Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part - Kouri Richins

Summary

Podcast Summary: Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part – Kouri (Corey) Richins

Podcast: Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present – iHeartPodcasts
Episode: Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part – Kouri Richins
Date: March 29, 2026
Host: Emily Simpson
Co-host: Shane

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Overview

This episode of "Legally Brunette Presents: ‘Til Death Do Us Part" centers on the highly publicized Kouri (Corey) Richins case, where Corey, a Utah mother of three, was convicted of killing her husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl. Hosts Emily Simpson and Shane break down the key details of the investigation and trial, discuss the circumstantial evidence, and share notable trial moments and testimony, all in their signature mix of legal insight and dark humor.

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Episode Structure & Key Segments

• [02:12] – Show Begins: Introduction to “Til Death Do Us Part” and today’s case focus
• [04:45] – Teaser about current cases and preview of the Corey Richins update
• [16:07] – Deep Dive Begins: Full recap and status update on the Corey Richins trial
• [20:43] – Timeline of Corey & Eric’s financial/relationship history leading up to the crime
• [28:19] – The Fentanyl Plot Unfolds: Testimony from key witness Carmen Lauber
• [35:14] – The Night of the Crime: The Moscow Mule incident and 911 aftermath
• [51:38] – Arrest and legal aftermath; trial prep
• [55:43] – The Trial: Prosecution, defense, testimony, and key moments
• [76:45] – The Verdict: Conviction, sentencing plans, and hosts’ closing thoughts

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Main Discussion Points & Insights

1. Case Background & Initial Investigation

• Corey Richins, a Utah mother of three, was accused of poisoning her husband Eric in March 2022.
• Initially, Eric’s cause of death seemed to be a brain aneurysm. However, the autopsy revealed lethal amounts of fentanyl in his system.
• Corey publicly grieved her husband, wrote a children’s book on loss, and made media appearances seeking sympathy.
• The investigation uncovered financial motives, suspicious behavior, and prior attempts to alter Eric’s life insurance policies.

"At first, his death appeared sudden and unexplained... but a later investigation determined that he had very high levels of fentanyl. He had five times the normal limit, which I don’t — do people normally have fentanyl in their system?"
– Emily Simpson [17:38]

2. Financial and Marital Motives

• Corey and Eric had a prenup; she would only inherit assets if Eric died while they were still married.
• Eric came from a wealthy ranch family, Corey did not.
• Corey was found to have opened a bank account in Eric’s name and misused nearly $500,000.
• She launched a failing real estate business, racking up massive debt.
• Eric sought a divorce attorney and shifted assets into a trust, removing Corey from his life insurance and financial affairs.

"She wanted her husband dead because she’s going to financially gain. Right. She has all this insurance money she’s going to collect from his death."
– Emily Simpson [56:40]

3. The Fentanyl Plot and Prior Attempts

• Corey procured fentanyl from housekeeper Carmen Lauber, first requesting pain pills “for an investor,” then specifically asking for “some of the Michael Jackson stuff.”
• Evidence suggested Corey tried to poison Eric on Valentine's Day 2022 by giving him a fentanyl-laced bagel. He immediately had a serious reaction but survived.
• Despite suspecting he was being poisoned, Eric remained in the marriage and didn’t leave.

"He texts his friends and says something to the effect of like, she almost caught me or something. Like, ‘I believe she’s trying to poison me.’ Now the question is, why is he still living with this woman?"
– Emily Simpson [31:28]

4. The Night of the Murder (March 3–4, 2022)

• Corey claims she made Eric a Moscow Mule (a minty alcoholic drink) to celebrate a business deal; Eric drank it and went to bed.
• Corey says she slept in her child’s room due to “night terrors.”
• At 3:22am, she claims to discover Eric unresponsive and calls 911.
• Paramedics determined Eric had been dead for some time; autopsy revealed he ingested a large dose of fentanyl orally.
• Corey’s behavior after Eric’s death (e.g., quickly holding a celebration of life, hiring a locksmith to access Eric’s safe) raised suspicion.

"She tells investigators she prepared her husband a Moscow Mule in the kitchen and then brought it into their bedroom where he drank it… I don’t understand why she admitted to making the drink."
– Emily Simpson [35:14]

5. Arrest, Charges, and Pre-Trial Maneuvers

• Corey was arrested May 2023, charged with aggravated murder, attempted murder (for the bagel incident), insurance fraud, and forgery.
• "Walk the dog" letter: Corey wrote a cryptic letter (ostensibly about a fictional story) instructing how her brother should testify, suggesting an attempt to fabricate a defense.
• Her original high-profile attorney later withdrew; Corey was left with public defenders.

6. The Trial: Prosecution and Defense Strategies

• Prosecution focused on two motives: financial gain and an extramarital affair (with boyfriend Josh Grossman).
  • Texts between Corey and Grossman showed plans for a new life together; Grossman testified for the prosecution, appearing distraught and embarrassed.
• Key prosecution witness: Carmen Lauber (fentanyl supplier), who had a criminal record and was given immunity for testimony.
• Defense offered no alternate theory of Eric’s death, challenged Lauber’s credibility, and argued that no fentanyl residue was in the house or glass.
• Corey did not testify. The defense called no witnesses.

"It’s all circumstantial. There’s no witness of her… there’s no video of her putting fentanyl in the bagel... so the jury has to take all these pieces..."
– Emily Simpson [55:44]

[On the defense’s non-strategy:] "They called no one. They rested. There was no defense."
– Emily Simpson [75:16]

7. Notable Testimonies & Memorable Moments

• Key Evidence: Google searches post-murder, inc. “what is a lethal dose of fentanyl?” and “luxury prisons for the rich in America.”
• Texts between Corey and her boyfriend, e.g., “If I was divorced right now and asked you to marry me tomorrow, you would?”

"Luxury prisons for the rich in America... Is there a luxury prison? That’s an oxymoron. Like happily married."
– Emily Simpson [69:15]

• Jury Deliberation & Verdict:
  • Jury of 8 (due to Utah not seeking death penalty) deliberated only three hours before convicting Cory on all charges: aggravated murder, attempted murder, insurance fraud, and forgery.
  • Sentencing scheduled for May 13th (Eric’s birthday).

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Host Commentary & Tone

• Emily and Shane frequently inject dark humor and side commentary (on relationship red flags, true crime TV, even Meghan Markle’s business ventures).
• They repeatedly express disbelief at the actions of both Corey and Eric, especially regarding warning signs and Eric’s failure to leave the marriage.

"Why is he letting her handle his food and drink?! ...Well, why is he still living with her? Why is he still married to her?"
– Emily Simpson [30:13]

• The hosts question defense strategy, empathize with witnesses embarrassed on the stand, and express morbid fascination with the case details.

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Standout Quotes with Timestamps

• "At first, his death appeared sudden and unexplained... but a later investigation determined that he had very high levels of fentanyl. He had five times the normal limit..." – Emily Simpson [17:38]
• "She wanted her husband dead because she’s going to financially gain. Right. She has all this insurance money she’s going to collect from his death." – Emily Simpson [56:40]
• "He texts his friends and says something to the effect of like, she almost caught me... I believe she’s trying to poison me." – Emily Simpson [31:28]
• "They called no one. They rested. There was no defense." – Emily Simpson [75:16]
• "Luxury prisons for the rich in America... Is there a luxury prison? That’s an oxymoron. Like happily married." – Emily Simpson [69:15]
• "Your Honor, the defense rests. We have no witnesses to call... She's guilty, your Honor." – Co-host Shane / Emily Simpson [74:47–74:49]
• "If you have any thoughts of murdering your spouse, again – get a divorce lawyer." – Co-host Shane [82:04]
• "Let us remind you... we would like to encourage everyone to please seek divorce instead of murder." – Emily Simpson [82:14]

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Overall Takeaways

• The hosts offer both a thorough infotainment-style legal recap and biting commentary on marriage, trust, and murder motives.
• The prosecution obtained a conviction relying solely on circumstantial evidence; there was no direct evidence Corey administered fentanyl, but a compelling web of financial and digital clues.
• The defense’s strategic void and the jury’s swift verdict reinforce the overwhelming nature of the circumstantial case.
• Corey Richins faces life in prison without parole, with sentencing set for the birthday of her victim.
• Emily and Shane tease a future follow-up after sentencing, anticipating emotional victim impact statements and possible (but unlikely) remarks from Corey herself.

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For Listeners

If you want to hear more true crime deep-dives with both legal context and darkly comic banter, subscribe to Legally Brunette and DM host Emily Simpson with your tips or local insight on high-profile cases.

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End-of-Episode PSA:
"Please seek divorce instead of murder." – Legally Brunette Team [82:14]

Transcript

[Emily Simpson]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

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[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

What?

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

You probably won't believe it either was

[Emily Simpson]

this before he wrote his stories, it must have been okay, I don't think that's true.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

I'm telling you, the guy was a spy. Listen to the Secret World of Roald Dahl on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Emily Simpson]

Then she says, have you seen a photo of my son? And I'm like, who is this person?

[Boys and Girls Podcast Host]

Welcome to the boys and girls Podcast. Arranged marriage is basically a reality show and you're auditioning for your soulmate. And who's judging? Only your entire family. I sacrificed myself to this ancient tradition, hoping to find love the right way. And instead I found chaos, comedy, and a lot of cringe. Listen to boys and Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

This Women's History Month. The podcast Keep It Positive Sweetie celebrates the power of women, choosing healing, purpose, and faith. Even when life gets messy, love is not a destination.

[Emily Simpson]

You have to work on it every day.

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

Keep It Positive Sweetie creates space for honest conversations on self worth, love, love, growth, and navigating life with grace and grit, led by women who uplift, inspire, and tell the truth out loud.

[Emily Simpson]

I have several conversations with God and I know why it took 20 years

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

to hear this and more. Listen to Keep It Positive sweetie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Emily Simpson]

It's the new me and it's the old them.

[Amber Grimes]

This woman's History Month. The podcast if you Knew Better with Amber Grimes spotlights women who turn missteps into momentum and lessons into power.

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

My tunnel vision of, like, I gotta

[Emily Simpson]

achieve this was off the strengths of, like, I want to make a better life for us.

[Amber Grimes]

If youf Knew Better brings real talk from women who've lived it, unpacking, career pivots, relationship lessons, and the mindset shifts that changed everything. Listen to if youf Knew Better with Amber grimes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

The more you listen to your kids,

[Emily Simpson]

the closer you'll be. So we asked kids, what do you want your parents to hear? I feel sometimes that I'm not listened to. I would just want you to listen to me more and evaluate situations with me and lead me towards success. Listening is a form of love. Find resources to help you support your kids and their emotional well being. At sounded out together.org that's sounded out together.org brought to you by the Ad Council and Pivotal. Hi, guys. Welcome to an episode of Legally Brunette presents. This is Till death do Us Part where we talk about husbands who off their wives and wives who take out their husbands. I'm Emily Simpson. I'll be your host today and my co host, Shane. Okay, before we start, we were just having a conversation before we started recording, so I feel like maybe we should just continue it. Well, just a little bit of things that have been in the news lately is the cornhole player. And we were just talking about that and I was saying to you, I don't know what cornhole is, and you said it's a sport. No, that's not what you said.

[Co-host Shane]

It's a sport. You have a beanbag and you toss it in a across the way and you try to get it in the hole. There's different points.

[Emily Simpson]

How is that a sport? I thought this was just something that when I showed up at a barbecue

[Co-host Shane]

when I was a kid. How does it cheer a sport when there's no team that they're cheering?

[Emily Simpson]

Really? It is because it's so athletic and it's so skilled. That is.

[Co-host Shane]

You don't think there's skill in cornhole?

[Emily Simpson]

I feel like it's just something you do in your backyard during a barbecue.

[Co-host Shane]

There's darts. Is that a sport?

[Emily Simpson]

Okay, it makes no sense to me that cheer is not considered a sport that would be in the Olympics. But corn, like cornhole.

[Co-host Shane]

Is cornhole in the Olympics?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know. I'm asking you.

[Co-host Shane]

No, I don't think so.

[Emily Simpson]

You don't think so. Oh. Anyway. All right, so I just wanted to touch. There's the, the, the new story of the guy who is a quadruple amputee, but he's also a cornhole, like a champion. And he's in the news for murder. So anyway, we were just discussing that, but we're going to talk about that later in another episode. But I just want to bring it up because it's on current events and I didn't know what cornhole was. Okay, so do you have. That's it? You just throw beanbags into a hole?

[Co-host Shane]

Yes.

[Emily Simpson]

And that. And he's a champion.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah. I'm guessing allegedly a murderer. Bean bags didn't have beans in them originally. They probably had like kernels or something.

[Emily Simpson]

Oh, and that's why it's called.

[Co-host Shane]

I'm just guessing.

[Emily Simpson]

All right, well, anyway, let's move on to what we were going to talk about today, which is we're going to talk about the Corey Richards trial. Now, we did an episode on Corey Richards a few months back. So if you have not listened to it, you can find that episode where we go more in depth into the murder. But I wanted to do an update on the Tepes. This is the case that took place in Columbus, Ohio. It was the husband and wife that were murdered in their home by allegedly the ex husband of the wife. Remember, he's like the medical doctor.

[Co-host Shane]

Oh, he hadn't. He was far removed from her for a long time. They didn't have kids together. They weren't tied together in any way. It was almost randomly, like he showed up four years later or something or eight years later.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. So there have been some updates.

[Co-host Shane]

So saying it's a murder in Ohio doesn't narrow it down very much.

[Emily Simpson]

I know, I know we've talked about this before because I'm a big fan of Forensic Files and if you ever watch Forensic Files episodes, now that I'm saying this to you, if you watch Foreign, there's actually Forensic Files one and two. But if you watch them, for some reason, the majority of the cases take place in Ohio. So anyway, this is another case in Ohio. So this is Spencer and Monique Tepe. So according to the coroner's findings. So this is what the new update is, is that the medical examiner's report has just come out recently and it has been made public. So originally I believe the report was that he was shot once and she was shot once. And I'm not sure why that information came out because it's not accurate now that the medical examiner's report has come out. So according to the coroner's findings, 39 year old Monique suffered a gunshot wound to the right cheek and a total of nine gunshot injuries. So it's much more severe than they were initially reporting.

[Co-host Shane]

Okay.

[Emily Simpson]

Several of those wounds were to her torso, including three to the chest. The report also noted a greenish bruise on her left calf. And her cause of death was attributed to multiple gunshot wounds affecting the head, torso and limbs, resulting in extensive internal and structural damage.

[Co-host Shane]

But do we need to know all that information? I mean, as a lay person, it's like she was shot and killed. Do we need to know medically like how.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes, we need to know. Yeah. Because now we have more information about this case. And I'm telling you, initially it was reported that they were shot once.

[Co-host Shane]

But how does it help with this criminal case?

[Emily Simpson]

It doesn't help. It just. Well, first of all, it just gives us more things to talk about. She was shot nine times. To me, that is a big difference between being shot once and being shot nine times. Nine. Nine times is an overkill. Nine times is rage. Nine times is okay. Revenge or hate or like, there's something more than. I just want these people dead.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah. I figure if you kill me, it would probably be more than nine times.

[Emily Simpson]

It would be way more than nine times. The report further stated that Spencer, this is her husband, was shot seven times, hitting the torso, the chest, his extremities, and a fatal.

[Co-host Shane]

I mean, he had a reload, too.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

In order to. I don't know what kind of gun he had, but if he had a reload, like, he was like, okay, I'm not done with you. And he adds more bullets and they shoot some more.

[Emily Simpson]

I'm just. Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

Like, let's say it was a six shooter. I have no idea. Let's say it was a six shooter. He shot her six times, reloaded, shot her three times, shot him three times, reloaded and shot another four times.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. And that's the discussion. That's what I'm talking about. This is more than just someone that snuck into their house and wanted them dead. This is someone that had, like, to me, this is a rage killing. And to be able to shoot someone in the head and then. And then you're shooting the extremities and is that because they're trying to get away? And he shoots him in the leg and the arms and. I don't know. Anyway, I guess it comes down to motive because like we were talking about earlier, this ex husband was very far removed from their life. At least that's the way it looked. They were right, right, right. He traveled a long way to get there.

[Co-host Shane]

And they were married, like a short

[Emily Simpson]

period, a very short period, and they went their separate ways. And I think she even walked away and gave him the house. If I remember, that's what we talked about earlier. It wasn't even like there was contention as far as her taking all the assets or anything. I think she was just like, you can have it. I'm going to leave. So where this race?

[Co-host Shane]

You can have the gun, too. I'm out of here.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah. The Columbus, Ohio, home where Spencer and Monique Tepe were murdered is listed for sale on Zillow. I do love Zillow. Do you look at Zillow very often? No, we Were talking about this the other day. You know, people say, oh, I googled that person or something. I don't Google. I like to Zillow people. Like, if I have someone's address, if I. I'm guilty of this, I'll just admit it. If I get invited to a. Or I get an invite for a party and it has an address on it, like, I like to Zillow it. I want to see what people paid for their house, what it looks like, what the inside looks like, if they rent, if they own. I'm. I'm a Zillow person.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah. Not because you judge people. You're just curious.

[Emily Simpson]

I'm just curious. I just want to know.

[Co-host Shane]

No judgments here.

[Emily Simpson]

No, the. So the house is for sale. It's on Zillow. The Property is a four bedroom, four bathroom house with over 20 minutes.

[Co-host Shane]

She wasn't. Were they murdered in the house?

[Emily Simpson]

Yes.

[Co-host Shane]

Oh, they were. I thought. It wasn't a car.

[Emily Simpson]

What? No, it was not in a car. It was in the house in the middle of the night. He snuck in.

[Co-host Shane]

There's a lot of crimes going on, and they overlap. I mix them up.

[Emily Simpson]

There were children in the home, and

[Co-host Shane]

I believe a house where there was such a tragedy.

[Emily Simpson]

I. I don't know. But it says the asking price is 775, 000. And that Zillow, the Zillow listing has been viewed by over 60, 000 people in less than 20 days.

[Co-host Shane]

So many of those was you.

[Emily Simpson]

Hey, that. A lot of it was me, actually. I thought it, like, at some point, we need a legally brunette, like, podcast on the road, where we travel to

[Co-host Shane]

all of these and reenact. No, you want to reenact?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't want to reenact. I just want to travel to all of these places. We could start in Ohio. We could make our way.

[Co-host Shane]

Our next family trip to Utah.

[Emily Simpson]

There's a lot going on in Utah. Then we could just, you know, make our way over to Idaho, where.

[Co-host Shane]

No, not interested.

[Emily Simpson]

You're not interested. All right, well, if anyone else is interested in a Legally Brunette road trip with me, let me know.

[Co-host Shane]

You can see.

[Emily Simpson]

We could go visit all of the homes. I think that's great. Zillow.com do you hear me?

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

You know Roald Dahl, the writer who thought up Willy Wonka, Matilda, and the bfg. But did you know he was also a spy?

[Emily Simpson]

Was this before he wrote his stories?

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

It must have been.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

Our new podcast series, the Secret World of Roald Dahl is a wild journey through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life. His job was literally to seduce the wives of powerful Americans.

[Emily Simpson]

What?

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

And he was really good at it. You probably won't believe it either.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay, I don't think that's true.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

I'm telling you, the guy was a spy. Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelts, played poker with Harry Truman, and had a long affair with a congresswoman. And then he took his talents to Hollywood, where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock before writing a hit James Bond film. How did this secret agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever? And what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids? The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the Secret World of Roald Dahl on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Family Member or Witness]

I went and sat on the little ottoman in front of him.

[Emily Simpson]

Hi, dad.

[Family Member or Witness]

And just when I said that, my mom comes out of the kitchen and she says, I have some cookies and milk. This is badass. Convict just finished five years. I'm gonna have cookies and milk at Mom.

[Ceno Show Host]

On the Steno show podcast, each episode invites you into a raw, unfiltered conversations about recovery, resilience and redemption. On a recent episode, I sit down with actor cultural icon Danny Trejllo to talk about addiction, transformation and the power of second chances. The entire season two is now available to binge, featuring powerful conversations with guests like Tiffany Haddish, Johnny Knoxville, and more.

[Family Member or Witness]

I'm an alcoholic, and without this problem, I'm going to die.

[Ceno Show Host]

Open your free iHeartRadio app, search the Cino show and listen now.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, and I'm kicking off a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds in marketing. I'm talking to leaders from the entertainment industry, to finance, and everywhere in between. This season of Math and Magic. I'm talking to CEO of Liquid Death, Mike Cesario, financier and public health advocate Mike Milken, Take Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

If you're unable to take meaningful creative risk and therefore run the risk of making horrible creative mistakes, then you can't play in this business.

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Sesame Street CEO Sherry Weston, and our own Chief business Officer, Lisa Coffey.

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Making consumers see the value of the human voice and to have that guaranteed human promise behind it really makes it rise to the top.

[Bob Pittman]

Listen to Math and magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here at the Nick, Dick and Pole show, we're not afraid to make mistakes.

[Co-host Shane]

Stakes.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

What Coogler did that I think was so unique.

[Emily Simpson]

Who's he?

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

He's the writer, director.

Who do you think he is?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

You meet the like the president, you think the president. You think Canada has a president? You think China has a president? Those law proves that. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time.

What color?

I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night.

It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep, it was a good one. I like that saying.

It's an actual Polish saying.

It is an actual Polish.

Better version of play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[Co-host Shane]

Yes.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

Which by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that for the first time. I actually, I thought it was. I got that wrong.

Listen to the Nick, Dick and Paul show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Emily Simpson]

Ambitious, well intentioned, ferocious and wealthy mother

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

looks like in the black community this Women's History Month. The podcast Keep It Positive Sweetie celebrates the power of women choosing healing, purpose and faith. Even when life gets messy, love is not a destination.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

You have to work on it every day.

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

Keep It Positive Sweetie creates space for honest conversations on self worth, love, growth and navigating life with grace and grit, led by women who uplift, inspire and tell the truth out loud.

[Emily Simpson]

I have several conversations with with God and I know why it took 20

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

years to hear this and more. Listen to keep it POS's sweetie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast.

[Emily Simpson]

All right, let's move on to the Corey Richards trial. This is what we're going to talk about today. Like I said before, we did an episode on Corey Richards, this is before she went to trial. So if you would like to listen to that episode, you can find it under Legally Brunette. Let's just do a brief synopsis so everybody can kind of catch up where we are before she goes to trial. So Corey Richards is a Utah mother of three whose husband named Eric Richards was found dead in their home in March of 2022. At first his death appeared sudden and unexplained. You know they do say. I saw some video of the medical or whoever when they. When she called 91 1. You know, the first responders. The first responders. Thank you. Come and I saw an interview with one of them that evening, and they were thinking initially that it was a brain aneurysm because he's young, he's in his 30s. He doesn't have.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah, There was no signs of foul play by looking at him.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. He died in his sleep. He'd been dead a while when they arrived. And also they said there was a lot of blood, so I. I don't know, like, vomited. I believe so, because there were no wounds He. He. He didn't die from. So I guess maybe, like, does blood come out the nose or mouth or something? So they initially thought it was a brain aneurysm.

[Co-host Shane]

Cornhole.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah, his cornhole. That's where the blood was coming from.

[Co-host Shane]

Did. So now she's at this point, she's thinking, so far, so good. They think it's a brain.

[Emily Simpson]

She's like, perfect.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah, let's go with that.

[Emily Simpson]

Sounds good.

[Co-host Shane]

Book publisher going, it. It's a go.

[Emily Simpson]

It's a go.

[Co-host Shane]

It's gonna work.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes. So at first, his death appeared sudden and unexplained, but a later investigation determined that he had very high levels of fentanyl. He had five times the normal limit, which I don't. Do. People normally have fentanyl in their system.

[Co-host Shane]

I don't think it's a normal. I think it means lethal. Like, he had five times the amount that he needed to die.

[Emily Simpson]

Oh, so five times. So the body can withstand a certain amount, and I think generally. But he had five times that amount in his system. In the months that followed, Corey publicly presented herself as a grie. Widow and even wrote a children's book about coping with the loss of a parent.

[Co-host Shane]

However, what's the name of the book? Do we know the name of the book?

[Emily Simpson]

It's called, like, are you there? Or something. It's a children's book. And she.

[Co-host Shane]

Did my mommy kill you? Is that what it's called?

[Emily Simpson]

It's. Yes.

[Co-host Shane]

That's a sequel.

[Emily Simpson]

That's part two. Also, not only did she write the book, but then she had the audacity to reach out to news stations in the Utah area.

[Co-host Shane]

Morning shows.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes. And reach. Reach out. She sent emails and asked if she could come on and discuss her book because she believed that she was the only person that had authored a book specifically for children dealing so quickly after

[Co-host Shane]

she murdered her husband.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes.

[Co-host Shane]

Yes.

[Emily Simpson]

So in the months of fall.

[Co-host Shane]

And you know, in defense of those morning shows.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

I mean, they probably hear this story and think, oh, yeah, come on, this is a touching moment. You wrote a book. Your husband passed away.

[Emily Simpson]

Of course.

[Co-host Shane]

Like, this is, this is. She's the golden.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. She's the grieving widow.

[Co-host Shane]

And then when she goes on set or when they reach out to her, you know, they were very comforting, sympathetic. So she was getting all kinds of love.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah. So I actually watched there is a 2020 special that has to do with the Corey Richards trial. And they actually interview the two newscasters that interviewed her originally. And they were asking them, they were, they were giving their thoughts and they were saying how sympathetic they were to her initially and how she just, just came off like a grieving widow and they felt badly for her. And there were three young boys that were affected by this. And then to learn then after that they received an email that said she killed her husband. Like in all caps from like an anonymous. An anonymous email after she went on. Yeah, yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

So was it from the publishing company?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know.

[Co-host Shane]

That was the domain, actually.

[Emily Simpson]

It was self published. She didn't have a publishing company. Yeah. So. However, as authorities dug deeper into Corey Rich uncovered a complex web of financial issues, insurance policies, and alleged suspicious behavior leading up to Eric's death. So let's just talk about, let's go through a little bit of a timeline before we get to the trial. So before the murder, this is June 15th of 2013. This is the day of Eric and Corey's wedding. Corey is asked by her mother in law to sign a prenup right before walking down the aisle. I don't know. How do you feel about that? I like how they waited. I. They knew. They waited. They knew to wait right before she walked down the aisle.

[Co-host Shane]

I don't know about. In California, it has to. You have to have a certain cooling off period. You can't just do it like at the. On the day of.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah. You also have to have your own independent counsel and things like that.

[Co-host Shane]

You can't waive counsel. You have to have counsel.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. I clearly. This is Utah, so I feel like you, it's. This isn't California. We're talking about Utah. So I think you can hand someone a prenup as they walk down the aisle and say, sign this or. Or he's not marrying you. The agreement specified that certain assets would remain Eric's property in the event of a divorce. However, this is the important part and this is what you have to. You have to hold on to in order to understand a lot of things. However, it also included a provision stating that if Eric were to die while they were still legally married, Corey could inherit some of those assets. So a lot of. According to this prenup, a lot of. Because he came from a wealthy ranching family. I don't know if you knew that,

[Co-host Shane]

like properties or ranch cattle.

[Emily Simpson]

A lot of probably equipment, a lot of land. So he came from a pretty wealthy ranch family. Corey did not. Corey came from more humble beginnings. So this prenup limits her access to his separate property. However, the only way she can inherit some of his separate property is if he dies before her while they are still married. According to the agreement, those assets included Eric's 50% stake in CNN Stone Masonry. That's his business. Along with various pieces of equipment and properties, such as a forklift, skid steer scaffolding, saws, two trucks, and a dump trailer. They're very specific in this. Eric owned a pretty well. Well, he made a lot of money. He made pretty good money as a stone masonry.

[Co-host Shane]

Okay.

[Emily Simpson]

Person. So he did well, I would assume that has a lot to do with building homes and then those retaining walls. You know how all the. A lot of homes and Utah have so many retaining walls around their home.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah, because if you're like hillsides and stuff.

[Emily Simpson]

Right.

[Co-host Shane]

But also just general walls too. You know, like if they want stone in the front of the house and stuff. So it doesn't always have to be the retaining walls. Huge wall.

[Amber Grimes]

Right.

[Emily Simpson]

So then in March of 2019, according to a petition filed by Eric sister, this is Katie Richards Benson. Corey opened a bank account without Eric's knowledge or permission. Corey allegedly stole or misused approximately $494,000 of Eric's money, according to this petition. Then In April of 2019, Corey Richards started her own real estate business called K. Richards Realty llc. Her business focused on buying, renovating and flipping homes for profit. It later on, we learned that Corey's business was drowning in millions of dollars of debt. You know, it's. It's interesting that they. They were a young couple and had three boys together, but I. But I feel they each had their own business, but they kept it very separate.

[Co-host Shane]

It sounds like she's trying to make something of herself. Like she's trying to buy some type of, you know.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

Her own kind of name or business or make her steak somehow. But she didn't really have the talent to do it.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, you know, I. In this 2020 special I watched and they interview a Lot of people that were involved in her life. They did state that she came from humble beginnings. She was not wealthy and she didn't grow up wealthy, but Eric did. And they said she was very driven. And so I think this real estate company that she started was exactly what you said it was her way to try to establish herself.

[Co-host Shane]

She was just trying to jump ahead and get to the top right away as opposed to starting small or, or something. So I don't know. Sounds like, like a, like Meghan Markle. She's always. Do you, do you follow, do you follow Meghan Markle? I follow her stories. She's always trying to be somebody and trying to buy her her kind of fame. And that's what this lady reminds me of. She's trying to buy like I'm a big business real estate mogul or whatever it's called. Mogul, mogul, mogul.

[Emily Simpson]

So you, this is new. You follow Meghan Markle?

[Co-host Shane]

I, I, I hate follow you.

[Emily Simpson]

Hate.

[Co-host Shane]

I don't follow her on, online. I follow the story.

[Emily Simpson]

What do you mean?

[Co-host Shane]

She have the as Ever jam. You don't know that.

[Emily Simpson]

This is blowing my mind right now. Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

And it's. And their business is called as Ever. And then Netflix like dumped her. Have you ever seen her reality shows?

[Emily Simpson]

No.

[Co-host Shane]

Oh my gosh. That's another thing we should recap though.

[Emily Simpson]

You want to recap Meghan Markle?

[Co-host Shane]

It's pretty good. It's pretty good.

[Emily Simpson]

I love that you hate Follow her.

[Co-host Shane]

It got canceled.

[Emily Simpson]

All right. Around October of 2020, Eric is said to have met with a divorce attorney.

[Co-host Shane]

And she sells candles.

[Emily Simpson]

Oh my gosh.

[Co-host Shane]

She sells candles. And a lot of people have complained that they don't have wicks in them.

[Emily Simpson]

I'm serious.

[Co-host Shane]

That's like a common complaint.

[Emily Simpson]

Why, why would someone of her notoriety, I don't know, out there selling candles

[Co-host Shane]

and how much notoriety she's done with.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah. Do you think she's like the, do you think that's the reason he left the monarchy or the.

[Co-host Shane]

It was her.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah, she's just absolutely. She's the Yoko Ono. Right back to Corey Richards. Erica said to have met with a divorce attorney and an estate planning lawyer. And around that time, he updated his will and created the Eric Richards Living Trust, naming his sister Katie to oversee the estate for the benefit of his three children. He also moved his share of the business into the trust and changed the beneficiary. Beneficiary of his 5,500,000 life insurance policy from Corey to the trust. But he did all this without Corey knowing. So, you know, and this is when

[Co-host Shane]

is this in anticipation of her killing him?

[Emily Simpson]

That's my question. Because there is a point in time where he does say, I think my wife's trying to kill me.

[Co-host Shane]

It's like, I think my wife's trying to kill me. Let me move my funds over here, right? It's like, no, why don't you wear like a bullpur vest and not have her make you drinks?

[Emily Simpson]

So this is in 2020. And I don't know if at this time if he's fearing for his life or he just doesn't trust her financially and he knows that she's misappropriating money and trying to access his money. And so he puts all of his assets in a trust and then he cuts her out. She's not named as the.

[Co-host Shane]

Why wouldn't he just divorce her at that time?

[Emily Simpson]

You know, that is the millions.

[Co-host Shane]

I mean, it's one thing if you're like, you know, I'm trying to control the finances. Like, like it's just a financial thing I'm trying to. It's another thing if it's like she's trying to kill me and she's taking all this money and all this stuff, it's like, well then what do you. What's left to hold on to?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know. Then we get to January of 2022. Corey is accused of changing the beneficiary on Eric's 2 million dollar life insurance policy to herself without permission. The change was discovered by the insurance company and the designation was switched back to the original beneficiary, which was Eric's business partner. I guess she was forging his name. She's trying to sign herself off as a beneficiary.

[Co-host Shane]

Found guilty of forgery, I believe.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes. Then we get to February of 2022. Corey Richards allegedly obtains fentanyl for the first time. She obtained the drugs from her occasional housekeeper, Carmen Lauber. And Carmen Lauber is really like, I would say the star witness in the trial because she testifies against her. A Corey initially asked her to obtain prescription pain pills, allegedly for an investor with a back injury. However, Lauber testified that in early of February 2022, Richards requested, quote, something stronger and asked for some of the Michael

[Co-host Shane]

Jackson this lady and said I need a pain kill. A painkiller.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

For an investor of mine, yeah. Why wouldn't that person just go get their own? Obviously, I mean, we know why she wanted it, but is this person really falling for it?

[Emily Simpson]

Well, this person has a Long history of. Of criminal activity. Okay, this is karma.

[Co-host Shane]

Why she even need to give her an excuse? She should have been like, I want him because I want him.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, I guess she's trying to throw her off the. The trail that has anything to do with, you know, her husband. So she makes up some story about how it has to do with some other guy that has back pain or something. I don't know. But Carmen Lauber is. She's had a long history of being arrested for drugs selling, distributing. Yeah, Being involved in drugs. And so Corey asked her to get fentanyl for her, and then she asked her. Then she comes back to her and tells her that she needs something stronger. And she, quote, says some of the Michael Jackson stuff. So I guess that's how she describes it. Carmen Lauber ends up giving Corey 15 to 20 fentanyl pills, which Corey allegedly paid $900 for. Now we get to February 14th of 2022. This. This, we believe, is the first time that Corey tried to take out her husband. Do you remember we talked about this in the earlier episode. We did, where it was Valentine's Day, and she makes him a sand. Well, she didn't make the sandwich. She actually bought the sandwich, and she went and picked it up. It was a bagel. It was a bagel sandwich. And we believe that's the first time that she tried to kill him with fentanyl.

[Co-host Shane]

She put it in the bagel.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, that's what I mean, the thing is, there's no smoking gun. There's no video of her putting it in the bagel. There's no video of her putting it in the Moscow Mule. I mean, that's the. That's the missing piece. Right. But obviously he believed that she was trying to kill him. And this was on. The first time was on February 14, because she bought him a bagel sandwich for Valentine's Day. I think she even left him, like, why.

[Co-host Shane]

If he.

[Emily Simpson]

Cute little note.

[Co-host Shane]

Why is he letting her give her. Give him food?

[Emily Simpson]

Well, why is he still living with her? Why is he still married to her?

[Co-host Shane]

Because didn't he tell his sister? Or didn't. Who did. He. He told someone that, like, I think she's trying to kill me. Right.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, he texted, I believe, some friends.

[Co-host Shane]

So imagine like, okay, so he's texting or calling, and he's like, hey, my wife's trying to kill me. Hold on. She's bringing me a sandwich. Yeah, I got to go. She brought me a sandwich and a drink.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, no, he. So he takes a bite of the sandwich. She leaves it for him on Valentine's Day. I think she leaves like a little cute note, like, I love you. Happy Valentine's Day.

[Co-host Shane]

Enjoy your bagel.

[Emily Simpson]

Make sure you enjoy the whole thing. Don't just take a bite. Anyway, he takes one bite of it and he immediately has a reaction to it. And he thinks it's like some kind of allergic reaction, I guess. He takes a Benadryl and he also gives himself.

[Co-host Shane]

That's where she went wrong. She did it too much.

[Emily Simpson]

Too much Fentanyl?

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah. Like so, like initially, like, like when I put supplements in the kids drinks.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes.

[Co-host Shane]

If you put too much, they say it tastes funny.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

And then they don't drink it at all. So you gotta put the right amount. So they drink the whole thing.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. So he only took one bite and he, he initially had a reaction. He gave himself the EpiPen. Shot in the leg, I guess. One of his sons had an EpiPen, and so he did that. He drank Benadryl. He took a nap.

[Co-host Shane]

She should have put it in the EpiPen.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, yeah, she should have. She should have contacted you first and consulted and then she should have.

[Co-host Shane]

Sloppy.

[Emily Simpson]

Sloppy. So that was the first time that he believes Corey is trying to poison him. And he, he texts his friends and says something to the effect of like, she almost caught me or something. Like, she's, I believe she's trying to poison me. Now the question is, why is he still living with this woman in the same home using the same dish?

[Co-host Shane]

How did she give him the poison the second time?

[Emily Simpson]

This, the second time is in the Moscow Mule. She makes a drink for him.

[Co-host Shane]

See, why is he letting her handle his food and drink?

[Emily Simpson]

I, I don't know. I, I, that's, I don't know. So then we get to. This is, Remember, this is Valentine's Day, February 14th of 2022. Then we get to February 26th of 2022. So we're just, just, you know, like two weeks later, Corey allegedly contacts Carmen Lauber again and asks for another 900 worth of fentanyl pills.

[Co-host Shane]

So which meant she used the entire amount in the bagel sandwich. Yes, that she needed more, which was

[Emily Simpson]

probably a huge amount. And you're right. So he took one bite and he had a reaction immediately to it. So now we get to the actual murder, which takes place on March 3rd of 2022. Corey and Eric were home at night celebrating the closing of a home purchase for her real estate business. So I guess she allegedly. Or she bought a home. I don't Know if this is the she bought.

[Co-host Shane]

Is that that mansion?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know.

[Co-host Shane]

In Heber or wherever it is?

[Emily Simpson]

It might be. But I do know that at one point she did buy that huge mansion.

[Co-host Shane]

It's like right now it's currently like a seven million dollar mansion or something. Yes, massive. The guest home on the property is 3,000 square feet.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. And you know, in regards to that mansion, her boyfriend testifies in the trial. And they also show text messages between her and the boyfriend talking about this mansion. Because she tells him that her dream is to have that mansion turned into an event space where they can rent it for like $15,000 a day. Weddings and, you know, corporate events and all those kinds of things. And that the two of them, she and her boyfriend live happily together in the guest house. And this is like. Like their dream. Right. So I don't know. I. I don't know if that.

[Co-host Shane]

I think I saw. I think I've seen that mansion because I saw a picture of it and it looked like we drove by it when. When we went to Utah last time, because it's pretty recognizable.

[Emily Simpson]

It is. Well. And there's nothing else around it. No, it's just like in the middle of.

[Co-host Shane]

Right. Because I remember the first time when I saw it, I was like, whoa, that's like huge.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

And there's a lot of big homes there, but that was huge. And then the second time when we went in December, I drove by it and I saw it again. Emily flew to Utah and I drove by the way. And then. I'm not scared of flying. She is. Which is. It was a little backwards.

[Emily Simpson]

Why should I fly?

[Co-host Shane]

Because you don't want to drive.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

I don't know. I drove because we had to take equipment and all the ski gear and stuff. Anyway, the point is, I saw the mansion.

[Emily Simpson]

You saw the mansion?

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah.

[Emily Simpson]

I'm pretty sure when you saw it, though, you didn't know that it was Corey Richen's dream home to live with her boyfriend after she murdered her husband.

[Co-host Shane]

But I thought it was a nice venue that we could rent for $15,000 a day. Yeah, I did think that.

[Emily Simpson]

For our. For our 20th anniversary when we renew our vows, should we rent it? Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

Because I thought you'd be on one side of the house, I'll be in this side of the house, and we'll have a nice, peaceful day.

[Emily Simpson]

Perfect. Sounds amazing. She gets more drugs, she gets more fentanyl from carmen. Then on March 3, 2022, they're celebrating because she purchased a new home. I think it might be the mansion. She said she prepared him. This is what I don't understand. She tells investigators or detectives, police, whoever, that she made him a Moscow Mule. I don't understand why she gave up that information.

[Co-host Shane]

Because liars, when they're confronted and they're being interrogated like guilty people, I mean, not all, but generally guilty people will tell you will just talk. They'll yap non stop to try to make it like, I'm not hiding anything. So they try to make it like I'm being upfront. I made him a drink, I did this, I did that. A yap non stop.

[Emily Simpson]

I'm just. Because I. In my mind, I'm wondering why she gave up that information. Because the only other person that would have known that she made the Moscow Mule would have been Eric, who is now dead. So.

[Co-host Shane]

Because like I said, she's trying to make it like, I put everything on the table. I'm telling you everything. I got nothing to hide. And they're nervous, so they're just yapping.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. So she tells investigators she prepared her husband a Moscow Mule in the kitchen and then brought it into their bedroom where he drank it while they were in bed, along with taking a THC edible.

[Co-host Shane]

Is that, Is that alcoholic drink, the Moscow Meal? Yeah, it's alcohol, according to her, called a Moscow Mule.

[Emily Simpson]

I don't, I don't.

[Co-host Shane]

Doesn't sound appealing.

[Emily Simpson]

It has mint in it. You're supposed to. It's very specific. You're supposed to like, like, what is that thing you like? Grind the mint and I don't know.

[Co-host Shane]

And then it has. You grind the fentanyl with a mint.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes. Then you grind the fentanyl. Right. According to her account, you know, maybe it was a Moscow Mule because it has a very like minty taste. So maybe she was trying to do a drink that would like, cover up.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah.

[Emily Simpson]

You know, maybe that was specific. Probably because you can't have champagne and then.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah. Or like apple juice or something and

[Emily Simpson]

then dump some fentanyl in it. So, yeah, maybe the Moscow Mule was like purposefully. Because it has brown texture. It has texture. It has mint leaves in it that

[Co-host Shane]

it could withstand five times a lethal amount.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. According to her account, she then went to settle one of her children for the night and ended up falling asleep in one of their kids bedrooms shortly afterward. So she does claim that she wasn't even sleeping in the bed, that she went and slept in one of her son's rooms because he has night terrors. So then.

[Co-host Shane]

So the murder sleeps with the sun?

[Emily Simpson]

Yes.

[Co-host Shane]

I'm scared. Murderer. Can you come sleep with me?

[Emily Simpson]

What?

[Co-host Shane]

The mom's the murderer?

[Emily Simpson]

Yes.

[Co-host Shane]

And the kid is scared at night?

[Emily Simpson]

Yes.

[Co-host Shane]

She should be the one he's scared of.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes. He doesn't know that yet.

[Co-host Shane]

You know, that's another thing I was thinking earlier. So if he's worried that she's going to kill him, why wouldn't he think about the kids? It's not far fetched for someone to murder the kids to get out of a relationship, too. And here he is not protecting the kids. As far as we know.

[Emily Simpson]

You're really upset at this guy for not kicking.

[Co-host Shane]

Well, I'm not upset, but I'm just thinking about it and it's, you know. Yeah. Why is he with her?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know. I don't know. I don't know why. He takes the time and energy to, like, put things in a trust account without her knowledge and to do all these things behind her back, but he just doesn't divorce the woman or leave the house and move out. I don't understand that.

[Co-host Shane]

And. And take care of the kids.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

You know Roald Dahl, the writer who thought up Willy Wonka, Matilda and the bfg. But did you know he was also a spy?

[Emily Simpson]

Was this before he wrote his stories?

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

It must have been.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

Our new podcast series, the Secret World of Roald Dahl is a wild journey through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life. His job was literally to seduce the wives of powerful Americans.

[Co-host Shane]

What?

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

And he was really good at it. You probably won't believe it either.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay, I don't think that's true.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

I'm telling you, the guy was a spy. Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelts, played poker with Harry Truman, and had a long affair with a congresswoman? And then he took his talents to Hollywood, where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock before writing a hit James Bond film. How did this secret agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever? And what darkness from his covert past seeped into the stories we read as kids? The true story is stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the Secret World of Roald Dahl on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your your podcasts.

[Family Member or Witness]

I went and sat on the little ottoman in front of him. I hi, dad. And just when I said that, my mom comes out of the kitchen and she says, I have some cookies and milk. This is badass, Convict. Just finished five years. I'm have cookies and milk at mom

[Ceno Show Host]

on the CENO show. Podcast. Each episode invites you into a raw, unfiltered conversation about recovery, resilience and redemption. On a recent episode, I sit down with actor cultural icon Danny Trail to talk about addiction, transformation and the power of second chances. The entire season two is now available to binge, featuring powerful conversations with guests like Tiffany Adish, Johnny Knoxville, and more.

[Family Member or Witness]

I'm an alcoholic and without this proof, I'm a die.

[Ceno Show Host]

Open your free iHeartRadio app, search the Cino show and listen now.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here at the Nick, Dick and Pole show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique.

[Emily Simpson]

Who's he?

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

He's the writer, director.

Who do you think he is?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

You meet the like the president, you think the president. You think Canada has a president? You think China has a president? That's why Cruisette. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time.

What color?

I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night.

It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep, it was a good one.

I like that saying. It's an actual Polish saying. It is an actual better version of Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[Co-host Shane]

Yes.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

Which, by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said that for the first time. I actually, I thought it was. I got that wrong.

Listen to the Nick Dick and Poll show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Emily Simpson]

A ambitious, well intentioned, ferocious and wealthy mother looks like in the black community

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

this woman's History Month. The podcast Keep It Posit Sweetie celebrates the power of women choosing healing, purpose and faith. Even when life gets messy, love is not a destination.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

You have to work on it every day.

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

Keep it positive. Sweetie creates space for honest conversations on self worth, love, growth and navigating life with grace and grit. Led by women who uplift, inspire and tell the truth out loud.

[Emily Simpson]

I have several conversations with God and I know why it took 20 years

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

to hear this and more. Listen to Keep It Pies as sweetie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast.

[Emily Simpson]

Podcast.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia and I'm kicking off a brand new season of my podcast Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds in marketing. I'm talking to leaders from the entertainment industry to finance and everywhere in between this season of Math and Magic. I'm talking to CEO of Liquid Death, Mike Cesare, financier and public health advocate Mike Milken. Take Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

If you're unable to take meaningful creative risk and therefore run the risk of making horrible creative mistakes, then you can't play in this business.

[Bob Pittman]

Sesame Street CEO Sherry Weston and our own Chief Business Officer, Lisa Coffey.

[Emily Simpson]

Making consumers see the value of the human voice and to have that guaranteed human promise behind it really makes it rise to the top.

[Bob Pittman]

Listen to math and magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Emily Simpson]

So then this is around 3:22am this is on March 4, 2022. Corey claims that she went back to her room and found Eric unresponsive at the foot of their bed. Summit County Sheriff's deputies and EMS staff arrived at the home at 3:31am she does call 91 1, and I did listen to the 911 call. She tells the 911 callers, you know, that he's unresponsive. And they ask her to do CPR. And they ask her if she knows how to do cpr.

[Co-host Shane]

And she says, she goes, that defeats the purpose. She says, I want him dead.

[Emily Simpson]

No, very weakly. And then the woman says, I'm going to tell you how and I'm going to count with you. And I'm just pict other end of this phone line while this operator is like, okay, 1, 2, 3. She's just standing there with the phone.

[Co-host Shane]

She's like, I'm, yeah, I'm doing it. Meanwhile, she's probably, like, buying stuff online and looking at her bank accounts, right?

[Emily Simpson]

So I think they even said that there was no evidence that she had actually tried to perform any kind of cpr, which makes sense. I mean, she, she wants the man dead. She's not going to then just want

[Co-host Shane]

to get a third round of fentanyl from this lady, right? Another 900 they found.

[Emily Simpson]

So when EMF staff arrive at the home, this is around 3:31am they find Eric Richards deceased. And according to court documents, the responding paramedic thought that he had been dead a while. Eric Richard's autopsy later shows that there were fentanyl levels five times a lethal dose, which we have talked about, and that the drug was ingested orally, not through any type of accidental exposure. Which I guess means because they find it in the stomach. So that means he ingested it. Right? All also, and this was interesting because I was watching this 2020 special.

[Co-host Shane]

Oh, I supposed it being like shot up or something in the.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. It's in the stomach. So obviously he ingested it. So, you know, then the question is, you know, what did he eat? What did he drink? Because he swallowed it. Also I watched she calls the medical examiner when the autopsy report comes out. And she's asking very specific questions, challenging it. Well, she. She says, I guess because on the autopsy report it says something to the effect of illicit fentanyl, illegal fentanyl or something like that. Making a distinction between. And I learned this.

[Co-host Shane]

Prescribed.

[Emily Simpson]

There is. And I learned this because I was. What I was. I researched this. There is fentanyl that hospitals or doctors use and very, very, very tiny doses that can be used like more. It's stronger than. More. It's like ridiculously stronger than morphine. So they do use it a medical grade type that they use in certain.

[Co-host Shane]

Whereas this was just a street drug.

[Emily Simpson]

But this was a street drug, I guess because it had synthetic. I don't know. I don't know much about. I. I don't really know much about street drugs.

[Co-host Shane]

Let's keep it that way.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes, but this was clearly something that

[Co-host Shane]

was not medical grade, which shows intent to kill.

[Emily Simpson]

Right? Well, it shows that. It's not like he got exposed at a hospital or something. It shows that someone purchased it. And she said on the phone when she's talking to the medical examiner, she said, well, like, well, where would that come from? And he said, drug cartels. So I mean, it was very clear that this is, you know, obtained illegally. So a couple days after Eric's death, Corey files a claim against Eric's trust, contesting Eric's sister as his personal representative of his.

[Co-host Shane]

Sorry. A couple days after.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes. Well, actually, let me tell you. The day after Eric died, they had a party at the house.

[Co-host Shane]

I was gonna joke about her having a party. She actually had a party.

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know if it was her that initiated the party, but they did.

[Co-host Shane]

What was the purpose of the party? Like, what are they.

[Emily Simpson]

It was like a celebration of life type of thing. And this is the day after he died. And there were a lot of people at his house.

[Co-host Shane]

House. And too soon.

[Emily Simpson]

His sisters. I believe his. His family was there. This is when the families are still even weirder.

[Co-host Shane]

The family. So the non murderers were okay with this?

[Emily Simpson]

At this point, they don't know how I know but they're not questioning her yet.

[Co-host Shane]

Okay, let's be honest.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

I die.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay?

[Co-host Shane]

Not at your hands. I just die.

[Emily Simpson]

So I didn't have anything to do with it.

[Co-host Shane]

Right.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay.

[Co-host Shane]

Because if he has anything to do with. I know the answer to this question.

[Emily Simpson]

Oh, okay.

[Co-host Shane]

So I die.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay.

[Co-host Shane]

And then the next day, or however, whatever this time frame is.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

My mom says, let's have a celebration of life. Let's have a party.

[Emily Simpson]

Huh?

[Co-host Shane]

What would you think?

[Emily Simpson]

Well, I wouldn't be able to have a party because I wouldn't be able to get out of bed because I would be so devastated. I know you don't believe this. You're looking at me like you're in shock right now, but that is true. I. If. If you. If you were no longer. You're the father of my children. You're my husband. I've been married to you for almost 20 years. If you died suddenly, I would not be able to have a party or get out of bed.

[Co-host Shane]

I would be devastated. So now let's say it's your sister's husband. He unfortunately passes away.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay.

[Co-host Shane]

Right. Gets in a car wreck. So it's like, clearly, you know, not foul play. And one day later, your sister says, I'm gonna have a celebration of life. I'd like you to come. We're gonna have a party.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

What would you think?

[Emily Simpson]

I would think it was weird.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay. I would think it was weird.

[Co-host Shane]

I think most people would.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, there were so. There were a lot of friends there. They're friends.

[Co-host Shane]

I mean, a family gathering. Let's get together and have dinner and just be together.

[Emily Simpson]

No, they were, like, drinking.

[Co-host Shane]

I know.

[Emily Simpson]

And telling stories about Eric and all these things. Anyway, I believe the day after that, the following day, Corey gets in a physical altercation. I don't know which sister, but with one of Eric's sisters. Because. Oh. Because she brings over. She gets. She brings over a key. What's the person that gets in a. In a safe? Like a.

[Co-host Shane]

Like a locksmith.

[Emily Simpson]

A locksmith? Yeah. She hires a locksmith to come and open his safe because she wants the will and all these other things that she didn't have access to. Corey, the wife. So there's a locksmith there. The sister shows up. This is, I think, two days after he died. I think this is the day after the party. This, you know, party they had. The sister sees the locksmith truck and she screams and she loses it. She's like, oh, my gosh. This woman's gonna, like, you know, get the will or whatever. Who knows what she's gonna do? I'm sure they.

[Co-host Shane]

Well, that. But that's less far fetched than the party.

[Emily Simpson]

Yes, but then they get in a physical altercation and Corey gets arrested for assault. I guess she punches her in the head and in the neck or something. So this is when everything just starts to. Everything becomes very divisive. At this point, I feel like there was.

[Co-host Shane]

I think that's. I, I know now why she did it, but that's less suspicious. Trying to get into the safe. Yeah. What she's supposed to do?

[Emily Simpson]

Well, I don't know.

[Co-host Shane]

Access to all the documents. That's reasonable. I mean, I know she's a murderer. I'm not trying to. I know what her intent is. But looking from the outside, if you don't suspect murder, then her getting a locksmith to get to the safe is, I think, expected and then. But a party is not. That's all I'm saying.

[Emily Simpson]

I, I know about the party because her best friend testified for the prosecution at her trial. And her best friend talked about that and talked about being here and things like that. That. So Corey, we talked about this.

[Co-host Shane]

Did the locksmith get into the safe?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know what happened. I think the sister stopped it and the sister told her. That's when the sister told her, eric cut you out and you're not a beneficiary. And I think that's when she first found out about the divide. So then they got in this screaming match and they were screaming at each other.

[Co-host Shane]

And then that's the most drama locksmith ever saw when he came somewhere.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah, probably.

[Co-host Shane]

He's probably like, this is good. So did he testify? I bet he testified.

[Emily Simpson]

You know, I don't know if the locksmith testified. I don't know. But then in March of 2023, this is when Corey publishes a children's book. It's called are you with me? And it's about grieving a deceased parent. She als. She talks about how she could not find that her children were struggling. I like how she's just, you know, so concerned about her children that they're struggling with the death of their father.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah, well, that's what would happen when you kill the father.

[Emily Simpson]

And then so she writes the. This book and then she goes around on her little media circuit to. To talk about her book. Then we get to May of 2023, and Corey Richards is arrested for aggravated murder and three counts of possession of drugs with intent to distribute. Later, additional charges arise. Insurance fraud and financial claims. And you know what, she was not initially arrested. She was arrested for aggravated murder. But then, you know, the attempted murder charge came after you. You know that. Because then once they started, they started,

[Co-host Shane]

they started to uncover more, covering more

[Emily Simpson]

text messages, interview, interviewing friends or family or whatever. Then came the attempted murder charge of the Valentine's Day sandwich. So that actually came after the aggravated murder charge. So. And then In June of 2023, Corey is denied bail and remains in custody. I know her attorney argued that she wasn't a flight risk and that she had three children so she should be let out on bail. But they were not having it. So she remained in, in jail the entire time from the first time she was, the time she was arrested.

[Co-host Shane]

When was she again? Was it. How soon after the murder?

[Emily Simpson]

Well, she murdered him in March of

[Co-host Shane]

20 and she was taken in in March as well.

[Emily Simpson]

She murdered him in March of 2022. She was arrested in May of 2020, very soon after.

[Co-host Shane]

Well, a year, A year, a year and a few months. So she's been in, she's been in jail for at least three. For coming on three years now.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. So she's denied bail, she's in jail. This is June of 2023. Then there were some pre trial developments that happened before she goes to trial. We talked about this in the first episode. Do you remember the walk the dog letter?

[Co-host Shane]

The Walk the dog letter.

[Emily Simpson]

It's called the walk the dog letter because she, it's like a four page handwritten letter that she wrote while she was in jail. And remember she's very specific. At the very top of it, it says in bold, you know, letters with exclamation points. It says walk the dog.

[Co-host Shane]

She send the letter to.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, she later says that it's just a manuscript and it's fiction.

[Co-host Shane]

Who she send, Who'd she give it to?

[Emily Simpson]

Well, it's. I think it's going to her mother because it talks about how her brother when he testifies because she says, you know, he'll most likely have to testify that he needs to testify to the fact that Eric travels to Mexico and gets drugs in Mexico. So she's trying to establish, trying to create a story. She's trying to create a story. So then they do, you know, those random searches. They're searching her room. That's how they find the letter. So cell, not her room?

[Co-host Shane]

No, it's not her suite.

[Emily Simpson]

Not her suite, her cell. They find the walk the dog letter. Then she claims, because obviously, you know, it gets, it gets confiscated. It goes to the prosecution. Prosecution has It. Right. She claims that it's fiction, that it's just part. You know, she's an author.

[Co-host Shane]

It's another book.

[Emily Simpson]

It's another book. You know, she's this well known author who writes books. So this is just a work of fiction and this is like another self published. It's going to be a work of fiction also. I know there's some issues with a lot of things that this happens when she talks to her attorney. She also claims it's like attorney client privilege, things like that. Attorney client work product. And this is when she has her first attorney whose name is Sky Lazaro, who ends up not being her attorney when she goes on trial. So anyway, then she's charged with attempted murder for the Valentine's Day poisoning. Like I said, that came later, after her initial charge. Then there are multiple hearings, attorney changes and delays. And then the judge rules that she must stand trial. There is some conflict. I don't know what it is, but she ends up not having the attorney she had the whole time. Sky Lazaro. She ends up claiming like there was a conflict or something that had to do with the other additional charges that she gets that has to do with the fraud and the insurance and all of that stuff. I don't know if there was some conflict with that. But anyway, her attorney ends up withdrawing and then now she has two public defenders who are going to represent her for her trial. So then February 23rd of 2026. So this was very recently. So now we get to the actual trial. The trial begins, the prosecution, these are the main arguments. And here's the thing about the arguments they're going to try. I feel like they really work on a motive because there is no, you have to. There is no smoking gun in this.

[Co-host Shane]

It's all circumstantial.

[Emily Simpson]

It's all circumstantial. There's no witness of her, like you said.

[Co-host Shane]

There's no video of her putting fentanyl in the bagel and handing it to

[Emily Simpson]

him or into the Moscow mule. There's no witness that saw it. There's no one that can testify that she told them that she did it there. So the jury has to take all these pieces of when she bought it. They have to believe Carmen Lauber. And Carmen Lauber has a very shady past. She's been arrested multiple times. She also got an immunity deal for her testimony against Corey Richards. So that's another thing to take into account. Do you believe her? Do you find her credible? You know, that's for the jury to Decide. So anyway, the prosecution goes into their opening argument. They're also going to establish the motives. And I believe there's two motives that they really try to hone in on in this case, and it's one, the financial gain. She wants her husband dead because she's going to financially gain. Right. She has all this insurance money she's going to collect from his death.

[Co-host Shane]

I'll be to her, and it's all

[Emily Simpson]

going to go to her. And then she also thought when she killed him that she was the beneficiary. She didn't know that he had made that trust and named his sister as the executor.

[Co-host Shane]

She was aware that the prenup said if he pre deceases her.

[Emily Simpson]

Right.

[Co-host Shane]

While married.

[Emily Simpson]

While she gets married.

[Co-host Shane]

See, maybe you shouldn't do that in the thing. Maybe you should make it like it

[Emily Simpson]

doesn't matter dead or alive.

[Co-host Shane]

Right?

[Emily Simpson]

Right. So anyway, not only do they talk about a motive of the financial gain, but they also really hone in on the fact that she wanted her husband dead because she was having an affair with this guy named Josh Grossman, and that they. What? She wanted a fresh start.

[Co-host Shane]

She's still with Grossman.

[Emily Simpson]

I don't think they're together anymore. I feel like that fizzled out.

[Co-host Shane]

He's not supporting her.

[Emily Simpson]

No. He testifies against her, so we'll talk about that. So those are the two motives, really. The financial gain and really how. How unhappy she was in her marriage that she wanted her husband gone so that she could have this fresh start with this new guy, Josh Grossman.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

You know Roald Dahl, the writer who thought up Willy Wonka, Matilda and the bfg. But did you know he was also a spy?

[Emily Simpson]

Was this before he wrote his stories?

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

It must have been.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

Our new podcast series, the Secret World of Roald Dahl is a wild journey through the hidden chapters of his extraordinary, controversial life. His job was literally to seduce the wives of powerful Americans.

[Co-host Shane]

What?

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

And he was really good at it. You probably won't believe it either, either.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay, I don't think that's true.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

I'm telling you, the guy was a spy. Did you know Dahl got cozy with the Roosevelts, played poker with Harry Truman, and had a long affair with a congresswoman. And then he took his talents to Hollywood, where he worked alongside Walt Disney and Alfred Hitchcock before writing a hit James Bond film. How did this secret agent wind up as the most successful children's author ever? And what darkness from his covert past seeped into the story we read as kids? The true story is Stranger than anything he ever wrote. Listen to the secret world of Roald Dahl on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Family Member or Witness]

I went and sat on the little ottoman in front of him and I said, hi dad. And just when I said that, my mom comes out of the kitchen and she says, I have some cookies and milk. This is badass, convict. Right? Just finished fighting. I'm have cookies and milk at Mom.

[Ceno Show Host]

On the Ceno Show Podcast. Each episode invites you into a raw, unfiltered conversations about recovery, resilience and redemption. On a recent episode, I sit down with actor cultural icon Danny Trail talk about addiction, transformation and the power of second chances. The entire season two is now available to binge, featuring powerful conversations with guests like Tiffany Adish, Johnny Knoxville and more.

[Family Member or Witness]

I'm an alcoholic and without this probe, I'm a die.

[Ceno Show Host]

Open your free iHeartRadio app, search the Cino show and listen Now.

[Emily Simpson]

A ambitious, well intentioned, ferocious and wealthy mother looks like in the black community

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

this Women's History Month. The podcast Keep It Posit Sweetie celebrates the power of women choosing healing, purpose and faith. Even when life gets messy, love is not a destination.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

You have to work on it every day.

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

Keep It Positive. Sweetie creates space for honest conversations on self worth, love, growth and navigating life with grace and grit, led by women who uplift, inspire and tell the truth out loud.

[Emily Simpson]

I have several conversations with God and I know why it took 20 years

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

to hear this and more. Listen to Keep It Positive sweetie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your your podcast.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

When you listen to podcasts about AI and tech and the future of humanity, the hosts always act like they know what they're talking about and they are experts at everything. Here at the Nick, Dick and Pole show, we're not afraid to make mistakes. What Coogler did that I think was so unique? He's the writer director.

Who do you think he is?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't know.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

You meet the like the president.

You think the president. You think Canada has a president? You think China has a president? Those law proves that. God, I love that thing. I use it all the time.

What color?

I wrap it in a blanket and sing to it at night.

It's like the old Polish saying, not my monkeys, not my circus. Yep, it was a good one.

I like that saying. It's an actual Polish saying.

It is an actual Polish.

Better version of Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

[Co-host Shane]

Yes, which.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

Which by the way, wasn't Taylor Swift who said the that for the first time. I actually, I thought it was. I got that wrong.

Listen to the Nick, Dick and Paul show on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Bob Pittman]

Hi, I'm Bob Pittman, chairman and CEO of iHeartMedia, and I'm kicking off a brand new season of my podcast, Math and Stories from the Frontiers of Marketing. Math and Magic takes you behind the scenes of the biggest businesses and industries while sharing insights from the smartest minds in marketing. I'm talking to leaders from the entertainment industry to finance, and everywhere in between this season of Math and Magic, I'm talking to CEO of Liquid Death, Mike Cesario, financier and public health advocate Mike Milken. Take Two Interactive CEO Straus Zelnick.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

If you're unable to take meaningful creative risk and therefore run the risk of making horrible creative mistakes, then you can't play in this business.

[Bob Pittman]

Sesame Street CEO Sherry Weston and her own Chief Business officer, Lisa Coffey.

[Emily Simpson]

Making consumers see the value of the human voice and to have that guaranteed human promise behind it really makes it rise to the top.

[Bob Pittman]

Listen to Math and Magic stories from the frontiers of Marketing on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Emily Simpson]

Then we get to testimony. We're gonna talk about some of the testimony in this. Josh Grossman testifies against her. He testifies for the prosecution. He's the boyfriend. So tech. This is so. I can't imagine how embarrassing this would be. But they. They show screenshots of all the text messages between her and the boyfriend and her boyfriend. Yeah.

[Co-host Shane]

What are they?

[Emily Simpson]

I mean, it just sounds so middle school.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah. Like, what is it like? I love you, baby. I'll be with you forever.

[Emily Simpson]

Can't wait to swim. Do you think about me? I think about you. I love you. I had a dream. We're going to, you know, rent out that.

[Co-host Shane]

Can I get you a bagel?

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah. We're going to rent out the mansion as an event space, and then we're going to live in the, you know, the guest house together and have little farm animals. And it's just. And he's sitting there on the stand and they show it up on the screen, right. So that the jury can read it.

[Co-host Shane]

Sucker written all over.

[Emily Simpson]

Oh, it's just like. I can't imagine. It reminds me of Karen Reed. Do you remember during the trial when they read all those text messages?

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

No.

[Co-host Shane]

What were the text messages?

[Emily Simpson]

It was between her and that ATF agent when they were flirting with each other and he's on the stand and they like, like, show the text messages and make him read them. And it's like how mortifying.

[Co-host Shane]

Our text messages would show motivation. They would show motive.

[Emily Simpson]

Motive of what?

[Co-host Shane]

They like, this tracks. Look at all the names she calls him.

[Emily Simpson]

I don't call you that many names.

[Co-host Shane]

Not that many.

[Emily Simpson]

All right. Okay. So there are text messages that show Corey was having an affair with another man named Robert Josh Grossman. First of all, I have to say I. I watched his testimony. This man, I. Well, she likes redheads. He's a redhead. Her ex husband was a redhead. He is struggling so much on the stand.

[Co-host Shane]

Like what? Like, like it hurts him to say all this.

[Emily Simpson]

He just.

[Co-host Shane]

Or like he feels dumb or I

[Emily Simpson]

think, I guess all the emotions. I mean, they have to ask him,

[Co-host Shane]

is he crying a little?

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah, he puts his head down a lot. He has trouble speaking. They have to ask him if he needs a break. I don't. I mean, I don't know if he's struggling morally that he was involved with this woman that was married and now maybe he had some. Not that he was involved.

[Co-host Shane]

He knew she was married, right?

[Emily Simpson]

He knew she was married. Yeah. And there were. There's text messages between the two of them that are like, once you get divorced, when you get divorced. Oh, no. And then there was the other text messages where she kept telling him to hold off onto until Friday.

[Co-host Shane]

Hold off what till Friday?

[Emily Simpson]

I think he was getting, like, upset about her not being divorced, and he was, like, questioning their relationship. And she's like, just hold on. Just hold on till Friday. I got plans. Don't worry about it. I'm gonna, you know, we're gonna figure this out. So less than a month before her husband's death, Corey Richards had asked her boyfriend, quote, if I was divorced right now and asked you to marry me tomorrow, you would question mark. Robert responded, yes. In love with Y O U. Of course I would. No, this is what they're showing, like, up on the screen during the trial. I just does.

[Co-host Shane]

All it does is show that she's checked out of the marriage and wants to be with this guy.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. So the prosecution is showing exactly. That she's unhappy in her marriage and that she wants this fresh start. Right. With this guy, Josh Grossman.

[Co-host Shane]

This guy ever have another relationship now? Because if he has a relationship with someone, he sends her messages.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, he'll probably never put anything in writing again.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah, but then that new female might be like, that's what you told Corey.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah, I saw it doesn't mean Anything? A Josh Grossman testified at trial that he and Corey finally talked about Eric's death two weeks after it occurred. I think this is what they considered to be kind of like a bombshell testimony from him. She. He testified that she asked him if he had ever killed anyone. Well, let me give you context. He. He was in the military, and I believe he was on. Grossman. Yes. The boyfriend. I believe he was on. Maybe in Iraq or something. So he was on some. What? He was in combat zones where that could have happened.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah.

[Emily Simpson]

So she asked him if he had ever killed anybody, and then she asked him how it made him feel or something along those lines. And then I answered her. So there was a conversation that had to do with, have you ever killed anyone?

[Co-host Shane]

What's it like to kill someone?

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah, right. So he testified to that. He's an army veteran. That's why she was asking him the question. And the two continue to date a few months after the death. But things eventually fizzled out, you know, I mean, why not? Why wouldn't they fizzle out? I feel like once you kill your husband and then, you know, they're on to you, things might fizzle out with the boyfriend. There's also damaging digital.

[Co-host Shane]

That's a deal breaker.

[Emily Simpson]

That is a deal breaker. There's damaging digital evidence. Corey's Internet searches included.

[Co-host Shane]

Oh, yeah, this is. These are my favorites. What are you like? I love it when they look at the Google searches. These killers, just so stupid.

[Emily Simpson]

What is a lethal dose of fentanyl? Can FBI find deleted messages? If someone is poisoned, what does it go down on the death certificate as?

[Co-host Shane]

Can FBI find my Google searches.

[Emily Simpson]

Luxury prisons for the rich in America.

[Co-host Shane]

Oh, my goodness.

[Emily Simpson]

I didn't understand that one.

[Co-host Shane]

How to make a bagel sandwich.

[Emily Simpson]

Corey Richards net worth. So she was very concerned about that. However, these Google searches, I will tell you, they're. They're the defense or her defense attorney, Sky Lazaro talks about this, but she wasn't her attorney during the trial. But she gives her interpretation of this. These Google searches. You have to understand, the Google searches were done after he had already died. It was not before. So her excuse for Corey is, okay, she gets a death certificate and she's told that he dies of a lethal amount.

[Co-host Shane]

Okay, but what were the other one? Were the other ones. Okay, now that we know that this was searched after he was dead, what are the searches again? Read them quickly.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay, so now you know the timeline. This is after he had died.

[Co-host Shane]

Yeah, that mattered.

[Emily Simpson]

What is a lethal dose of fentanyl?

[Co-host Shane]

Okay, so we'll write that one off. Okay?

[Emily Simpson]

Right. Because let's say it makes sense. Let's give her credit.

[Co-host Shane]

I mean, she's still a murderer.

[Emily Simpson]

She's still a murderer, but that's what I'm saying.

[Co-host Shane]

We can, we can write that one off.

[Emily Simpson]

She's a death certificate. The medical examiner says he died of a lethal dose of fentanyl. Okay. She Googles that, that. Can FBI find deleted messages?

[Co-host Shane]

Okay, well, there's no reason to look at that one. Search that.

[Emily Simpson]

If someone is poisoned, what does it go down on the death certificate as?

[Co-host Shane]

Cuz she wanted to know for insurance.

[Emily Simpson]

Insurance purposes.

[Co-host Shane]

Exactly. Well, even that you could be like, well, okay, whatever.

[Emily Simpson]

Luxury prisons for the rich in America. I like how she claims that like she's like she would go to a luxury prison because she's rich.

[Co-host Shane]

Is there a luxury prison?

[Emily Simpson]

What's a luxury prison? I. Are there. That's an oxymoron. Like happily married.

[Co-host Shane]

I'm in a luxury prison.

[Emily Simpson]

Oh my gosh. No, you know what? You're. You people are gonna think that I just abuse you. I don't abuse you.

[Co-host Shane]

Please send help.

[Emily Simpson]

Oh my gosh. Is this house a luxury prison?

[Co-host Shane]

I don't know. But this podcast can now be used as motive.

[Emily Simpson]

Great, thank you. Corey Richards net worth. That's just, you know, she just wants to feel like she's worth something. You know, she's actually in. So what is that? She has no net worth. She's in debt like millions and millions of dollars and her business is failing. That's like. That's the prosecution's whole motive is that she killed her husband for financial gain because she's in so much debt and her business is failing.

[Co-host Shane]

Let's see, I'm looking up Corey Richards net worth. Nothing's coming up. Yeah, she's not. Yeah, she's.

[Emily Simpson]

She's not worth anything.

[Co-host Shane]

She's not on anyone's radar to figure this stuff.

[Emily Simpson]

No, she's in a lot of.

[Co-host Shane]

Even though a lot of times that stuff's kind of just random numbers, you know?

[Emily Simpson]

Also, Carmen Lauber. We talked about this a little bit before, but Carmen Lauber is the drug dealer that she bought. Allegedly bought the, you know, fentanyl from. But again, this is where there is no other suspect in this case. So the defense, it's not like the defense is able to use a defense where they're pointing to someone else.

[Co-host Shane]

The other one, the other suspect is himself, right? He supposedly went to Mexico and got his own drugs. Well, no, I know, but that's the only explanation, alternate explanation that's being offered.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. So the defense, what they're going to do is they want to. They're going to try to put reasonable doubt into the jury's mind. That's the only way you're going to get Corey Richards off, right? You have to.

[Co-host Shane]

The way you get everyone off, that's.

[Emily Simpson]

You're going to have to establish some kind of reasonable doubt. The jury's going to have to sit there and go, you know, I don't know. How did the fentanyl get from here to here? Was it her? Her? That's the missing piece, right?

[Co-host Shane]

No one thought that. There's no way.

[Emily Simpson]

I know.

[Co-host Shane]

Everyone's thinking, of course, you cheat. I know, but can we just deliberate now?

[Emily Simpson]

Right, but let me tell you, though, there was no fentanyl found in the home. And there was no.

[Co-host Shane]

She gave it all to him.

[Emily Simpson]

No, but let me finish. There was no fentanyl residue found in the glass at the bottom of the cup. I, you know, I don't know how easy it is to wash away. I don't. I don't know. But there was no fentanyl residue found and no fentanyl found in the home. Home. So let's just. There you go. There's a little bit of reasonable doubt. I would hone in on that if I was the defense attorney. Right.

[Co-host Shane]

No, I know. That doesn't create any doubt for me. So what? So she cleaned up, she washed the dishes.

[Emily Simpson]

I'm saying if you're representing her and you're her defense attorney, the only thing.

[Co-host Shane]

Good luck with that one you can

[Emily Simpson]

do is try to focus on him getting fentanyl somewhere else. And, and there not being any fentanyl residue in the glass. Ass. In the house. In the house, anywhere. That. That's what you have to do. That's all I'm saying.

[Co-host Shane]

This, to me, says that the alternate theory that he has his own drugs doesn't exist because there's nothing in the house. This doesn't create any doubt that she did it. This creates doubt that he gets his own drugs.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, what she should have done was, you know, because I feel like when people are drug addicts, like when I watch it on TV or someone does drugs, they always have, like this little. A little, like a drug box, like

[Co-host Shane]

a little toiletry bag.

[Emily Simpson]

Like a little toiletry bag, don't they? And they just, like, pull their drugs out. So I'm saying if she. She should have been smarter. If she wanted people to think that

[Co-host Shane]

he took the fence, I think she could have done to be smarter about this.

[Emily Simpson]

She needed to have like his like drug kit somewhere, like in the house.

[Co-host Shane]

She needed to create like a story instead of just giving him drugs and later trying to figure out how to cover up.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, the other thing to create reasonable doubt is you, you want to, you want to, to establish that Carmen Lauber, who really is the star witness for the prosecution, has no credibility. And you don't believe her. So she got an immunity deal like we talked about in order to testify for the prosecution. So she wasn't, she wasn't going to do any jail time for all of this drug related activity that she has going on selling and distributing and buying and all those things. So the question is, do you find her to be credible? Do you believe what she says? Do you believe that Corey came to her? Do you believe that she bought Corey

[Co-host Shane]

Richards to not be credible? And that's enough for me.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay, so you're just. There you are. All right, so then when I'm watching the trial, so the prosecution puts on their case, right? They call all these witnesses. I don't remember how many, but I think originally they had like everyone they call, 40 listed or something, right? And his family testifies and Carmen Lauber testifies and Corey, Richard's best friend testifies and the boyfriend testifies. Ex boyfriend, all these, the ex boyfriend, whatever. They all testify, right? For the prosecution. Then it's like the prosecution's case in chief. Chief is done. They're done presenting their case. And the judge says, okay to the defense attorneys, you're on. It's now time for you to present your defense. You know, what witnesses are you going to call? And there's two defense attorneys. They're both public defenders and they've been public defenders for years. I think together they have like 36 years of experience or something. So you're not talking about like newbies, newbies. You're talking about very established public defenders. It's two women. And you watch them and they're, they're whispering to each other and they're talking and I'm assuming that they're trying, they're figuring out like, who should we call first? Or they have some kind of strategy. And the, you know, the judge is like, do you need more time? Or whatever. And they're like, no, the defense rests. We're not going to call any witnesses. That's it.

[Co-host Shane]

She's guilty, your honor.

[Emily Simpson]

So I was like, what?

[Co-host Shane]

They were, they were going back and forth with each other. What were they saying?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't well, they were whispering. I don't know what they were saying, but I, my assumption was when I'm watching them. I'm assuming you brought the file.

[Co-host Shane]

No. You brought the file? I didn't bring the file. I thought you brought the file.

[Emily Simpson]

No, I'm assum. Yeah, I'm assuming that they were, they were contemplating who they were going to call first or talking strategy, but then they said no. The defense rest. We have no witnesses to call. They, they called no one.

[Co-host Shane]

There was no, they wanted her to be guilty. So there's like.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah, but that's not zealously, you know, I know that's not advocating for your clients.

[Co-host Shane]

I know that's not. I was just saying maybe they're just like, you know, she's a guy killer.

[Emily Simpson]

So whatever this is, there's the part I don't understand. So the defense rested without calling a single witness. Also, Corey Richards does not testify, which is probably a good thing, right? I mean, I can't imagine it's never

[Co-host Shane]

a good thing for them to testify.

[Emily Simpson]

Right?

[Co-host Shane]

I, I know it would be more fun to watch.

[Emily Simpson]

I mean, it would be fun to watch, but I can't imagine you talk about that cross examination like she's just going to get annihilated so she chooses not to testify. And then they call no further witnesses. However, they had several witnesses ready to testify, but they, they changed their mind at the, at the, you know, cuz

[Co-host Shane]

they watched the trial. They're like, forget this, so she killed her husband.

[Emily Simpson]

I, I still feel like. And I, it's, I've never been a defense attorney, but in my mind I'm thinking, wouldn't they call someone that would help establish that there wasn't fentanyl in the house and there wasn't any fentanyl. Like, I feel like they wanted something,

[Co-host Shane]

they would have done something that they

[Emily Simpson]

should have kind of have done something where they're questioning that and leaving that doubt in the jury's mind. But they didn't. They called no one. They arrested. There was no defense. So the verdict came out. This is just recently that we heard the verdict. It came out on March 16th of 2026. The jury. And by the way, let's talk about the jury. It was only eight members. Normally a jury has 12.

[Co-host Shane]

No, in Utah it's eight.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, in Utah it's 12 if it's capital murder.

[Co-host Shane]

I know, but this was where they're

[Emily Simpson]

seeking the death penalty. But the prosecution decided not to seek the death penalty.

[Co-host Shane]

I read that. Because there's, there was only Circumstantial evidence.

[Emily Simpson]

Right.

[Co-host Shane]

So it's going to be. It was going to be a long uphill battle to try to get that capital punishment. So it was really. The low hanging fruit was life in prison.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. So that's why her jury only has eight, as opposed to 12. So the jury delivered four alternates and. Four alternates. Yeah. So the jury deliberated for only three hours after hearing closing arguments. I think that was shocking to everyone because.

[Co-host Shane]

Because probably most of that was lunchtime too. No, seriously, they probably like, dude, she did it, right? Yeah, she did. Okay, cool. Let's get some lunch.

[Emily Simpson]

They returned their verdict, finding Corey Richards guilty on all counts, including aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, two counts of insurance fraud, and forgery. She could be sentenced to life in prison without parole. And her sentencing is scheduled for May 13, which. The irony of that, that one is that that's also Eric Richen's birthday. So she's going to be sentenced on his birthday. Happy birthday to Eric Richards in heaven. And it'll be interesting to see. Do you think she'll get life without Pearl or do you think she'll.

[Co-host Shane]

I watched the. The verdict and she was. She was not a happy lady.

[Emily Simpson]

Well, her head, she, you know, her head hung low. And they read that she.

[Co-host Shane]

And she was a little. Yeah, she was, you know, she knew she was screwed there.

[Emily Simpson]

So there's a 2020.

[Co-host Shane]

I love how they did all the charges. And the last one was forgery. And don't think we forgot about the forgery.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. We know you did that. That's on there. If you watch, there's a 2020 special on the trial and it was really interesting. But they show when she was in. When she came in for her pre trial to figure for her bail. I believe it was to see if she was going to get bail or not. Like she would be allowed.

[Co-host Shane]

Oh, sure. Yeah.

[Emily Simpson]

They show her in the courtroom and she was very cocky. She was like smiling.

[Co-host Shane]

Oh, yeah. She wasn't cocky on verdict day.

[Emily Simpson]

Right. And they show her. They show a flashback to that or whatever. And she looked very confident.

[Co-host Shane]

Probably at that time she had private attorney. So they told her, oh, yeah, we'll get you. We'll. We got it, we got it. Give us a retainer. We'll take care of you.

[Emily Simpson]

She's like, I got this. I'm gonna. I'm gonna walk. I'm gonna write a letter to my mom. I'm.

[Co-host Shane]

I'm gonna tell her another children's book, how to.

[Emily Simpson]

How to Testify, what's said and trial so, yeah, they didn't call the brother, the brother that she told in the walk the dog letter how to testify about how Eric goes to Mexico. You know, they also interview her family, her brothers and her mom and even her brothers. Like, they annoyed me when I watched them because they were so adamant that she really was writing a manuscript, like she was writing a fiction book book. And I. I was just like, how. I mean, I understand you want to stand by your sister, and I understand you could say, I don't think she did it. She would never do that. She wouldn't do that to the children.

[Co-host Shane]

Like, I don't know, man. If the facts are there, I. I

[Emily Simpson]

mean, I can understand that to a certain extent, but the fact that her brothers were just like, no, yeah, she. That wasn't a letter to me. That wasn't about me that she was writing. She was writing a fiction book. I was like, now you don't just sound ridiculous now.

[Co-host Shane]

Are you in on it?

[Emily Simpson]

So, anyway, again, her sentencing is scheduled for May 13, so we will obviously follow that and discuss that. It'll be interesting to see what sentence she gets. Also during the sentencing. It'll be very interesting to watch and follow along because not only is she sentenced, but there's victim impact statements. So you know that his side of the family.

[Co-host Shane]

Oh, they're gonna let her.

[Emily Simpson]

They're gonna let her have it. She also has the opportunity to speak on her own behalf. I would assume that she won't do any good. Well, I don't think she will.

[Co-host Shane]

Does it ever do any good?

[Emily Simpson]

It never does.

[Co-host Shane]

I mean, of course they're gonna say, I'm sorry. It's like, no, she.

[Emily Simpson]

You think she's. She's not gonna say anything. She's gonna maintain her innocence and say she had nothing.

[Co-host Shane]

No, I know, but sometimes they. Okay, you're right. So to further my point, no matter what they say, I mean, does it really matter?

[Emily Simpson]

No, but the question is, do you think she'll say anything?

[Co-host Shane]

Anything?

[Emily Simpson]

I don't think she'll say anything.

[Co-host Shane]

I don't know.

[Emily Simpson]

But anyway, it'll be interesting to see what the.

[Co-host Shane]

Now what does it say? Two months.

[Emily Simpson]

Yeah, so we'll follow that. We'll obviously do another episode once that comes out, because I really want to talk about the victim impact statements, what they say, what the sentence is, and whether she decides to speak on her own behalf or not. So we will follow that. Anyway, thank you guys for listening to the Corey Richards trial again. If you have any comments or you have any further. I love it when people send me any information that they have because they, like, live in the area or they know somebody that knows somebody, please DM me on Instagram. I love to hear your messages and your thoughts on all these cases. Also, please remember to follow Legally Brunette wherever you listen to podcasts. And also, just another reminder that if you listen to us on two T's, that's great. We love that. But also, we have more episodes on our own feed, Legally Brunette. So if you enjoy it and you like to listen to it, please make sure you listen to us on our own feed as well, because we have more episodes there.

[Co-host Shane]

So most importantly, yes, if you have any thoughts of murdering your spouse again, get a divorce lawyer.

[Emily Simpson]

Right?

[Co-host Shane]

Please file a petition again.

[Emily Simpson]

Let us remind you that on this episode of Till Death Do Us Part that we would like to encourage everyone to please seek divorce instead of murder. All right, thank you for listening.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

You know, Roald Dahl, he thought of Willy Wonka in the bfg, but did you know he was a spy? In the new podcast the Secret World of Roald Dahl, I'll tell you that story and much, much more. What you probably won't believe it either

[Emily Simpson]

was this before he wrote his stories.

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

It must have been.

[Emily Simpson]

Okay, I don't think that's true.

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

I'm telling you, the guy was a spy. Listen to the Secret World of Roald Dahl on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Emily Simpson]

Then she says, have you seen a photo of my son? And I'm like, who is this person?

[Boys and Girls Podcast Host]

Welcome to the boys and girls podcast. Arranged marriage is basically a reality show and you're auditioning for your soulmate. And who's judging? Only your entire family. I sacrificed myself to this ancient tradition, hoping to find love the most right way. And instead, I found chaos, comedy, and a lot of cringe. Listen to boys and Girls on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

This Women's History Month. The podcast Keep It Posit Sweetie celebrates the power of women, choosing healing, purpose and faith. Even when life gets messy, love is not a destination.

[Emily Simpson]

You have to work on it every day.

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

Keep it positive. Sweetie creates space for honest conversations on self worth, love, growth, and navigating life with grace and grit, led by women who uplift, inspire, and tell the truth out loud.

[Emily Simpson]

I have several conversations with God and I know why it took 20 years

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

to hear this and more. Listen to Keep It Positive sweetie on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts it's the new

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[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

My, like, tunnel vision of like, I

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gotta achieve this was off the strengths of like, I want to make a

[Keep It Positive Sweetie Host]

better life for us.

[Amber Grimes]

If you KNEW Better brings real talk from women who've lived it, unpacking career pivots, relationship lessons, and the mindset shifts that changed everything. Listen to if you Knew Better with Amber grimes on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

Everyone needs to take care of their

[Co-host Shane]

mental health, even running back Bijan Robinson.

[Emily Simpson]

When I'm on the field and feeling

[Roald Dahl Podcast Host]

the pressure, I usually just take a deep breath. When I'm just breathing and seeing what's in front of me, everything just slows down. It just makes me feel great before I run the play.

[Emily Simpson]

Just like Bijan, we all need a strong mental game on and off the field.

[Co-host Shane]

Make a game plan for your mental

[Emily Simpson]

health at loveyourmindplaybook.org Love youe Mind Brought to you by the Huntsman Mental Health

[Co-host Shane]

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[Nick, Dick, or Paul]

and the ad console.

[Emily Simpson]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.