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- [00:01]
Vanessa Richardson
On the Crime House original podcast, Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, we're diving into the psychology of the world's most complex murder cases.
- [00:09]
Dr. Tristan Ingalls
From serial killers to cult leaders, deadly exes and spree killers, we're examining not just how they killed, but why.
- [00:17]
Vanessa Richardson
Is it uncontrollable rage? Overwhelming fear? Or is it something deeper? Serial Killers and murderous minds is a Crime House Studios original new episodes drop every Monday and Thursday Friday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts.
- [00:42]
Katie Ring
This is Crime House. One quiet night, one drink, one man who never woke up. And now prosecutors are saying fentanyl didn't end up in Eric Richen's body by chance.
- [00:57]
Hank
Foreign.
- [01:01]
Katie Ring
Welcome to Night Watch on crime house 24 7. I'm your host Katie Ring and together we'll be following the cases making headlines now where justice is still unfolding. Follow us wherever you are listening and if you want ad free episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. Plus subscribe to our YouTube channel at Night Watch Pod. This episode discusses an active criminal case. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
- [01:42]
Hank
Hey, Sal.
- [01:43]
Sal
Hank, what's going on?
- [01:45]
Hank
We haven't worked a case in years. I just bought my car at Carvana and it was so easy.
- [01:49]
Katie Ring
Too easy.
- [01:50]
Hank
Think something's up? You tell me. They got thousands of options, found a great car at a great price, and it got delivered the next day. It sounds like Carvana just makes it easy to buy your car, Hank. Yeah, you're right. Case closed.
- [02:06]
Katie Ring
Buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. Parle tout francais. Hablasse espanol. Parle italiano.
- [02:15]
Sal
If you've used Babbel, you would. Babbel's conversation based technique teaches you useful words and phrases to get you speaking quickly about the things you actually talk about in the real world. With lessons handcrafted by over 200 language experts and voiced by real native speakers, Babbel is like having a private tutor in your pocket. Start speaking with Babbel today. Get up to 55% off your Babbel subscription right now at Babbel.com listen spelled B A B-B-E-L.com listen. Rules and restrictions may apply.
- [02:44]
Katie Ring
After 34 year old Corey Richen's husband died in 2022, she wrote a children's book about grief. The book called are you with me was written for her three young sons and it focused on how children cope after losing a parent, how love continues, and how presence can still be felt even when someone is gone. Corey described it as a way to help her children process an unexpected trauma. On March 3, 2022, nearly a year before Penn hit paper, 39 year old Eric Richens was at home in Camas, Utah, enjoying a Moscow mule. Camas is a cozy mountain town east of Park City defined by quiet nights in a family friendly atmosphere, not crime. Corey, who's a real estate agent, had just struck a huge deal on a house flip, so celebrations and drinks were in order. But what started out as a night of excitement and celebration ended in tragedy when Eric didn't wake up the next morning. According to Corey, their nine year old son Ashton was having night terrors so she went to go check on him. But when she came back to bed around 3am she noticed Eric had gone cold to the touch and was unresponsive. At 3:21am Corey called 911 and the dispatcher told her to start performing CPR. So she followed their instructions. But unfortunately, when the officers and EMPs arrived at the house about 10 minutes later, it was too late. Eric was pronounced dead at the scene. There were no obvious signs of trauma, no injuries and no indication of a struggle. His death was so sudden and unexpected it was initially treated as a death by natural causes. However, when Eric's body was sent over to the medical examiner's office, the results would paint a different story. Amid grieving and raising three boys, Corey promoted her book and spoke publicly about her experience as a widow and single parent. She gave emotional interviews and shared posts about losing a loved one, often focusing on how she was helping her children cope with their father's death. But behind the scenes, a new development was underway. When Eric's toxicology report came back, it opened up the possibility that this case could be much more sinister than they originally thought before his name made headlines as a tragic story. Eric Richards was a devoted dad and a hard worker. He had a career in construction as a contractor and even owned his own company, C and E Stone Masonry. According to friends and family, he was disciplined with money and careful with long term planning. He managed properties, monitored finances closely and was deeply involved with his son's daily lives. Whether it was school drop offs, activities or time at home, he was always there for his family. Back in 2009, Eric met his wife Corey in a very fitting place for someone in construction, Home Depot. Corey was a cashier and Eric was a familiar face since he would come in all of the time for his projects. After Eric's co workers convinced him to talk to her, the couple quickly started dating and got married four years later in 2013, when Corey was just 23 years old and Eric was 31. The couple had three sons, Carter, Ashton and Weston, and on paper, they were your typical happy family. But behind the scenes, some major problems started brewing, both marital and financial. There's a lot to unpack here, so let's break down the timeline. In 2013, Eric and Corey got married, which led the couple into a premarital agreement where Eric's successful company would remain his sole property unless he died. During 2015-2017, Corey took out life insurance policies on Eric and at least 3 of the life insurance policies included aggregate death benefits of $1.3 million, naming Corey as the beneficiary. There is also a fourth $500,000 policy and a fifth policy that paid $168,000 towards the balance of Eric's mortgage. In 2019, Corey used a power of attorney to obtain a $250,000 home equity line of credit, which gave her a revolving credit line to use for large expenses on Eric's premarital home without his knowledge. Later, she formed K. Richens Realty LLC to buy up real estate, fix it up and then sell it, AKA house flipping. According to court documents, the proceeds of the home equity line of credit were used to initially fund her business, while the hard money loans from private high interest lenders she also took out were used to finance its daily operations. Then In October of 2020, Eric finally learned of the revolving line of credit, so he consulted an estate planning lawyer in order to protect himself and his children from any abuse and misuse of the finances. Once that settled, Eric confronted Corey and she told him that she would repay the loan and later convince Eric that she had already repaid it. However, Eric became suspicious of Corey and In November of 2020, Eric went back to the estate planning lawyer, creating the Eric Richens Living Trust. He put his sister Katie in charge and transferred his assets to the trust and removed Corey as the beneficiary of a $500,000 life insurance policy. Corey was reportedly unaware of the changes until after Eric's death. In October of 2021, Corrie borrowed from over 25 money lenders to pay off her company's debt obligations. According to court documents, Kay Richards Realty brought in $170,000 in revenue while its monthly debt service exceeded $250,000. To keep her accounts in the black, Corey wrote bad checks to herself, which was essentially money laundering. Additionally, Corey roped her best friend into signing a rent to own agreement. This type of agreement usually allows a tenant to rent a property with the option to buy it later. With this in mind, Corey's friend sent $45,000 to K. Richins Realty. Corey agreed the money would go towards a down payment on the home, but instead she used it to cover her company's debts. Then, In November of 2021, Corey used hard money loans to purchase three additional properties, adding $1.1 million in high interest debt. By this time, she had already defaulted on one loan and was late to pay off several others. Despite this, she continued to borrow from new high interest lenders, and at this point, she was near total financial collapse. Sometime between 2019 and 2021, Corey and Eric decided to go on a vacation to Greece. And during the trip, Corey allegedly gave him a drink and he suddenly became violently ill. This incident triggered a phone call from Eric to his sister, where he confided in her his belief that Corey tried to kill him. In December of 2021, Corey's spending increased when she contracted an unfinished mansion using $2.9 million in high interest debt. Interestingly enough, Corey was scheduled to close on the property the day of her husband's death, though she ultimately closed on it the day after. Then, on February 14, 2022, Corey Richards allegedly poisoned her husband once again. She purchased a sandwich from a diner and left it for her husband alongside a love note. After eating a bite, Eric broke out in hives, unable to breathe. He then used his son's EpiPen, drank a bottle of Benadryl, and passed out for several hours after the incident. He reportedly told a friend at the time, I think my wife tried to poison me. He also texted his wife, quote, I'm gonna go lay down for a bit. If I don't start getting better, I'm gonna head to the hospital. And she responded, geez, it's that bad? Need me to come home. Ultimately, he decided not to go to the hospital. Then, nearly a month later, on March 4, 2022, Eric Richins was found dead in his bed after drinking a Moscow Mule. The toxicology report later revealed that Eric had five times the amount of lethal fentanyl in his system. At the time of his death, Kay Richards Realty already owed hard money lenders at least $1.8 million. Hard money lenders differ from traditional banks in that the loans carried high interest rates and strict default provisions upon Eric's death. Lenders were permitted under the loan agreements to accelerate the debt, calling the full balances due at once and applied default, interest and penalties. Cross default clauses meant multiple loans could be triggered simultaneously. As a result, obligations that had previously been spread out over time became immediately payable, causing her company's debt to surge to more than $5 million within days. Two days after Eric's death, it's alleged that Corey and Eric's other sister Amy, got into a fight at the family's home. It was reported that Amy told Corey that Eric's property did not belong to her under his trust. Hearing this, Corey became infuriated and punched Amy in the face and neck. A year later, while investigators were still privately investigating Eric's cause of death, Corey released her children's book, Are youe With Me? This immediately threw her into the public eye, framing her as the grieving widow. Throughout this time leading up to the release of her book, investigators were taking a closer look into Cory's financial issues as well as Eric's alarming toxicology report. And that's when investigators alleged there was a lot more to this story.
- [12:41]
Hank
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- [13:01]
Katie Ring
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- [13:10]
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- [13:46]
Katie Ring
On May 8, 2023, Corey Richards was arrested and charged with one first degree felony count of criminal homicide, aggravated murder and three second degree felony counts involving possession of a Controlled substance with intent to distribute. Eric's death rippled through his family and community. A healthy man with no known medical condition suddenly dying in his sleep left many shocked and confused. And when the toxicology report showed a lethal amount of fentanyl in Eric's system, friends and family told authorities that drug use, especially a drug like fentanyl, was entirely out of character for him. The question was no longer what went wrong, it was how it went wrong. According to court filings, prosecutors alleged that in early 2020, two weeks before Eric's death, Kori asked her housekeeper Carmen to obtain fentanyl for her. The state has said that Carmen later told investigators she did comply with Corey's request and bought her the fentanyl. Prosecutors also pointed to phone records as part of the timeline. And court documents stated that Corey and Carmen exchanged a series of text messages beginning in early January 2022 and continuing throughout the weeks leading up to Eric's death, with additional contacts shortly afterwards. According to the state, those messages were later deleted from Corey's phone. And in my favorite idiotic criminal trend, she made some extremely incriminating Google searches. Let me read some to you. Luxury prisons for the rich in America. How long does life insurance companies take to pay? Can you delete everything on an old icloud account? Can deleted messages be retrieved? What information can be obtained from a cell phone? How to turn my iPhone off? Can cops force you to do a lie detector test? When does FBI get involved in a case? And what is considered a lethal dose of fentanyl? Following her 2023 arrest, Corey Richards pleaded not guilty and still remains in state custody without bail as she awaits trial. The charges stunned the community. And the image of a grieving widow and author of a children's book about loss was now tied to an ending no one saw coming. By March of 2024, while Kouri was still in custody, even more developments against her started to surface. Allegedly, the night before her husband's death, Cory received a text from another man. A photograph of two people kissing. At 8:36pm that night, Corey texted the man back, I love you. Even before his death, prosecutors allege Corey texted the man the day after the Valentine's Day incident, saying, quote, if he could just go away, life would be so perfect. As evidence continued to paint Corey in a bad light, her defense came forward with a surprising new twist. A key prosecution witness, Robert Crozier, had recanted crucial parts of his earlier statements. Prosecutors had relied on Crozier's interview to support their claim that Corey obtained Fentanyl through her housekeeper Carmen, and that Corey used that fentanyl in the events leading to her husband's death. But in the affidavit defense attorneys obtained In April of 2025, Crozier said he never sold fentanyl to Carmen and instead recalled selling her OxyContin. Corey's lawyers called the recantation a potential grenade in the state's theory of the case and asked a judge to reconsider her pretrial release. Prosecutors responded that their case did not hinge on Robert alone and that forensic evidence, financial documentation, and other records still tied the narrative together. A judge ultimately sided with the prosecution, and Corey remained in custody as the case moved towards trial. After the defense's unsuccessful attempt at her release, the prosecution added on even more charges in June of 2025. They felt they had more sufficient evidence to take the case to the next level. And now Corey faces over two dozen new charges, including seven counts of felony money laundering and five counts of felony forgery. These new charges will not be included in her upcoming criminal trial and will instead be a separate federal case. Corey's defense denies these allegations and maintains that the amended charges are unsupported by direct evidence. As the case moved forward, the volume of evidence was an obvious central issue for Corey's team. And by this point, the public narrative had fully shifted against her. What began as a sudden and unexplained death had become one of the most closely watched criminal cases in Utah. And yet the legal process was far from complete because while charges had been filed and amended, the most consequential phase lay ahead. Corey's long awaited and highly anticipated trial. By the time her case reached this stage, prosecutors shifted away from evidence discovery and began building out their case. But as delays kept accumulating and her trial was pushed to 2026, attention turned back to whether Corey would remain in custody while awaiting trial. And on January 25th, Corey's defense team dropped yet another bombshell.
- [19:08]
Jennifer
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- [20:07]
Katie Ring
Why have I asked my H Vac guy I found on angie.com to change my grandpa's trachea tube? Because I was so amazed by how quickly he replaced our air ducts. I knew I could trust him to change Pop Pop's tube while I was on vacation.
- [20:19]
Hank
Make it quick young man.
- [20:22]
Katie Ring
Aw, see, Pop Pop trusts you.
- [20:25]
Hank
I think we should call a doctor. Connecting homeowners with skilled pros for over 30 years Angie the one you trust to find the ones you trust. Find pros for all your home projects@angie.com.
- [20:38]
Vanessa Richardson
What drives a person to kill? Is it uncontrollable rage? Overwhelming fear? Unbearable jealousy? Or is it something deeper? Something in the darkest corners of our.
- [20:51]
Dr. Tristan Ingalls
Psyche Every Monday and Thursday, the Crime House Original Podcast Serial Killers and Murderous Minds dives deep into the minds of history's most chilling murderers. From infamous serial killers to ruthless cult leaders, deadly exes and terrifying spree killers, I'm Dr. Tristan Ingalls, a licensed forensic psychologist. Along with Vanessa Richardson's immersive storytelling full of high stakes twists and turns, in every episode of Serial Killers and Murderous Minds, I'll be providing expert analysis of the people involved, not just how they.
- [21:26]
Vanessa Richardson
Killed, but but why Serial Killers and Murderous Minds is a Crime House Studios original new episodes drop every Monday and Thursday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts.
- [21:42]
Katie Ring
Ahead of Corey Richen's highly anticipated trial, scheduled for February 23, 2026, her defense team filed a new motion that added another complex layer of controversy. The motion accused the state's own prosecution team of intimidating and harassing potential witnesses. Conduct, her defense team says, cross legal and ethical lines. As of this recording, the judge has not publicly ruled or sent a date on the motion. In papers filed with the court, Corey's attorneys asked the judge to order prosecutors and their investigators to turn over all communications they had with witnesses in the case of that includes text messages, emails, voicemails and any other written or recorded exchanges. According to the motion, two separate witnesses reached out to the defense, saying they were being pressured by investigators working with the prosecution. One witness, referred to in court documents as W1, told the defense that when they made it clear they did not want to meet with prosecutors before trial, the lead detective on the case, Jeff o', Driscoll, responded with what the motion describes as a threat. The text message from o' Driscoll read quote, you have received a subpoena to appear at court as a witness. If you fail to do so, the judge will issue a warrant for your arrest. You will then have to sit in a holding cell until you are needed to testify. So make your life easier and answer our calls so we can prep you on what you will be asked. Otherwise, the next time I knock on your door, I'll have a warrant and a catch pole for the dog. Defense attorneys called that text blatant witness intimidation, arguing that threatening to arrest someone or to use a catch pole goes beyond merely securing testimony and ventures into coercive conduct prohibited under Utah law and the Victim and Witness Rights Act. A second witness, referred to AS W2 in the motion, relayed a different exchange with Travis Hopper with a lead investigator for the Summit County Attorney's Office. According to the motion, when the witness told Hopper they weren't interested in further discussion beyond their earlier statement, Hopper allegedly replied, the immunity granted by the prosecution remains conditional upon continued cooperation. Declining to participate further may place that immunity at risk. The defense asserts that both statements cross a line from legitimate preparation into improper proper pressure or intimidation. Under Utah Code, the motion argues, threats to arrest someone or to withdraw immunity in order to influence their willingness to cooperate may qualify as prohibited conduct and could affect witness credibility. Corey's attorneys also argued that because these communications relate directly to witness credibility, prosecutors must disclose all messages of this nature so the defense can evaluate how many other witnesses may have felt pressured. The prosecution has not publicly responded to the defense's motion and instead said their response will be made in court filings, not through public statements. In the meantime, Corey still remains jailed without bail. As she awaits trial, prosecutors are still prepared to present a narrative centered on intent, opportunity and motive. The defense plans to challenge the interpretation of evidence, dispute the prosecution's timeline, and argued that the case relied too heavily on interference. Throughout these proceedings, Eric Richen's family remained largely out of the courtroom spotlight. In statements to the media, they reminded people that Eric should be remembered as a devoted father with a steady presence whose life was built around his children. Meanwhile, the children's book that was once believed to be a sense of copy comfort to her grieving children will now play a crucial role in the broader story. The book itself was not evidence of a crime, nor was it part of the formal charges, but its timing became inseparable and will be hard to argue in court. Despite the insurmountable evidence against her, Corey Richards continues to maintain her innocence as of this recording. Corey's trial is scheduled for a five week period from February 23rd to March 26th, 2026, though further delays remain possible due to the complexity of the case. Jurors will be asked to weigh everything we talked about, forensic science, financial documentation, digital records and witness testimony. They will be asked to determine not just what happened, but why. Eric Richards died in his own home, in his own bed, after a night that appeared ordinary. For months, his death remained un unexplained. During that time, life continued, public narratives formed, and private investigations moved forward. Some answers take years to surface, and in the case of Corey Richards, the truth of that night has yet to fully emerge. What did you think of tonight's case? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments. See you next time if you haven't already. Make sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts and subscribe to our YouTube channel at Night Watch Pod. Your support means everything. Oh, could this vintage store be any cuter? Right? And the best part? They accept Discover. Accept Discover In a little place like this? I don't think so.
- [27:15]
Jennifer
Jennifer.
- [27:15]
Katie Ring
Oh yeah, huh? Discover's accepted where I like to shop. Come on baby, get with the times. Right. So we shouldn't get the parachute pants. These are making a comeback, I think. Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide, based on the February 2025 Nielsen report.
- [27:35]
Vanessa Richardson
What drives a person to murder? Find out from a licensed forensic psychologist on Serial Killers and Murderous Minds. A Crime House Original Podcast New episodes drop every month, Monday and Thursday. Follow wherever you get your podcasts.
- [27:51]
Katie Ring
Honestly, I put off building a website way longer than I should have. Then I tried Wix Harmony and it was way easier than I expected. I just described what I wanted and I had an incredible looking website. The best part? I could change anything myself or ask my AI agent for help. I had everything my business needed right there. So if you've been procrastinating, this is your sign. Start building a website for free@wix.com Harmony.