Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Murderous Moscow Mule Mom's Lover Breaks Down in Court | Crime Alert Recap Saturday 03.07.26
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: Crime Alard Hourly Update, Breaking Crime News Now.
- 0:03Speaker 2: I'm Sidney Sumner. A dramatic moment unfolded in the murder
- 0:07Speaker 2: trial of Utah Children's Grief author Corey Richards as her
- 0:10Speaker 2: alleged handyman lover, broke down in court while testifying. Robert Grossman,
- 0:16Speaker 2: forty three, an Iraq war veteran, took the stan Wednesday
- 0:19Speaker 2: and described a series of intimate text messages exchanged with
- 0:23Speaker 2: Richins just weeks before her husband's death in twenty twenty two.
- 0:27Speaker 2: According to testimony, less than a month before her husband,
- 0:30Speaker 2: Eric Richins died, Corey Richins sent Grossman a message asking
- 0:34Speaker 2: if I was divorced right now and asked you to
- 0:37Speaker 2: marry me tomorrow, you would, Grossman replied, yes, in love
- 0:41Speaker 2: with y O you, of course I would, Prosecutors say.
- 0:44Speaker 2: The messages reveal the pair discussing a future together. In
- 0:48Speaker 2: another text shown to jurors, Richins allegedly wrote that life
- 0:51Speaker 2: would be perfect if her husband could just go away
- 0:54Speaker 2: and you could just be here. Richins muses about purchasing
- 0:58Speaker 2: a mansion with Grossman, living in the guest house and
- 1:01Speaker 2: renting out the main house as an event center. Richins
- 1:04Speaker 2: suggests they hang out every day on a little farm
- 1:07Speaker 2: and raise her children. As the texts were displayed in court,
- 1:11Speaker 2: Grossman became emotional and wiped away tears During his testimony.
- 1:15Speaker 2: Grossman also described a troubling conversation he had with Richins
- 1:19Speaker 2: just days after her husband died. He told jurors she
- 1:22Speaker 2: asked him if he had ever killed anyone, referring to
- 1:25Speaker 2: his military service in Iraq, and questioned him about how
- 1:28Speaker 2: it made him feel. Grossman said at the time he
- 1:31Speaker 2: had no suspicion that Richins might have been involved in
- 1:33Speaker 2: her husband's death. Prosecutors alleged Richins killed Eric Richins in
- 1:38Speaker 2: March twenty twenty two by slipping four times the lethal
- 1:41Speaker 2: dose of fentanyl into a Moscow mule cocktail she prepared
- 1:45Speaker 2: for him. Additional charges accuse her of a previous attempt
- 1:48Speaker 2: to kill Eric by spiking his sandwich with fentanyl a
- 1:51Speaker 2: month earlier, on Valentine's Day. After his death, Richins went
- 1:55Speaker 2: on to self publish a children's book about coping with grief,
- 1:59Speaker 2: saying it was meant to help her sons and other
- 2:01Speaker 2: children deal with the loss of a parent. Prosecutors argue
- 2:05Speaker 2: Richards plan the killing in hopes of starting a new
- 2:07Speaker 2: life with her lover and believe she would inherit her
- 2:10Speaker 2: husband's estate, valued at more than four million dollars. Her
- 2:14Speaker 2: defense team, however, maintains that Eric Richards died from an
- 2:17Speaker 2: accidental overdose. They say it's unclear how Eric ingested the
- 2:21Speaker 2: drug and that investigators did not thoroughly test the drink's
- 2:25Speaker 2: cup for evidence. Corey Richins has pleaded not guilty and
- 2:28Speaker 2: the trial continues. More crime and justice news after.
- 2:32Speaker 1: This I'm Nicole Parton. A twenty eight year old woman
- 2:39Speaker 1: from Ohio has been arrested in relation to the tragic
- 2:42Speaker 1: deaths of two young sisters whose bodies were discovered inside
- 2:47Speaker 1: abandoned suitcases buried in shallow graves. Eliah Henderson was arrested
- 2:53Speaker 1: this week and faces charges of murder and child endangerment.
- 2:57Speaker 1: As confirmed by law enforcement officials, the Lynn Police Department
- 3:01Speaker 1: reported that officers responded to a call for assistance around
- 3:04Speaker 1: six pm on Monday in the vicinity of East one
- 3:08Speaker 1: hundred and sixty second and Midland Avenue. A man was
- 3:10Speaker 1: walking his dog in a snow covered area when he
- 3:13Speaker 1: stumbled upon the horrifying site. The caller indicated he found
- 3:18Speaker 1: what looked like a body inside a suitcase, said Cleveland
- 3:22Speaker 1: Police Chief Annie Todd during a briefing on Tuesday. Upon arrival,
- 3:26Speaker 1: officers located the deceased individual, who was buried in a
- 3:30Speaker 1: shallow grave inside a suitcase. Police quickly began searching the
- 3:34Speaker 1: area for any potential evidence and discovered another shallow grave
- 3:38Speaker 1: containing a second suitcase with another body. The county Medical
- 3:42Speaker 1: examiner later confirmed that the victims were sisters. Authorities identified
- 3:47Speaker 1: the victims as two young black females, one sister believed
- 3:51Speaker 1: to be between eight and thirteen years old, the other
- 3:54Speaker 1: estimated to be between ten and fourteen. Although it remains
- 3:58Speaker 1: unclear how long the body had been on the site,
- 4:01Speaker 1: Chief Todd noted that it appeared the girls had been
- 4:04Speaker 1: dead for some time. There was not a recent occurrence,
- 4:07Speaker 1: she said. In a body camera footage obtained by Cleveland
- 4:10Speaker 1: Fox affiliate w j W, an officer remarked on one
- 4:15Speaker 1: of the bodies, noting it was folded in a fetal position.
- 4:19Speaker 1: As of Tuesday afternoon, police had not identified the victims
- 4:23Speaker 1: and had no suspects. However, Henderson was arrested and taken
- 4:26Speaker 1: to the Cuahoga County Jail on Wednesday, neighbors inform WOIO
- 4:31Speaker 1: that Henderson resides directly across from where the suitcases were found.
- 4:35Speaker 1: Police arrested her while executing a search warrant. Part of
- 4:39Speaker 1: the investigation led us to the residents. It has been
- 4:42Speaker 1: a continuous and exhaustive investigations.
- 4:45Speaker 3: She die like this disappearing act. She had asked you
- 4:49Speaker 3: for something, asked you for help, but then she had disappeared.
- 4:52Speaker 3: She had mover. So you can't go down to the
- 4:55Speaker 3: courts because you need an address to even file emotion.
- 5:00Speaker 3: You can't go to CPS because CPS only ask two
- 5:03Speaker 3: questions as a food er BIZ in a house. You
- 5:07Speaker 3: can't go to the police because they need to address
- 5:09Speaker 3: a welfare check.
- 5:11Speaker 1: Councilman Michael Pollan Sick expressed his outrage over the incident,
- 5:14Speaker 1: insisting that those responsible must face justice, saying, in part,
- 5:19Speaker 1: what kind of monster would do this to two children?
- 5:24Speaker 1: Justicecard them like their trash, not in Collinwood. This is unacceptable,
- 5:29Speaker 1: he said. We will not tolerate this. There must be
- 5:31Speaker 1: accountability for those two children. Police confirmed another child was
- 5:37Speaker 1: located inside the home with a woman. That child has
- 5:39Speaker 1: since been removed and placed in the care of DCF.
- 5:43Speaker 1: It is believed the woman is the mother of the
- 5:45Speaker 1: two girls found dead.
- 5:48Speaker 4: I'm Jennifer Gould. A morning cup of Joe turned into
- 5:52Speaker 4: a midnight wake and a quiet upstate New York hamlet
- 5:56Speaker 4: when a sixty three year old man allegedly dumped hot
- 6:00Speaker 4: over his wife's head during a marital spat, only to
- 6:04Speaker 4: be beaten and strangled to death by his own son.
- 6:07Speaker 4: Moments later. Neighbor Don Powers spoke to ww NYTV.
- 6:13Speaker 1: They're not my little and I was, but I thought
- 6:16Speaker 1: they're okay. I haven't seen him since, you know, I
- 6:19Speaker 1: see him out.
- 6:19Speaker 5: I just waved to them, you know.
- 6:21Speaker 4: New York State police say the deadly domestic explosion erupted
- 6:25Speaker 4: inside a residence on Pyrit's Russell Road in the town
- 6:29Speaker 4: of Russell Saint Lawrence County. Philip Knickerbocker and his wife,
- 6:34Speaker 4: Jacqueline were reportedly in the heat of an argument about
- 6:37Speaker 4: their marriage when the older man snapped, pouring the coffee
- 6:42Speaker 4: on her head and trying to punch her in the face.
- 6:46Speaker 4: Their forty year old son, Hans Knickerbocker, was in his
- 6:49Speaker 4: bedroom at the time, but stormed into the living room
- 6:53Speaker 4: after hearing the chaos. Hans did not just intervene. Police
- 6:58Speaker 4: say he unleashed a savage beating, punching his dad in
- 7:02Speaker 4: the head before wrapping both hands around the man's throat.
- 7:06Speaker 4: According to court docs, Hans then applied his full body weight,
- 7:11Speaker 4: pressing his elbow into his father's windpipe and restricting his
- 7:16Speaker 4: breathing until the older man was dead. State troopers arrived
- 7:21Speaker 4: at the scene around seven forty nine pm following a
- 7:24Speaker 4: nine to one one call and found Philip's body slumped
- 7:28Speaker 4: on the living room couch. Hans was immediately detained and
- 7:33Speaker 4: initially hit with a charge of criminal obstruction of breathing,
- 7:37Speaker 4: but that was upgraded to second degree murder after an
- 7:42Speaker 4: autopsy at Glen Falls Hospital confirmed the cause of death
- 7:46Speaker 4: as asphyxia due to strangulation. Hans Knickerbocker was rearraigned in
- 7:52Speaker 4: Cantontown court and ordered held without bail at the Saint
- 7:56Speaker 4: Lawrence County Jail. State Police said the investigation remains ongoing.
- 8:03Speaker 6: I'm Drew Nelson, a southeast Portland business owner, says a
- 8:06Speaker 6: heroic kitten saved his life as a fast moving fire
- 8:09Speaker 6: destroyed the home he spent years rebuilding. Donald van Wermer,
- 8:13Speaker 6: longtime owner of Alternative Solutions Dispensary on Southeast Powell Boulevard,
- 8:18Speaker 6: was asleep in his Tillamuck home when the fire broke
- 8:20Speaker 6: out roughly two weeks ago. The house, which he had
- 8:23Speaker 6: renovated himself over the years, was soon engulfed in flames.
- 8:27Speaker 6: Van Warmer says he likely would not have woken up
- 8:29Speaker 6: in time if not for his young cat Fred. According
- 8:32Speaker 6: to Van Wermer, the kitten suddenly began clawing and crying
- 8:35Speaker 6: out while jumping on him in the middle of the night.
- 8:38Speaker 5: And I got woken up to my cat, Mary Allen,
- 8:41Speaker 5: scratching on me, freaking out. And I looked up and
- 8:45Speaker 5: the flames were already through the whole attic of the house.
- 8:48Speaker 6: That's Van Warmer behind the counter of his pot shop
- 8:50Speaker 6: and an exclusive interview with KPTV. By the time he
- 8:54Speaker 6: realized what was happening, the fire had already raced through
- 8:56Speaker 6: the upper part of the home. Van Wermer says he
- 8:59Speaker 6: only had second to react before the fire cut off
- 9:01Speaker 6: his escape. He dropped to the floor and called toward
- 9:04Speaker 6: the door as flames rolled across the ceiling and burst
- 9:07Speaker 6: outward through the doorway, and.
- 9:09Speaker 5: The flames were going over top of me, but I
- 9:11Speaker 5: was on the ground because they were rolling out the door.
- 9:14Speaker 6: Ben Warmer says he suffered burns to his chest and
- 9:16Speaker 6: face while escaping, but managed to make it outside alive.
- 9:20Speaker 6: He later learned just how quickly the fire had spread
- 9:22Speaker 6: through the structure. He also said he was thankful his
- 9:25Speaker 6: girlfriend and daughter were not home at the time. Fred
- 9:28Speaker 6: unfortunately did not survive the fire. The nine week old
- 9:32Speaker 6: kid had only recently joined the family. Van Warmer says
- 9:35Speaker 6: he had brought Fred home just weeks earlier and immediately
- 9:38Speaker 6: believed the little cat was special.
- 9:39Speaker 5: When I got Fred, I told him this is my
- 9:42Speaker 5: lucky cat, one of the smarter cats I've ever had.
- 9:45Speaker 5: So I thought we had a lot of time together
- 9:48Speaker 5: for the next sixteen twenty years with that guy. But
- 9:51Speaker 5: that can't save my life.
- 9:52Speaker 6: Van Warmer says the loss of the cat has been
- 9:54Speaker 6: difficult because he believes the kitten's actions gave him the
- 9:57Speaker 6: chance to escape a fire that might otherwise have killed
- 10:00Speaker 6: him in his sleep. Fire crews later told him they
- 10:02Speaker 6: believe a dehumidifier inside the house sparked the blaze. The
- 10:06Speaker 6: home he spent years restoring is destroyed, with damage he
- 10:09Speaker 6: estimates at more than one million dollars. Van Warmer is
- 10:12Speaker 6: now trying to rebuild while recovering from his injuries. He
- 10:15Speaker 6: has started fundraising efforts to help cover the cost of
- 10:17Speaker 6: rebuilding the house and replacing what was lost. For now,
- 10:20Speaker 6: he says he is grateful to be alive and determined
- 10:23Speaker 6: to rebuild the life he nearly lost, while remembering the
- 10:26Speaker 6: small cat he credits with saving it. For the latest
- 10:29Speaker 6: crime and justice news, follow Crime Alert hourly update on
- 10:32Speaker 6: your favorite podcast app with this crime Alert. I'm Drew Nelson.