48 Hours - Post Mortem | The People v. Kouri Richins

Episode Date: February 27, 2024

Correspondent Natalie Morales and Producer Betsy Shuller dig into the headline-grabbing case of Utah mother, Kouri Richins, who wrote a book to help her children cope with the death of their father, Eric, and was later charged with murder. They discuss the six life insurance policies that Eric had, the 20,000 square foot mansion Kouri purchased just after his death, and the potentially incriminating handwritten letter found in her jail cell.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to this podcast ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app today. Even if you love the thrill of true crime stories as much as I do, there are times when you want to mix it up. And that's where Audible comes in, with all the genres you love and new ones to discover. Explore thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. thousands of audiobooks, podcasts, and originals, with more added all the time. Listening to Audible can lead to positive change in your mood, your habits,

and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial, and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered, this is the one that troubles me most. A bizarre and maddening tale involving an eyewitness account that doesn't quite make sense. A sister testifying against a brother. A lack of physical evidence. Crosley Green has lived more than half his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the troubled case against Crosley Green, early and ad-free on Wondery Plus and the Wondery app. Hello, everyone. I'm Anne-Marie Green, and welcome back to Postmortem.

This week, we're talking about Corey Richens. And you may recall, she wrote a book on grief to help her children cope with their dad's death after an apparent accidental fentanyl overdose. She wrote the book about a year after he passed away, but then a month after that, the case took a turn. Corey was the one charged with his alleged murder. So joining me now to take us behind the scenes of this case are 48 Hours correspondent Natalie Morales and producer Betsy Shuler. Hi, Anne-Marie. Hey, we're happy to be here. So this case got a lot of attention in part because of a children's book that Corey wrote about grieving the death of her husband, Eric, who died in March of 2022. Yeah, I mean, it was that was the headline that captivated, I think, the nation's attention. You know, just weeks before

she's arrested, she goes on Good Things Utah, a local TV show. And, you know, she's on to talk about this book and how to, you know, help her children learn how to cope with grief. Interesting now, though, some viewers at the time thought she seemed a little cold, a little bit emotionless while talking about her husband's death and what the family was going through. It could be, though, also that she might have been just a little bit nervous being on television. It's hard to say, you know, what she was feeling in that moment. But, you know, it's interesting to look back on that interview now, then knowing that she would be charged with his murder. Yeah, because I think the headline was she's on TV, you know, out there as the grieving wife and then turns around and gets arrested. Right. It's one of those cases of perhaps everything is not what it seems. Right. And that's a theme that comes up a lot in some of these 48

hours. So one of the things that really stood out to me has to do with the families. They both have access to the same series of facts, essentially, but they interpret them completely differently. They have different stories to explain what happened. Eric is the victim. His family believes that he was poisoned, deliberately poisoned, that his wife, Corey, put a lethal amount of fentanyl in a drink. She told police they had a drink the night he died. And according to Corey's family, you know, we talked to Lisa Darden, her mother, as well as her two brothers. Corey said she poured Eric a Moscow Mule earlier that evening to celebrate what was then considered a big real

estate deal that she had done. She purchased a mansion in Utah. So after she has this celebratory drink with Eric, she then said that the couple went to bed. Her nine-year-old son suffers from nightmares, so she went to comfort her nine-year-old son. When she went back to bed, suffers from nightmares. So she went to comfort her nine-year-old son. When she went back to bed, she said she found Eric cold and unresponsive. According to Corey's mom, she called 911 immediately. And so their version of events is this was an accident and that Eric perhaps took something that he didn't know was laced with fentanyl. Corey's family, they have all said that Eric liked to take a gummy before going to bed, a THC-laced gummy. Yeah, they say that he could have accidentally taken a gummy that he didn't know had fentanyl in it. And obviously, that's

very, very different than what Eric's family thinks. So in a way, it's no surprise that both families come to different conclusions based on what they know about the relationship and, you know, what happened the night before. But how did investigators close the case? Because they come to the conclusion that Eric's death because of a lethal dose of fentanyl was a deliberate act. They arrest Corey. They charge her with her husband's alleged murder. What was it that brought them to that conclusion? Well, a lot of that has to do with Eric's family pushing investigators to get Corey looked into.

They claimed that Eric had warned them and told them, you know, if something happens to me, Corey is to blame. And as we report in the hour, you know, Eric's family actually believes that she tried to poison him on two other occasions. There is no proof of that, but the family's claims are included in a court filing against Corey. Yeah, and this investigation took months, you know. She didn't get arrested until about a year later. So, you know, the police took some of this information that the family told them and did what seems to be a thorough investigation. But it wasn't a knee-jerk point that Eric's family makes, Sky Lazzaro, her attorney, has a counterpoint. For example, even though the family said there had been two other occasions of alleged poisoning, nobody called police, Sky points out. Nobody filed reports on previous instances of any poisoning. So there's really no direct evidence there. It's only really circumstantial evidence pointing to Corey at this point. Yeah. And as Sky told us, there doesn't seem to be a smoking gun, so to speak. Right.

So according to a court filing, Corey was under a significant amount of debt. She had this real estate business where she was flipping homes. Eric's family says all of the debt was Corey's actual motive for killing her husband. So here's Greg Skordas, the spokesman for Eric's family. She was in way over her head. She needed some money in a hurry. It was a significant amount of money. Skordas says a premarital agreement stipulated Corey had given up claim to Eric's business assets, except that if husband should die prior to wife while the two are lawfully married. It was worth much more to her dead than divorced. She felt that there was easy money and fast money to be made by not having her husband around anymore. I thought that was so interesting that they made that agreement before they got

married because I thought when you're in the business of real estate, it is kind of like you go into debt in order to get out of debt. Half of it is about debt management. Yeah, I mean, that's exactly what Corey's family and her attorney told us. You know, if one house is $2 million, she'd essentially automatically carry $2 million of debt. So they don't make much of this point because they say it was just normal business for her. Also, her attorney points out that she had other investors. It's not like she's taking on this debt alone. You know, you take on debt and you pay it back when the house sells and hopefully for profit. Yeah, exactly. You try to get it done and then you collect the money and then you start all over again with another sort of round of debt. Sounds so easy until it isn't.

Yeah, I know. That's why there's like all these shows on TV where everyone's doing it. But I digress. I know. That's why there's like all these shows on TV where everyone's doing it. But I digress. But so at the time of Eric's death, there were six life insurance policies on him, according to that court filing. Six life insurance policies. That sounds like a lot. I mean, how did the defense explain that? Yeah, it does. It does seem like a lot. The one point that Corey's attorney, Sky Lazaro, had was most of these were policies that had been in place for years. Also, one of the policies was for Eric's stonemasonry business. So, you know, that's how she counters that. You know, one is his business. The others are as you

accrue wealth in life, you know, your circumstances change, you have to re-up your policy or you take out supplemental policies. But Eric's family says, no, these are all red flags. All of these policies amount to Corey trying to profit once he died. Right. And, you know, though most of these insurance policies have been taken out sort of years before, you know, we've seen the court documents that there was one that was not right. The documents say that Corey took out yet another life insurance policy worth an additional hundred grand. It was taken out just two months before Eric died. And there's a question about the signature.

The prosecutors in court documents, they say that Corey forged Eric's signature in order to get this policy. Right. And the defense will say, you know, that Corey did not forge his signature when it goes to trial. I think that's where the handwriting experts and all the forensic experts might come in. You know, the other thing that her attorney, Skyla Zaro, told us was that for most of these policies, Eric had to sit for a medical exam. So, you know, he would know these were taken out. And so that sort of goes to, did she or did she not forge his signature? So one of the things that really surprised me about how this story unfolded is just how immediately Eric's family starts zeroing in on Corey. Why was Eric's family so quick to believe that she would be guilty of something

like this? Well, first of all, we would have loved to have asked Eric's family that question. According to their spokesman, Greg Skordas, you know, the marriage wasn't going well. According to Corey's family, there were some bumps in the road, but they had worked things out and were doing really well before Eric's death. So again, you know, two very conflicting stories. But yet you've got this trust that was formed for the kids that Eric never told Corey about. And we only find out about that. And she only found out about it once he died. Right. So maybe we'll hear more about their marriage during a trial.

But what is particularly unique about this hour is that this case has not gone to trial. So we're going to take a bit of a break. But after the break, we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about the difficulty when it comes to covering a pre-trial case. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing.

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or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+. It's just The Best Idea Yet. Plus. It's just the best idea yet. Welcome back, everyone. All right, let's get into this. How difficult is it covering a pre-trial case compared to covering a case that's already gone to trial? It's really difficult. We did have some things working for us on this case. There were a lot of documents filed into the court record that were available to us. So we were able to report on what those filings said. You know, we also were able to at least speak with somebody on both sides. But it's hard.

But the other thing that worked in our favor is there were pre-trial hearings, for example, her bail hearing, where it seemed almost like it played out as a mini trial. And you had evidence presented on both sides of the case. So that was very helpful taint the trial. I think she wanted to tell her story, and I think the brothers wanted to tell their story because, at least from what they said, it felt like they hadn't had a chance to do that. So I think they were really open to the opportunity. Was there an attempt to talk to Eric's family? Yeah, we did reach out to Eric's family through their spokesperson, Greg Skordas. And we really, you know, we're hoping to talk to his family,

but it seems that they're not quite ready to talk to us yet. but it seems that they're not quite ready to talk to us yet. So a big problem for the prosecution, though, going to trial, will be proving murder when all the evidence against Corey Richens really seems circumstantial. Can the prosecution actually prove that there was fentanyl in that Moscow mule? Yeah, I mean, that would be the smoking gun right there. We don't know for sure if they tested the actual glass. So Corey had told police she gave Eric a Moscow Mule that night, but they didn't take

any items out of the home that night. They searched the home later. They did take some items and they didn't find fentanyl on any of those. Some of those were drinking glasses and other things, but there's no way to know for sure if that actual glass had been tested. Really the only way to connect Corey to fentanyl really comes down to a woman named Carmen Lauber, who Corey had employed to be a house cleaner for her real estate business. You know, she was somebody who had a history, a criminal history with drug charges. She's a convicted felon. And she becomes and is going to be a key witness in what will be the trial. The prosecution has to prove that Corey got drugs. So Carmen Lauber, according to

the prosecution, is that link. Right. And so they call her CL in the hour. But there's like a huge problem with her. And it has to do with her credibility, right? Right. You know, Sky Lazaro, Corey's defense attorney, believes that CL was coerced by police, that she changed her story every time that she was questioned and interviewed by investigators. You know, it'll come down to was there a text exchange between CL, Carmen Lauber and Corey? There's no proof of an exchange right now, but I think that'll come down to cell phone forensics again that will all come to play in a trial. So did you try to get in contact with CL at all? We did we we tried to reach out to her a couple of times and we didn't get any response. So there's another damning piece of evidence against Corey, and it's the Google searches, right? She made them on her cell phone, including, you know, searches about the lethal

dose of fentanyl, a search about whether the FBI can recover deleted text messages. But attorney Lazaro says that Corey made those searches after Eric was already dead. And so she sort of argues that makes them irrelevant. But how do they know that for sure? Well, she says that these were searches that Corey was doing based on what she was being accused of. And they know that it was after Eric died because the first police search where they tested some of the stuff from the house was weeks after Eric died. At that point, they took Corey's phone. So Corey had to get a second phone. Police did a second search of the house when Corey was arrested a year later. And these Google searches were found on that phone. But there were certainly some very interesting searches, and I think that's

going to be a big part of the trial. For example, one of the things that Corey searched for, according to court filings and according to the testimony we heard in that bail hearing, is how long does life insurance companies

take to pay? If someone is poisoned, what does it go down on the death certificate? You know, and of course, what is a lethal dose of fentanyl? That will be a red flag to many. Yeah, I mean, these Google searches, you know, on the surface don't sound good. Right. So Corey's been in jail since her arrest last May. So Corey's been in jail since her arrest last May.

Jail officials found a letter in her cell in which prosecutors say that she's instructing her brother on how to testify, asking him to make a connection between Eric buying pain pills from Mexico. Corey says that the letter was part of a fictional book that she was writing. But her mother told you something different. What did her mom have to say? Yeah, it's interesting. In that letter, there's conflicting explanations really from what Corey's family is telling us. Her brother Ronnie said he didn't want to talk about that. He couldn't talk about the specifics because it's a court document now. But Lisa and DJ, her other brother, said that, you know, everything in the letter is true. However, according to recorded phone calls in jail, Corey talks to her mom and Ronnie and says, you know, the letter is actually part of a book that she's writing. So, you know, it's interesting to hear all these different points.

Yeah, this is another headline grabbing piece of this story. And the question is whether or not it's witness tampering, because is she instructing her brother Ronnie on what he should say and where possible drugs were purchased in Mexico and trying to link that to Eric. I'm glad you explained that, Natalie, because when I heard about the letter, I thought to myself, well, what's wrong with that? We should mention, too, that the court ultimately decided there wasn't enough evidence to prove witness tampering. Why did Greg Skordas find the letter so problematic?

So here's what Greg Skordas says is the problem with the letter. letter so problematic? So here's what Greg Skordas says is the problem with the letter. Not necessarily that, you know, Corey's saying, hey, remember to say this, this and this. The way she words certain parts, and we detail some of that in the hour, really seems like she's saying, you have to say this. So that's a distinction that he points out. So Natalie, you actually visited this like enormous house that Corey was attempting to purchase before Eric's death. It's like, what is 20,000 square feet or something like that? Yeah. I mean, it is huge. And the property, it's right there at the base of Park City. So it would be viewed as, you know, probably a pretty valuable piece of property and house. The guest house in itself was, I want to say,

a mere 4,000 square feet, which is, you know, larger than most people's homes, which is crazy to think about. What makes this house important is it is sort of at the center of the of the argument here, because Corey, according to her family and her attorney, this was her dream. Right. This was like the big project that was, you know, going to take her business to the next level. They say Eric was excited about it. But according to court documents, Eric's family says they were arguing about this and that Eric wasn't on board with this. Let's hear a clip from Sky Lazaro and Lisa Darden about the house. The plan was to develop this, turn it into a recreational hot spot given this is probably one of the most beautiful places in the world and hopefully sell it at a profit.

How much did she think she could make off of this house? Her and Eric sat down with an accountant one time, and he said, if you can get it done and stay under budget, you could walk away with $12 million. Wow. That's a big turn. Yes. You know, Sky Lazaro, her defense attorney, describes it as really sort of this wasted opportunity

that in some ways is sort of a metaphor of what ends up becoming this relationship. There was so much going for it. And then this tragedy struck. And then now you have what is this dilapidated mess of a house. Eventually it did sell, but for much less than what even Corey paid for it. Wow, this really is a tragic story. Do we have any idea when it may be going to trial? So what we're hearing from Corey's attorney is that there's still preliminary hearing and that she expects the trial to be sometime next year. Right at the end of the hour, we get a little bit of an update on and that she expects the trial to be sometime next year.

Right at the end of the hour, we get a little bit of an update on the three boys. Do we have any idea how they're doing? We know they're with a member of Eric's family at the moment and that both sides say they want custody of the kids. And Corey's family, you know, they say that they haven't had much interaction with the boys that they have, you know, not been able to really see them except Corey's mother says she has gone to their sporting events because it's public property. So she can be there to support

the young boys. But again, it's these children sadly are caught in the middle of these two feuding families. And, you know, you just hope for a positive outcome for the young boys, which I think both sides, it's one area where both families can come together on is the well-being of those three children. Yeah. Well, Natalie and Betsy, this is obviously a to-be-continued 48 hours, because I'm sure you're going to follow up as the case unfolds, as it goes to trial. But it was really great talking about one of these kind of ripped-from-the-headline cases and to learn just how much has unfolded before we even get to the trial stage. So thank you so much, guys. Thank you. Thanks for having us. As per usual, join us next Tuesday for another Postmortem and watch 48 Hours.

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