Latest / Deadly Divas True Crime Podcast / Episode 18: Kouri Richins

Transcript

Episode 18: Kouri Richins · Deadly Divas True Crime Podcast

• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Hey all you true crime divas and dudes.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Tina, and you are listening to Deadly Divas.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm Sarah.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_01: And if you're new here, welcome to our podcast.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_01: We are so glad you're here to talk true crime with us this week.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're a returning listener, you already know we're about to get into something totally wild.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, today's case is a perfect example of how sometimes the truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like if this were a movie script, you'd say it's too unrealistic.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: But no, this is real life.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: And today we are talking about Corey Richens, the grieving widow, turned children's book author, turned black widow.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, let that sink in.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: So let's start from the beginning.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: In 2009, Corey Richens is working as a cashier at a local Home Depot in the Summit County area of Utah.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: And while working there, she meets Eric Richens, a business owner from the area.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Eric owns a very successful stonemasonry business, so he visits the Home Depot often for supplies.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now, Eric comes from a well-off ranching family from the area, and by all accounts, is a hardworking, family-oriented guy who grew up in the Mormon church and loved hunting and the outdoors.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: So after Eric and Corey interact a few times at Home Depot, he finally works up the courage to ask her out.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: And they hit it off immediately.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: People say that there were sparks flying immediately and instant chemistry.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_00: They could tell that it was just one of those couples that you know are going to be together.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: And that sounds so sweet because most people now meet online, not in person.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: So that's like a true connection.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_01: That is such a good point.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: You root for those people.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: You do.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: So by 2012, they welcome their first son.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And in 2013, they marry and go on to have two more boys.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: And from the outside, they are living the American dream.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: They've got three beautiful kids, a nice home, plenty of money, and two successful businesses.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: They are going on international trips, cruises, having nice dinners.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: Like they are living that Pinterest perfect life.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: But there are red flags almost immediately.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Red flag alert, red.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: So right before their wedding, like literally moments before walking down the aisle, Eric's mom presents Corey with a prenup.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: And this prenup says that Eric's business is his, not hers, period.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And that the only way Corey benefits from that business is if Eric dies while they are married.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just gonna put it in there, it was kind of shitty of Eric not to have been the one to bring this up.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: I can't imagine that he wasn't involved in that decision.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_01: And letting his mother bring it up to her was just kind of shitty.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if there was something more to that.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, obviously Corey was not thrilled about that, but she signs it anyway because she's in her wedding dress in front of God and everybody.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so what is she gonna do?
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: And as a quick side note, yeah, the fact that Eric's mom sort of ambushed her with this at that exact moment could mean maybe the subject had been broached before unsuccessfully.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe Eric did bring it up and it didn't go well.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um maybe he didn't want to push it with his new bride and rock the boat and ruin the moment.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so but his mom didn't care.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: His mom didn't care.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, and rest in peace to his mom, by the way, because she did pass, but we she was right.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna find out shortly.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: So now let's go back to their perfect marriage.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: At first, Corey is a stay-at-home mom, but in 2019, she decides to start a real estate business flipping houses.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: And on the surface, it looks successful.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: She's juggling multiple projects, buying and selling homes, but behind the scenes, it is a financial disaster.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: She is taking out massive loans, stagging debt on top of debt, borrowing money just to pay interest on other loans, which is like financial quicksand, but she seems to hide it well from everybody.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: That money juggling.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Money juggling.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: But then in 2020, Eric uncovers something shocking.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: She has taken out a$250,000 home equity loan on his house without his knowledge or consent.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: Not their house, his house.
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: Eric owned and lived in this home before they were married, so by law, Corey had no rights to it.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_01: She must have faked his signature, I guess.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: I guess she would have had to.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: She would have had to.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: And she seemed like a very good manipulator.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: So or she was like, hey, sign this is a grocery slip.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right, right.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, that's not just shady, like that is betrayal on a whole different level.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So Eric consulted divorce attorney on this, but ultimately he and Corey attend counseling and they work things out and patch up the marriage.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, in secret though, and this is key, y'all.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: So remember it, Eric sets up a trust to protect his assets, and he makes his sister, Katie, the executor of that trust.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: Lot more than work.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: Translation, he no longer trusts his own wife with money.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: And he was unfortunately more right on that than he could have ever fathomed.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: So now let's talk about some incidents that in hindsight are extremely unsettling.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Corey and Eric took a trip to Greece in 2019, and Eric was on meds for Lyme disease, and he was not able to drink alcohol because alcohol had a really dangerous interaction with that medication.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: So they're out at a restaurant and he orders a non-alcoholic drink.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: But when he takes a sip, he immediately says, This has alcohol in it.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: And he got really sick and had to excuse himself.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: Later on, he calls his sister and says he thinks Corey tried to poison him.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_00: And at that time, like maybe that sounds a bit paranoid, but now yikes.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Corey buys Eric a sandwich and leaves him a cute little I love you note with it.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Very sweet, very normal.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: Except after one bite, Eric has a severe allergic reaction.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So he takes Benadryl and uses his son's EpiPen.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: He really thought that he was going to die.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the restaurant that Corey bought this sandwich from gave an interview, said that Corey ordered a bald mountain sandwich, which is a toasted bagel with bacon, egg, cheese, avocado, and tomato.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_00: I know it sounds good.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And by all accounts, none of those ingredients were things that Eric should have had such a severe allergic reaction to.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: And after the incident, Eric even texted a friend and said, You almost lost me this time.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think she poisoned me.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: Now, sure, maybe it's a joke, but again, knowing everything else, like that does not feel like a joke.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_00: And prosecutors believe that this was actually an attempted murder.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, Eric, you almost sent all the red flags.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, like, wake up, dude.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we go out.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: Love is definitely blind.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: But as an example, let's just say we go out and get sandwiches, and like I turn up deathly ill, but then I'm okay.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: And then afterwards I text a friend and I'm like, wow, I almost died.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think Sarah poisoned me.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: I would never jump to that conclusion unless I already thought something.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, this is twice now.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: This is twice.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: But he said something to somebody.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: It's no longer a joke at that point.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like he's ignoring it.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I would never poison.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: I I know you would never poison me.
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um well like how you said it was me that poisoned the set.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: Because you're you're sitting here.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, so this was obviously very shocking, very concerning, especially when I tell y'all about this next part.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: Corey was also having an affair.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Corey had been seeing a man named Josh Grossman since around 2017.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_00: And at first, she hired him as a sort of handyman to work for a house clipping business, and she arranged for him to move from the whole other side of the country to Utah for this.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: But quickly after that, they became romantically involved.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: And to hear this man tell it when he testified at her trial, she was his whole sugar mama.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: She paid his bills, gave him money, whenever he asked for it, and even bought him two trucks.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Two.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't even her money.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: To be the sugar mama.
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_01: Like she had a sugar data.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: Meanwhile, she's also drowning in debt.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_00: So like make it make sense.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: And their texts were also shown at Corey's trial.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: And at one point in the text, she says, if he could just go away and you could be here, it would be so perfect.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: The he she's referring to, of course, being her husband, Eric.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: She's planting seeds.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: And another text says, I have a crazy dream.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: I divorce and come up with millions and millions.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then this one really got me.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: She tells him to hang in there until Friday.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Friday being the day that Eric dies.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I'm sorry.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: So now let's talk about the finances because this is where things really spiral.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: Corey is over four and a half million dollars in debt.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Who the fuck is she about?
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: I know, right.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, she's got to keep up her sugar baby, and you know, who knows what else?
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: So she's taking out loans that she cannot repay.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: She is losing money on her properties and she is making very risky investments.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: Uh so the$4.5 million is probably on investment properties that she's tanking.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: So then she decides to buy a$2.9 million unfinished mansion.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: As you do when you're already millions in debt.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: Sure, just buy another.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: And this thing is basically a construction nightmare.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's got structural issues, it's been vandalized, and there are animals living in the vents and the ductwork.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And she thinks that she's going to be able to turn it into a luxury event center.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: Like, girl, be serious.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you want to spend another 10 million, yeah.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the kicker.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: She closed on this property the day after Eric died.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: And like, I'm sorry, that is insane behavior.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: If your husband just died, you should not be making multi-million dollar business decisions.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: You should be, I don't know, breathing?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: You'd be canceling all appointments.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_00: For the foreseeable future.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: So now let's go to the night Eric died, which is March 4, 2022.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Around 3 a.m., Corey calls 911 after finding Eric unresponsive in their bed.
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: She says he's not breathing and he's cold.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: She says she'd been sleeping with her kids and came back to bed to find him unresponsive.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: Paramedics arrive and administer an Arcan, two EpiPens, and frantically perform CPR.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: They try everything in their power, but sadly nothing works.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: Eric is pronounced dead at 3 58 a.m.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: He is 39 years old, healthy, active, and there's no obvious cause of death.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: But Eric's family is immediately suspicious.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: They tell police that he warned them about Corey and changed his life insurance and put his assets in a trust.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: He does all that, but still doesn't.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: You Eric.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think he just really loved her and he really didn't think he she could actually go through with something spontaneous.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Especially because of their voice.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I know nobody believes somebody that they know that well could commit murder.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: I mean Yeah, exactly.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: So then two days later, two days after Eric's death, Corey calls a locksmith to open Eric's safe.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: And when his sister tries to stop her, Corey punches her and is charged with assault.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, ma'am, your husband died two days ago.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_00: Have some class.
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: She probably blamed it on the grief.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: I would normally do that, but you know, my husband died and I'm grieving.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you even bothering with a freaking locksmith two days after?
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's been two days.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: So day one, we go sign a multi-million dollar deal.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Day two, we call the locksmith and punch your sister and they throw.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, what's she gonna do day three?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that really paints a picture that like her priority and the only thing she was worried about was money.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: You know, it should have been daughters competing with kids.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: Her three poor kids, horrible.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: So because they couldn't determine Eric's actual cause of death on the scene, they performed an autopsy.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: The results come back and show something shocking to everyone.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: Eric had five times the lethal dose of illicit fentanyl in his system.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_00: Five.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: This is not subtle.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: And here's the thing: Eric was not a drug user.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: So now investigators are asking, did he take this himself or did somebody give it to him?
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_01: And by illicit fentanyl, we're saying not doctor prescribed street drugs.
• 14:19
  SPEAKER_00: So now enter the housekeeper, Carmen Lauber.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Carmen is Corey's longtime housekeeper and associate.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: She would regularly clean Corey's home along with the homes that Corey was flipping in her real estate business.
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: Carmen tells police that Corey asked her to get fentanyl on multiple occasions.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: On the first occasion, Corey told her it wasn't strong enough and that she needed more.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: So Carmen got a stronger second batch.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: She also states Corey told her she needed the Michael Jackson stuff.
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm sorry, but that is chilling because we all know what happened to Michael Jackson.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, the defense says that Carmen was coerced because she was serving time for drug-related offenses and was offered a plea deal for this information.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: But I don't personally believe that that was her sole motive.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_00: I watched Carmen's testimony and she seemed transparent.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: And when the cops searched her home, they even found a newspaper clipping of Eric's obituary on her mirror.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And Carmen states that she wants to testify because she felt guilty about her part in his death, although she had no idea at the time what the fentanyl was for when she gave it to Corey.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: But but Carmen, Carmen, Carmen, your neuron probation and you're getting fentanyl for somebody else.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: She made some really bad choices.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: But I do think that she was sincere in her testimony.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think that she would have gotten that fentanyl for Corey if she had known she was gonna use it to kill Eric.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: But like that's the thing.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a drug dealer, sometimes that shit happens and you shouldn't be dealing drugs.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: You're not like, what are you gonna use this for?
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right, exactly.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: That's not your business.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: You're there to make your buck and you go on about your day.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_01: Probably do the transactions fast and quickly as possible and get the head out of the dollars.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: So now let's go back a bit to the weeks after Eric died and how friends describe some of Corey's odd behavior.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: Corey was not wearing her wedding ring.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: She took it off days after his death.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: She also got rid of his belongings within just a couple of weeks.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: She also immediately filed lawsuits over the estate.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_00: And let's not forget, she closed on that$2.9 million mansion the day after Eric died.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then there's the book, which is the most fascinating piece of this whole thing.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: Corey wrote a book shortly after Eric died to help her children process their grief over losing him.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: The book is called Are You With Me?
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: About a year after Eric's death, she goes on TV promoting this book as a grieving widow.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, watching that interview, you would feel for her.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: She plays the role perfectly.
• 17:11
  SPEAKER_00: But just two days after that TV appearance, the station gets an anonymous tip via email and it says, You know she killed her husband.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_01: I still wonder who said that.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: I do too.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if it was somebody from his family.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: Or Karma.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, could be.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: So now, while Corey is continuing her life, free as a bird after Eric's death, a private investigator hired by his family starts digging.
• 17:38
  SPEAKER_00: And he finds some very incriminating data in Corey's phone.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Corey has been in constant contact with Karma, the housekeeper, in the months leading up to and after Eric's death.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: They also find Google searches on Corey's phone, which are very sus.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: What is a lethal dose of fentanyl?
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Can police recover deleted messages?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: How to remotely delete text messages from a phone you don't have in your possession.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: And this last one, y'all, oh my god.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: Luxury prisons for the rich.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Is she serious?
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, come on.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_01: I tell you one thing she is, it's stupid.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: She oh yeah, she's very, very dumb.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_00: She looked all this up on her own phone, like uh nothing on your phone is safe, you guys.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: I've said it once, I'll say it again.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: You can clear your browser history, you can delete photos, it never really goes away.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: They can always find it.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: So her explanation for these searches is basically, oh, I was just curious.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, I believe her.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: I was born yesterday.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_00: So the cops obviously didn't believe that either because she was arrested on May 8, 2023.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: The charges against her are aggravated murder as well as several counts of possession of illicit drugs with the intent to distribute.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just a quick thought here.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_01: Because of the research that we do for this podcast, I hope nobody ever searches our search history.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um I also hope that nobody ever searches my search history for that reason and others.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_01: I was researching the Helen and the Olga yesterday, and there's certain things that you look up, like, you know, can that happen?
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_01: Or what's the good of this?
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Or if somebody searches our history, we're screwed, man.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're so freaking screwed, y'all.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: All of our listeners, please be our witnesses.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like we're not bad people, we just like true crime.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway, she is arrested May 8th, 2023.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_00: The charges against her affirmated murder and several counts of possession of illicit drugs with the intent to distribute.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: And while awaiting her trial in jail, Corey writes a letter to her mother.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: In this letter, she literally instructs her mom to tell her brother, Ronnie, to make a false statement to authorities to exonerate her.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: She tells Ronnie to state that Eric got fentanyl from Mexico in his sworn testimony in her trial.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: Fentanyl from Mexico.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus, like, what is wrong with her?
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: And prosecutors say that it's witness tampering, and I agree, it couldn't be more clear.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: But Corey says that it's a fictional story she's writing.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: This woman is dumb.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sorry, she's so dumb.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, on the top of the first page of this letter are the words walk the dog, reminding her mom to walk her dog.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: And her mom in an interview does confirm that she was taking care of Corey's 16-year-old dog while Corey was at jail and that she was absolutely neurotic about making sure that that dog was cared for and walked every single day without exception.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously, this wasn't some manuscript for a book, and any idiot can see that.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: And now speaking of Corey's mom, whose name is Lisa Darden, by the way, we need to take some time to dive into her because there are a few things that are kinda sus.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know anything about her mom or is this gonna be news to you?
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: I think this might be news to me.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: But I was thinking, you know, everybody gets it from somewhere.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: Mm-hmm.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: They sure do.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: That apple doesn't fall far from that tree.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: So first, on the night of Eric's death, she tells police that she saw Eric earlier in the day and he did not look well.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: According to Corey, though, he seemed totally fine.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: So A, that's contradicting.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: And B, while it could just be Corey's mom, Lisa, making an honest observation, considering everything else we know, it could also be part of a cover-up.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: Like ladies think you're stored.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: Right?
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: And here's something else that really stood out to me.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: She actually did an interview where she casually drops this claim that Eric was struggling with drug abuse.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: She says that he would constantly call her asking for pills.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what?
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, why would he feel comfortable?
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Casually calling you looking for drugs on so many occasions.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like nobody's gonna call me looking for pills because A, I don't have any, and B, even if I did, they know I'm not a criminal and I'm not gonna sell them.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: Second of all, that narrative comes out of nowhere and is not corroborated by a single person, not even Corey.
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: Eric's friends and family, the people who actually knew him, described him as very health conscious, not somebody who dabbles in drugs.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: And most blaringly to me, even Corey, who would absolutely benefit from that kind of storyline, has never leaned into that, not even a little bit.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, when police asked her about it, she shut it down and denied any kind of recreational drug use immediately.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: So you're telling me the one person pushing this idea is Corey's mom.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: And that is so weird on so many levels.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And it makes you wonder like, why introduce that at all?
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Because it definitely doesn't feel like grief.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like she is planting a very deliberate seed that no one else is in on.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you can get people to even consider that Eric had some kind of pill issue, suddenly an overdose doesn't sound shocking, right?
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_00: It starts to feel explainable, accidental.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: The talk support also have like whatever pills he was taking as one of the fentanyl.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it would have shown everything.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_00: These they're they're just not smart.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so now the question becomes why are we pointing the finger outward at Eric when everything else is pointing inward?
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: And let's talk about her tone through this whole ordeal for a second.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: When you watch her interviews, she does not come across like someone who's just lost a son-in-law and the father of her grandchildren in a tragic, unexpected way.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: It feels more defensive, like she's trying to protect Corey, which, okay, she's her mom.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_00: That part makes sense, but there's a difference between defending your daughter and potentially trying to reshape a story.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because the more she talks, the more it starts to feel like she's aligning very closely with the defense narrative that, at least publicly, does not match the evidence that we've seen whatsoever.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: So is this loyalty, denial, or is this something a little more calculated?
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: And buckle up, y'all, because this is where things really go off the rails with Corey's bomb.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: During the investigation of Corey, they also looked into your mother.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: Back in 2006, Lisa was leaving with a romantic partner who died from a drug overdose.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that part is confirmed.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's in official records.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: But what caught investigators' attention years later were the circumstances around the death.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_00: According to search warrant documents, Lisa had been named a beneficiary of her partner's estate shortly before she died.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: And again, on its own, that doesn't prove anything, but it is the kind of detail that makes investigators take a second look.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, coincidence, right?
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: They also noted that the partner had a history of prescription drug use, which means an overdose is not outside the realm of possibility.
• 25:15
  SPEAKER_00: At the same time, though, one investigator reportedly felt the scene did not fully match what they would typically expect from an accidental overdose.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: So when Eric Richens dies years later, also involving an overdose, investigators naturally start asking questions.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: Is this just a coincidence or is there something more here?
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Now, to be very clear, Lisa Darden has never been charged in connection with her partner's death, and that death has never been officially ruled a homicide.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: And when it comes to Eric's case, there's no evidence that Lisa was involved.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: Investigators looked into it, but nothing was proven.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_00: Corey's defense has even called the idea that her mom was involved a baseless conspiracy theory.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: So where does that leave us?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: It leaves us with a situation where investigators explored a possibility but didn't find enough evidence to take it any further.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: But when you put everything side by side, the overdose in the past, the beneficiary detail, and now these comments about Eric supposedly asking for pills, Lisa's general demeanor and behavior throughout this whole thing, it definitely paints a dark picture.
• 26:25
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe that's all it is, but I think it's fair to say that all of this combined warrants a red flag alert.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: So now let's move on to Corey's actual trial.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: Her charges are murder, attempted murder, insurance fraud, and forgery.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_00: The prosecution says that she had a motive, money in her affair, the means, the fentanyl, and the opportunity to kill her poor husband and the father of her three children.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: The defense says that there's no direct evidence that Corey gave Eric the fentanyl and that maybe he took it himself.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: But turns out there were plenty of people willing and even happy to testify against Corey in this trial, even her closest friends.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't have time to go over them all, but I do want to bring up a bring up a couple that I thought were really powerful.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: So first is Chelsea Barney.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: This wasn't some distant client of Corey's.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_00: This was someone who trusted her.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Chelsea described them as best friends.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now Chelsea is a single mom working her ass off.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_00: She's a server and a restaurant manager, riding day in and day out.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: And like so many people, she had one big goal to buy a home for her family.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_00: Something stable, something safe.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that I've done both serving and managing interest on.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's hard.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard work.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: I think listening.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: Long hours, hard work, yeah.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: So Corey steps in, presenting herself as the person who can make that goal happen.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: She basically tells Chelsea, I'll handle the loan.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: You sign the deed, the house will be yours, and you'll just make the monthly mortgage payments to me.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: Chelsea believes her because why wouldn't she?
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is her literal best friend.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: So Chelsea hand over$45,000.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: Her whole life savings, everything she had from what she thought would be a forever home for she and her children.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: And she diligently makes her monthly mortgage payments on time after that to Corey.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Until one day she starts getting notices.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: There are issues with the deed to the property.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: So she does what anyone would do.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_00: She calls the mortgage company to figure out what's going on.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_00: And what she finds out is insane.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: The deed was never properly filed by Corey.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Meaning, legally, Chelsea never owned the home.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: Not for one single day.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: So while Chelsea is out here thinking that she's paying towards her own home, Corey is allegedly taking that money and using it elsewhere.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it all comes crashing down.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: The home goes into foreclosure.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: Chelsea and her family are evicted, and that$45,000 gone.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Just gone.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: Man, what would you do?
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: I want to show you.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm and yeah, and this this part of the story just makes me sick because Chelsea did everything the right way.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Like she was working hard, she saved her money, and she trusted her closest friend, which you should be able to do, but she got completely unapologetically betrayed.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: And like, this isn't just shady business practices.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_00: This is someone's life.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: And it enraged me because while Chelsea is grinding for every dollar trying to build something real, you've got Corey out here playing real estate roulette with other people's money.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's greedy, it's reckless, and it's cruel.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: And Corey doesn't know what a real day's work looks like.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: She just knows how to grift.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_00: That I have zero respect for that.
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_00: Get a job, get some integrity, get a soul.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: That has me fired up.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_00: Can you tell?
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: Heartless.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_00: Truly.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: And if you think that this is just a one-off situation, no.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Another family comes forward with their own experience, and it's just as heartbreaking in a completely different way.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: This family buys their first home from Corey.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: On the surface, it looks perfect.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: Remodeled, beautiful mountain views, nice yard.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: The kind of place you'd be excited to raise your family in.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: But after they move in, things start going very wrong.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_00: They discover a mold problem.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_00: And not just like a little patch in the corner.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're talking active moisture issues, water getting into the home, feeding the mold, making it worse and worse over time.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then the health issues start.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_00: The entire family gets sick.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: Nosebleeds, asthma, constant fatigue.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Their immune systems are just wrecked.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if you've ever dealt with toxic mold, you already know that this is not something that you can just deal with.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: It will completely take over your life.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: So naturally, they go back to Corey.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_00: And what does she say?
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: She denies knowing anything about it.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: She claims the home was inspected before closing and basically just shrugs it off.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: And at that point, what do you even do?
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: So the family does end up suing, but even that doesn't save them.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_00: They ultimately lose the home to foreclosure.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: So now you've got multiple families, people who trusted her, who invested everything they had, and they are walking away with nothing, or worse, with debt, illness, and trauma on top of it all.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_01: And no home for their kids.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: And again, zoom out because this is where it starts to feel like a pattern, not bad luck.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: You've got people losing their life savings, people losing their homes, people getting sick, all connected to deals involving the same person.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_00: And at some point you have to ask, how many times does something like this happen before it stops being a coincidence?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: So back to the trial.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_00: After the prosecution calls all these witnesses, they rest.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's now Corey's defense team's turn.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: But get this, the defense rests without calling a single witness, not even Corey, which is a bold move.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it turned out to be a bad one.
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: Because after two weeks of testimony, the jury deliberates for three hours and comes back guilty on all counts.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: Every single one.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: So Corey Richens is now facing life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced in May 2026.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: She also still has additional financial charges and civil lawsuits pending.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: Her family says she's innocent.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: Eric's family says justice was served.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_00: Eric's sister has custody of the three children now.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, this case is one of the clearest examples of greed, control, and just unbelievable audacity.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_00: Because the part that still gets me the most is not just the alleged crime.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_00: It's the fact that she went on TV, wrote a children's book about grief, and looked the world in the eye like nothing happened.
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's a that's a sociopath.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: And that's scary.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: So final thoughts on Corey Richens?
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_01: So what amazes me is she writes the book and goes on TV, knowing that all of this is in her past.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: So even though she hasn't been tried for a murder yet or anything, she knows she had an affair.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: She knows she lost people's money.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_01: Like she how would you put yourself out in the public eye like that and pretend to be such a goody two shoes with your grief book if you know all the shady shit you've done?
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: Such a goody two shoes with your grief book.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, I think again, A, she's not very bright, but B, I think that she has been able to charm her way out of so many things in life.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: People like that just assume that that's gonna continue to be how it works.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_00: You just charm your way out of it.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it looks like she has not been able to.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: So good.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: So as we wrap up, I want to tell y'all, don't forget to follow us on Facebook so that you don't miss any giveaways.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: And you can find us by searching Deadly Divas True Crime Podcast.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: And that is all for today's episode.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: I will see you in the after show if you're a subscriber.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, let us know your thoughts on this case because we have many.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: And if you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to follow, rate, and share it with your fellow true crime lovers.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_00: And until then, be divas.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: Not deadly.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_01: Bye.