaker 2: the system has lost its way. For now, Corey Richins
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  Speaker 2: remains behind bars, a mother whose story of grief has
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  Speaker 2: been permanently rewritten as a story of cold blooded murder.
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  Speaker 2: More Crime and Justice news after this. In Pennsylvania, a
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  Speaker 2: trial that has laid bare the horrific final days of
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  Speaker 2: a five year old boy took a sharp turn this
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  Speaker 2: week as a mother took the stand to point the
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  Speaker 2: finger at her own husband. Lauren Malaberti is facing first
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  Speaker 2: degree murder charges in the twenty twenty three death of
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  Speaker 2: her adopted son Landon. Prosecutors have painted a picture of
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  Speaker 2: a household that resembled a torture chamber, alleging Landon was humiliated, isolated,
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  Speaker 2: and even forced to drink from a toilet when he
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  Speaker 2: was finally hospitalized in January twenty twenty three, doctors found
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  Speaker 2: brain bleeding, massive swelling, and bruises covering nearly every inch
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  Speaker 2: of his small body. On Wednesday, Lauren Malaberti testified that
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  Speaker 2: it wasn't her but her husband, Jacob, who delivered the
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  Speaker 2: fatal blows. She claimed she heard Landed screaming behind a
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  Speaker 2: locked door and that Jacob prevented her from seeking medical help.
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  Speaker 2: This directly contradicts Jacob Malaberti's own testimony taking the stand
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  Speaker 2: for the prosecution. Jacob, who was being tried separately, claimed
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  Speaker 2: he never harmed the boy and believed Landon was suffering
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  Speaker 2: from a medical incident until the moment of his arrest.
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  Speaker 2: A horrifying discovery in a Phoenix apartment has led to
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  Speaker 2: the arrest of a thirty two year old man in
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  Speaker 2: a case involving kidnapping in a grisly dismemberment. Christopher Michael Ebanks,
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  Speaker 2: known by the alias Raco, is now facing first degree
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  Speaker 2: murder charges after police found human remains missing the head
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  Speaker 2: and hands inside his home. The investigation began on May seventh,
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  Speaker 2: when a local man contacted police after his daughter, Selina Blanco,
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  Speaker 2: confessed that her boyfriend had been killed, according to a
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  Speaker 2: probable cause statement. When officers arrived at the scene, they
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  Speaker 2: were met with the overwhelming scent of bleach. They found
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  Speaker 2: signs of a desperate clean up, wet floors, cleaning supplies,
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  Speaker 2: and bloodstains throughout the unit. The victims torso had been
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  Speaker 2: wrapped in carpeting in an air mattress, then bound with
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  Speaker 2: an extension cord. Blanco told investigators that the violence erupted
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  Speaker 2: during an argument over rent money. She claims Ebanks stabbed
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  Speaker 2: her boyfriend repeatedly with a knife, then held her at gunpoint,
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  Speaker 2: forcing her to help him scrub the crime scene and
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  Speaker 2: destroy evidence by showering. Ebanks, who was already on probation
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  Speaker 2: for weapons and drug charges, was located the following day.
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  Speaker 2: During a search of his Glendale apartment, police discovered a
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  Speaker 2: suitcase containing further human remains. Ebanks is currently held on
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  Speaker 2: a one million dollar cash bond. As of now, the
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  Speaker 2: identity of the victim has not been released, leaving a
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  Speaker 2: family waiting for confirmation of a nightmare. For the latest
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  Speaker 2: crime and justice breaking news, be sure to tune in
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  Speaker 2: Monday on your favorite podcast app with this crime Alert.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Sydney Silvani