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COPS: DID MOTHER-IN-LAW HELP "MOSCOW MULE MOM" POISON HUBBY DEAD? · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace breaking news tonight. Did a
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Speaker 1: mother in law help the so called moscow mule mom
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Speaker 1: poison her hobby dead and did the very same moscow
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Speaker 1: mule mom openly stayed she'd be better off quote with
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Speaker 1: her husband dead just before he is dead. Good evening,
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Speaker 1: I'm Issy Grace, this is Crime Stories. Thank you for
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Speaker 1: being with us.
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Speaker 2: Corey Richins calls police to her Utah home for her husband.
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Speaker 2: Eric Richins, is found dead in the early morning of
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Speaker 2: March four, twenty twenty two. Corey had given Eric a
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Speaker 2: drink a Moscow mule before bed. She then spent part
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Speaker 2: of the night with one of her three children, who
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Speaker 2: had a nightmare. The night of his death. She said
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Speaker 2: she returned to their bedroom at approximately three am. He
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Speaker 2: was called to the touch and she called nine one one.
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Speaker 2: Eric had five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in
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Speaker 2: his system, which had been ingested orally.
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Speaker 1: Wow, five times a lethal dose in his system. That
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Speaker 1: combined with what prosecutors are saying that the children's book author,
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Speaker 1: Oh by the way, that book was about her children
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Speaker 1: grieving after the death of their father. Did she actually
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Speaker 1: say her husband would be quote better off dead before
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Speaker 1: killing him? That's what prosecutors claim. Joining me in, I'll
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Speaker 1: start panel to make sense of what we know right now,
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Speaker 1: but I want you to see some very un emotional
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Speaker 1: statements made by the so called Moscow Mule Mom.
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Speaker 3: What I have kind of found is, as I mentioned,
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Speaker 3: it's kind of the three c's is how I visualized it,
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Speaker 3: and it's you know, connection, continuity, and care, and it's
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Speaker 3: you know, making sure connection is the one major one
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Speaker 3: in making sure that their spirit is always alive.
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Speaker 1: Okay, making sure that the dad's spirit is still alive.
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Speaker 1: I would rather have him still be alive. That clip
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Speaker 1: from our friends at Good Things Utah. But that's not all.
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Speaker 3: Listen explaining to my kids, just because he's not present
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Speaker 3: here with us physically, that doesn't mean his presence isn't
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Speaker 3: here with us, and he's doing these things with us.
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Speaker 1: I'm sure his presence will be with everyone in a
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Speaker 1: court of law when Corey Richards aka Moscow Mule Mom
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Speaker 1: is on trial for murder. Again. That was from our
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Speaker 1: friends at Good Things Utah, who coincidentally, and I would
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Speaker 1: say providentially, gave Corey Richards an interview about her new book,
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Speaker 1: Are You with Me? Guys with Me? And All Star
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Speaker 1: panel right now to make sense of the latest developments.
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Speaker 1: And it's so called Moscow Mule Mom case, the big
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Speaker 1: bombshell in my mind, and there's so many of them
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Speaker 1: as this case. Progressive to her trial is that prosecutors
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Speaker 1: apparently are alleging our suspecting that Corey Richins's own mother
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Speaker 1: had a hand in planning his death. Is that possible?
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Speaker 1: Would a mother aid in a bet and encourage her
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Speaker 1: own daughter to commit a murder? I find that really
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Speaker 1: hard to believe, but that seems to be what is
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Speaker 1: being argued. Listen.
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Speaker 4: Detectives are shocked to find Corey Richan's mother, Lisa Dartin,
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Speaker 4: was romantically involved with a woman she was living with
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Speaker 4: who suddenly and unexpectedly dies. The warrant states, and autopsy
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Speaker 4: found the woman dies from an overdose of oxycodone. The
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Speaker 4: woman was not addicted or in recovery and had a
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Speaker 4: legitimate prescription for the medication. Detectives say, accidental overdose seems unlike.
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Speaker 1: Okay, joining me in All Star Palins I mentioned, but
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Speaker 1: first I'm going to go to investigative journalist who worked
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Speaker 1: with People magazine and The Messenger, Elaine radiis Elaine, thank
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Speaker 1: you so much for being with us. What So, Corey
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Speaker 1: Richards's mother was involved with a woman and her lover.
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Speaker 1: The mom's lover died of an accidental overdose of oxy
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Speaker 1: Is that correct?
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Speaker 5: That's right, that's what police are saying.
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Speaker 1: Huh.
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Speaker 6: It seems that in the course of their investigation they
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Speaker 6: discovered that Lisa Darden's partner unexpectedly died.
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Speaker 1: Now, Lisa Darden is Corey Richards's mother, correct, that's right. Okay.
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Speaker 1: Let me understand this. Corey Richins, so called Moscow Mule
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Speaker 1: mom is charged and heading to trial in the poisoning
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Speaker 1: death of her husband five times over a lethal dose,
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Speaker 1: not five times the legal limit. Five times over a
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Speaker 1: lethal dose. Okay, and now we find out what a
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Speaker 1: coinkydink Her mother's lover died of a lethal dose of oxy. Now,
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Speaker 1: let me understand one more issue regarding that prior death.
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Speaker 1: Elaine o Adias with US investigative journalist. The lover, the
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Speaker 1: mom's lover. She had not had any addiction problems, She
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Speaker 1: had never been in recovery, no prior suicide attempts. Has
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Speaker 1: She had a legitimate prescription for the meds.
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Speaker 5: That's right, she had.
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Speaker 6: She had a legitimate subscription prescription and so, but the
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Speaker 6: police have questioned that he died unexpectedly and interestingly, Lisa
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Speaker 6: is the benefit to Harry of the partner's estate.
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Speaker 1: Elame, are you telling me that Corey Richards Moscow Mew
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Speaker 1: mom mother lover died of an accidental OD with no
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Speaker 1: history of recovery, with a legitimate prescription, and the mother,
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Speaker 1: Lisa Darden, was the beneficiary of the lover's estate. That
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Speaker 1: is right, Okay, I'm sorry it sounds like I'm an
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Speaker 1: English teacher again diagramming a sentence on the blackboard for
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Speaker 1: my eighth grade students. But I just had to break
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Speaker 1: that down to make sure I understood what's going on. Okay,
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Speaker 1: And apparently there may be more Listen.
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Speaker 7: Text messages between Corey Richins and her mother, Lisa Darden
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Speaker 7: showed great disdain for Eric. On Lisa Darden's part, investigators
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Speaker 7: report that right before her significant other dies, Lisa Darden
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Speaker 7: is added to her will. Based on Lisa Darden's proximity
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Speaker 7: to her partner's suspicious overdose death and her relationship with Corey,
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Speaker 7: it is possible that she was involved in planning and
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Speaker 7: orchestrating Eric's death.
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Speaker 1: Before we even move a quarter inch forward, let me
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Speaker 1: just say that Cory Richinds's mother, Lisa Darden, has not
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Speaker 1: been charged, has not been named a suspect, a person
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Speaker 1: of interest, and her lover's unexpected overdose. Now that said,
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Speaker 1: this is what I think is stirring the pot of suspicion. Okay,
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Speaker 1: there's a reason investigators are concerned, and this is it. Listen.
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Speaker 2: In a six page handwritten letter, Richins instructs her mother
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Speaker 2: and brother to give false testimony, stating this comes down
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Speaker 2: to jealousy, money, and Eric's partying that they don't want
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Speaker 2: to acknowledge in sadly an accidental overdose. The prosecutors have
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Speaker 2: asked the judge to restrict Richards from further engaging in
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Speaker 2: witness him bring by restricting her from contacting her mother
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Speaker 2: and brother. In the letter, Richins allegedly wants her brother
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Speaker 2: to say Eric told him he got pain peels in
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Speaker 2: fentnyl from Mexico, pointing out how Ronnie's testimony could make
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Speaker 2: the connection of Eric and drugs, that his testimony can
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Speaker 2: be short and to the point that has to be done.
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Speaker 2: Richins tells her mother to pass the information to her
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Speaker 2: brother in person that her home and phone could be bugged.
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Speaker 1: Okay, as we say in the courtroom, holy crap, that's
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Speaker 1: a lot. Let me understand this. Let me go to
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Speaker 1: a renowned criminal defense attorney. You know him well, Troy Slayton,
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Speaker 1: joining us from this Slaton Lawyers group out in La
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Speaker 1: Troy on a personal note, It's wonderful to see you
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Speaker 1: again now that that's taking care of you.
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Speaker 8: Tune in what Okay.
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Speaker 1: Troy, help me, help me because according to prosecutors, this
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Speaker 1: is not coming from me. I'm not dreaming this up.
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Speaker 1: According to prosecutors and cops, there was a six page
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Speaker 1: handwritten letter from Moscow Mule Mom and it instructs her
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Speaker 1: mother and brother to give false testimony. Okay, wait, but
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Speaker 1: about what she states in the letter. It comes down
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Speaker 1: to jealousy, money in Eric's partying, and sadly, an accidental overdose.
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Speaker 1: And she goes on to ask them to lie to
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Speaker 1: get her brother to say her husband, Eric obtained the
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Speaker 1: fentanyl that killed him from Mexico from workers at a ranch.
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Speaker 1: And she is instructing them in writing and writing Troy
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Speaker 1: in writing that that can connect Eric with the drugs
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Speaker 1: and can be short. She's even instracting them how to
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Speaker 1: say it short, but to the point telling her mom
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Speaker 1: to pass the info along to her brother verbally away
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Speaker 1: from the home because she thinks the home is bud.
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Speaker 1: This isn't conjecture. This is a handwritten note by mas
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Speaker 1: moscowmule mom instructing her mother and brother to lie under oath.
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Speaker 1: Troy Slayton respond.
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Speaker 8: The prosecutors are saying that she was trying to engage
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Speaker 8: in witness tampering, that she's trying to coach the witnesses.
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Speaker 8: But what her defense is.
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Speaker 1: Say did you say coach the witnesses. I'm sorry, Liz,
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Speaker 1: there must be something wrong with my earpiece because I
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Speaker 1: thought I heard him say she's trying to coach the witnesses.
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Speaker 1: This is not coaching witnesses. This is suborning perjury.
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Speaker 8: Nancy. What she's trying to explain the defense theory of
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Speaker 8: the case. She's trying to explain what her whole theory
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Speaker 8: of the case is and explain to her entire family.
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Speaker 8: You need to tell the story that you know. Nowhere
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Speaker 8: in that letter does it say I want you to
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Speaker 8: lie for me. Nowhere does it say I want you
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Speaker 8: to make up a story. She knows that everybody's going
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Speaker 8: to be reading her mail. She knows everyone's reading her
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Speaker 8: jail mail. That's why when she had a phone conversation
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Speaker 8: with her mom, she held up a message for her
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Speaker 8: mom to see because she didn't want to say things
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Speaker 8: out loud, because she knows everyone is listening.
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Speaker 1: You mean she didn't want to subborn perjury out loud? Okay,
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Speaker 1: all right, I can see the argument that you would
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Speaker 1: make a trial crime stories with Nancy Grace. The prosecutors
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Speaker 1: were so concerned about the mother's involvement that they actually
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Speaker 1: asked the judge to restrict Moscow Mule Mom from further
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Speaker 1: engaging and witness tampering, restricting her from contact her mother
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Speaker 1: and brother. Wow, okay, Mom and bro better be careful.
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Speaker 1: Are they going to be dragged into this thing too?
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Speaker 8: So?
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Speaker 1: Is it possible? Apparently prosecutors think it is that the
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Speaker 1: mother of Corey Richins actually had a hand in planning
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Speaker 1: Eric Richards's death. What more do we know? In court?
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Speaker 1: Corey Richins facing multiple multiple motions? Is it all about
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Speaker 1: money or is it also about love? Oh? Let me
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Speaker 1: rephrase sex.
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Speaker 9: Listen As investigators are looking over text messages from Corey
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Speaker 9: Richins to others, they find romantic messages written to a
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Speaker 9: man other than her husband. In a text to her
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Speaker 9: unnamed lover, Corey Richins writes, I'm in love with a
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Speaker 9: man that's not my husband. In another text, I just
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Speaker 9: want to lay on the couch and cuddle you, watch
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Speaker 9: a murder documentary and snuggle. She also texts the unknown man.
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Speaker 9: If I was divorced right now and asked you to
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Speaker 9: make marry me tomorrow.
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Speaker 1: You would.
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Speaker 9: Richard's allegedly asked this the day after Valentine's Day.
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Speaker 1: Troy Slayton, I don't know if I'm more angry about
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Speaker 1: the sex with the lover or wanting to watch a
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Speaker 1: murder mystery and snuggle what you may actually have emotional
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Speaker 1: intimacy with her boy toy? Are you serious? I mean
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Speaker 1: on the sofa snuggling watching a murder mystery That really
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Speaker 1: strikes sign with me.
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Speaker 8: What every person, every person that has an adulterous relationship
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Speaker 8: isn't a murderer. Adultery does not murder make and although
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Speaker 8: it may provide some sort of motive for investigators, there
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Speaker 8: are plenty of people all over the world, every single
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Speaker 8: day that are having adulterous relationships that aren't killing their
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Speaker 8: their spouse, So that's ridiculous. And with regard to her
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Speaker 8: being and with regard to the whole with subborting perjury,
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Speaker 8: I just wanted to say that most criminal defendants are
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Speaker 8: out on bail. This is somebody who's having to defend themselves,
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Speaker 8: defend their life on murder charges while being in the
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Speaker 8: confines of a jail cell. She hasn't been found guilty
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Speaker 8: of anything yet she's not able to help her defense team.
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Speaker 8: She's not able to marshal her defense in because she's
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Speaker 8: stuck in a jail cell.
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Speaker 10: You know what?
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Speaker 1: That was so complex with again technical legal term bs,
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Speaker 1: I really don't know which way to go. First, let
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Speaker 1: me try to do it chronologically. First of all, Troy Slatin,
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Speaker 1: do you ever ever get tired of second verse save
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Speaker 1: as first just because she is an adult or doesn't
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Speaker 1: make them a murderer. How many times have you said that?
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Speaker 1: I mean, I've run out of fingers and toes to
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Speaker 1: count how many times you've actually made that argument to me.
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Speaker 1: But let me reverse that. Okay, true, every adulterer is
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Speaker 1: not a killer, But in domestic homicide, I would argue
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Speaker 1: anecdotally that a majority of the killers are adulters, So
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Speaker 1: let's reverse that. What about that Slaton That may be true,
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Speaker 1: Let me enjoy the moment of him having to agree
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Speaker 1: with me.
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Speaker 8: Are also cheating? Yes, Nancy?
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Speaker 1: Okay, now let's move on to your next, your next
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Speaker 1: what you know? Oh boohoo, Cory Riches is behind bars.
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Speaker 1: I hate when that happens, when your husband kills ever
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Speaker 1: dead and you get Okay, you know what, you'd say
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Speaker 1: that a love affair. Let me just rephrase that a
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Speaker 1: sex affair is not necessarily grounds for murder. Okay, I
15:53
Speaker 1: would agree with you, because there are no grounds for murder.
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Speaker 1: But let's talk about possibly and even stronger motivator, money,
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Speaker 1: What people will do for money. Hey, you know what,
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Speaker 1: get another job? But this listen, Slayton, sit back and
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Speaker 1: enjoy what you're about to hear.
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Speaker 4: Prosecutor's working theory is that Corey Richins was facing a
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Speaker 4: severe financial crisis prior to the death of Eric. Richards.
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Speaker 4: Sends a text to her best friend saying she owes
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Speaker 4: her husband over a quarter of a million dollars after
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Speaker 4: taking out a home equity line of credit on his home.
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Speaker 4: The text says, I don't know what to do if
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Speaker 4: he thinks I owe him the money, then that's fine.
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Speaker 4: I'll pay whatever he thinks and then I'm out. She
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Speaker 4: tells the friend she has investments that will cover what
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Speaker 4: she owes in a couple of months, but until Ben,
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Speaker 4: she texts, got to be top notch careful, adding her
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Speaker 4: goal is to make sure custody for the three boys
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Speaker 4: will at least be fifty to fifty.
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Speaker 1: Got to be top notch careful. Okay, Justin Boardman is
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Speaker 1: joining me in addition to Troy Slayton, high profile lawyer,
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Speaker 1: and Elaine are adis investigative journalist. Justin Boardman top notch careful.
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Speaker 1: I bet one thing that Moscow newle Mom didn't count
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Speaker 1: on is that cell phone movements and cell phone data
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Speaker 1: can be tracked. Okay. For instance, your cell phone can
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Speaker 1: be going from room to room in and out, and
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Speaker 1: when you try to delete texts that you've been texting
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Speaker 1: while your husband's in the next room dying, and you
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Speaker 1: tell the cops, oh, I was in another room. I
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Speaker 1: didn't sleep with him that night. My cell phone was
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Speaker 1: plugged in over there. But we can tell that you're
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Speaker 1: texting and then deleting your text at the time your
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Speaker 1: husband dies. Ouch. Boardman, there is no perfect crime.
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Speaker 10: There's not any perfect crime.
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Speaker 11: There's always a slip up, there's always something going on.
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Speaker 10: You were mentioning previous.
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Speaker 11: About a text message that happened right after Valentine's Day
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Speaker 11: to her lover and Valentine's Day, wasn't that a possible
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Speaker 11: poison sandwich at that point in time?
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Speaker 1: Hey, you are so right man. You've got a still
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Speaker 1: trap for a memory. Justin Borman, when Corey Richins reportedly
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Speaker 1: tried to poison her husband with a sandwich on Valentine's Day,
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Speaker 1: that was a prior murder attempt. And thank you for
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Speaker 1: reminding me of that, because you know I love nothing
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Speaker 1: more than a good old similar transaction. According to prosecutors,
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Speaker 1: this ain't her first time at the rodeo. She has
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Speaker 1: apparently tried to kill him before. That's the allegation. She
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Speaker 1: remains innocent until proven guilty. But back too, I'm so happy.
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Speaker 1: Back to Troy Slayton. Troy Slayton, you said sex is
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Speaker 1: not enough motive for murder, as if there is anything.
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Speaker 1: But there's more about her potential financial ruin Listen.
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Speaker 4: In the investigation into finances, prosecutors find out that even
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Speaker 4: though Corey Richins is in serious financial trouble. She continues
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Speaker 4: to rack up debt over three million dollars the day
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Speaker 4: her husband dies. Prosecutors say Richins has recently defaulted on
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Speaker 4: one loan and is struggling to avoid default on others,
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Speaker 4: adding her bank accounts are exhausted and she aspiraling toward
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Speaker 4: financial collapse. Even so, prosecutors say, she tries buying another
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Speaker 4: million dollar home with money she doesn't have.
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Speaker 1: Elaine Aardillaz joining US investigative journalist. Elaine tell me about
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Speaker 1: Corey Richins' money problems.
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Speaker 5: Corey Ritins is a financial disaster.
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Speaker 6: The more details that keep coming out about this, we
19:48
Speaker 6: are learning that she just keeps going.
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Speaker 5: Further into debt, and we're talking millions of dollars, and
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Speaker 5: she's banking on the fact that, you know, once her
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Speaker 5: husband dies, she's going to come into five million dollars
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Speaker 5: and then everything will be fixed. But she cannot keep
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Speaker 5: anything straight and she just keeps going further into debt.
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Speaker 4: Three days after Eric Richards dies, Corey Richins calls a
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Speaker 4: locksmith to have her husband safe unlocked. Corey expects there
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Speaker 4: to be one hundred and twenty five to one hundred
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Speaker 4: and sixty five thousand in cash. Eric Richard's sister Amy
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Speaker 4: finds out Corey's trying to get into the safe and
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Speaker 4: informs her that she doesn't have a right to the
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Speaker 4: funds in the safe. Eric Richards removed Corey's name from
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Speaker 4: the life insurance policy and she's no longer named in
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Speaker 4: his will. Eric replaced Corey with his sister Katie as
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Speaker 4: the beneficiary. Corey Richards becomes enraged and punches Amy in
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Speaker 4: the neck and face. Corey Richards is charged with assault,
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Speaker 4: and after failing to follow through on a plea agreement,
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Speaker 4: she's convicted of assault.
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Speaker 1: Okay, hold up, everybody, straight back out to investigative journalist
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Speaker 1: Elaine on Adias. So now Corey Richins is actually convicted
20:54
Speaker 1: for attacking her sister in law. And I believe that
20:59
Speaker 1: that happens. And when the sister in law informed her
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Speaker 1: contrary to what she thought, Moscow meile mom is no
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Speaker 1: longer the beneficiary, and she attacks the sister.
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Speaker 6: Corey thought that she was one step ahead of everybody.
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Speaker 6: She was talking to people running things and like having
21:17
Speaker 6: her name changed added to documents, and she thought she
21:23
Speaker 6: was running the show.
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Speaker 5: But lo and behold when she goes to.
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Speaker 6: Start taking what she thought was hers, Eric's sister informed her, no,
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Speaker 6: I am in charge of all of Eric's estate, and
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Speaker 6: so clearly she became enraged and it was a shock
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Speaker 6: to her system. And I think at that point that's
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Speaker 6: when she suddenly realizing that she does not have anything
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Speaker 6: to her name.
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Speaker 1: I want to get to the punching part. When does
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Speaker 1: she hit the sister.
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Speaker 6: Oh, they get into a fight at the house when
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Speaker 6: she's trying to take everything out of the safe, and
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Speaker 6: the sister and her are, you.
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Speaker 5: Know, yelling at each other and finally coming to blows.
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Speaker 7: And so.
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Speaker 6: Cory was arrested and charged and in a hearing she
22:19
Speaker 6: was deemed time served.
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Speaker 1: Joining me now is a very dear friend and spokesperson
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Speaker 1: for the husband. He's often referred to his husband hubby,
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Speaker 1: deceited victim. His name is Eric Richins, and he was
22:35
Speaker 1: a beloved father and son. Greg scored us. Thank you
22:40
Speaker 1: for being with us. What do you make of new
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Speaker 1: allegations that Corey Richins's mother actually helped her in the
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Speaker 1: murder plot?
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Speaker 12: It doesn't surprise me given the family history and given
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Speaker 12: everything we know about Corey's family, I think your mother
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Speaker 12: gave her the idea, gave her the suggestion, gave her
23:02
Speaker 12: the sort of the whole game plan for it. But
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Speaker 12: like your other guests have said, Corey was in horrible
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Speaker 12: financial shape.
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Speaker 10: She was a disaster as a financial planner, and even.
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Speaker 12: The planning of this murder itself was botched so badly
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Speaker 12: that she's sitting in the Summit County jail now and
23:21
Speaker 12: is on her way to.
23:21
Speaker 10: The Utah State Prison. I hope shortly.
23:24
Speaker 1: Guys. As you heard earlier, you heard Justin Boardman describing
23:29
Speaker 1: a Valentine's Day attempt on Eric's life. That's not the
23:35
Speaker 1: time he died. Doctor Ernest Shoto joining us. Renowned to psychologist, physician,
23:41
Speaker 1: biomedical engineer, author of Toxic Torque, Medical and legal Elements.
23:48
Speaker 1: Doctor Shiodo, thank you for being with us. Eric died
23:51
Speaker 1: of five times a lethal dose. Explain what that is?
23:57
Speaker 13: A lethal dose of sentinyl something that would kill most
24:02
Speaker 13: most adults, would be two milligrams. Well, what does that
24:06
Speaker 13: mean If you have five to seven grains of salt,
24:11
Speaker 13: that is two milligrams so which is a very small
24:16
Speaker 13: amount of fentanyl. In fact, if you have a pencil,
24:21
Speaker 13: you have a sharpened pencil and you have the tip
24:24
Speaker 13: of the pencil, you literally on the tip of the
24:26
Speaker 13: pencil to pick up two milligrams. Or if you have
24:32
Speaker 13: a penny and you have Lincoln's head on the penny,
24:38
Speaker 13: two milligrams would cover just a little bit more of
24:41
Speaker 13: the nose on the penny. So it's a very small amount.
24:45
Speaker 13: Obviously five times that is, say, ten milligrams. Still also
24:51
Speaker 13: a very small amount, because fentanyl is a very powerful,
24:55
Speaker 13: powerful drug.
24:56
Speaker 1: Speaking of powerful drugs and reactions to powerful drugs, Justin
25:02
Speaker 1: Boardman again was describing a Valentine's Day sandwich.
25:07
Speaker 2: Listen Valentine's Day twenty twenty, Eric Richins becomes violently ill
25:12
Speaker 2: after an allergic reaction after having dinner with his wife.
25:16
Speaker 2: He breaks out into hives, can't breathe, and passes out
25:19
Speaker 2: after using his son's EpiPen and taking benadrill. When Eric
25:23
Speaker 2: wakes up, he calls his business partner, Cody Wright to
25:26
Speaker 2: let him know what had happened. Without Corey knowing, Eric
25:29
Speaker 2: changes the beneficiary of his will and his power of attorney,
25:34
Speaker 2: replacing Corey with his sister. Paperwork states Eric believes Corey
25:38
Speaker 2: might kill him for the money and wants his children
25:41
Speaker 2: to be financially secure Troy's.
25:44
Speaker 1: Latent criminal defense turning out of LA How many times
25:49
Speaker 1: have you seen a case where one spouse ends up
25:51
Speaker 1: dead and according to friends and relatives, have said, if
25:55
Speaker 1: I die, she did it.
25:58
Speaker 8: That happens. But in this case, Corey Richardson's neighbors report
26:02
Speaker 8: a very happy, loving relationship, a very happy, loving family life.
26:09
Speaker 8: And just because somebody has an allergic reaction that requires
26:13
Speaker 8: an EPI pen and downing a bottle of benadrill doesn't
26:16
Speaker 8: mean that they were poisoned. It sounds exactly that that
26:19
Speaker 8: they had an allergic reaction.
26:29
Speaker 1: Crime Stories with Nancy Grace to Greg scort Is joining us,
26:37
Speaker 1: a very dear friend of Eric Richardson, Now, did what happened?
26:42
Speaker 1: What was your understanding of what happened the prior at
26:45
Speaker 1: Valentine's Day? When Eric consumed a sandwich in Corey richins
26:50
Speaker 1: presence and nearly died.
26:52
Speaker 10: He was poisoned. It was a murder attempt.
26:55
Speaker 12: It was a failed murder attempt, and Corey later reached
26:59
Speaker 12: out of the people that had supplied her with the
27:01
Speaker 12: ventanyl and said, hey, I need a little more. I
27:04
Speaker 12: needed to be a little bit stronger. There was no
27:07
Speaker 12: question in our mind, and I think in the state's
27:09
Speaker 12: mind that that was a prior homicide attempt that failed
27:13
Speaker 12: because she didn't have a sufficient enough quantity to do
27:17
Speaker 12: the job. And as the doctor just said, it doesn't
27:20
Speaker 12: take much. But she certainly got enough the next time
27:23
Speaker 12: and ended up killing him with what ended up being
27:26
Speaker 12: five times the lethal dosage of ventanyl.
27:29
Speaker 1: Gregs cortis, what if anything, did Eric say after the
27:35
Speaker 1: Valentine's Day poisonous sandwich.
27:38
Speaker 12: He told people that he thought he was being the
27:41
Speaker 12: victim of a homicide.
27:43
Speaker 10: He thought someone was trying to kill him.
27:44
Speaker 12: He thought Corey was trying to kill him, and he
27:46
Speaker 12: did just what you've been talking about here.
27:49
Speaker 10: He changed the way that his.
27:51
Speaker 12: Bipele agreement was with his partner so that his partner
27:54
Speaker 12: would get the proceeds if he died of the business.
27:58
Speaker 12: He changed his life insurance, and Corey had made some
28:01
Speaker 12: efforts to change those things, and he set things up
28:04
Speaker 12: so his children would be taken care of instead of
28:06
Speaker 12: her because he believed that she was in fact attempting
28:11
Speaker 12: to kill him.
28:12
Speaker 4: Prosecutors say Corey Richins keeps a secret second phone in
28:15
Speaker 4: a drawer next to her bed to make several incriminating
28:17
Speaker 4: searches such as luxury prisons for Rich in America Women,
28:21
Speaker 4: Utah Prisons, can cops force you to do a lie
28:24
Speaker 4: detector test? As well as specific searches about how the
28:27
Speaker 4: FBI conducts investigation searching when does the FBI get involved
28:31
Speaker 4: in a case? And FBI analysis of electronics and investigations.
28:35
Speaker 4: And there was a specific fentanyl search as well, what
28:38
Speaker 4: constitutes a lethal fentanyl dose?
28:41
Speaker 1: Wow? And Real Life Insure It's still pay if death
28:45
Speaker 1: certificate cod calls a death says pending? Okay, Luxury prisons
28:52
Speaker 1: for the rich in America women, Utah prison, can cops
28:58
Speaker 1: force you to take a lie detect test? None of
29:01
Speaker 1: that looks good. But one thing that really caught my
29:04
Speaker 1: attention by that news blurb was Corey Richins keeps a
29:10
Speaker 1: second secret phone. I just love it when defendants have
29:16
Speaker 1: a private cell phone, a secret phone, a burner phone.
29:20
Speaker 1: In fact, we just encountered that recently when to Kansas
29:25
Speaker 1: moms are carjacked off the side of the road. Jillian Kelly,
29:30
Speaker 1: Ronica Butler, and the purpse turned out to be the
29:35
Speaker 1: mother in law, her boyfriend and others, and they all
29:41
Speaker 1: had burner phones. I can tell you this much, it'll
29:46
Speaker 1: be a cold day in he double l that fur
29:51
Speaker 1: doesn't fly if my husband marches home with a secret
29:55
Speaker 1: cell phone. Justin Boardman, you're the former detective from West
30:00
Speaker 1: Valley CDPD Special Victims Unit helped me out there secret
30:05
Speaker 1: cell phone?
30:07
Speaker 10: Uh huh no, not at all. Absolutely, that is.
30:13
Speaker 11: Makes you go hmm right, And certainly you're going to
30:20
Speaker 11: try to get and see if you can find that,
30:23
Speaker 11: to see if you can get any data.
30:25
Speaker 1: Well, they got data, all right, justin Borman, they sure
30:28
Speaker 1: did so, Troy Slayton, Now you're telling me that the
30:32
Speaker 1: prior Valentine's Day poisonous sandwich doesn't really mean anything. That
30:38
Speaker 1: he nearly died and lived because he happened to have
30:40
Speaker 1: his own epipenne with him, That the damning searches on
30:45
Speaker 1: a secret cell phone mean nothing, That Corey Richan's telling
30:51
Speaker 1: her friends that he's better off dead. None of that
30:55
Speaker 1: means anything to you.
30:56
Speaker 8: That all means something. That's all circumstantial evidence. But with
31:00
Speaker 8: regard to the alleged prior plot, prior attempt at murder,
31:06
Speaker 8: I've never heard of benadrill as being an antidote to fentanyl,
31:10
Speaker 8: unless that's some sort of breaking medical news. I'm just
31:13
Speaker 8: a jurist.
31:14
Speaker 1: Doctor. It's an antidote to an allergic reaction.
31:17
Speaker 8: That's right, an allergic reaction, not an overdose of fentanyl.
31:21
Speaker 1: I doubt when he was grasping for gasping for breath
31:25
Speaker 1: and his throat was closing up, I doubt he was
31:28
Speaker 1: really thinking, Wow, how did this happen? The man is
31:32
Speaker 1: just trying to breathe. He's having a horrible anaphylactic.
31:36
Speaker 8: The EpiPen and the benadriyll saved him and he was fine.
31:39
Speaker 8: So clearly he was having an allergic reaction.
31:42
Speaker 1: So no harm done.
31:43
Speaker 10: Okay, the search.
31:44
Speaker 8: Terms that you mentioned, those aren't good facts for a defendant.
31:48
Speaker 8: But many people have multiple phones. Some have a business
31:52
Speaker 8: phone in a personal phone. So having two phones in
31:55
Speaker 8: and of itself is not damning evidence of anything.
31:58
Speaker 1: Do you have two phones two cell phones?
32:01
Speaker 8: I don't. Personally, I don't have two phones.
32:03
Speaker 7: I know.
32:04
Speaker 1: I'm just curious. You know another issue that you may
32:07
Speaker 1: want to discount. To Elaine Ardiaz joining US Investigative Journalists,
32:12
Speaker 1: what can you tell me about the night that Eric
32:16
Speaker 1: Richards ingested a lethal overdose a fentanyl about specifically Corey
32:23
Speaker 1: Richards's cell phone? Where was it?
32:26
Speaker 5: Her cell phone was in the bedroom, and.
32:31
Speaker 6: She thought that it was not tracking her, but the
32:36
Speaker 6: cell phones don't lie, and once police were because she
32:42
Speaker 6: told police that she was sleeping with her boys because
32:46
Speaker 6: they had night terrors. And so it was at three
32:49
Speaker 6: am that she discovered her husband dead in their bedroom
32:55
Speaker 6: and I believe he was quote cold to the touch,
32:59
Speaker 6: and so but police realized that she actually was moving
33:04
Speaker 6: around based on the information that they were able to
33:08
Speaker 6: get from the phone. So you know, what was she
33:11
Speaker 6: doing during this time?
33:13
Speaker 1: Okay, let me understand specifically what you just said. You're
33:17
Speaker 1: telling me that Corey rich has told investigators she was
33:20
Speaker 1: nowhere near her phone, that her phone was actually charging
33:23
Speaker 1: in the master bedroom where her husband died, that she
33:27
Speaker 1: was down the hall sleeping with her boys who had
33:31
Speaker 1: bad dreams, and that her phone was charging all night
33:33
Speaker 1: long and she didn't touch it. Is that correct? Yes? No, yes, okay.
33:38
Speaker 1: And isn't it true that, based on reports we are
33:42
Speaker 1: getting from the courtroom, from official court documents such as affidavits,
33:48
Speaker 1: that police say she was actually sending texts and receiving
33:53
Speaker 1: texts and deleting those during the time when she states
33:59
Speaker 1: her phone charging beside her husband's bed.
34:01
Speaker 6: Yes, there are no texts from a block of time.
34:07
Speaker 5: They have all been erased from her phone.
34:10
Speaker 1: Okay, you know another issue, Greg Scored is joining us
34:13
Speaker 1: a friend of Eric Richins who died. I want to
34:18
Speaker 1: clarify something else. You know. I thought that on the
34:22
Speaker 1: first attempt, the first alleged poisoning attempt, that Eric used
34:27
Speaker 1: his own EpiPen. He didn't even have an EpiPen. He
34:32
Speaker 1: nearly died, and if he had not been able to
34:35
Speaker 1: use his son's EpiPen, he would be dead. He would
34:39
Speaker 1: have already been dead. But fortunately for him, his son
34:45
Speaker 1: had an EpiPen. That's how he lived the first time. Question,
34:50
Speaker 1: tell me if that's correct, Greg Scores. But also, what
34:53
Speaker 1: is your understanding of the cell phone data against Corey Richins.
34:57
Speaker 10: Well, we could go for hours on that.
35:00
Speaker 12: I don't know whether and to what extent the EpiPen
35:02
Speaker 12: actually saved his life, or whether it was just the
35:05
Speaker 12: fact that he wasn't given a high enough dose of fatanol.
35:08
Speaker 10: He was doing everything he could, including.
35:10
Speaker 12: The benadrill and the EpiPen, to get out of the situation,
35:13
Speaker 12: and maybe those were failed ways to save yourself from
35:17
Speaker 12: a drug overdose. But the cell phone data shows that,
35:20
Speaker 12: notwithstanding she was claiming to have been asleep in the
35:25
Speaker 12: other room, she was moving around the house. And it's
35:28
Speaker 12: very clear to those of us that looked at the evidence,
35:30
Speaker 12: she was checking on the room. She was looking to
35:33
Speaker 12: see how he was doing. She was waiting for him
35:35
Speaker 12: to die and making no efforts to try to save him,
35:38
Speaker 12: and finally didn't get to the point where she went
35:41
Speaker 12: in and he was cold to the touch. She then
35:43
Speaker 12: claimed that she was doing a CPR and whatnot on him,
35:46
Speaker 12: but the medical examiner said nobody performed CPR on him.
35:49
Speaker 12: That wasn't true at all, So the cell phone data
35:52
Speaker 12: doesn't lie. She was moving around the house. She was
35:55
Speaker 12: checking on him after she'd poisoned him, to make sure
35:58
Speaker 12: and to find out how I give her attempted.
36:02
Speaker 1: Guys, have you ever seen the movie The Liar or
36:06
Speaker 1: Big Fat Liar?
36:09
Speaker 10: Liar? Liar?
36:10
Speaker 1: Yes is starred funny. I'll let Jim Carrey, Yes, And
36:16
Speaker 1: no matter what was far of him, he had another
36:18
Speaker 1: lie ready. He always had a lie with this sincere face.
36:23
Speaker 1: It was amazing. It's a fantastic actor. But I want
36:27
Speaker 1: you to look at some very unemotional comments from our
36:32
Speaker 1: friends at Good Things Utah.
36:35
Speaker 3: What I have kind of found is as I mentioned,
36:38
Speaker 3: and it's kind of the three c's is how I
36:41
Speaker 3: visualized it, and it's you know, connection, continuity, and care,
36:46
Speaker 3: and it's you know, making sure connection is the one
36:50
Speaker 3: major one in making sure that their spirit is always
36:52
Speaker 3: a life.
36:53
Speaker 1: Explaining to my.
36:54
Speaker 3: Kids, just because he's not present here with us physically,
36:58
Speaker 3: that doesn't mean his presence is here with us, and
37:01
Speaker 3: he's doing these things with us our friends at Good
37:04
Speaker 3: Things Utah.
37:05
Speaker 2: An anonymous witness who told COMPS she was at the
37:08
Speaker 2: rich AND's home when Corey began talking about wanting to
37:11
Speaker 2: end her relationship with Eric, but she is frustrated. She
37:15
Speaker 2: tells her friend she feels trapped in the marriage. Corey
37:19
Speaker 2: Richards says to her friend, in many ways, she will
37:22
Speaker 2: be better off if Eric Richards is dead.
37:25
Speaker 9: The judge is allowing evidence Corey looked into getting a
37:28
Speaker 9: divorce and had a law firm on retainer after receiving
37:30
Speaker 9: a consultation, Corey allegedly tells her brother that she ended
37:34
Speaker 9: the consultation because she didn't want half of everything and
37:37
Speaker 9: wants to walk away clean and free prosecutors say she
37:40
Speaker 9: wanted everything and to that end planned to cause Eric
37:43
Speaker 9: Richards's death.
37:44
Speaker 1: That's the prosecution's theory. The case has been in and
37:47
Speaker 1: out of court on various motions. To Elaine Aidias, joining
37:51
Speaker 1: US investigative journalist, I'm very curious about a party, a
37:57
Speaker 1: big party that Moscow Mule Mom through after Eric's death,
38:04
Speaker 1: celebrating a flip of a multimillion dollar home. She's a realtor.
38:09
Speaker 1: Can you tell me about that place he had been?
38:13
Speaker 6: He was banking on this house. It was going to
38:18
Speaker 6: add an influx of cash. And when she got the house,
38:23
Speaker 6: she threw a huge party, invited lots of people, I mean,
38:28
Speaker 6: just to the nines, everything she could. This is a
38:31
Speaker 6: woman that liked the good life. He always wanted more.
38:38
Speaker 1: Now, the flip of this home was something that Eric
38:41
Speaker 1: Richins did not want. He didn't want to put the
38:44
Speaker 1: money out there to buy the home for her to
38:47
Speaker 1: then flip it and hopefully make a profit. He was
38:50
Speaker 1: dead set against it. He dies, she does the flip
38:55
Speaker 1: and throws a big booze fueled party. How many days
39:00
Speaker 1: after his death? Alayne was the party?
39:03
Speaker 5: It was within days, Okay, you know.
39:06
Speaker 1: I'm sure Troy Slayton would argue that there's no playbook
39:10
Speaker 1: for grief. Another second verse same as the first, but
39:14
Speaker 1: Greg scored us friend of Eric Richins. Did you hear
39:18
Speaker 1: about the celebration party complete with champagne and toasting music?
39:24
Speaker 1: Good times? This was within I believe, the week after
39:29
Speaker 1: Eric died.
39:30
Speaker 10: Yes, and she's also made a plan Nancy to go
39:33
Speaker 10: on a trip with her paramore in the.
39:36
Speaker 12: Weeks after Eric died. She had already made the arrangements
39:40
Speaker 12: for that. It's important to know that there was a
39:43
Speaker 12: pre agreement, an agreement. He took certain assets out of
39:47
Speaker 12: the estate that he brought in, as most prenuptial agreements are.
39:51
Speaker 12: But the exception to that was if he predeceased her.
39:54
Speaker 12: If he died while they were still married, she would
39:57
Speaker 12: get much much more of his estate. And that's why
40:00
Speaker 12: she repeatedly told people, and that's why we believe that
40:03
Speaker 12: she caused his death, that he was worth a lot
40:05
Speaker 12: more to her dead than divorced. Yes, she consulted a
40:08
Speaker 12: divorce lawyer, but she learned from other sources that Eric
40:13
Speaker 12: was certainly worth a lot more to her as a
40:15
Speaker 12: widow than as she would have been as a divorce.
40:18
Speaker 1: Proceever, Greg Cordis, are you sitting down right now?
40:21
Speaker 4: Yes?
40:22
Speaker 1: Good. You may need to lay down because I just
40:25
Speaker 1: went through my notes. The Utah mom accused of killing
40:28
Speaker 1: her husband before writing a book about grief through a
40:31
Speaker 1: massive party at her brand new two million dollar home
40:35
Speaker 1: the day after he died. According to a report, Richard's
40:43
Speaker 1: invited friends to attend acre property for drinking and celebrating.
40:51
Speaker 1: This is on March four, just hours after her husband died,
40:57
Speaker 1: and at the party, she toasted the closing on the
41:03
Speaker 1: twenty two thousand square foot home the day after. Now
41:08
Speaker 1: you know, I don't know how you're going to argue that,
41:11
Speaker 1: Troy Slayton, the day after, she's throwing a champagne soaked
41:18
Speaker 1: party for closing the deal her husband objected to with
41:23
Speaker 1: all of her real estate friends.
41:25
Speaker 8: Really, I don't think that was planned following the death.
41:28
Speaker 8: That was probably an event much in the making, an
41:32
Speaker 8: event that was planned for weeks, if not months beforehand.
41:36
Speaker 8: And yeah, when people pass away, life has to go on.
41:40
Speaker 8: She's figuring that she's going to have to run her business.
41:43
Speaker 1: Yeah, you gotta uncorrect that champagne about ten hours after
41:47
Speaker 1: your husband kills over Yeah, understand not. I don't understand
41:52
Speaker 1: that at all. The guests of my fiance was murdered.
41:55
Speaker 1: I couldn't even speak. I couldn't even think. No war
42:00
Speaker 1: could come out, just crying, just crying, crying.
42:03
Speaker 8: Everybody reacts differently. Like you said, there is no playbook.
42:07
Speaker 1: For I was waiting on that last to doctor Ernest
42:11
Speaker 1: Schioto joining us a toxicologist, physician and biomedical engineer. Doctor Chioto,
42:18
Speaker 1: you were describing, like just a few shakes of the
42:22
Speaker 1: salt shaker, fentanyl that could kill someone. Can you taste fentanyl,
42:28
Speaker 1: for instance, if it was in a sandwich, or if
42:32
Speaker 1: it was in a very tangy Moscow mule, which is
42:37
Speaker 1: made with ginger beer, which is very very pungent, would
42:43
Speaker 1: you be able to taste the fentanyl not the.
42:48
Speaker 13: Well true to in this case ten milograms of fentanyl. No,
42:54
Speaker 13: I do not think you'd be able to taste it.
42:55
Speaker 1: This guy never had any idea what was happening. Corey
43:00
Speaker 1: Richins is back in court. In the meantime, as her
43:04
Speaker 1: case inches closer to trial, we stopped to remember an
43:09
Speaker 1: American hero, Deputy Sheriff Ryan Clinkinbroomer, LA, just thirty deputy
43:16
Speaker 1: Clinking Boomer shot and killed in an ambush. Engaged for
43:21
Speaker 1: just four days, he leaves behind a grieving fiancee, Brittany,
43:26
Speaker 1: his mother Kim, and his dad Mike, American Hero Deputy
43:33
Speaker 1: Sheriff Clinking Broomer. Thank you to our incredible guests, but
43:38
Speaker 1: especially to you for joining us here tonight and every
43:43
Speaker 1: night as we seek justice. Nancy Gray signing off, good
43:49
Speaker 1: night friend,