Latest / True Crime with Gavin Fish / Prosecutors Lay Out Kouri Richins’ Financial Motive | Eric Richins Poisoning Murder Trial, Day 7
Transcript
- 0:02In March 2022, a Camas, Utah man, Eric Richins, died.
- 0:08He died and it looked maybe originally like he just maybe
- 0:14had died in his sleep. His wife Corey, called 911 and
- 0:20reported that everything was hunky Dory, everything was fine
- 0:24when they had a little drinky poo before they went to sleep.
- 0:27And next thing you know, her husband's dead.
- 0:32Now this, of course, is the case of the murder of Eric Richins at
- 0:37the alleged hand of his wife, Corey Richins.
- 0:40We're on day seven. We wrapped up day seven of her
- 0:43murder trial today in what is expected to last about four or
- 0:46five weeks. I have been gone, as you guys
- 0:50have noticed. I'm going to talk about that
- 0:53here in a little bit, but yeah, I'm so out of I'm, I'm out of
- 1:00practice. Javi, let's do a Take 2.
- 1:03Thank you for joining me, and we will dig into this in a minute.
- 1:08Here we go. This video contains mature
- 1:22themes and discussions intended only for adult audiences.
- 1:26Viewer discretion is advised. Hello there, my friend.
- 1:31Welcome back to another true crime conversation with me,
- 1:34Gavin Fish. I'm rusty, man.
- 1:37I'm rusty. I don't know what I'm doing.
- 1:39I've been gone for a week. I tried to not be gone for a
- 1:44week. I, I went to the state of
- 1:47California, my home state, not the state of my birth, not the
- 1:52state where I spent my childhood, well the beginning of
- 1:55my childhood, but the state where that I consider my home,
- 1:59which is California. I grew up in the Orangevale
- 2:02area. I went back for some meetings
- 2:05and to see some people and of course to spend some time with
- 2:08my mom and dad, my sister, brother-in-law and nieces and
- 2:12nephews. I brought the whole kit and
- 2:16caboodle, a whole traveling studio with me and when we tried
- 2:22it, it was just Le Le Pew. It did not work out well for us
- 2:28at all and it just didn't seem to it.
- 2:31It was the problems were many fold, not just Internet
- 2:34connectivity related. They were many, many fold.
- 2:39And I just, I gave up. I gave up.
- 2:41Hey, while I was away, look at this fancy mug that our daughter
- 2:46made. She didn't make it specifically
- 2:49for me. I asked her if I could use it in
- 2:52tonight's live stream. It's got hearts.
- 2:54It's got hearts. It's got a little daisies on it.
- 2:58It it holds water. It's a successful water vessel.
- 3:05It is perfect. She did a terrific job on that
- 3:08little mug. Anyway, yeah, so I was gone.
- 3:12And I'm sorry that I was gone. We probably will have a smaller
- 3:17crowd tonight because people are like, hey, Gavin, Gavin
- 3:20disappeared, right? So he's no longer on here.
- 3:22It'll take a while for everybody to realize, hey, I did not pass
- 3:27into the great beyond. I did not give up on on YouTube.
- 3:34I just had a hard time technologically speaking.
- 3:40Now, Emmy saying the connection when I was with Josh was great.
- 3:43Yeah, I did have Internet connectivity issues during my
- 3:47live stream, but I figured that part of it out.
- 3:50It was the rest of it that didn't work.
- 3:52And I may have to switch over to what what Josh and Tiff use.
- 3:59Yeah, I might have to change my technology, make it more simple
- 4:03or have a full time person like back at the old homestead while
- 4:08I'm doing my remotes who can run the system from here.
- 4:12Maybe that I don't know. I don't like I I don't like any
- 4:16of my options right now. I'm I'm looking into it.
- 4:19I forgot to say, you know, thank you for joining me and wherever
- 4:22you're joining me from, tell me in the comments.
- 4:25Looks like Nikki is joining us from sunny Bermuda.
- 4:29Pretty awesome. So tell me where you are, Robin
- 4:34says. Loves that Gavin shows his
- 4:35daughter's work to us, Gives me the warm fuzzies.
- 4:38Oh, she did great. Look at that.
- 4:40Look at that. What do they call that?
- 4:41They call that glaze. The glaze work is is beautiful.
- 4:45The the handle is sturdy and strong.
- 4:49She did a great job. I like to drink from this side
- 4:52of it because it's not perfectly round, because it's handmade.
- 4:58It just pours perfectly into the old face hole.
- 5:02Michelle is from Memphis, TN UNC Tar Heel.
- 5:05Let me guess, North Carolina? Joplin, MO, Miami is in the
- 5:11house. I think I saw up here.
- 5:14Of course, Emmy is here from San Jose.
- 5:17Glad you are here, Emmy. Let's see.
- 5:20Gwendolyn Shepherd is from the first Electric City.
- 5:25Oh, she's gotten creative and I love that.
- 5:27I love when there's some creativity.
- 5:30I'm not sure what city is the first electric city, but
- 5:33welcome, Gwendolyn. Yeah.
- 5:36Emmy from sunny California. Thank you, guys.
- 5:38Austin, TX in the house. And I love it when we reach not
- 5:42only the fruited plain, but and sea.
- 5:47From shining sea, from sea to shining sea.
- 5:50But also I love hearing from those of you in other parts of
- 5:55the world. Thank you very, very much for
- 5:57being here. Indeed, guys are awesome.
- 6:00OK, I have to say today in court was important.
- 6:10There was important testimony that was given against Cory
- 6:15Richens. By the way, when we look at
- 6:17photos of Cory Richens, does she just always look like she just
- 6:21not quite sure what is happening here, just kind of has a like a
- 6:26doughy face. And I'm sorry.
- 6:28I mean, I don't mean to. I don't mean to go on the
- 6:32attack, though. I don't feel any love for this
- 6:34woman because having seen all of the all of the evidence that has
- 6:40been filed so far against her and there's more coming out in
- 6:45the trial, I just truly believe that she.
- 6:50Yeah, that she offed her husband and wanted to for some time.
- 6:56But look at her. She's just like, that's
- 6:59horrible, Gavin. It's not her fault that she has
- 7:02a duh face. Speaking of faces, guys, I
- 7:06should have brought AI. Should you know?
- 7:08I wouldn't because I didn't have, I don't have their
- 7:11permission. But I spent time with family and
- 7:14friends over this past week back in California.
- 7:17As I said, I have got a nephew that from the day he was born
- 7:22has had a smile on his face. You know how most of us have
- 7:25RBF? He does not.
- 7:27He has resting smile face. He's just the happiest kid.
- 7:30And I wish I could show you a picture of him, but I didn't ask
- 7:33permission so I'm not going to. But it was just so much fun to
- 7:37be around him because he was always just smiling.
- 7:39It was a lot of fun. OK, the first electric city is
- 7:43Wabash IN Well, thank you very much.
- 7:46I learned learned a new thing today.
- 7:48Dreary eerie is in the house. Thank you very much for being
- 7:52here, Mooney says. I think this is her put on face
- 7:57for court. Let's take a look at it.
- 8:03If you watch the TV interviews, she doesn't play that way in my
- 8:06opinion. She's playing mild and meek for
- 8:09the jury. Well, this OK, so I will.
- 8:14I think I saw said Wabash, didn't I?
- 8:17Anyway, Wabash IN. Thank you very much.
- 8:20South Lake Tahoe is here. Let me get back to Mooney's
- 8:22comment. It's possible, sure, that she's
- 8:26playing pure as the wind driven snow, meek and mild, her places
- 8:31in the kitchen kind of, you know, trad wife for the jury.
- 8:39Possible, I guess, though this photo was taken in a hearing
- 8:43when there wasn't a jury. And when you look at like the
- 8:47family photos, let's look at the family photos.
- 8:49Yeah, she's she doesn't look so like what?
- 8:55And you're right. You're right, Mooney.
- 8:59You're right. And when you're right, you're
- 9:01right. Wah Bah, she says Mooney and
- 9:07Scott's mom from Jacksonville. Thanks for being here.
- 9:09Okie, Dokie. What do we want to say about
- 9:12today? I'm, I'm just, you know what?
- 9:14I'm going to do the today's proceedings, see if we can get
- 9:21that so that it looks right. There's better.
- 9:24Today's proceedings were rather dry, rather dry indeed.
- 9:29I, I wanted to get you guys a clip to watch, but but I just
- 9:34couldn't find one that wasn't so, so boring.
- 9:39Like I would have fallen asleep in court today, but it was
- 9:43important testimony and oh, bash Wabash.
- 9:49OK, Robin, OK, sorry. Bash Wabash.
- 9:55Wabash, not Wabash. As you know, Robin, I, I'm kind
- 10:01of a fancy Dan kind of Mr. fancy Pants.
- 10:04I I like to put that long a in there, but it's Wabash, Wabash
- 10:09IN. Am I getting that right this
- 10:11time? Robin Wabash IN.
- 10:14I think I got that right this time.
- 10:18OK, let's get back to the and guys, I'm going to rely on your
- 10:26comments today because I was just so bored.
- 10:28I was just so bored. But, you know, Court TV put
- 10:32together pretty darn good summary of what happened today,
- 10:37that the the prosecution's witness was a forensic
- 10:42accountant named Brooke Carrington.
- 10:44Now, of course, I think Miss Carrington is probably a lovely
- 10:47woman, but she's a forensic accountant.
- 10:49Therefore, I'm going to fall asleep.
- 10:51Now, this is coming from a place of love.
- 10:54OK? My, my brother-in-law who I
- 10:57deeply love is ACPA. Soon as he starts talking about
- 11:02that's just, that's just the way it is.
- 11:03However, they did get some pretty important things kind of
- 11:11I put together #1 Miss, Miss Carrington was hired by the
- 11:17prosecution to review everything about Corey Richins business and
- 11:25personal finances. And boy, were they a mess.
- 11:29And I remember, I remember, oh, you know, what if I'm, if I'm
- 11:34doing the I remember. Wanda, we need, we need some
- 11:40flashback music. If, if you would please.
- 11:43Thank you. OK, I, oh, that was, that is
- 11:47delightful. Wanda.
- 11:49I remember back in the day when it was pre real estate bubble in
- 11:57the United States and especially in the Golden State of
- 12:00California, where those of us who were young at the time, on
- 12:05the young end at the time thought that this is just the
- 12:08way that real estate works, right?
- 12:10That things double in value while they're being built and
- 12:16just us smart people just knew how to take care of, of business
- 12:20and we would do very risky things, including taking
- 12:25interest only loans, taking balloon loans, taking hard money
- 12:30loans. And how did that work out for
- 12:34us? I, I'm in this is the, the
- 12:37collective us, which includes me.
- 12:40It did not work out well for us. OK, and Cory Richens, we I mean,
- 12:47we knew this going into it, but she was she was experiencing the
- 12:51ID 10T error, right? What we used to refer to again
- 12:57Wanda, we're talking about the past here.
- 12:59So a little bit of, oh, that's nice little flashback music back
- 13:05when I was a full time coder and we would make stupid jokes like
- 13:09calling people ID 10 TS. But yeah, she was just
- 13:14experiencing the ID 10T error in her life.
- 13:18She was she was digging herself deeper and deeper and deeper in
- 13:24debt, trying to make money by flipping houses in.
- 13:30So I think by, you know, starting in January of 21 to
- 13:37March of 22. Now remember, let's see, I'm
- 13:44trying to remember. I think that he was killed in
- 13:4723, right? Let me look back at this.
- 13:51No, it's March of 22. OK, so from January 21 until
- 13:58until his death, Cory Richens was getting in deeper and deeper
- 14:04and deeper debt all the way till she was about 7 and a half,
- 14:08$1,000,000 in debt, according to this forensic accountant Miss
- 14:12Carrington. And she was paying $80,000 a
- 14:16month just in debt service. In 2019, she testified Cory
- 14:26Richins took out a hard money loan.
- 14:30Well, no, no, I take it back. It was a HELOC, a home equity
- 14:33line of credit on the House that was in Eric's name.
- 14:40And she did it by signing his name.
- 14:46Attorney in fact, So it said like Eric Richins, attorney in
- 14:49fact, she apparently had power of attorney.
- 14:53But I think that it was some sort of fraudulent power of
- 14:57attorney. So he had, she had taken out
- 15:00$250,000 in a home equity line of credit against the house they
- 15:07were living in a house that was his, a house that was in his
- 15:10name only. And by the time he died, that
- 15:14HELOC was maxed out at 2:54. So she was trying to get money
- 15:20everywhere she could in order to stay afloat, trying to cover her
- 15:25tail. And I think I saw a a comment or
- 15:31what? Well, I thought I saw a comment
- 15:36come in. Yeah, from Mooney.
- 15:39Corey used loan sharks, hard money loans to cover her tail.
- 15:43And that's, you know, when when we talk about hard money, we're
- 15:47not necessarily talking about a bunch of chilly Palmer guys,
- 15:50right? We're, but usually they're like
- 15:53family trusts or, you know, rich people that have a person that
- 15:57will make high interest loans. Like at the time that these
- 16:01loans were made, Miss Carrington testified interest rates were at
- 16:08historic lows. You could buy a house you know
- 16:12it 22 and a quarter 2 1/2% and she was paying 10% on this.
- 16:18So just to do the math really easy, right, if she got a hard
- 16:23money loan for $250,000 and she was playing paying 10%, that
- 16:32meant that her just her nut, just the just the interest on
- 16:38that was $2000 a month, right? You take 250, take 10% of that
- 16:4325,000 and divide it by 12. So yeah, $2083 a month and just
- 16:51for just for like $250,000 and she was seven and a half,
- 16:55$1,000,000 in debt. Now I don't think that all 7 1/2
- 16:58was hard money was at that 10%, right?
- 17:02But if it were, let's say actually probably was because
- 17:09that turns out to be $62,500. So she just, she just had crazy,
- 17:15crazy debt. And Mooney, you're right.
- 17:16Eric did find out about Corey signing his name on that home
- 17:21equity loan loan. Yeah.
- 17:23And he had he had suspicions that his wife was thinking of
- 17:31killing him. Remember, he got very, very
- 17:36sick, Very sick after eating a sandwich from the Canvas Cafe.
- 17:40I can't remember what it's called.
- 17:42But, you know, his favorite sandwich was laced with
- 17:45something. He got very, very sick.
- 17:47And yeah, he, he changed. He changed the trust so that his
- 17:54sister was in charge. Yes, that's exactly right.
- 17:56And if you want to know where a great timeline is on this, it is
- 18:01of course on crimetimelines.com. Let me bring you over to this.
- 18:05I love, I love this team who put this, this together.
- 18:10But just going quick, you know, in June of 2013, they were
- 18:15married. 2015 to 2017. She purchases life insurance
- 18:20policies. The aggregate death benefit was
- 18:22nearly $2,000,000. This is part of that financial,
- 18:26that monetary motive, right? The prosecutors are are building
- 18:30a case towards let's let me see if I can get this kind of bigger
- 18:33for you guys. Let's see, 20/18/2013, They're
- 18:38married was 2018. Yeah.
- 18:42They, they have something wrong with it.
- 18:44OK, So they live in Summit County, Utah.
- 18:47This is my home turf. This is where my grandparents
- 18:50were born and raised, where my parents were born.
- 18:52Well, my mom was raised. She gets into real estate.
- 18:58She opens a bank account without Eric's knowledge.
- 19:00In March of 2019, she obtains a HELOC, borrowing about a quarter
- 19:04$1,000,000. Using a forged deed of trust,
- 19:08she forms her LLC. At that point.
- 19:11Eric discovered in 2020 that Corey withdrew $100,000 from his
- 19:15bank accounts. He learns she borrowed $30,000
- 19:19using his credit cards. He also learned she borrowed
- 19:22money using a fraudulent power of attorney.
- 19:25Eric confronts Corey, who promises to repay the money but
- 19:27allegedly does not. Prosecutors say Corey misused
- 19:31approximately $494,000 of Eric's money.
- 19:34And remember that Eric was a successful businessman, right?
- 19:40He was. He had a, you know, a masonry
- 19:45company so also accused of misappropriating tax payments
- 19:51totaling 134K in October of 2020.
- 19:55He consults a divorce lawyer and estate planning attorney.
- 19:58He changes that will like Mooney said, he forms the trust.
- 20:02Control of his estate is placed with his sister.
- 20:05The trust is established for the benefit of his three children.
- 20:09He transfers his business partnership interest into the
- 20:11trust. That means that he's protecting
- 20:14like it wouldn't go to probate, it wouldn't automatically go to
- 20:17his wife. So if anything happened to him,
- 20:20then his roughly half of the business goes to his children.
- 20:24It bypasses his wife, designates the trust of the beneficiary of
- 20:29his half, $1,000,000 life insurance policy instead of
- 20:31Corey. So this guy, you know what?
- 20:35He was seeing the signs. He was seeing the signs and he
- 20:39was doing all the right things as far as setting up a future
- 20:47for his children if something happened to him.
- 20:50But I think one of the mistakes he made, and this is not blaming
- 20:54him. I mean, this is a mistake that I
- 20:56would make, right? This is a mistake many people
- 20:58make. He didn't.
- 21:00He didn't when the red flags were there, he didn't believe
- 21:06that she was. She meant to do him harm and
- 21:11well, maybe at this point in the timeline it might have been a
- 21:14little too early anyway. So November 20 signs a will that
- 21:19provides includes provisions for his children, 2021 He reportedly
- 21:25expresses concern about finances.
- 21:27Prosecutors later allege disputes about money and control
- 21:30of accounts. Life insurance policies are
- 21:33later cited by investigators. Is relevant to motive right?
- 21:35That she was after his money from August 2121 to December.
- 21:41Corey issues a series of bad checks.
- 21:44I think she racked up about $6500 that was testified today
- 21:49in in what do they call those fees right where you don't have
- 21:56enough money in your account. Funds are routed through K
- 22:00Richmond's Realty and personal accounts before checks are
- 22:02returned. Charges multiple felony accounts
- 22:06of issuing bad checks. Money laundering June of 2021.
- 22:11First charge active mortgage fraud and forgery, August 2021.
- 22:16Second charge of mortgage fraud and forgery, August 12th.
- 22:21An additional falsified personal bank statement submitted to
- 22:24Excel Financial Services. Same thing in October November.
- 22:29Another one January of 2022, Corey allegedly changes the
- 22:33beneficiary of Eric's $2,000,000 life insurance policy to herself
- 22:37without authorization. The original beneficiary was
- 22:40Eric's business partner. Business partners later restored
- 22:44as the beneficiary. Once the change is discovered,
- 22:46Corey also applies for $100,000 life insurance policy on Eric.
- 22:50I'd like when, when you saw, when you see stuff like that,
- 22:56guys, these are flags that people mean you bodily harm.
- 23:00They they want your money right? January of 22 Corey asks for
- 23:07fentanyl, later propofol, later on another life insurance
- 23:14policy. February she pays $900.00 for
- 23:20approximately 15 to 20 pills of fentanyl.
- 23:22Allegedly. February 14th, Eric becomes
- 23:26seriously ill after eating a sandwich that Corey gave him and
- 23:31Eric expressed that he to a friend that he believes that
- 23:35Corey was trying to poison him. Corey, allegedly called a local
- 23:41diner, pays 4129 for the meal. Eric uses his son EpiPen and
- 23:46drinks Benadryl after eating the sandwich.
- 23:47I don't know if that helped or not.
- 23:51So she wants stronger fentanyl pills in February?
- 23:55She wants the Michael Jackson stuff.
- 23:58March 3rd, prosecutors allege that she prepared an alcoholic
- 24:03drink for Eric that was laced with fentanyl.
- 24:07And of course, we know the rest of the story.
- 24:09I mean, this woman, man, this one.
- 24:13Go to crimetimelines.com. I put a link in the description
- 24:16below if you want to see it, if you want to, if you want to read
- 24:19through that. They do a very, very good job in
- 24:25in documenting this. It's crazy.
- 24:29See what your comments are over here.
- 24:31Emmy says. How far away is Summit County
- 24:34from Lehigh? Lehigh is, I think that's
- 24:38technically the north Utah Valley, kind of north of Provo.
- 24:41If you were to jump over Mount Timpanogos, that would land you
- 24:46in Wasatch County. And if you travel another 10 or
- 24:4913 miles, you're in Wasatch County or, I'm sorry, in Summit
- 24:53County. So Summit County, that includes,
- 24:57if you want to look at a map, it includes Francis Camas, Marion,
- 25:02Oakley, POA, Coalville, you know, let's see, I think I think
- 25:07Park City's in Summit County. I think it might that might be
- 25:11in Wasatch County, but you know, it's a from Lehigh.
- 25:15It's about AI don't know 4045 minute drive into where Corey
- 25:22and Eric Richards lived. Thank you Robin.
- 25:25Oh, you are sorry. There we go.
- 25:27Robin is helping me today with everything.
- 25:31Non sufficient funds fees. Thank you very much.
- 25:35K girl is 50K girl. Congratulations on reaching 50.
- 25:38You know I had a hard time with 50 turning 50.
- 25:41I just had a real hard time. But I was reminded while I was
- 25:48in California, some people don't make it.
- 25:50I should be grateful to make it to 50, and I am.
- 25:53Guys, I had the best time. I will.
- 25:56I will tell you all about it if you want me to.
- 25:57I had the best time while I was in California.
- 26:02And Moni says there's a special place for her under the jail.
- 26:06Yeah. She's as diabolical and has no
- 26:08soul just as much as Stephen Stearns was for his crimes.
- 26:11Yeah. They're just people that, you
- 26:14know, most of us. I was talking with Josh Ritter
- 26:16on Courtroom Confidential. Like many of us.
- 26:19Get desperate when we get so far in debt, right?
- 26:24I mean, that's just a natural thing for us to do.
- 26:27We get desperate, but most of us don't consider offing the person
- 26:33we purportedly love or the the father slash mother of our
- 26:38children or, you know, we, we don't consider that it takes a
- 26:42very special person. And of course, this is all
- 26:46alleged. She has not been convicted of
- 26:48anything. But if, if you go by what the
- 26:52police and prosecutors are saying, and I think they've got
- 26:54a very good strong case, I think that she is going down.
- 26:58And I think she had to, I think she I think she had to plead not
- 27:05guilty just to roll the dice because that's that's the best
- 27:10she can hope for. That is a wonderful little mug.
- 27:16Is that not the cutest little thing?
- 27:18Look at that. It's adorable.
- 27:25Miss the old family while I was away.
- 27:27OK, guys, that that's Autumn's. Like, I'm fully here now.
- 27:33I had to put the groceries away. Well, Autumn is our fearless
- 27:36moderation leader. Autumn, thank you very much for
- 27:39being. But that's pretty much all I got
- 27:41that. I mean, let me just check the
- 27:42notes one more time. Notes that I took.
- 27:44I was watching along with Gizela.
- 27:46And who else was I watching today?
- 27:51And I can't remember, but yeah. So the HELOC, it had been maxed
- 27:57out. Her banks account, bank accounts
- 27:59were overdrawn. She was borrowing from banks to
- 28:03service debt, $5600 in fees for bounced checks.
- 28:08That's what it was, the non sufficient funds.
- 28:10It wasn't 65, it was 56. I inverted that.
- 28:15Yeah, just boring day. Boring day.
- 28:21But important information that I hope that the jury stayed awake.
- 28:25You know, one of the things that I found funny in this case,
- 28:28people. OK, listen, we are supposed to,
- 28:35we're supposed to keep the jury members anonymous and somebody
- 28:42was in court sketching them, like really sketching them.
- 28:50Can't believe people. Listen, we got to be better than
- 28:53that people, Emmy says. I used, let's see, I used to
- 28:57visit Lehigh twice back in 2015. I've got I've got family members
- 29:02who live in that area. That's that's pretty cool.
- 29:06Cool beans. All right, So what did we learn
- 29:09today? Oh, just that she was in
- 29:10financial straits. That is her motive.
- 29:12And I think that as we go along, I mean, I went back and I looked
- 29:17at all of the all. Let me bring it up for you.
- 29:22The what am I trying to say? The documents that have been
- 29:28filed in this case there, there, there's just so much.
- 29:34But you know, this is one that that kind of tickled my fancy.
- 29:38This was her voluntary statement the night that Eric died.
- 29:43She did at home at 3:00 AM on the 4th of March 2022.
- 29:46Eric and I put the kids to bed around 9:00 PM.
- 29:49We had a drink around 9:15 PM to celebrate work.
- 29:52Remember, she had purchased a giant, giant house in Heber
- 29:58City, which is in Wasatch County.
- 30:00That is where my grandparents raised my parents in Heber City.
- 30:06My dad calls it the geographic center of the universe.
- 30:09For him, it was the the best place in the world to grow up.
- 30:11And it's a beautiful, beautiful town.
- 30:14But yeah, she had she had closed on this giant house, having been
- 30:18so far in debt. We laid in bed for about 5
- 30:22minutes. My son was having nightmares so
- 30:24I went to sleep in his bed. My husband and I said goodnight
- 30:28I love you. I woke up around 3:00 AM to go
- 30:30back to bed and got in our bed and went to hug slash cuddle
- 30:34Eric and he was freezing. I put a blanket on him and
- 30:38gently pushed him and something, but he didn't respond and his
- 30:47body was having a weird feeling. I knew something was wrong.
- 30:50I turned the lights on. He was pale, not breathing, and
- 30:53I called 911. She told me to do ACPR, pull him
- 30:56off the bed with the sheets and I did.
- 30:58Then the paramedics showed up and took over from there.
- 31:01That was her. That's what she said.
- 31:06And there's so many documents, so many affidavits of probable
- 31:09cause in this that I should probably put that up on the
- 31:13website. I never did.
- 31:14But it just from the very beginning, I think, I think the
- 31:17police were like, I smell something here, the smell of
- 31:23fish. I wonder what that could be,
- 31:28right. And I, I think they had her
- 31:31nailed from the very beginning, but took a long, long time to
- 31:37investigate it and and bring justice to to Eric Richins.
- 31:43See if there are any other comments before we Nope, we're
- 31:46going to go on guys. What time is it?
- 31:49It is time for which one do we do first?
- 31:53We do three questions. Here we go.
- 32:02How? OK, in this segment guys, I
- 32:05answer your questions to me that you send and via e-mail, not
- 32:11their rules here, OK, that I hate to be that guy, but there
- 32:15are rules that we must abide, OK?
- 32:17I don't answer questions during the three questions comment
- 32:21section from the live comment. I don't do that.
- 32:24You have to e-mail them OK, there them's the rules, they
- 32:27were established. We have to abide by them, so
- 32:32please send your questions to three questions at
- 32:34gavinfish.com. It's spelled out.
- 32:36Three questions at gavinfish.com.
- 32:38THREE questions at gavinfish.com.
- 32:41I solemnly promise to answer all the questions that come in to
- 32:44the best of my ability. I will do so in the order that I
- 32:48find the most interesting, not in order of not in the order
- 32:56they received. There are a couple of good
- 32:58questions in here. Let's bring them on up, shall
- 33:00we? And there are a couple of
- 33:03questions like I want to know your opinion on.
- 33:05I want to know your your thoughts about them.
- 33:07OK, Question number one comes to us from Melody.
- 33:11Melody says, do you or have you ever considered doing a meet and
- 33:15greet somewhere and discussing cases?
- 33:18I think that would be a blast. Well, listen, I have, I've done
- 33:23it once. Not exactly how you're
- 33:27describing like a meet and greet.
- 33:29I did, I did what I called a true crime convo and I it was a
- 33:36live in person presentation of a case at that is where I met
- 33:43Mooney for the first time in person.
- 33:44She travelled all the way up from her beautiful state, which
- 33:48is, as we all know for lovers and and you know, few dozen
- 33:54people. I think we had 50 people there.
- 33:57The issue is that it's really expensive to, to pull one of
- 34:02those things off it's way. It's way more expensive than I
- 34:06thought it would be. So, you know, I, I charged money
- 34:11for the event to cover the to cover the expenses, but I was
- 34:14shocked at how expensive it was. Makes me wonder if we were to
- 34:21maybe set up a meet and greet alongside crime con or something
- 34:24like that, we could do a meet and greet at the thing though is
- 34:30I don't know. I don't know the the longer I do
- 34:34this and the more crazy things happen.
- 34:41I don't know, they're just crazy people in the world.
- 34:43I'm not Melody, not you, not you that are watching, but they're
- 34:46just crazy people in the world. I'm not I'm not sure.
- 34:48I'm not sure you tell me guys, if you would like to do a live
- 34:53meet and greet I or, or something like that, maybe we
- 34:57could do true crime convo #2 maybe we could do that and have
- 35:02a good time doing it. I don't know, let's I'm up for
- 35:05it. You tell me you guys tell me,
- 35:06you tell me, you guide me on this one question #2 comes to us
- 35:11from Debbie. What are your favorite things to
- 35:14take photo of photos of? Have you ever entered any of
- 35:18your photos in a judging contest?
- 35:23As you guys know, or maybe you don't know quite yet, I am an
- 35:27amateur photographer. I love photography.
- 35:30I started on my photography journey when I was a when I was
- 35:39a freshman in high school. That puts me at 13 years old.
- 35:44In fact, while I was in California, I think I posted it
- 35:48to the tank. Let me see if it's up there.
- 35:51Let me get over into the tank here real quick.
- 35:53I think I posted a picture of me with my.
- 35:58No, it wasn't in the tank. It was just on my Facebook page.
- 36:01Give me a second. I'll find it.
- 36:04I will find it. Photos.
- 36:12There we are. Yeah, there it is.
- 36:13OK, so let me. I'm bringing this up.
- 36:15This is me with my high school photo teacher, Mr. Thorner
- 36:19Castle Roble High School. He and I got together on the
- 36:2325th, just like a week or so ago, for the first time since
- 36:281997. This man completely, completely
- 36:32changed the trajectory of my life.
- 36:34I owe so much to him and other great teachers, by the way, not
- 36:37not just him, but Mr. Thorner and I, I took his class for
- 36:42three years. He only had photo one and photo
- 36:46two. He let me do an independent
- 36:47study the third year and on the fourth year I went into the
- 36:50journalism track. And yeah, he changed my life,
- 36:56guys. And anyway, so the second part
- 37:00of the question was, have I ever entered my photos into a judging
- 37:04contest? Yeah, I have.
- 37:05I OK, so the first part of the question is what do I like to
- 37:08take photos of? I like to take photos of people.
- 37:11Mr. Thorner was A and is a extremely talented landscape
- 37:18photographer, Extremely talented.
- 37:20His work is just crazy beautiful.
- 37:25I love taking pictures of people and I like taking candid
- 37:30pictures of people. I like taking studio portrait.
- 37:33Studio portraiture is probably my favorite thing.
- 37:36And yeah, now have I ever entered my photos in a judging
- 37:41contest? Yes, yes.
- 37:44And I've won a couple of gold medals actually for my work over
- 37:49the years, many, many, many years ago.
- 37:52I, I, I stopped, I stopped entering in contests.
- 37:55But yeah, many, many, many years ago I won a couple of gold
- 37:59medals with my photography. Yeah.
- 38:01And it was fun. And with the Mamia RZ 67 that
- 38:06you see on the desk behind me, which Mr. Thorner always called
- 38:10a Mamma Mia RZ 67, I am swinging back into medium format film
- 38:17photography and I'm really excited about it.
- 38:20I'm, I'm going to have a lot of fun with that.
- 38:21And I think I will do portraits the old fashioned way on film.
- 38:26I'm really looking forward to it.
- 38:27Like I'm, I'm stoked about it. I, I might take it out and do
- 38:30some other stuff with it too. Like it's a capable camera and
- 38:35way more capable than I am as a photographer.
- 38:37So we'll probably do some other stuff too.
- 38:41OK, Final question. And don't forget, I like, I want
- 38:45your responses in the lives in the live chat.
- 38:48Would you expand on your comment regarding your experience with
- 38:51predatory documentary film makers?
- 38:54And this is Ria who asked this. Oh, yeah, I can.
- 38:58I can expand on it here. Let me just let me, it's not
- 39:02just documentary filmmaking. It is filmmaking in general.
- 39:06OK. I, I really just don't like the,
- 39:13the way that Hollywood creates art.
- 39:16And I recognize that it's a business and, and so it is done
- 39:22for the purpose of making money. However, in the documentary
- 39:26filmmaking world, it seems like producers make money, directors
- 39:30make money. Nobody else makes money.
- 39:34In fact, most want, want people to be most, most don't want to
- 39:42pay anything for anything beyond, you know, well beyond
- 39:49nothing. They don't want to pay money for
- 39:51anything. And so I, I will keep the
- 39:55production company names and the producers names out of this
- 40:00conversation. And, and by the way, I'm not,
- 40:04I'm not singling out any one person.
- 40:06It is the industry. It is the industry that is the
- 40:10problem. So, for example, I worked for
- 40:16three years on the Ellen Greenberg case and am probably
- 40:22the most organized out of anybody with Ellen's files.
- 40:29With anything Ellen Greenberg, I am the most organized.
- 40:32I'm backed up. I, you know, I'm, I, I, I'm the
- 40:38guy to come to. So of course they came to me,
- 40:40right? And I, I had already been burned
- 40:43once by a giant and wealthy production company on the Amanda
- 40:48Winkowski case. And so I had already learned to
- 40:53say no to production companies. But in this case, it was Ellen
- 40:56and I wanted to help her parents get a production across the
- 41:01finish line. However, I didn't want my 3:00
- 41:04work, three years worth of work, to just be given to them in
- 41:08perpetuity and exclusively. So they wanted me to give me
- 41:13give them all of my work for three years in perpetuity.
- 41:18Nobody else could use it exclusive and in perpetuity.
- 41:21They wanted to pay me $10,000. I told him to kick rocks
- 41:27$10,000. What did Ellen Dakota Fanning
- 41:30make on that and what did they do?
- 41:35And, and they're people I admire.
- 41:37I love L Fanning and I love Dakota Fanning, but what did
- 41:40they do? They came in at the last minute,
- 41:42put their names attached to it, and I, I don't know, paid for it
- 41:50to be produced, but but they sold it before they paid for it,
- 41:55right? It's sold first, so they know
- 41:57exactly how much money. I just hate it all.
- 42:00I just hate it all. And I get people reaching out to
- 42:03me, not terribly frequently, maybe a couple times a month
- 42:07saying we'd really love you to be a part of this documentary
- 42:10series or we'd really like you to be part of this blah, blah,
- 42:13blah. And the answer now is just no.
- 42:16No, I hate not I don't hate the people.
- 42:19I hate the business. It just sucks and I hate it and
- 42:23and you know, I just hate it. So when you go and see death in
- 42:32apartment 6O3, you will notice that there is a lot that is
- 42:35missing. It's because they didn't get it
- 42:38from me because I I wouldn't sell in perpetuity exclusively
- 42:43as dumb. And they would say stuff like
- 42:47Gavin, this is just the way we do things, OK?
- 42:51It's the way you do things. It's not the way I do things.
- 42:55And and this is really ghost to be talking about money like
- 42:57this. But look, if I like, if I'm
- 42:59working hard on something and I am the expert and I am the
- 43:03person that has collected everything into a neat little
- 43:08tidy bow, you know, neat little tidy file with a bow on it, then
- 43:16then you got to pay me for my work.
- 43:18That's just, that's just the way it is.
- 43:20And they, they always want to make the money and not pay it
- 43:23out. And it's, it's super predatory.
- 43:25Now, I could tell you, oh, dude, the Amanda Winkowski case, Oh my
- 43:30goodness. And the Amanda Winkowski case I
- 43:34full on was going out and filming witnesses and law
- 43:42enforcement and I was getting documents that hadn't been
- 43:45obtained and I was doing it on behalf of the production
- 43:48company. And then they're like, well, we
- 43:50can't pay you for this. Like I got to feed my family,
- 43:54man. So yeah, we, we will make tons
- 43:57of money on this, but I'm sorry we can't share that with you.
- 44:01Drove me crazy. So yeah, that's, that is what I
- 44:07feel about that. That's how I feel.
- 44:11They're they're just super predatory and I don't like them.
- 44:15Those are your three questions. Now I want to get your feedback
- 44:20on the questions. Would you like to come to a meet
- 44:23and greet and what was the, what's your hobby?
- 44:25You know, if you have you ever, if you ever entered your, your
- 44:29work, your hobby into exhibits and stuff like that, Love to
- 44:32hear about that. And then, yeah, any, any
- 44:35thoughts on the business of true crime?
- 44:39I I would love your thoughts. And while you're using your
- 44:42thumbs to tell me all about that, let's hop into some
- 44:46headlines, shall we? True crime headlines.
- 44:55OK, I got a few headlines for you tonight.
- 44:58First one having to do this one is a few days old, but I was I
- 45:04was Mia and so let me just bring us all up to date.
- 45:08New motion is filed in the Morphew case related to the
- 45:11release of Suzanne Morphew's remains.
- 45:13Dateline, Alamosa County, Colorado a lawyer for Suzanne
- 45:16Morphew's daughters has filed a motion related to the release of
- 45:20Suzanne's remains, claiming that the state wrongfully took her
- 45:24remains from the Funeral Home they'd been given.
- 45:28They'd been given to before. Oh, the Funeral Home had been
- 45:32given to before a service could be held, according to the motion
- 45:35filed last week. Suzanne's next of kin.
- 45:37His names are redacted in most of the publicly available
- 45:40document, but unredacted in the document's conclusion.
- 45:43Had planned a funeral service for Suzanne after the Chaffee
- 45:47County coroner released her remains in April 2024.
- 45:51The documents claim her remains were released to a Funeral Home
- 45:53at the request of the next of kin, but quote without warning
- 45:57and contrary to the prior lawful release, the state took
- 46:00possession of them. The motion is seeking an
- 46:03explanation from the state to explain why Suzanne's remains
- 46:06were taken and why they're being withheld, a temporary
- 46:09restraining order preventing the state from interfering in the
- 46:11next of Kins, possession and burial of Suzanne, and the
- 46:15immediate release of Suzanne's remains.
- 46:17When asked about the motion, Swan Law funeral director said
- 46:20quote, because we value the privacy of the families we are
- 46:22honored to serve, we cannot comment on an active
- 46:25investigation. However, we are working closely
- 46:28with the local authorities and hope this matter is resolved
- 46:30soon. So I didn't know that.
- 46:32I didn't know that the state still had custody of Suzanne
- 46:36Morphew's remains, but it looks like they are gearing up of a
- 46:41fight for a fight there. In regards to the the
- 46:45prosecution of Barrymore Few, I have not seen any new news on
- 46:48that. Turning to the Kevin Mullins
- 46:53case, this coming to us from kentucky.com written by Taylor 6
- 46:58headline reads Ex Letcher sheriff will not testify at a
- 47:01civil assault trial. You guys remember that in the
- 47:06Judge Kevin Mullins case, Let me bring up Judge Mullins Mickey
- 47:12Stein shot Kevin Mullins. I can confidently say because it
- 47:16was done on video shot Kevin Mullins death in his chamber and
- 47:22it was on a Thursday after he had been deposed on a Monday in
- 47:27a civil a federal civil case where two women, Sabrina Atkins
- 47:32and Jennifer Hill. Jennifer Hill's estate has been
- 47:35dismissed from the lawsuit. Now she is the late Jennifer
- 47:38Hill, but Sabrina Atkins lawsuit remains.
- 47:43He had been deposed in that in that lawsuit and it seems to be
- 47:49that that was the root cause of him.
- 47:54Something happened leading up to and in the aftermath of his
- 48:01testimony or in his deposition. He then was charged with murder
- 48:06and he was dismissed from the case because he was no longer
- 48:09the sheriff. OK, So that that brings us to
- 48:12where we are. The former Eastern Kentucky
- 48:15sheriff charged with killing a District Judge in 2024 will not
- 48:18testify at the civil trial of his former employee accused of
- 48:22exchanging legal leniency for sexual favors.
- 48:25Sean Mickey Steins, 45, the former sheriff in Letcher
- 48:27County, was initially scheduled to testify in the trial this
- 48:30week of his former deputy, Ben Fields.
- 48:33Instead, a redacted version of his deposition of a deposition
- 48:37Steins gave during the investigation of Fields will
- 48:40serve as Stein's testimony. Topics will include include
- 48:44protocol, training and culture while he was at the head of the
- 48:48Sheriff's Department. And I actually have a copy of
- 48:50that deposition. It's not all that redacted.
- 48:54Stein's lawyer previously told investigators the tense
- 48:56deposition, which happened just days before Stein's was captured
- 48:59on camera shooting and killing Letcher County Judge Kevin
- 49:02Mullins and the judge's chambers on September 19th, 2024, would
- 49:06be crucial to his clients defense, but he has not said
- 49:09exactly how. So we'll see what happens.
- 49:14So that's what's happening to Mickey Stein's.
- 49:17And then lastly, a headline I have for you this from
- 49:21yesterday, you remember Daniel Martel, the stepfather of Lily
- 49:28and Jack Sullivan had been arrested on an essay of an
- 49:33adult. Well, he appeared in court.
- 49:35So this coming to us from saltwire.com.
- 49:39Aaron Beswick is our writer headline stepfather of missing
- 49:42Nova Scotia siblings Jack and Lily Sullivan.
- 49:45We should bring up Jack and Lily.
- 49:48These they're still missing. We have no idea where these
- 49:51kiddos are and would it be great to get them back, but sadly the
- 49:59odds are not in our favor. So stepfather of missing Nova
- 50:03Scotia siblings Jack and Lily Sullivan appears in court on SA
- 50:06other charges again. Aaron Beswick says Pictou
- 50:10Provincial Court was packed Monday morning as Daniel Martel
- 50:13made his first appearance on charges of SA assault and
- 50:17forcible confinement. Martel, 34, is stepfather to
- 50:20Jack and Lily Sullivan. And then it just kind of recaps
- 50:25the case. A publication ban prohibits
- 50:29releasing any information that could identify Martel's alleged
- 50:32victim, who has only been identified by police as an
- 50:36adult. The charges, which Crown
- 50:38attorney Bill Gorman said stem from an incident or incidents
- 50:42over a year ago, will proceed by indictment.
- 50:45The charges are not related to the missing children.
- 50:48Martel is scheduled to appear back in Pictou Court on March
- 50:5330th. So that's what we have going on.
- 50:56Mr. Martel's case, though, no update in anything regarding
- 51:04Jack and Lily. Those are our headlines.
- 51:12True crime headlines. All righty let's see what you
- 51:15guys are saying in the old chatteroo Mooney saying I am in
- 51:21for true crime convo #2 maybe we do it.
- 51:24Maybe we do talk about a case or cases.
- 51:27Maybe we could make it longer. Maybe we could have little
- 51:30breakout sessions. Maybe we could have a guest,
- 51:33maybe maybe Josh or or Joel or Cherylin might be game for a
- 51:40visit here to maybe not even Worcester, Pennsylvania.
- 51:43Maybe we do it in a big city where where we could easily
- 51:48travel to. Maybe Pittsburgh True crime
- 51:51convo or something. I don't know.
- 51:54Emmy's also in for true crime convo #2 Robin says.
- 52:01I'm with Mooney as your moderators, we will keep the
- 52:03weirdos away except for ourselves, because we're the
- 52:05good kind of weirdos. Indeed, indeed, indeed.
- 52:11Mooney saying. Great T-shirt from Mr. Thorner,
- 52:13right? Mr. Thorner always rocked the
- 52:17graphic Tees of the heavy metal bands, and I learned so much
- 52:20about him in the couple hours that we spent together.
- 52:23Was so much fun. It was just so much fun.
- 52:25Also in this picture, there are a lot of people that are
- 52:28surprised at how tall I am and they go, whoa, really funny.
- 52:35I'm not super tall. I'm 62.
- 52:37That's that's how tall I am. Let's see.
- 52:41So Mooney's gearing up for Metallica.
- 52:45Pretty cool. Let's see.
- 52:47Scotch's mom says that sounds like fun, but it would, but it
- 52:50would be too far and expensive for me to travel to.
- 52:53My favorite things to take pictures of are my grandson and
- 52:56my cat never entered them in a contest.
- 52:59Animal photography is, is fun. I, I, I'm not very good at it
- 53:04because animals behave animaly animal like animal ask, you
- 53:10know, it's just, it's just hard. Though I do have a beautiful
- 53:15photo. Do I still have this?
- 53:21I don't think I have it in this room right now.
- 53:24I have a beautiful photo that I took of our first dog, Marshall.
- 53:29That was really good. Oh, he's a handsome boy.
- 53:32Handsome boy. Ohio Palm.
- 53:36Mom says you're smart to keep control over your work.
- 53:39Yeah, I don't want to. I don't want to give it away or
- 53:42sell it exclusively and in perpetuity.
- 53:45It's dumb, Emmy says. Someone on Surviving the
- 53:49Survivor chat said they saw Sam at the Olympics coverage.
- 53:53I saw it too. There was a, there was a crew
- 53:55photo that I saw Sam. And yeah, Emmy says my hobbies
- 54:00are jigsaw puzzles and cross stitching.
- 54:02Well, you, you chose the very hobbies of my mother-in-law and
- 54:07my mother. That's pretty cool.
- 54:09Pretty fun, Mooney says. I did have etchings hanging in
- 54:14the National Collection of Fine Arts in DC for a bit and won
- 54:18awards in high school. Very cool.
- 54:20I also had my sets written up for theater reviews.
- 54:23Awesome. Emmy says we could do the true
- 54:28crime convo online. Last time I did not stream true
- 54:36crime convo, but that is something that we could do.
- 54:40Where I mean, I would probably want to charge for it because
- 54:46because it's just so expensive to pull off.
- 54:48It's usually the venue that is the the it's just hard.
- 54:53So we could live stream. I did not live stream the last
- 54:56one. And Autumn says I'll be in
- 54:59Pittsburgh for three weeks. Let's go.
- 55:02Maybe. Maybe we do a true crime combo
- 55:04too. Maybe I'm also thinking about
- 55:07doing a, another scavenger hunt like we did for the the baby
- 55:13Gavin, the baby Gavin is missing in 2025.
- 55:17I'm trying to find different ways to be engaging, to have fun
- 55:21because we talk about such, we talk about such macabre and
- 55:30morose things and true crime. It's actually fun just to have a
- 55:35little fun, you know, just, you know, blow off some of that
- 55:41steam and be be a little, little less serious.
- 55:45In fact, that's outside of the channel.
- 55:50Most most people who are my friends are surprised to find
- 55:53out that I have a true crime channel because it's just not.
- 55:56It's my personality is a goofy 1 is a funny 1.
- 56:00So, and let's see, Emmy says I I get it, but can't fly or travel.
- 56:08I get it too. Always American, Annie says have
- 56:11the convo at the city with the biggest crime rate.
- 56:14So the hotel should be cheap. Oh, that is brilliance.
- 56:18That is brilliance. Take it at a place that's cheap
- 56:21to fly into and cheap to stay. I like that idea a lot.
- 56:27I I honestly don't know how like crime con Uki go to and I love
- 56:33going to and they have a beautiful venue and yeah, they
- 56:36charge hundreds of dollars for tickets, but I still don't get
- 56:39how they can even make even close to a profit on that.
- 56:43It's just, I mean, there's sponsorships must really pay
- 56:48because it's just so expensive, man.
- 56:51All right, guys, thanks so much for spending a little bit of
- 56:53time with me today. I apologize once again for all
- 56:55of the technological issues that that prevented me from being
- 57:01with you over the last week. I also, I also, oh, let's see,
- 57:07Emmy says not in general, just during the school year, don't
- 57:10travel without my husband and kid.
- 57:11Oh, yeah. OK.
- 57:12Maybe we do it in the summertime.
- 57:13Maybe we do it during the summer.
- 57:17This summer is, is a big travel summer for me and my family.
- 57:23So I don't know. We'll have to, we'll have to
- 57:24think about it or maybe over a spring break or something like
- 57:27that. We'll have to think.
- 57:30We'll have to think, maybe I can, maybe I can make some calls
- 57:35to some people who know how to put on events, see if that's
- 57:38something we could do. All right, guys, we will be back
- 57:40tomorrow, 6:30 PM Eastern. I've noticed that my friend
- 57:44Joseph Scott Morgan has been talking a lot about Nancy
- 57:46Guthrie and I know it's kind of falling out of the zeitgeist.
- 57:49I'm going to reach out to him, see if he has any availability
- 57:53to come on and talk about Nancy's case here in the next
- 57:56week or two. I always love his insights.
- 57:59Remember that you can always reach out to me on my website,
- 58:02gavinfish.com and join us over on the Tank.
- 58:05Will you in on Facebook that the easiest way to get to it is if
- 58:09you go to meal website, you can click on this little icon up in
- 58:14the corner that looks like a fishy and that will take you to
- 58:16the fish tank, which is where we hang out on Facebook.
- 58:21It looks like this and you'll find us there.
- 58:25I'd love to have you join us. No guilt.
- 58:27But you're always, always, always invited.
- 58:31And with that guys, I shall bid you adieu until tomorrow, 6:00
- 58:34PM Eastern Time. Until then, please take care of
- 58:37yourselves. Have a good night.
- 58:40Thank you very much for watching this video.
- 58:42If you liked what you saw, please consider subscribing.
- 58:45And if you have any questions or comments, please leave them
- 58:48below.