Kouri Richins – Part One: The Children’s Author Who Killed Her Husband | #442

Summary

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RedHanded Podcast #442: Kouri Richins – Part One: The Children’s Author Who Killed Her Husband

Original Release: March 26, 2026
Hosts: Suruthi ("Surrey") and Hannah

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Episode Overview

This gripping episode examines the sensational case of Kouri Richins, a Utah real estate agent and would-be children’s grief book author, who was convicted in 2026 for the murder of her husband, Eric Richins. Through a detailed, irreverent, and darkly comedic lens, the hosts dissect Richins’ motives, the labyrinthine investigation, and the surreal drama of the trial. The episode unpacks not just the facts of the crime, but the absurdities and jaw-dropping moments, revealing a case that “if made into a movie, would be absolutely panned for being completely absurd.”
([03:12])

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Main Topics & Key Insights

1. Who Is Kouri Richins?

• Kouri Richins was a 33-year-old Utah mother of three, who in 2023 appeared on local TV to promote her children’s book Are You With Me?—a book "written" to help her sons process the sudden death of their father, Eric, a year earlier.
  ([01:00])
• Just one month after her TV appearance, Kouri was arrested for Eric’s murder.
  ([01:49])

2. The Fairytale Marriage Unravels

• Kouri and Eric met in 2009 (he, a construction business owner; she, a Home Depot cashier). They married in 2013 and had three sons. Eric’s masonry business (“C.E. Stone Masonry”) was highly successful, and by all appearances, theirs was a charmed suburban life.
  ([04:50])
• Kouri launched a real estate house flipping business in 2019—a “classic all-American wife move”, according to Surrey. However, it rapidly became clear real estate does not automatically equal riches.
  ([06:03])

3. Eric’s Sudden Death

• On March 4, 2022, Kouri called 911 at 3am reporting Eric was unresponsive and cold in bed. She claimed she’d been sleeping with the kids, woke up, and found him lifeless.
  ([07:51])
• Paramedics found Eric had been dead for a while—his body already cold.
  ([09:57])

4. Investigation Begins

• Kouri told many Eric died of an aneurysm (based on a paramedic’s speculation) before autopsy results were in.
  ([12:20])
• The autopsy revealed Eric had died of a fentanyl overdose—five times the lethal limit.
  ([13:14])
• Eric’s family was immediately suspicious, especially when they discovered Eric had transferred major assets—including the family home—into a trust managed by his sister Katie just before his death. ([13:47])
• Kouri, feeling “short-changed” despite a $1.3 million payout (Eric’s estate was estimated at $4 million), embarked on a legal battle for more of the estate.
  ([14:57])

Quote:
"She was left feeling somewhat shortchanged." – Surrey ([13:47])

5. The Private Investigator and New Evidence

• Eric’s family hired PI Todd Gabler, described as “exactly what you would expect of a PI that does not give a single fuck.”
  ([16:04])
• Gabler found Kouri was in frequent contact with her housekeeper, Carmen Lauber, who had an extensive history of drug violations (notably, fentanyl distribution).
  ([19:57])
• Text records also revealed a long-running affair with a man named Josh Grossman.
  ([20:42])
• On Gabler’s discoveries, the authorities reopened the investigation, leading to Kouri’s arrest in 2023—weeks after her children’s grief book hit the airwaves.
  ([21:36])

6. The State vs. Kouri Richins

• Kouri spent years awaiting trial. The prosecution constructed a case around circumstantial evidence and motive:
  • She was drowning in debt, wanted Eric’s money, and was desperate to be with her “paramour.”
  • Allegedly, Kouri slipped a fatal dose of fentanyl into Eric’s Moscow mule cocktail.
    ([22:40] - [23:16])
• The defence painted Kouri as a victim of a witch hunt, manipulated by Eric’s scheming family, and claimed Eric had been financially controlling and addicted to drugs.
  ([23:48])
• Physical evidence was scant: “The prosecution [was] banking almost entirely on motive and circumstantial evidence alone.”
  ([23:16])

7. Demeanour Under Scrutiny: Kouri's 911 Call & Police Bodycam

The 911 Call

• Hosts play and analyze the full 911 call, highlighting how Kouri “lacks urgency” and launches into narrating where she was, building her alibi rather than focusing on Eric’s immediate state.
  ([35:51] - [36:21])
• Notable Quote:
  • "The dispatcher feels like she has a lot more urgency than Corey does to get help for Eric." – Surrey ([36:21])
• Kouri tells a friend via text that she “tried so fucking hard to save him… pumping so hard”—contradicting the passivity heard on the actual call.
  ([38:52] - [39:34])

Bodycam Footage

• Kouri's behaviour on police bodycam is criticized: she uses a "whining little girl's voice" without tears or visible emotion, hides behind her hands, and distances herself from her children.
  ([42:33] - [46:24])
• When her sons are alone and frightened, "it's Katie [Eric’s sister] that goes in there, picks them up and carries them out, not their own mum."
  ([64:04])
• The hosts note that Kouri displays more apparent distress when told the medical examiner and detective would be examining Eric’s body, which they see as her “most authentic reaction”—betraying genuine panic at possible investigation.
  ([55:58] - [57:22])

8. Trial Testimony & Evidence

• The trial (February–March 2026) was slated for six weeks but only lasted two, with the jury returning a guilty verdict on all five charges after three hours of deliberation. ([21:40], [26:08])
• Key family testimony:
  • Eric’s family recounts he said: “If anything happens to me, she’s to blame.” – Family testimony ([26:17])
• The prosecution enters Kouri’s journal (“orange notebook”) into evidence, where her account doesn’t match the camera footage; she claims to be “hysterical” and “throwing up”—none of which is substantiated.
  ([67:34])
• Kouri opened multiple secret life insurance policies on Eric worth nearly $2 million and paid a ghostwriter $10,000 for her children’s book, later lying about writing it herself.
  ([70:03] - [71:19])
• The prosecution used this to show her as “disingenuous.”
  ([70:31])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If you know this case, then you will likely agree with me when I say that this Walk the Dog letter is possibly the most damning self-inflicted evidentiary wound I have ever seen from a defendant.” – Surrey ([04:12])
• On the defence’s trial strategy:
  • “They put her hair in a bun, put her in very drab clothes. It's buttoned all the way to the top. ... I actually think it was a mistake… They actually make her look a lot older than she is.” – Surrey ([24:16])
• On her business acumen:
  • “She is so terrible at business.” – Surrey ([71:40])
  • “Cory thinks it does not... I think everything. The only thing everyone needs to tell Cory repeatedly is it doesn't work like that. That's the thing Corey needs to hear, but she will never hear it because as I said, she is fucking delusional.” – Surrey ([72:51])
• "[Kouri] is just the epitome of...'I don't actually want to do anything, but I want to be rich.'" – Surrey ([75:52])
• On Kouri's emotional performance:
  • “But it’s the fact that there’s no range of emotion. There’s no range of emotion. Like she doesn’t even get a little [choked up].” – Surrey ([77:17])

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Timestamps to Key Segments

• [01:00] — TV promotion of Kouri’s children’s grief book
• [03:12] — Episode theme: murder, greed, and dramatic trial
• [07:51] — The 911 call and Eric’s death
• [13:14] — Autopsy reveals fentanyl overdose
• [16:04] — Introduction of PI Todd Gabler
• [20:42] — Discovery of Kouri’s affair via phone records
• [22:40] — Prosecution and defense strategies for trial
• [35:51] — Detailed analysis of the 911 call
• [42:33] - [49:00] — Bodycam footage analysis and Kouri’s odd demeanor
• [55:58] — Kouri’s reaction to news of the autopsy
• [64:04] — Eric’s sister Katie’s arrival and care for Kouri’s children
• [67:34] — The orange notebook: Kouri’s self-mythologizing journal
• [70:03] — Revelation of the ghostwritten children’s book and financial schemes
• [75:52] — Sharp criticism of Kouri’s character and outlook
• [77:17] — Closing thoughts on Kouri’s lack of emotional range
• [78:13] — Episode wrap-up and tease for Part Two

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Conclusion

This first part of “Kouri Richins: The Children's Author Who Killed Her Husband” is a scathing and endlessly engaging overview of one of the most bizarre murder cases in recent memory. The hosts blend forensic detail with biting humor and pathos, navigating between side-splitting digressions and deep dives into Kouri’s psychology, her clumsy cover-ups, and the devastating fallout for the Richins family. The episode expertly sets the stage for Part Two, with the promise to unpack even more “filthy” twists—including the sensational “Walk the Dog” letter.

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(For additional investigation into the evidence, trial-day breakdowns, and infamous “Walk the Dog” letter, tune in to Part Two.)

Transcript

[Surrey]

Just one bite of the deliciously comforting flavor of Easy Cookin Eckerich Smoked Sausage is enough to take you all the way home. Its naturally hardwood smoked taste sends you away to those summer days with dad at the grill. Take a bite and see for yourself. Eckerich.

[Alex Kanchowitz]

Hi, this is Alex Kanchowitz. I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast, a longtime reporter and an on air contributor to cnbc. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, in meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

[Surrey]

In April 2023, a 33 year woman named Corey Richins was invited onto Good Things Utah, a segment on Salt Lake City abc. She was there to promote her new book, Are youe With Me? It was for children, to help them cope with the loss of a parent. Corey explained that she and her three boys had written the book together to process the grief they had all endured after losing her husband and their father, Eric Richins, a year before. Joining us now is author of Are youe With Me? Corey Richens, to share her three Cs to helping kids cope with grief. And Corey, I want to start with your story, what happened in your personal life. So my husband passed away unexpectedly last year. So it's March 4th was a one year anniversary for us and he was 39.

[Hannah]

It completely took us all by shock. Everyone had been shocked that 39 year old Eric had died so suddenly. But for Corey, the real shock was yet to come because one month after this TV appearance, Corey Richards was arrested for being a terrible writer. But mostly the murder of her husband Eric.

[Surrey]

Yeah, man, this case is pretty wild. I have been following this story for years. I, I had when I was writing the script, I was like, has it been years? It has been years. It has been years. She was arrested in 2023. I was like, oh my God, this case has been going on for such a long time. And Last week in March 2026, Corey Richards was convicted. But did the jury get it right given that they deliberated for barely three hours on five charges including aggravated murder? Some people aren't so sure. I'm not one of those people. But some people aren't so sure.

[Hannah]

Well, some people think we owe Casey Anthony apology.

[Surrey]

So some people gonna, you know, be wrong. Be wrong. Sometimes it do be like that. But the trial, whatever you think about the outcome, certainly delivered when it came to drama. It was just as shocking as I expected it to be in a case about a woman who allegedly murdered her husband to get her hands on his millions to run off with her lover. Not to mention then publish a children's book about grief to cash in yet further, a book, as the trial revealed, she didn't even write.

[Hannah]

Books are hard.

[Surrey]

They are hard. But no one made you do it, Corey. No one made you do it. Except your greed.

[Hannah]

Was the book called Grief Greed.

[Surrey]

That was the working title. And then her ghostwriter was like, no, no, no, no, no, no. But I'm Saruti.

[Hannah]

I'm Hannah.

[Surrey]

And this is Red Handed where today we are going to take a big long filthy look at the case of Corey Richins.

[Hannah]

When you were in the loo just now, I was explaining what we have to do with the files and which ones have to go off first for our lovely sound friend in the box behind us. I was like, well we've got a big longy first that has to go. And he was like, oh, love a big longy.

[Surrey]

Who doesn't?

[Hannah]

Don't we all.

[Surrey]

Hope you guys do too.

[Hannah]

Strap in

[Surrey]

this story, if it were made into a movie, it would be absolutely panned for being completely absurd. From the drug peddling housekeeper, the handyman lover, the collapsing business empire, the Bizarro911 call, and of course my personal favourite part of this story, that Walk the Dog letter. If you know this case then you will likely agree with me when I say that this Walk the Dog letter is possibly the most damning self inflicted evidentiary wound I have ever seen from a defendant. Let's get into it.

[Hannah]

Eric and Corey Richards met in 2009. Eric worked in construction and Corey was a cashier at Home Depot. I know that's how it is in my head because I've only ever heard Americans say it, but I know the correct pronunciation is Depot but I can't. Sorry, I'm losing my shine. My British shine is rotting away.

[Surrey]

Let him have it.

[Hannah]

Eric loved Home Depot. He was there all the time. And that is how they met each other. Eric had actually wanted to ask Corey out for weeks and finally one day he got his mate to get her number for him. That's a blast from the past, isn't it?

[Surrey]

It is.

[Hannah]

That doesn't happen anymore.

[Surrey]

No.

[Hannah]

Just fist you as soon as look at you.

[Surrey]

As if they even replied.

[Hannah]

But Corey did. She did reply and they hit it off straight away. And by 2012 Corey had given birth to their first son. They got married the following year and went on to have two more boys. All the while Eric's business Sea E Stone masonry was blowing up big time. Hopefully not. Hopefully all the stones stayed intact.

[Surrey]

Not smashing them to bits.

[Hannah]

Building walls things ah okay.

[Surrey]

Mason in them.

[Hannah]

And in 2019 Corey decided it was time to focus on her career. So she set up guess what, a real estate business. Always, always, always. Is that what every all American wife does?

[Surrey]

I think that this is just like a big I don't know the real estate market in the US I'll, I'll say that but I think this is just like a belief that everyone has they're safe as houses. I go into houses I can't lose, can always make money. Corey is living proof that that is not true.

[Hannah]

I suppose it's you can work for yourself as well. It's the same in, in South Africa. It's, it's, it's not easy. Of course it's not easy. Much more common for an estate agent to be working for themselves than it is here.

[Surrey]

Absolutely yeah. You would just be like oh you're a freelance estate agent. No. The only reason to go to an estate agent company here is, is because of their like reach. Why would you care if one random person came up and said that? But it's obviously a different thing in

[Hannah]

the US Anyway Corey decided to start buying up multiple properties and trying to flip them.

[Surrey]

So Corey's not actually just like trying to sell houses to people or sell houses for people. That's not just what she does. She's also like I'm going to be a renovator when buy loads of properties, I'm going to renovate them because I'm such a you know, classy lady with fantastic taste and then I'm going to flip them and make millions and millions and millions.

[Hannah]

Yeah, double bubble. I'll make a percentage on my own money.

[Surrey]

Double trouble.

[Hannah]

From the outside things looked like things were pretty good for the richens. Big dreams, big house, big family, all in small town America. Then suddenly tragedy struck. At 3am on 4th March 2022 Corey called. 911 address of the emergency.

[Corey Richards]

My husband's not breathing. Keep cold.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, what's the address?

[Corey Richards]

282 Willow Court.

[911 Dispatcher]

28 Low Court. Okay what's the good phone number in case we get disconnected first thing?

[Corey Richards]

671 4987.

[Surrey]

Okay.

[911 Dispatcher]

Is this going to be in Francis? Okay, tell me exactly what happened.

[Corey Richards]

I don't know. I was sleeping with my kids.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, I can understand you. I need you to take a deep breath. What's going on?

[Corey Richards]

I don't. I don't know. I just. I was sleeping in with my kids. I just came in the bed, in our bed and I turned over and. He's just cold. He's just cold.

[911 Dispatcher]

Who's cold?

[Corey Richards]

I don't want to sit back in the light office

[911 Dispatcher]

and he's not breathing. He's not breathing. No, I need you to confirm it for me. Is he not breathing?

[Surrey]

When the police and paramedics arrived at the house, Corey explained that it had been just an ordinary evening. She and Eric had had a couple of celebratory drinks at home because the next day she was supposed to close on another property. It was her biggest purchase to date was going to be a 2.9 million dollar house that she called the Midway Mansion. She and Eric had had a lemon shot and then a Moscow mule. Then they went to bed at around 9.30pm but one of their boys had a nightmare, so Corey had gone into his room to take care of him. She said that she ended up falling asleep in her son's bed, only waking up at around 3am when she returned to her bed, she touched Eric and realised that he was cold and unresponsive. So she'd called 911.

[Hannah]

It takes quite a long time for someone to go cold.

[Surrey]

Yeah.

[Hannah]

A new way.

[Surrey]

Yeah. But sadly, there was nothing the paramedics could do. By the time they got there, Eric had already been dead a while.

[Alex Kanchowitz]

Hi, this is Alex Kanchowitz. I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast, a longtime reporter and an on air contributor to cnbc. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, in meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh Spiegel]

Hey, I'm Josh Spiegel, host of the podcast Lunatic in the Newsroom. If you enjoy journalism that drifts into mild panic, wild overthinking and a guaranteed nervous breakdown, Lunatic in the Newsroom is for you. It's news like you've never heard before. The only newsroom with a panic button. You'll laugh, you'll cry and gasp in horror as the show spirals completely out of control. It's not just news, it's emotionally unstable lunatic in the newsroom. Listen today.

[Alex Kanchowitz]

Hi, this is Alex Canceroitz. I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast, a longtime reporter and an on air contributor to cnbc. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, in meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology Podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Hannah]

In the days after Eric's death, with everyone reeling from the shock and confusion, Corey set about informing everyone that Eric had died of an aneurysm. A paramedic at the scene had mentioned this as a possibility, but investigators were still waiting on the autopsy results to confirm what had actually happened. And then a month after Eric's death, it was revealed that Eric Richence had actually died of a fentanyl overdose. There had been five times the lethal amount of the drug in his blood. Corey told police that she had absolutely no clue that Eric was using fentanyl, but that he had been in a lot of pain from a recent work injury. And so the police said they were closing the case. It looked like a tragic but accidental overdose.

[Surrey]

Yeah. And fentanyl, it's always something we hear about. It's like a drug everybody is sort of like vaguely aware of. Maybe some people more than others. I didn't realize just how fucking strong it is.

[Hannah]

It's terrifying.

[Surrey]

It genuinely is terrifying. Like unbelievable. The fact that fentanyl is. Would you like to guess, Hannah, how much more potent than heroin? Fentanyl?

[Hannah]

I think I know this lots. Yeah.

[Surrey]

50 times more potent than heroin. 50 times more potent than heroin.

[Hannah]

It's synthetic heroin.

[Surrey]

That's what it is. It's a synthetic opioid. And it is also just, again, to put it into comparison, up to a hundred times more powerful than morphine. It is staggering, absolutely staggering. So, yes, Eric's family, when they hear about this cause of death, cannot believe what they're hearing. Fentanyl. There was absolutely no way. They were horrified, but not as horrified as Corey was when she discovered that in the months and years leading up to his death, Eric had moved numerous assets belonging to him, including the family home, into a trust that was managed by his sister Katie. Not that Corrie was exactly left high and dry. She received $1.3 million from a life insurance payment. But given that Eric was worth around $4 million from his stonemasonry business, which was incredibly successful, and that Corey thought that she stood to lose the house that, you know, she had lived in with Eric, she was left feeling somewhat shortchanged.

[Hannah]

I also feel like if you've got kids, I can completely understand setting up a trust that has more than one person. You want three, so there can be no deadlock. You want three people executing this trust for whoever your, like, dependents are, were will be that not being your wife as one does seem quite strange.

[Surrey]

Oh, yes. We'll get into why very shortly before anybody feels too sorry for Corey. And so, yes, just three weeks after her husband Eric died, a furious Corrie embarked on a legal battle with Eric's family to try and get access to his entire estate.

[Hannah]

At this stage in the game, if you don't know what Saruti Bala knows, which is everything, perhaps you are sympathizing with Corey. Maybe you're thinking, oh, this poor lady, she's lost her husband and now his family are kicking her out of the fold and they're trying to take all of Eric's money away from her. Corey actually claimed that Eric had been financially controlling throughout their marriage, and this was his final blow against her.

[Surrey]

So with Corey and Eric's family now locked in this vicious civil suit, his sisters hired a P.I. named Todd Gabler.

[Hannah]

Todd Enabler.

[Surrey]

He would love that. Todd is quite a character. If anyone has caught any of this trial at all, he is exactly what you would expect of a PI that does not give a single fuck.

[Hannah]

I'm glad, because I don't know anything. So that was a complete shot in the dark.

[Surrey]

He is just like, I will not be constrained by the police. I will not be babysat by anybody. I will do Whatever I want. And I know that my ethics and my morals are top notch. He is. He's pretty wild. He is pretty wild. So, yeah, they hire this guy, PI Todd Gabler, to help them. And what Gabler would find over the next year changed the course of this case entirely. Because Gabler was initially brought on just to dig up relevant information with regards to the civil case. But he soon got a lot more than he bargained for.

[Hannah]

Gabler, the enabler, managed to research the Richen's home as a PI he didn't need a search warrant because he's not law enforcement. And he had permission from Katie, Eric's sister, who was in charge of the trust. So Katie actually owned the house?

[Surrey]

Yeah, that's all he needs. He only needs permission from the person who runs this trust, because the trust owns a house. The trust owns everything. All of Eric's assets. So he doesn't need the police and he doesn't need fucking Corey to approve it.

[Hannah]

And on multiple occasions, Gabler even called the police to tell them to go back to the house and look again because he had found something evidentiary that they had missed during their initial searches.

[Surrey]

Yeah, because, remember, the police go there. We're gonna get into the night in question itself. We're gonna look at all the body cam footage, but they are like, yeah, we don't know how this guy died. Then they bury Eric, and then it's only after that that they even discover it's a fentanyl overdose. And then they're like, oh, it must have just been a tragic accident. It's not like, you know, America isn't in the throes of an opioid epidemic. So, yeah, they just chalk it up to being one of those terrible things. There is no, like, thorough police search that was ever done of the house. So when Gabler goes in and he. We don't really know exactly what he found, but it just says something evidentiary. And he keeps telling the police, you need to go back. I've left it where I found it. It's in the third drawer in the second bedroom. You need to. And he is really the reason that this case even goes anywhere.

[Hannah]

Gabler even put trackers on Corey's car, as well as on her mum's and her brother's cars, I assume. Not just on her brother's person.

[Surrey]

No.

[Hannah]

Okay.

[Surrey]

Vehicles.

[Hannah]

And to top it all off, Gabler got access to Corey's phone records. Again, he did this totally legitimately because her phone and phone bill were paid for through Eric's business. Which was a part of the trust.

[Surrey]

So technically, yep, Katie's nothing illegal done by Todd Gabler, as far as I have seen. And these records, these phone records, because, remember, the police never look at Corey's phone records. Why would they? Her husband just died of a tragic overdose. When Todd Gabler had a look, they proved to be vital. Gabler spotted that Corey had contacted a woman named Carmen Lauber. And constantly between January and March 2022. I remember, Eric dies in March 2022. Carmen was a housekeeper who worked for Corrie, helping her with the houses that she was trying to flip. So, okay, you might think, not that unusual. She's basically Corey's employee. But when Gabler took a closer look at Carmen, he found that she had a very, very, very long history of drug violations, including the distribution of narcotics. Narcotics like fentanyl, perhaps.

[Hannah]

Carmen Lauber was the third most contacted person on Corey's phone. The first Gabler discovered was Corey's mum, Lisa Darden. The second, that was a man named Josh Grossman. And the texts between Josh and Corey, just like his namesake, Lloyd, they were spicy.

[Surrey]

Arabiata spicy. That's not that spicy. But you know, Lloyd Grossman, in case you didn't get that, thank you for explaining my joke. Do the Americans know who Lloyd Grossman is? We'll tell you. You should. Is he dead?

[Hannah]

I guess we'll never know. Don't look it up.

[Surrey]

Oh, he's American. He's American British, so they should know. I think he's still alive. He's 75.

[Hannah]

Well, I'm glad he's still kicking it. Anyway, it turned out, unsurprisingly, that Corey had been having a multi year affair with Josh Lloyd Grossman while she had been married to Eric. Gabler showed all of this to Eric's family, who handed over everything they thought could possibly be linked to a criminal case over to the police. Because, yes, they were now sure that Corey had had a hand in Eric's death. And everything PI Todd Gabler had turned up was also convincing enough that the police reopened the investigation. Corey, unaware of how fast this was all progressing, was out there on Utah News promoting her new Children's Grief book. But within weeks, investigators had arrested Corey Richards.

[Surrey]

It's quite a whirlwind year for Courtney.

[Hannah]

You could say that, yeah.

[Surrey]

Yeah. So, yeah, she's arrested in 2023. The trial doesn't kick off until the 23rd of February, 2026 in Utah. So she is in prison for, you know, a good while. And the whole time there are just like Countless, like, motions being filed by her defense. They're giving it all this about how they're gonna, you know, come in all barrels blazing into the trial. Like, I was expecting this, like, spectacle from the defence. We'll see about that. So, yes, she's in prison in Utah awaiting trial. And she was facing five charges, including aggravated murder, aggravated attempted murder, two counts of insurance fraud and one count of forgery. The prosecution led by Brad Bloodworth, Bloodbath and beyond. It's a. It is a bloodbath. This trial is a bloodbath. And yeah, his name doesn't really come up again, but I had to include it once. The prosecution claimed that Corey was drowning in millions of dollars worth of debt and she was also desperate to escape her marriage so that she could be with her lover. I also see in a lot of places people calling him her paramour. I'm like, really? No, I don't even feel comfortable calling him her lover because I do not think she loved him for one second.

[Hannah]

I think paramour is just like. You're probably a bit old to say boyfriend.

[Surrey]

Do you know what I mean? Yeah, it just feels too romantic.

[Hannah]

Yes. I mean, I'm not calling anyone a paramour anytime soon, but I think that's the.

[Surrey]

That's what they're possibly. Yeah. And yeah, they're saying that she's motivated by the money, she's motivated by a desire to be with her paramore. And so she gave Eric a lethal dose of fentanyl, slipping it to him in that Moscow mule that he drank the night he died. The question was, with the prosecution banking almost entirely on motive and circumstantial evidence alone. Because, remember, they don't search the scene, they don't test anything. There is no direct evidence at all. Would it be enough to convince the jury?

[Hannah]

The defence at the time, headed up by Skylar Zaro, it's a very good name, claimed that this was nothing more than a witch hunt. The police had been manipulated by the Richins family, who were desperate to make Corey look like a monster and keep all of Eric's hard earned stone money for themselves. The defence claimed that Corey was the victim, trapped in a loveless marriage by Eric, a drug addict who financially controlled her.

[Surrey]

And knowing all the sauciness and sneakiness that would come out during the trial, the defense opted to dress Corey in this very, like, matronly look. If you look at pictures of Corey prior to trial, like, when she's married, she's always got her hair down. She always, like, you know, has her makeup Done. She's dressed very like cutely. She's very like cute, cute suburban mum. But they dress her like in a very odd way. They put her hair in a bun, they like put her in very drab clothes. It's buttoned all the way to the top. I get what they were trying to do. They were trying to de sex her, but I actually think it was a mistake. I think they should have made her look like how she looked before, younger, cuter, more girly. Because she's tiny, she's like five foot nothing. And she is young. I think she's like our age. She's very young. But in going for this matronly look, they make her look very severe and very scary and they actually make her look a lot older than she is. And I think like, I don't know, I get what they were doing but they actually, I think it kind of backfires on them.

[Hannah]

That makes sense.

[Surrey]

It wasn't a good look. They should have made her look more girlish and like innocent, like butter wouldn't melt. Whereas she's got quite an angular face. And I think that also, like with the harsh look, I think it just like exacerbated that. The reason they were going with this matronly look is obviously because they knew at trial it was all going to come down to who the jury would believe, especially in a case with no direct evidence. So with the stage set, we are going to do something we can't usually do on Red Handed. We are going to walk you through the trial day by day.

[Hannah]

Oh boy.

[Surrey]

I know. And that is because the trial did not last nearly as long as anybody thought it would. It was scheduled for like six weeks.

[Hannah]

Yeah. U.S. included.

[Surrey]

Yeah. I was like, what?

[Hannah]

Got loads of time.

[Surrey]

What the fuck? It lasts like two weeks.

[Hannah]

Wow.

[Surrey]

So yeah, let's go through it all because it's very interesting and there is a lot to get through.

[Hannah]

Big old longy. Let's get into it. On day one, the prosecution kicked off with Eric's family. His sister Katie Richards Benson and his father Eugene both gave very emotional testimony. They described the night that Eric died and Corey's behavior, including how Corey didn't even speak once to her father in law, not one time. They also explained how they had raised their suspicions with police immediately because Eric had allegedly told them, if anything happens to me, she's to blame. Then the state got into the meat of the night itself. Playing the jury, the 911 call and also body cam footage from the first responding officers. So let's start with that one?

[Surrey]

Yeah. When we posted the update on the fact that Corey Richards had been convicted, everyone in the comments was like, I can't wait to hear the analysis of the 911 call. So we are going to listen to it now and we're going to give the people what they want.

[Hannah]

But who am I not to do my job, you know?

[Corey Richards]

I'm not breathing. Keep cold.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, what's the address?

[Corey Richards]

282 Willow Court.

[911 Dispatcher]

28 Low Court. Okay, what's a good phone number in case we get disconnected?

[Corey Richards]

435-671-4987.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay. Is this going to be in Francis. Okay, tell me exactly what happened.

[Corey Richards]

I don't know. I was sleeping with my kids.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, I can't understand you. I need you to take a deep breath. What's going on?

[Corey Richards]

I don't. I don't know. I just. I was sleeping in with my kids. I just came in the bed, in our bed, and I turned over and he's just cold. Here's a cold.

[911 Dispatcher]

Who's cold?

[Corey Richards]

I don't want to sit back in the light office

[911 Dispatcher]

and. He's not breathing. He's not breathing. I need you to confirm it for me. Is he not breathing?

[Corey Richards]

No.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, we're gonna. Can you do cpr? You don't know? I'm going to tell you how to. Are you willing to do cpr?

[Corey Richards]

Yeah.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, if there's a defibrillator available, send someone to get it now and tell me when you have it.

[Corey Richards]

No, there's not available. Okay.

[911 Dispatcher]

I'm sending the paramedics to help you now. Stay on the line and I'll tell you exactly what to do next.

[Corey Richards]

Okay.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay. Are you right by your. Are you right by your husband right now?

[Corey Richards]

Yes.

[911 Dispatcher]

He's so pale. His mouth.

[Corey Richards]

Okay.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, listen carefully. Are you able to lay him on the floor or the ground? On the floor. On the ground.

[Corey Richards]

I'm just shrinking.

[911 Dispatcher]

I can't.

[Corey Richards]

I can't touch him.

[911 Dispatcher]

I can't. You can do it. You can do it. You need to calm down. Okay.

[Corey Richards]

Yellow.

[911 Dispatcher]

We need to help them. I. I can guide you through cpr. Take a deep breath for me. I'm. I'm here with you.

[Corey Richards]

He doesn't have a p. He.

[911 Dispatcher]

He doesn't have a pulse.

[Corey Richards]

No.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, I'm here with you. I'm here with you. I. We need to get him help. If I. If you need to. Put me on speaker. Put me on speaker. I'm gonna guide you through cpr, ok?

[Corey Richards]

Okay.

[911 Dispatcher]

Tell me what you've done.

[Corey Richards]

Then I'm ready. You're ready?

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, he's on the floor.

[Corey Richards]

He's on the. He's on the bed.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay. Are you able by any chance to move in on the. To move him on the floor?

[Corey Richards]

I don't know what's happening.

[911 Dispatcher]

I don't know what's happening. I'm here with you. Are you. You're not able to move him to the floor

[Corey Richards]

here. Don't come in here. Oh, my God. My sister.

[911 Dispatcher]

You're not able to move him to the floor. Just listen carefully. We just need to get him on the floor. Don't worry about hurting them.

[Corey Richards]

He's too heavy.

[911 Dispatcher]

Is he still on the bed? Okay, if there's a sheet or a blanket under them, can you loosen it from the mattress?

[Corey Richards]

Yes.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, stand at the side of the bed closest to them and remove anything under the head.

[Corey Richards]

Okay.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, I need you to pull the sheets towards you and slide them off the bed. Don't worry about him falling. We just need to help him. Tell me when he's on the floor.

[Corey Richards]

I can't move it. It's a dead weight.

[911 Dispatcher]

Like you're not. If he has sheets under, pull them to the floor. Don't worry about hurting.

[Corey Richards]

Can you please send somebody?

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, I. I have the ambulance that's on the way.

[Corey Richards]

Okay?

[911 Dispatcher]

There's another way to do this. Okay, grab their feet. Grab his feet.

[Corey Richards]

Okay.

[911 Dispatcher]

Slide them towards you until they're just off the be. How old is your husband? 30 days, 39.

[Corey Richards]

Okay.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay. Were you able to pull his feet off the bed? Okay, now grab the arm closest to you and pull the rest of check of the way off the bed again. Don't worry about the fall. We just need to help them now. I have the ambulance on the way. I just need you to do this, okay, so we can get the help for him.

[Corey Richards]

Okay?

[911 Dispatcher]

Once they arrive, they'll take over. We just need to start CPR now. You are doing great. Okay? I just need you to get him on the floor. You got him on the floor?

[Corey Richards]

Yeah.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, listen carefully. Okay. Make sure that there's nothing under. Under his. Under his head. Is he laying flat on his back? Yeah.

[Police Officer]

Okay.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, just listen carefully and I'll tell you how to do chest compressions. Okay, place the heel of your hand on the breastbone. This is in the center of the chest, right between the nipples. Put your other hand on top of the. Of that hand. Okay. Okay, pump. Start pumping the chest hard and fast at least twice per second and two inches deep. Okay. Okay, start. Start counting out loud. So I can count with you. Okay, we're going to count. 1, 2, 3, 4. Okay, let me know when you're ready. 1. 1, 2, 3, four. 1, 2, 3, Four. Count all out so I can hear you. I'm counting with you. One, one, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, 2, 3, 4. One, 2, 3,4. One, 2, 3, four. One, two, 3, 4. One, two, 3, four, four. One. If it's easier for you. Am I on speaker?

[Corey Richards]

Yes.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay. 1, 2, 3, 4. Do you know the front door is open? No, it's. It's locked. It's.

[Corey Richards]

Are you.

[911 Dispatcher]

I need you to go. Are. Is there anybody else within the home, or is it just you?

[Corey Richards]

That's all my kids.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay. Are you. Are one of them old enough to go unlock the door? Yeah, it's a notch. It's unlocked now.

[Surrey]

Yeah.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay, I need to keep doing tpr.

[Surrey]

We were listening to that here. We probably won't play it for you guys at that speed. At, like, times two, it takes her six minutes to agree to start CPR. And look, I think it's not the worst 911 call I've ever heard.

[Hannah]

That's what I was gonna say. I was like, in terms of sounding convincing that you are terrified and scared and your husband is dead and you have no idea what to do. Out of the many we've heard over the years, it's pretty good.

[Surrey]

It's not the worst at all. I think the things that I picked up on because I listened to it at normal speed, in which there's long pauses when nothing is happening, where she's saying nothing, and the dispatcher is like, I need you to confirm this. I need you to tell me what's going on. I need you to do this thing. I think immediately. What struck me is, like, the dispatcher feels like she has a lot more urgency than Corey does to get help for Eric. Like, I understand the shock. And again, I can only guess at how I would be acting in that moment, But I feel like I would be like, why aren't you here yet? Why isn't somebody. She's just like, I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's going on. And maybe that's just her personality. Like, we can put that to that. But it really feels like she's not that urgent. And when she asks her what's happened, she's not just immediate. Like, Eric isn't breathing. Eric is cold. He's, you know, unresponsive. There's no pulse. She starts Saying, I was in another room, I was with my son. I then came into this room and then found him like this. It's like, why is that relevant to the story of, like, Eric needing help? That feels like you creating distance from whatever happened to Eric and you being physically not with him. And again, all of this is only really important or relevant or, like, diagnosable in hindsight. Like, yes, a normal person could also do that. But that's what struck me is like, why are you giving an explanation? Almost like building an alibi already for where you were and creating distance from what happened to Eric to where you were physically in the house when this happened? And then it feels like, yes, she feels very reluctant to do cpr. And again, yes, some people might say that's not something that everybody wants to do. Everybody might not feel comfortable with it, especially when it's your own husband. It might feel like it's too shocking a thing to do it. But the bit that I really like is when she goes. When the. When the dispatcher is telling Corey how to get Eric's body off the bed by putting a sheet under him and pulling him onto the floor, she goes, I can't move. Like, again, maybe it's an over analysis of language, but to me, it's like the words we use are important. And you're gonna call your husband, the father of your three children, who you think is something is wrong with him. And it. Instead of I can't move him.

[Hannah]

She also calls him dead weight.

[Surrey]

Yes, it's just. It's just not good. It's not good. And I think the 911 call, I'll say it's not the worst I've heard the body cam footage is something else which we're going to get into. But there's certain points in that 911 call that I went a bit like, oh. But again, maybe if you listen to loads and loads and loads of 911 calls, maybe we could pick that up on even when people have nothing to do with it.

[Hannah]

Mm. However, all of the things we've just pointed out flies directly in the face of a message that Koori sent to her friend Chelsea Barney a week after Eric died, which said, I just tried Chels so fucking hard to save him. His lifeless body on my bedroom floor. I pumped so damn hard. So hard screaming at him to come back to life, that I needed him. He was gone, Chels. Just fucking gone. He never even gave me a sign that he needed fucking help. I would have woken up. I could have helped him this is so fucked up. But that story doesn't really gel with the 911 call we just heard, now, does it?

[Surrey]

Yeah, this is the thing with Corey, right? Is the way she's behaving could almost be believable. Could almost be a woman who's just in shock. Where she starts to unravel herself is that she does way too much. She gives very dramatic accounts of how she reacted to moments that we have evidence for that she didn't react that way. She's acting like she was doing all of these things and crying and hysterical and trying to save him, as we're going to find out. The paramedics aren't even sure she actually did cpr, but she's telling Chelsea Barney that she definitely didn't. She was pumping so hard. And we'll see this again and again with her is that she thinks she's just a little bit smarter than she is. Well, no, she thinks she's a lot smarter than she is.

[Alex Kanchowitz]

Hi, this is Alex Kanchowitz. I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast, a longtime reporter and an on air contributor to cnbc. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, in meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology Podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts, the sun

[American Psychiatric Association Foundation Announcer]

shining, birds are singing, and all feels right in the world.

Until the season changes and suddenly you lose your motivation to get out of bed. In fact, one in five people experience some form of depression no matter the season or time of year.

At the American Psychiatric association foundation, our vision is to build a mentally healthy nation for all. Because we want you to live your best life and be your best you all year round.

Please visit mentallyhealthynation.org to learn more.

[Alex Kanchowitz]

Hi, this is Alex Kanchwitz. I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast, a longtime reporter and an on air contributor to cnbc. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, in meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to big technology podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

[American Psychiatric Association Foundation Announcer]

The sun shining, birds are singing, and all feels right in the world until

the season changes and suddenly you lose your motivation to get out of bed. In fact, one in five people experience some form of depression no matter the season or time of year.

At the American Psychiatric association foundation, our vision is to build a mentally healthy nation for all. Because we want you to live your best life and be your best you all year round.

Please visit mentallyhealthynation.org to learn more.

[Surrey]

Let's get into the body cam footage of the night. This goes on for a very, very long time. So we are just going to play like very specific clips that are worthy of discussion.

[Hannah]

And this is body cam.

[Surrey]

This is body cam footage of the first responding police officers who are at the scene that night. So Eric is like the paramedics are literally working on Eric. And okay, this, this is the reaction.

[Police Officer]

What's your first name? What's your first name? Yeah, let's. Let me talk to you for a second. Let's let them do their work in there. So what happened today?

[Corey Richards]

It was just fine. We were fine.

[Police Officer]

Always when you see. We were fine. What time did you see him? When he was alert.

[Corey Richards]

We had a drink together at nine to celebrate something at work tomorrow. Okay. We went to bed. I went to bed with my kids. He went to bed in our bed.

[Police Officer]

What time did you guys go to bed?

[Corey Richards]

Nine. Thirty.

[Police Officer]

Nine thirty.

[Corey Richards]

Okay.

[Police Officer]

And then what, what, what allerged you to him today? Right now?

[Corey Richards]

I just woke up. I always, when I sleep with my kids, I'll wake up and I go back in my own bed. I just crawled over on his side

[Police Officer]

and he was laying in bed.

[Corey Richards]

Okay. He was on his back on the bed and I. Okay.

[Police Officer]

And he was on. You said he was on his back.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay.

[Hannah]

We had a drink at nine. Precisely.

[Surrey]

Precisely.

[Hannah]

About something that's happening at work tomorrow.

[Surrey]

Yeah. And then we went to bed and then I had to go take care of my son and I came out and then he was unresponsive. And yeah, it's the story that we've already told you guys that she would say. And look, watch this video footage. If you are watching us on YouTube, you can see what we're looking at. Even if you're just listening, you can hear it. And as we have said multiple times on this show, there is no universal way in which people respond to grief or Shock. I accept that. I believe that. But what is jarring for me here, at least for me, is that her voice and her words and her physicality don't really match up for me. There's no consistency in her response. She has this sort of like non stop continuous whining little girl's voice that she's doing where it's like the, oh,

[Corey Richards]

then I don't know what happened and then I don't know what happened.

[Surrey]

Like she can't breathe and she probably thinks that sounds like she's crying. But when it's coupled with no actual tears, even though it's quite hard to see because she's covering her face the entire time, it comes across for me as very disingenuous. And then the other thing is she's putting on this voice like she's crying, no tears, but there's no actual, like breaking of her voice or like gasping of her breath or inability to control her breathing or anything that one would normally associate with someone who is struggling to compose themselves. She seems very composed, but her voice just seems uncomposed, but nothing else about her does. So, yes, for me, if she was just sat there totally calm or if she was crying hysterically, but the voice and the breathing and the physicality all matched up, both of those could absolutely be real responses to what's happening. But it's this kind of uncomfortable combination of the crying voice, yet no tears, no vocal cracking or vocal breakage, all accompanied by the way that she's constantly hiding her face from the police officers the entire time. That makes it all feel a bit odd. And, yeah, I find it very, like, very jarring.

[Hannah]

She also says about her children, please don't make them come out. They're listening at the door.

[Police Officer]

Where are your children now

[Corey Richards]

to sleep in that room? Two are awake with their heir to the door. Please don't they come out.

[Police Officer]

Where are the other you at that are awake?

[Corey Richards]

No, away bedroom. And where's that at there, first one to your left.

[Surrey]

Okay, that bit where she is like the eldest one's asleep and the other two are in that bedroom listening through the door. Please don't make them come out. I don't know. I don't know. I didn't like that.

[Hannah]

Those boys, the eldest of whom is just 10, are listening as paramedics are trying to save their father's life. And it's like, Corey, their mother, doesn't want to face them. As a mother, you would think that her first concern, given that she can't do anything more for Eric, now that the professionals are there would be to protect her children.

[Surrey]

And people might dispute this, but I have watched multiple people who are experts in behavior who say when something like this is happening, when one parent is in trouble and the other parent is there and the children are there, there's no physical risk to the children because it's not like a killer on the loose in the house. But that caregiving instinct will take over because they will be like, I need to protect them. I need to protect them from what's about to happen, what could be happening. She shows none of that. She shows no interest whatsoever in her children. She's again very immature in the way she speaks, like with that little girl's voice. It doesn't help but she's like, don't make them come out here. It's like you're their fucking mum. The eldest is 10.

[Hannah]

I think what you could argue though is seeing a dead body, seeing police in your house, seeing police question your mum, it's all very traumatic stuff. So I think you could probably argue that making them stay in their room is, it is a caregiving instinct.

[Surrey]

You could. I think I've seen all of this. And this goes on all night where she never goes into the boys room, she never comforts them. They must be so scared. She's scared and she's a fucking grown woman. They must be absolutely terrified and they're just locked in a bedroom on their own with no explanation, no comfort, no care, no hug, no reassurance. Everything's gonna be okay. Mummy just has to talk to these, these people. I'm gonna be right in there. There is never any of that. And we see non stop rolling body cam footage from when the police get there. And she never once does that.

[Hannah]

I think that's it. I think if she was going in

[Surrey]

and out, she never goes in there.

[Hannah]

I think that's it. I don't think it's the fact that they're being kept away from the unfolding event.

[Surrey]

She's keeping them away from her. And why, why is it she can't look at her children in the face?

[Hannah]

Later in the evening, the officers can be heard worriedly discussing how the kids are all awake. But Corey still doesn't make any move to go and check on them. It's strange, especially because she as a 33 year old woman desperately does want her own mum there.

[Surrey]

Yeah, you know, fuck her kids. But she's like, I need my mum to come take care of me now. And so let's have a little look at Mummy Darden when she arrives.

[Police Officer]

You can call right now.

[Corey Richards]

Yeah, I need to call my mom. I need to call my mom so bad. Okay. I think. I don't know. They were once on the phone. They had my phone. Okay, here you go. My phone.

[Police Officer]

Yep, I'll give you a phone right now.

[Hannah]

Okay.

[Corey Richards]

I need to call his dad. He's gonna be okay, right? Like I went. I got in bed and then I just got.

[Police Officer]

They're. They're doing their best. Okay, ma', am, here, you can use my phone.

[Corey Richards]

Mom. Mom. Mom. I don't know. Something's wrong with Eric. The police have come to hear something like, I don't know what's happening. He wasn't breathing. I don't know who. Eric, where is she at?

[Hannah]

I don't know how much more whining I can listen to.

[Surrey]

There's so much whining. It's just this non stop stop whining. And look, I have spent a long time listening to all this, watching all this. Maybe I'm reading too much into this and people can make up their own minds, but to me, that interaction between Corey and her mum feels very weird. Lisa Darden doesn't sound at all shocked by what Corey is telling her. She's not like, what? What are you talking about? What do you mean? What's going on? She's just like, what? Where's he at? Okay, I'm coming over. It feels very staged. And look, Lisa Darden hasn't been investigated for anything. She hasn't been arrested with anything, been charged for anything. I'm just saying there's more stuff we'll come on to with Lisa later. But like. But anyways, with Mummy Darden on her way, the police asked Corey if Eric had any health issues.

[Police Officer]

So no heart problems or anything like that?

[Corey Richards]

No, I mean, he just said his chest was hurting when he went to bed. That.

[Hannah]

That's.

[Corey Richards]

I mean, not if he doesn't drink enough water. You know, when he gets on the bike downstairs. I don't know, it just. It didn't. And then he just said he was really tired because he got his allergy shots yesterday morning. Great.

[911 Dispatcher]

Okay.

[Corey Richards]

With my son so much.

[Police Officer]

And then when did you discover him? What time?

[Corey Richards]

I got. I got my phone. It's pretty three.

[Police Officer]

About three. Did you immediately call the 911?

[Corey Richards]

Yeah, well, I mean, I got up and. Well, as soon as I turned over and he was cold, I just felt like something was wrong. I mean, I just put the blanket on it because I just thought wrinkles. So I Just. And then I sat there for a minute, and I just didn't feel like breathing or anything. And so I. Oh, my God.

[911 Dispatcher]

Try.

[Police Officer]

Any Covid or anything like that.

[Corey Richards]

We all just got over co.

[Police Officer]

Okay, and when was that?

[Corey Richards]

Weeks ago.

[Police Officer]

Okay, so not recently.

[Corey Richards]

Well, he. So it just. So he just, like, had a negative test. So I was the last positive, and then he had it. So his last negative test was a week ago.

[Police Officer]

Okay.

[Surrey]

And she's putting a lot out there. She's like, Lyme's disease. He had allergy shots yesterday. He was dehydrated. And it makes a lot of sense, Right? You would want to be as helpful as possible to try and understand why this happened. Then she throws this in.

[Corey Richards]

Before he goes to bed. It didn't seem like you did, though.

[Police Officer]

So, like a gummy? As in like a THC gummy.

[Hannah]

Okay, so now she's offering up the idea that Eric may have secretly had a THC gummy before going to bed. They know all of this down, and the paramedics and police discuss what could have possibly happened to Eric, but they're stumped. They know Eric must have been dead quite a while because he was cold. And then there was the blood. One of the paramedics says that blood was flowing out of Eric's nose when they started chest compressions. And this can happen during cpr. But if Corey had done CPR before the ambulance got there, as she claimed on the 911 call, and also to her friend Chelsea, why didn't that blood come out then? She's small and, like, CPR is cracking ribs, and perhaps she just isn't. I don't think she did it, but if I had to poke a hole in it.

[Surrey]

Yeah, yeah. It's all worth chucking in there, but, yeah, I can. I can buy that. That's not the biggest. A biggest problem for me. Let's listen to the next part of this body cam footage, because I think this reaction to me from Corey and see if you can spot what I mean. Feels the most authentic. The most authentic of all of the reactions I have seen from Corey.

[Hannah]

Feel like I'm on a game show.

[Surrey]

Spot the reaction.

[Police Officer]

Any history of prescription abuse?

[Surrey]

No.

[Corey Richards]

I mean, when he was in high school and stuff. Yeah. Okay. Pain pills, I think.

[Surrey]

Or maybe a reaction to his shots

[Corey Richards]

yesterday that he didn't feel good from then. Like, he didn't look good last night. He looked pale last night. And I. He just. I asked if you were okay, and I said, yeah, but you're saying his chest was Hurting. But

[Police Officer]

does he have any history of illicit drug use or anything in the.

[Corey Richards]

No. Never.

[Police Officer]

Well, I'll explain you what the process is right now. Guess he was in good health and at his age and everything like that. Okay, our medical examiner is going to come and do their investigation real quick. And then also our detective, just to make sure that every. Everything's documented, you know, correctly. And then from there, they'll explain to you what's going to happen, most likely what I'm thinking, because, you know, he has no serious health problems or anything like that, his age. Most likely, they're gonna take his body to the.

[Hannah]

Oh, my God.

[Police Officer]

Medical examiner's office just to make sure that, you know, there wasn't anything else.

[Corey Richards]

Okay.

[Police Officer]

All right. Do you have any questions for me right now?

[Hannah]

Is it. Is it the bit where they start talking about the medical examiner and she looks up and starts licking her lips like an anxious dog?

[Surrey]

Yes. And then the part where they're like. And the detective. And she goes, oh, my. Honestly, firstly, like, rewind. Instinctively, I find the dynamic between Corey and her mum, Lisa, quite odd. Like, I've watched a lot of this. Like, we even included all the clips. But, like, Lisa Darden gets there, and then she just sort of, like, floats around. She's, like, sitting at the edge of the sofa. Her daughter is there, apparently hysterically upset because her husband has died. Again, very much like Corey not comforting her children. Lisa Darden doesn't go anywhere near her daughter. She doesn't put her arm around her. She doesn't comfort her. She doesn't, like, say anything at all that I witnessed to give her daughter comfort. Her daughter, who so desperately wanted her mum there. She just sort of sits there. And then I just feel like also, the mum is, like, offering up all of these reasons. He didn't look good yesterday. He had those allergy shots yesterday. I feel like, you know, all right, Lisa, like, she's trying to offer up all these reasons, but it's hard to feel like when Lisa Darden is speaking to the police, she seems very casual. I almost felt like at points, she's like she's there supporting her daughter whose bike has gone missing or something like that. They all just seem very. She seems very casual. And look, maybe that's just her demeanour. So, fine. But the look on Corey Richen's face when the officer is explaining what's going to happen next and that. Oh, my God. When he tells her that the medical examiner is coming, the detective is coming, and they're going to check if it was anything else, because Eric was a normal, fit, healthy young man. She's like, oh God.

[Hannah]

And any sudden death is going to be investigated by a coroner at the very least.

[Surrey]

I don't think she thought for one second that there would be an autopsy or that anyone would actually investigate Eric's death. Why she would think that given that, like we said, Eric was a healthy 39 year old guy who just suddenly dropped dead in the middle of the night. I really don't know. I really don't know why she thought that, but I genuinely think she thought nothing.

[Hannah]

Oh, evidently. Maybe that's why Corey told officers that night that Eric had no history of illicit drug use other than a few THC gummies. Although she does hint at prescription drug abuse for pain pills when he was back in high school. But she says very clearly that that was all in the past. Yep.

[Surrey]

They specifically say, has there been any illicit drug use, prescription drug use in the past year, anything like that? She goes, no, no, nothing like that. Nothing like that.

[Hannah]

So you could ask, why say that if she poisoned Eric with fentanyl, why not say that you knew or suspected he was taking drugs? Why not plant drugs on him? Or why not set the scene? But I think that's why she says pain pills, because that's what fentanyl is. She drops that in as there has been a past past in the past.

[Surrey]

But she says very clearly nothing recently. Nothing that I'm aware of, you know, nothing, nothing, nothing. And yeah, one of the things I had questions about at the start of this, like why not just chuck some fucking fentanyl pills in his pocket? Why not, you know, chuck a couple next to his bedside? Why not put a couple in a pillbox and just leave it next to him? Why not stage the scene if she really was the killer? I think it comes back to the fact that I think she thought they wouldn't investigate.

[Hannah]

That's exactly what I was going to say.

[Surrey]

Yeah, I think she thought they wouldn't find the fentanyl in his system. Again, why she thinks that, I don't know. I actually looked this up. And do you know, if you die of a fentanyl overdose, the level of fentanyl in your body actually goes up after you die?

[Hannah]

It's a dumb choice.

[Surrey]

I mean, we'll come back to this. Whether she knew what it was, whether she knew it was fentanyl and I don't know, but again, if she used pills to poison him, why not just leave whatever pills they were on him? I think it was because she didn't want to open that can of worms. I think she didn't want them investigating anything. She didn't want them looking too closely into it. And I think she also worried that, you know, if they investigate, say, they might take clippings of his hair and test that for long term fentanyl abuse. And if they don't find that, there might be questions of, well, you know, there's no paper trail, there's no even secret trail of how he's getting all this fentanyl that he's supposedly addicted to. There's none in his hair. But then suddenly he dies of a fentanyl overdose. I think she just didn't even want to open that possibility. And I think she thought, I'll just play dumb and hopefully it will all just go away. And that might sound nuts, but once you get to know more about Ms. Corey Richards and her way of thinking and particularly how she ran her business, I honestly think it, it makes a lot more sense, this idea of like, la, la la la la la la la la. I'm just gonna do what I want and then I'm just gonna be like, well, I don't know. And then hopefully it will go away.

[Hannah]

For now, let's stick with the night of Eric's death. We've got next up for you, his sister Katie arriving at the house.

[Corey Richards]

Here. He's gonna help her. Where are my boys? The kids are in. Where's my brother?

[Police Officer]

All right, is there a way we could relocate your boys upstairs? Yeah, because there's going to be a lot of traffic.

[Corey Richards]

Yeah, I'll tell her.

[911 Dispatcher]

Come on,

[Corey Richards]

come on, come on. We're good now.

[Hannah]

And if you're not watching, I'm going to tell your mum. But what happens is Katie goes straight into the room where the boys are and they're sitting all alone. The boys are Katie's primary concern after she's told that she can't see her brother again. Even if Corey can't bear to look at her sons out of grief or guilt, why isn't Grandma Lisa in there with them? Those boys were shut up in a room all on their own, probably terrified. And it's Katie that goes in there, picks them up and carries them out, not their own mum. Corey just walks off, clearly avoiding having to be anywhere near her sons.

[Surrey]

Yeah, if you guys aren't watching. Katie goes in the room, picks up the boys and comes towards the door to walk out into the hallway. And Corey, like, runs away.

[Hannah]

After the boys are taken upstairs by her husband, Katie falls Apart. And this is her first proper interaction with Corey.

[Police Officer]

Natural. Okay, take a deep breath. Take a deep breath.

[Corey Richards]

Oh, my God. Okay, Okay. I gotta breathe. I gotta breathe. Oh, my God. I gotta breathe. I just talked to him like a couple hours ago. You just woke up and he wasn't breathing. I went to d. I went Ratchet's bed. He's having nightmares. So I went back in our room. And I just turned over to cuddle in 85 inches of.

[Hannah]

And you can see that there is a pain being shared with Corey at first, but that seems to change quite fast when Corey went ahead and closed on that Midway mansion two days after Eric died. Something that Katie testifies to in court.

[Surrey]

Yeah, she testifies in court being like, we were all just in this, like. Like a bomb had gone off in our lives. We could not believe what had just happened, that Eric had died. And then two days later, she's like, oh, I've gotta go. I've gotta go close on that mansion. And we were like, you've got to be joking. And she's like, no, I've gotta keep running my business. And it's like, that's the turning point, I think, where the family are like, no, no, no. I mean, they already suspected because Eric had obviously put Katie in charge of the trust and all of that. And actually there's a very, very interesting scene on the night that's caught on body cam footage where Katie, as soon as she. That night, she's talking to the police officer and she is telling them, I am his power of attorney. I am responsible for everything. And she says it away from Corey like, they knew. They fucking knew.

[Alex Kanchowitz]

Hi, this is Alex Canceroitz. I'm the host of Big Technology Podcast, a longtime reporter and an on air contributor to cnbc. And if you're like me, you're trying to figure out how artificial intelligence is changing the business world and our lives. So each week on Big Technology, I bring bring on key actors from companies building AI tech and outsiders trying to influence it, asking where this is all going. They come from places like Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and plenty more. So if you want to be smart with your wallet, your career choices, in meetings with your colleagues and at dinner parties, listen to Big Technology Podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

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[Surrey]

And again, much like that text to her friend, that didn't align with the 911 call that we heard earlier. The police also found an orange notebook at the house that appeared to be Corey's journal. And while the defence worked very hard to get this journal blocked from the jury hearing it, the judge allowed it. And I honestly, I have to give, like, full credit to the judge. I think he handled this case fantastically. He did a really, really good job. He had a lot of compassion for both sides. He gave everybody a fair shot. Like, he was fantastic. I thought he was really good. And excellent voice, excellent voice. So the judge allows this orange notebook to come in. And in this book, the timeline that Corey writes out for the night is not that different to what she told investigators, right? It's not like a wild diversion from what we've seen and from what she has reported. What stands out more is how Corrie describes the night and her reactions. Because in her retelling in her journal, it is much more dramatic than what we have seen in the journal. She's like, I'm hysterical. I can't get off the floor. I was throwing up. And all of this while the police are there. And I'm like, corrie, do you not know that that police officer is wearing a camera on his chest and that we can all see that that isn't what happened? It's like a complete. It's like a fan fiction of her own life. It is completely bizarre the way she writes that story compared to what actually happened. And the only thing I can think, she's doing it because as we all go on to find out, Corey loves to think she's very smart and write down things that then can be used as evidence. I think she thought the journal might be called as evidence and it would give a very dramatic, you know, contemporaneous account of how she felt when that was all happening. Like she doesn't know the body cam footage exists. And it's also quite weird. In the notebook, she also writes something where she says that she phoned Eric's father so her father in law to come over quickly. And she writes in the book that she was surprised by how perky he sounded at 3am and I'm like, what are you suggesting?

[Corey Richards]

What are you.

[Surrey]

What was the point of writing that? Like, are you trying to imply that Eric's dad killed him, Like I don't know.

[Hannah]

Well, we'd all hate for him to appear as a two dimensional character in the telling.

[Surrey]

I called Eugene and he sounded so perky at 3am in the morning. Like do you know who sounded fucking perky?

[Hannah]

Your mum. It was also revealed on day one of trial that in the years before her husband's death, Corey had opened numerous life insurance policies on Eric Richins without his knowledge, with benefits totalling nearly 2 million. The prosecution also brought up the Children's Grief book, specifically text messages exchanged between Corey and her family proving that she had in fact used a ghostwriter.

[Surrey]

And look, using a ghostwriter. Lots of people use ghostwriters, right? Use a ghostwriter. It's again an attempt to on the prosecution's part to show Corey as being disingenuous. She is on Utah news, she's on this, that and the other, saying me and my sons wrote this book. No, you didn't use a fucking ghostwriter. So again, it's to show the jury how disingenuous and how much of a liar she is. Now, again, being a liar doesn't make you a killer. But it's not a good look.

[Hannah]

In these messages, Corey outlines the cost of the manuscript and apparently it came to a whopping $10,000.

[Surrey]

I died when I read this for

[Hannah]

a children's book with one or two sentences on each page.

[Surrey]

I've seen the book. Literally one or two sentences on a page.

[Hannah]

Well, when I eventually get round to writing Sorrenti Goes to Sleep, I'll let you know whether it's ten grands worth of work.

[Surrey]

Ten grand to write a children's manuscript? I'm not saying writing children's books is easy. I'm not saying that.

[Hannah]

No, but like, it's not like you had to come up with the whole concept. It's not like you had to murder your husband to come up with it.

[Surrey]

One or two sentences on each page and she's ten grand. And look, as we will discover, Corey is not going to be topping any fucking MBA classes anytime fucking soon. She is so terrible at business.

[Hannah]

She also thinks, I would wager, she reckons that in the enormous pool of money this book is going to make her ten grand is nothing.

[Surrey]

Absolutely. That's exactly what it is. She thinks she is fucking shit hot

[Hannah]

to spend money to make.

[Surrey]

Oh, that is that, oh, the Corey Richards philosophy to business. Spend money to make money. You can't make an omelette without cracking some fucking eggs. Crack all the eggs and have a Tiny little fucking omelette. She is delusional. But she thinks she is shit hot. Because in these texts she's also laying out her get rich quick scheme using this book. Books don't make you fucking rich. But she says to her family, I'll make $5 a book on Amazon and so I'll be sure to make a million in no time if anyone.

[Hannah]

This, this winds me up. So if anyone could just make a million on Amazon in no time, the world economy would collapse. Like it doesn't work like that.

[Surrey]

Cory thinks it does not. I think everything. The only thing everyone needs to tell Cory repeatedly is it doesn't work like that. That's the thing Corey needs to hear, but she will never hear it because as I said, she is fucking delusional. So yes, even let's say that five dollar figure is right, which I fucking highly doubt. Let's say it's right. She would have to sell 2,000 books, 2,000 books just to break even from her 10,000 fucking dollar manuscript. To make a million she would need to sell 200,000 books. 200,000 books. Which is obviously why she pitched herself fucking good things Utah. Even though the fucking population of Utah is only 3 million. So what? Like 1 in 15 people in the state would need to tragically lose their spouse to buy that book for their fucking child? Oh, kill me. Corey Richards might actually kill me. Talking about loss with kids can be a tricky subject. Joining us now is author of Are youe with Me, Corey Richards, to share her three Cs to helping kids cope with grief. And Corey, I want to start with your story.

[Hannah]

Crime, Corruption, Criminality.

[Surrey]

So my husband passed away unexpectedly last year. So it's March 4, was a one year anniversary for us and he was 39.

[Hannah]

It completely took us all by shock. One thing I do really respect about Corey Richards, the commitment to the mid 2000s super side parting. I've got to hand it to her, I really do.

[Surrey]

And again, that's how they should have had her at trial. That's how they should have had her at trial. Said they had her looking like the. I don't even know.

[Hannah]

Like I know this is me being a pedant, but it's my show and I can do what I want. She says it took us all by shock. I've recently learned that there is a term for that where something is missaid. A word is swapped out for another word and it kind of still makes sense. Like I could care less. Couldn't.

[Surrey]

Ugh, I hate that. I hate that.

[Hannah]

Could care Less. It means you care a little bit. Yeah. Anyway, but they're called eggcorns.

[Surrey]

Eggcorns.

[Hannah]

Cause it almost sounds like acorn. But you kind of. If you say it fast enough, you're

[Surrey]

like, oh, okay, okay.

[Hannah]

So by shock. Took us all by shock. I know what you mean. It's wrong.

[Surrey]

I also don't like it when people say they did something on accident. I know that's what Americans say, but

[Hannah]

I hate it when people say that's the same thing.

[Surrey]

Yeah. Egg.

[Corey Richards]

Corn.

[Surrey]

No, don't like it. That's interesting.

[Corey Richards]

Thank you.

[Hannah]

Yeah, I know. You're welcome. Thank you.

[Surrey]

TikTok totally write a children's book called Eggcorn.

[Hannah]

Also children grief books. There are not very many of them, especially no good ones. So if you know you can write a good one, it is a gap in the market. It's not a terrible idea. Out of all of the types of books one could write, there aren't that many out there. So if she wasn't a murderer or was a writer, that too, it would have worked out.

[Surrey]

She is just the epitome of this idea of, like, I don't actually want to do anything, but I want to be rich. And I have no discernible talents or skills or work ethic or motivation. But, like, I just want it. I just want the money. Like, can I just have it? That's what. That's Corey. And then it's like, oh, I can't. I'll fucking kill you.

[Hannah]

So you can take yourself off to watch her ABC appearance and be stunned by her side parting. But the main thing is that it lacks any sort of intensity that you would expect when discussing your young husband's untimely passing. She sounds like she's there doing a segment on how she's fighting the city about fixing all the potholes in the roads or, like hedgerows or something.

[Surrey]

She's just like, yeah. And it's been like a really tough battle. And also, how many times does she want to say kind of. And, you know, yeah, you know,

[Hannah]

maybe she's nervous. Maybe she's kind of nervous.

[Surrey]

She should be, because she's lying and

[Hannah]

she killed her husband and she's on statewide television. People could argue that maybe she's just not that emotional of a person. But she seems to do a pretty good impression of one when the police were in her house, crying and throwing

[Surrey]

up and screaming and doing all those things.

[Hannah]

But there's just no emotion there at all. Even when she's talking about what her sons have been through. Or even kind of what she's been through. If you would think someone like her would really turn it on talking about the tragedy of her life.

[Surrey]

And again, maybe she's studied other cases and she's like, I shouldn't turn it on too much. That's how people get caught. People are gonna, you know, pick holes in it. I can just stay like sort of level and composed and I can show my strength that way. But it's the fact that there's no range of emotion. There's no range of emotion. Like she doesn't even get like a little.

[Corey Richards]

It's only been a year.

[Surrey]

She doesn't even get a little bit choked up when she thinks she's like, yeah, like what me and my sons went through. Shut the fuck up. Corey and I think, Hannah, that feels like a good place to stop up for today. Like we said, weren't sure if it's going to become a two parter. I think it's quickly becoming apparent that it needs to be. We've covered a lot of ground, but there is so much more to get into in the next episode, including that walk the dog letter, which, like I said, is one of the most ridiculous things I have ever seen in the world of true crime. So we're going to stop now. Please join us for the second and final part of our series of the Corey Richards case in the next episode. Goodbye.

[Hannah]

Bye.

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[Surrey]

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[Surrey]

Let's see, payroll check. Inventory check Insurance.

[Josh Spiegel]

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