Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - “MOSCOW MULE” Mom Poisons Hubby, Trial Delayed

Episode Date: May 31, 2025

A judge granted the delay so defense attorneys can argue for seating a Salt Lake County jury in Summit County. Kouri Richins’ murder trial has been delayed indefinitely over concerns on whether to summon Salt Lake County jurors to Summit County. Defense attorneys raised concerns over the impartiality of a jury pool pulled from within the originating county.  In April, 3rd District Judge Richard Mrazik ruled to keep the trial in Summit County. Richins’ attorneys want to appeal the decision, so they asked for a delay. There was not opposition from Summit County prosecutors.  Richins, the mother of three wrote a children’s book about grieving her dead husband, but was later arrested in connection with his death.  Kouri Richins' book on how to deal with grief isn't the only thing she's written. There's a six-page handwritten letter that's sparking debate, "the walk the dog letter."  Prosecutors say that in the letter, Richins is teaching people how to lie about what happened the night her husband died.  Her defense team says the letter was privileged information and wants the prosecutors to be sanctioned. It's called the "walk the dog letter," since that phrase is written in big letters on the top. In it,  Richins makes the claim that her husband Eric was addicted to drugs, that he would make frequent trips to Mexico to get pills, and that his death was an accidental overdose. The letter was written to Richins' mother, and it reportedly tells her to instruct Richins' brother to make the connection to Mexico and drugs when he talks about the case. The question the court has to answer is, does a defendant attempting to help coach someone on what they should say on the witness stand, rise to the level of witness tampering? Prosecutors say it does rise to the level of witness tampering because there is no connection between Kouri Richins' brother and drugs from Mexico. The prosecution believes, again, that  Richins is instructing people to lie. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Donna Kelly– Former Utah Senior Deputy District Attorney and Attorney for Crime Victims Legal Clinic; Helped form the Utah County Sex Crimes Task Force Dr. Bethany Marshall – Psychoanalyst (Beverly Hills, CA); Instagram & TikTok: drbethanymarshall; Twitter: @DrBethanyLive Justin Boardman – Retired Detective, West Valley City Police Department Special Victim’s Unit, Boardman Training & Consulting Dr. William Morrone – Toxicologist, Chief Medical Examiner, Bay County Michigan; Author: “American Narcan: Naloxone & Heroin-Fentanyl Associated Mortality” Elaine Aradillas - Senior Crime Reporter at the Messenger; Twitter: @elaineja, Instagram: @the_elaineja See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. The so-called Moscow mule mom has been granted a delay in her murder case. I'm talking about the children's book author, Corey Richens, a mother of three who police say fatally poisoned husband Eric Richens, then wrote a children's book about grieving. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us.

The judge in Corey Richens' murder case, aka Moscow Mule Mom, granted a delay in the trial. So defense attorneys can argue for seeding a Salt Lake County jury in Summit County. The judge paused all proceedings in Richard's murder case following hours of argument on whether to bring a Salt Lake County jury to Summit County for the trial. Third District Judge Richard Mrazik ruled to keep the trial in Summit County with Summit County jurors despite defense attorneys concerns about impartiality. Richens attorneys want to appeal that decision so they asked the judge to delay the trial. It was set to go April

28. That's not happening. The prosecutors did not oppose the motion to appeal the judge's decision. Now let me explain. The judge ruled to keep the trial in Summit County where the incident occurred with Summit County jurors. The defense wants to bring in jurors from another jurisdiction for impartiality. That happens a lot. They want jurors brought in from Salt Lake County. What happened in the case? Now, believe it or not, after authorities allege that she poisons her husband dead, the father of her children, by giving him a Moscow mule laced with a huge OD of fentanyl.

Now, according to reports, what is found in her room? The written script she's trying to cram down the throats of family to paint her as innocent. Ouch. That's terrible. When the cops ransack your cell and they find you tampering with witnesses. I hate when that happens.

I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Crime Stories and on Sirius XM 111. I just want you to hear Cory Richinson. I don't get it. She's a successful realtor. She flips these mega mansions and makes all kind of money. She's got a husband who's not cheating, working, supporting the family, beautiful children, beautiful home. Why this? But I want you to hear it from the horse's mouth.

Take a listen to Cori Richens describing why she wrote a kid's book. Listen to Crime Online. I'm new to all of this. Cori Richens appeared on Good Things Utah, a lifestyle TV program, to talk about her book on grief. She said she's done lots of research to help not only herself, but her children cope with the loss of Eric Richens, husband and father. Richens says what has helped her family are the three C's. The three C's, you know, connection, continuity and care. Ritchin says it's important to make sure the spirit of your lost loved one is

alive in your home by bringing up memories, talking about the person and doing things that person loved to do. Okay, yeah, well her husband, her dead husband's memory is going to be coming up a lot in her murder trial, but what about this script that has been found in her cell? And wait a minute, before I go any further, Elaine Ardovias is with us, senior crime reporter with The Messenger. Isn't it true that the woman has just come forward, I believe she worked for the family, a housekeeper who sold the Moscow mule mom, Cory Richens, who allegedly sold her the fentanyl she used to poison her husband. Hasn't that just happened? Yes, they do have texts between Cory and the

housekeeper where Cory is requesting fentanyl or she's requesting, you know, the heavy drugs more of. And so that has come out that the housekeeper basically was dropping off drugs at various locations, um, allegedly for Corey. That housekeeper's future testimony does not jive with the story that this grief-stricken mom is writing a grief book to help her children to keep the husband's memory alive. You know what? She can say it better than me. Let's listen to more of Corey Richens from Crime Online.

Richens, appearing on Good Things Utah, said it's important to explain to children that just because a parent, in Richens' case the father, isn't present physically, that doesn't mean their presence isn't with the children. He's doing these things with us and he's here for birthdays and he's here for Christmas. Richens says now it's just comforting for her children to know they're not living this life alone. Dad is still here, It's just in a different way. Yeah. Murdered. According to prosecutors, I'm about to jump into the ransacking of Corey Richens' cell

and finding the script. But I just want you to hear more of Corey Richens speaking out about how much she wanted to console her grieving little children. And just so you know those children, three little boys, at the time Carter 9, Ashton 7, and Weston 5, you know what would have really helped them in life if they still had their dad alive. Okay, but no that's not gonna happen. That said, more again from the horse's mouth. Listen to our friends cry my line. Richen says it's the family traditions that are hard for children,

such as the parent typically with the child on the first day of school, helping the child cope with what they're facing. She said in her appearance on Good Things Utah that acknowledging those types of things not only gives her peace, but the children as well. It's been a lot of peace for my kids to, you know, to really remember that in the back

of their head that they're never alone. My rear end, Dr. Bethany Marshall, joining me, renowned psychoanalyst joining us out of LA at drbethanymarshall.com, never alone. According to police, she's the reason that they are alone. You know Nancy, sociopaths like her, they do evil things and they try to undo them. They do and they undo. So she kills their father and then she tries to undo it by saying, oh it's okay, he's always with you. Also this woman tries to monetize everything. You know, she's always

trying to make a buck, always trying to get more money. I think that's one of the motivations for killing her husband, get him out of the way so she can make more money. I think this children's book is just another way to monetize his death. And you know what I want to pick up on what Dr. Bethany Marshall just said about the money. Elaine Odovias is with us, a senior investigative crime reporter with The Messenger. Elaine, I'm about to jump into the manuscript, as they are euphemistically calling it, seized from her jail cell. But there is so much money motive. They had a prenup, but she didn't like the prenup. He had a very, very successful

business that he built up from scratch. Then there was the issue of flipping this mega mansion. She wanted to buy this mega mansion and then flip it. He opposed it and then he dies and within seven days or so she flips the mansion and then throws a big party, a boozed up party to celebrate the flip with her husband cold in the grave. That's right. She repeatedly is acquiring money. In fact, when her husband died, the sister of the husband went to the house and Corey was already taking things out of the safe.

There are things missing that cannot be accounted for that's considered valuable and assets. So over and over there is a pattern of her trying to get more money. You know, Donna Kelly is joining me. Former Utah senior, deputy district attorney, lawyer for crime victims legal clinic. She also helped form the Utah County Sex Crimes Task Force. Donna Kelly, I know that after my fiance was murdered shortly before our wedding, he was on baseball scholarship and I wanted one thing. I wanted his baseball that he and I would practice with, throw pitch back and forth.

And I still have it. I see it every morning. I'm just curious about your reaction to, immediately, immediately after her husband's death, she is in the safe, getting out whatever assets she can find. It's very disturbing, Nancy. It is very disturbing, and she had an ongoing dispute, and her husband had an inkling that this was happening

and made changes in his will to give things to his family as opposed to Corey Richens. Crime stories with Nancy Grace. In addition to the jury argument, prosecutors want an orange notebook admitted into evidence saying it bears directly on Corey Richens, the Moscow Mule mom's actions regarding Eric Richen, her husband's death. They say the first five pages of the notebook contained the defendant's handwritten journal detailing the events of March 3-4, 2022, the night Eric Richens died. Prosecutors say Richens admitted she wrote the orange notebookbook that it is her handwriting and contains information

that only she would know. But I want to get to what was found in Corey Richens' cell. Listen to our cut 5, Dave Mack. The Walk the Dog letter is a six-page, handwritten letter that Corey Richins wrote for her mother. Prosecutors claim the letter instructs her mother and brother to give false testimony in the case according to a motion filed in court. In the letter, Richins wrote, quote, This comes down to jealousy, money, and Eric's partying that they don't want to acknowledge, and sadly, an accidental overdose.

Unquote. The prosecutors have asked the judge to restrict Richins from further engaging in witness tampering by restricting her from contacting her mother and brother. Defense attorney Sky Lozaro filed a brief accusing the prosecutors of breaching a gag order in the case when they filed the letter titled Walk the Dog as part of their motion. Okay, Elaine Ottavias, tell me everything about the so-called Walk the Dog Letter. The Walk the Dog Letter, first of all, is named that because at the top of the letter, in huge type all caps, she wrote Walk the Dog. I think you can sort of take from that, that she was giving instructions to

whoever this letter was written for. The state alleges that she was writing it to her mom with instructions of what to say. Hence, the state is alleging witness tampering. But this this letter really sort of talks about, you know, it's almost like this what if, you know, and talking about what the drugs were for and how this accidentally happened. But in a conversation that she had with her brother, she's alleging that it's part of a fiction mystery novel. Okay, what? Repeat. She says that it's part of a fiction mystery novel. Okay, what? Repeat. She says that it's part of a fiction mystery novel. I'm so happy. Elaine Odovias, you just made me

a very happy former prosecutor. So they are addressing the dog six page letter that was found in her jail cell. And by the way, apparently when they came to, and they found that she went into some kind of a seizure, never had a seizure before in her jail cell and by the way apparently when they came to and they found that she went into some kind of a seizure never had a seizure before in her life we've been told But when they found that six page letter in her jail cell she apparently suffered a seizure Richens the Moscow Mule mom claims the letter instructed her mom to say her husband OD'd on drugs from Mexico

Claims it is for a book she planned to write. How is that part of a book she planned to write, Elaine, Ottavias? What does that have to do with the book? What's the plot of the book? Well, here's what's interesting. So they released a transcript that she had between her and her brother. And in that conversation that she had with her brother, she explains that this she's written a 65 page novel and it's all about, you know, from the detention hearing and what happens. And then she gets out of jail and she and her father go to Mexico where they're dealing with a ranch and a cartel.

She is saying this, that this is part of a 65 page novel, but that the jail deputies, they pulled out this six page letter. deputies, they pulled out this six page letter. She's claiming that this letter is actually part of a bigger novel and that they're picking and choosing. And on top of it all, she also claims that she wrote a letter on top of it saying that this is part of, you know, that events have been changed, but based on true, you know, situations that have happened to her. And what kills me is that it was hidden inside an LSAT book. Law school admissions test manual. Now the damning letter appears to instruct someone to tell Corey Richins' brother, Ronnie,

to say he had been talking to the dead husband about his trips to Mexico and that the dead husband revealed he had been giving pain pills and fentanyls from workers on the ranch. Okay, let's hear some more. Take a listen to investigative reporting team from crimeonline.com. KUTV says in the Walk the Dog letter, Corey Richins allegedly wants her brother to say Eric Richins told him he got pain pills and fentanyl

from Mexico through workers at a ranch. She allegedly points out how Ronnie's testimony could make the connection of Eric and drugs. In the letter, Corey Richins allegedly says the testimony, quote, can be short and to the point, but has to be done, unquote. Richins also tells her mother to pass information to her brother in person, telling her mother her home and phone could be bugged. So pass the information verbally and in person because the home and phone could be bugged. So pass the information verbally and in person because the home and phone could be bugged. Let's get to the crux of this entire scenario and

that is the gruesome death, the horrible death of a very loving 39 year old dad who was working like a dog to support Corey Richins and their mega mansion and their three little boys as young as age five. This is what happened. Take a listen to our friends at Crime Online. According to court documents, Corey Richins called police to their Utah home where her husband, Eric Richins, was found dead in the early morning hours of March 4, 2022. Investigators said Corey had given Eric a drink, a Moscow mule, before he went to bed.

She then spent part of the night with one of her three children who had a nightmare. According to court documents, in her written statement the night of his death, she said when she returned to their bedroom at approximately 3am, he was cold to the touch, and she called 911. It was later determined that Eric had five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system, which officials said had been ingested orally. Joining me right now is the world's premier authority on fentanyl and fentanyl ingestion and fentanyl OD and also how to revive someone from a fentanyl overdose.

Dr. William Moroney, the author of American Narcan Nalaxone and Heroin Fentanyl-Associated Immortality. This guy, this doctor, is using his medical degree to help people with fentanyl addiction to the point he has invested his own money and all his years of education and experience to create a traveling mobile unit to help those addicted to fentanyl. Dr. William Moroney, this whole story stinks to high heaven. But first of all, explain what happens when you get a fentanyl OD. What happens? What do you experience? Well, however you ingest it, if you swallow it, if you snort it, if you inject it, whatever happens,

it goes to your brain, goes in your blood, goes to your brain, and it goes to a place in your brain that controls your breathing. And slowly you breathe shallow, infrequent, less and less, and you suffocate, you go through asphyxia, you lose all your oxygen and your heart starts pumping and you stop breathing and it's got to be one of the scariest things in the world. It's like being locked in a tomb, darkness. You can't get out and your body doesn't work and your muscles don't work and you get weaker and weaker and eventually if you can be reached with Narcan before your

final breath, Narcan can get in your system and push the fentanyl off your brain, kind of like pulling fuzzies off your sweater. And you start breathing again, but if you don't have the Narcan, you die. And you stop breathing in two to three minutes and you have six minutes before there's irreversible damage in your brain. We get a lot of people at the hospital that have been sentinel overdoses and the families keep them around for a couple of days. They keep them on ventilators, hope they're coming back, but the brain dead.

So you really need that intervention early. You need all pain and addiction patients in America should have Narcan in their home. And you know what the honest God truth is everybody with small children should have Narcan in their home for accidents because this fentanyl stuff is everywhere. It's on dollar bills, it's in other drugs, it could be coming out of grocery stores or things that you touch at the gas station. We're in a fentanyl crisis. This is not an opioid crisis. Fentanyl is so far out of control, it's equivalent to a weapon of mass destruction.

Dr. Moroney, say I had a fentanyl overdose. Would it, have you ever been asleep and you're trying to wake up but you can't wake up? Or would it be like being inside a coffin and little by little you know you're dying and you run out of air? And talk to me in regular people talk, Dr. Moroney. I mean, what would he, Eric Richens experience? All of the people I know that have come to me that have overdosed on fentanyl

but they got the Narcan, they came back and now they're in treatment with medication assisted treatment. They all say there's a rush of heat in the body as the fentanyl goes through the bloodstream and then slowly you lose all consciousness. And what you described with sleep paralysis where you're kind of in bed and you can think but you can't move. Sometimes you can't talk. Not being able to breathe is got to be the scariest thing in the world. I would, I would rather be cut in half and smashed with a car and shot a hundred

times the lid on fire than not being able to breathe. If you can't breathe, nothing else matters. It, and that the idea that somebody would put fentanyl, the toxic dose of fentanyl is 2 milligrams. That's equivalent to 12 to 14 granules out of a salt shaker at the breakfast diner. If you shake salt on the table and you can get 10 or 12 or 14 granules, that's enough fentanyl to kill you. And a full teaspoon is enough to kill everybody in the room. Well, I gotta tell you, Dr. Moroney,

I saw reports where, I believe it was a lady cop, was on a crime scene, and she nearly died because the report was she touched fentanyl unwittingly. And I thought, wow, that that doesn't ring true to me because I've in court handled so many drugs with my bare hands and nothing ever happened. But it actually is true, isn't it? It is. And it is the amount of fentanyl that touches the skin and gets absorbed. It's happened in the deputies

in the surrounding counties around us. All the deputies try to carry two Narcan. One is for patients or, you know, when they're chasing people down or drug overdoses and one is for their partners. We have to have Narcan and even gloves. Sometimes you got to be careful because those masks are a joke with fentanyl. They don't stop fentanyl. But people touching crime scenes, turning envelopes over. So that is what is being discussed

here that Eric Richens, the dad of three, OD'd on fentanyl. But now, what about a Moscow Mule? Justin Boardman, just in time, former detective in this jurisdiction, Utah West Valley City PD, now Boardman training and consultant, Justin Boardman, what's a Moscow Mule? Well, Moscow Mule is one of my favorite beverages, but it would be vodka and ginger beer with a twist

of line. Now ginger beer, we all had at Universal in Harry Potter land. It's very tangy. I love it. It's not actually beer. Or is it beer? Because children can get it. Maybe it's more ginger than anything else.

And ginger has a very strong taste, which would conceal fentanyl. I mean, yes, no, Dr. Moroney. Yes, no. Does fentanyl taste like anything? Fentanyl is bitter. You need to have some strong, pungent, sour, sweet flavoring. Like ginger beer. Okay, so Justin Boardman, the theory, the working theory, I mean, you're the detective, this is your jurisdiction. The theory is that she put fentanyl, a huge OD amount into the ginger beer. Yes, no.

Yes, and that's the theory that it was taken orally and was hidden in the Moscow mule that he had that evening and passed from. We're never going to know if she handed him that glass or if he just drank it on his own, but that's when you fall back on circumstantial evidence. Take a listen to this. Evidence gathered revealed Corey claimed she didn't have access to her phone that night.

She said it was left on the charger by her bed while she was in another room tending a sick child. However, a data dump shows Richens' phone was in use during the time her husband was dying and that sent messages had been deleted. Additional evidence showed Richens was in contact with a drug dealer in Ogden leading up to her husband's death. The legal documents state she received both hydrocodone pills and fentanyl from the dealer. The claim was that the drugs were intended for a client experiencing back pain,

even specifically asking for quote, the Michael Jackson stuff, unquote, meaning fentanyl. Information from the autopsy report determined Eric Richens died from an overdose of fentanyl five times the lethal dose. ["The Daily Show Theme"] Crime stories with Nancy Grace. Moscow meal mom, Corey Richens, trial on hold until an appeal over a change of venue.

Now, what they actually want is they want jurors bussed in from another venue. They want the trial to still be held in Summit County. Back to that Orange Notebook, prosecutors say the first five pages contain details about the timeline, Moscow mule mom's movements, and what Eric Richens consumed before he died. Among other critical information, these details, when compared to other evidence in the case, they say make it more probable Corey Richens poisoned Eric Richens with fentanyl. Prosecutors say, quote, nobody forced or coerced the defendant to write the orange notebook. The defendant holds a master's degree.

She journaled, risking the likelihood detectives would find it and recognize it for what it is. If there is any prejudice attached, it is entirely fair and well earned. Wow. Will it come into evidence? What more do we know about the night Eric Richens died? Elaine Onovias joining us, senior investigative crime reporter with The Messenger. Elaine, again, thank you for being with us. You know, the cover-up is deadly in this case. Deleting text messages. You know what? My phone can barely work. I've got so many emails and text messages on it. I never think to delete anything. I mean, there are messages on there from 2015 and 16. Yes. So the fact that you

suddenly have the urge to delete a bunch of texts and emails, which of course anybody can get from the cloud. But that said, explain to me, Elaine Atavias. She said her phone was in a different room, that that night of all night she went and slept with her boys while her husband died, killed over in the other room. But yet, when authorities searched, they found out the phone was actually in use the entire time and that those particular texts had been deleted. Do I have that right? Could you explain that please Elaine? Yes, I think, you know, a lot of times, especially, you know, with all the shows we see in all these previous cases, we see, you know, before,

you know, they tried to do, they tried to take care of everything. They have Googled, how do I clean up this or whatever. Somehow they always forget about the phone. The phone has the ability to be tracked because everyone has like, find my phone or the cell towers. They can see movement. They can, when investigators, they can see movement. They can, when investigators, they have forensic investigators, when they subpoena your phone

and they start going through it, they can see when it turned on, when it moved, all of these things. And so I think, we will find out more about it in court when forensic investigators explain what they found. But thus far, we know that the phone was in use. So, which puts a crack in her story already. A big crack, because if you got your phone, you can call 911 immediately. And does that mean she wasn't really even in the children's room when she's right there watching the husband

die? Donna Kelly, joining me, former Utah Senior Deputy District Attorney, this jurisdiction. Donna Kelly, the deleting the text and the emails, the phone movements, it reminds me significantly of the Alex Murdoch double murder prosecution where he was charged in the murder of his wife Maggie and son Paul. The forensic evidence showed that he was at the dog kennels where his wife and son were murdered, riddled with bullets. Because of a cell phone and because of another cell phone video, it placed him there. The phone then followed him to his vehicle. The phone traveled with him and his wife Maggie's phone. Then her phone is thrown out of the car, linked with the navigation system in his vehicle.

I believe it was a Suburban. It shows every move he made from letting the windows up and down to the speed to the ignition turn, you name it. Technology is a very powerful tool in the prosecutor's arsenal, Donna Kelly. Absolutely. And the reason that juries love this kind of evidence is it's very objective. It doesn't have a bias. It doesn't have an agenda, it's just there. And so that evidence is very powerful to a jury. And it also shows the consciousness of guilt that the person has, for example, in deleting messages, you know, immediately, that sort of thing. So it can show, you know,

the movement and the messages that went in and out, but it can also show consciousness of your own guilt. Mm-hmm. You're right. So, the state will then begin looking at other circumstantial evidence, evidence contemporaneous around the time of the death. Take a listen to this. After Eric Ritchins' death, Corey R Rich's hired a locksmith to open Eric safe between

125,000 and $165,000 was reportedly inside when Eric Rich's sister told her sister-in-law She didn't have the rights to those funds Cory Rich's punched her Eric Rich's had also opened a living trust and Placed the trust as his life insurance beneficiary instead of Corey. We now know Corey had purchased at least four life insurance policies on Eric Richens with death benefits of over a million dollars. Okay, Dr. Bethany Marshall, renowned psychoanalyst, joining us out of Beverly Hills. I tell you one thing, if my husband David Lynch goes out and takes four life insurance policies out on me,

uh-uh, N-O. We're splitting up at that moment, and I'm taking the twins, period. He can have everything else except those twins. Four life insurance policies? What? You know, Nancy, when I listen to this listened to this story, I, so I think of Corey Richens as suffering what I affectionately term the Casey Anthony syndrome, every lie, every maneuver, every motive is so flagrantly transparent. And from a mental health perspective, she's probably suffering from what we call cluster B cluster B is when you have a sociopathy. Are you saying cluster? Cluster. Cluster. Like a cluster bomb. Okay. So when you have sociopathy, borderline personality disorder, and potentially bipolar. I don't even know what you're saying. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

She's greedy. She wants money. What are you talking about? Cluster? What? Okay. So, so sociopathy, they lie, they con, they manipulate, they have parasitic lifestyle. So, there you have the money motive, borderline personality disorder, there's clinging and rejecting behavior, they can plot and plan forever, bipolar, bipolar, where they get in such a certain type of mood where they feel no guilt or consciousness or remorse. So she has all these things swirling around and that's why the story just gets crazier

and crazier. And like Casey Anthony, everyone from the outside looking in can say, that's a lie, that's a lie, that's a lie, that's a lie, that's a lie, that's a lie. How can she not know that we know she's lying? And that's what happens with these kinds of personalities. They don't see in themselves what we see in them. And that's why the family went over to check the safe.

That's why they caught her, is that they had been observing this for a long, long time. Well, there's more to the money motive, and I can't wait for Dr. Moroney to jump in on how many dead bodies he's autopsied that are dead because of money motive. Listen to this. Investigators say Eric Richens was looking into a divorce. He had recently changed his will and life insurance from his wife to his sister. Two friends told detectives that Eric Richens was worried Corey would kill him for the money and wanted to ensure that his kids were taken care of financially.

Even as Corey Richens was promoting her children's book about grief on local television, investigators were looking into the couple's troubled past. I've watched that interview a million times and never once did this woman shed a tear. Dr. William Maroney, we're now a medical examiner, the love of money, the root of all evil. What do you think about that, Maroney? It's really a good reason. It's at the top of the list. Money is, it's like worse than love and infidelity because you can just enjoy it all by yourself. It's sinful and it's in every culture and

it's in every country and whether it's male or female, it's always about the money. And what I'm really worried about somebody this reckless, people will reproduce this. And what happens, fentanyl is so dangerous. She could have accidentally killed her children. You're right. The three little boys in the same house. What if one of them had taken a sip of that Moscow mule? Even if they would have touched fentanyl on the counter

or there was fentanyl dust and something like that, is just to poison somebody with fentanyl when there's small children in the room, that's insane. Fentanyl dust, remember, Maroney, Dr. Maroney, we just covered the case of a little one-year-old boy who died in a daycare from fentanyl dust. In New York. In other key rulings in the past days,

the judge ruled any statements Richins made to Detective Maynard and Detective Woody while her house was being searched cannot be used in the case. Why? He says Richins' statements would be protected by the Fifth Amendment right to remain silent since no one at that juncture had yet given her her Miranda rights.

Ouch. In the same ruling, he says info found in her white iPhone can be used at trial. She gave detectives her password. The defense had argued the iPhone would be protected under the Fourth and Fifth Amendments. The judge found police had a warrant for the phone and that Richens gave the phone to detectives. What more do we know about Eric Richens' death?

This is not the first time, according to LA law enforcement, that Corey Richens tried to murder her husband. Listen to in the investigative reporting team at Crime Stories. Valentine's Day, 2022. Eric Richens becomes violently ill after suffering an allergic reaction after having dinner with his wife of nine years, Corey. He breaks out in hives, can't breathe, passes out after using his son's EpiPen and taking Benadryl. When Eric wakes up, he calls his business partner, Cody Wright, to let him know what

has just happened. Then, without Cory knowing, Eric changes the beneficiary of his will and his power of attorney, replacing his wife, Cory, with his sister. Legal paperwork suggests that Eric believes Corey might kill him for the money and he wants his children to be financially secure. Kind of reminds me of Colt Mom Lori Vallow. Her husband was afraid that she would kill him, so he changed a lot of his financial setup away from her. And she killed him anyway, had him killed anyway, not knowing that she was no longer his beneficiary.

That said, this reminds me of another incredible case. And you know, I couldn't make this up. Do you remember the name Dahlia DiPolito? Reportedly, a former escort who marries a victim. She sets up a hit. She sets up a shooting hit to kill him and get money and a townhome. But of course, she sets it up with an undercover agent and he's got it all on tape planning to kill her husband Dalia De Palito. So apparently she tried to kill him before in a poison Starbucks latte of some sort. Didn't work. So she tries

again according to him. He lives. The undercover agent stops the hit, but they pretend to her, this is a sting, that they're coming to tell her her husband has been attacked and he's dead. Now Meryl Streep, I love you lady, but move over because D Dahlia DiPolito may beat you out for your next Oscar. Listen to Dahlia DiPolito reacting to news her husband is dead. I'm Sergeant Ramsey, I'm the one that called you. Thank you for coming, I'm sorry to call you.

Listen, we had a report of a disturbance at your house and there were shots fired. Is your husband Michael? Okay, I'm sorry to tell you, ma'am, he's been killed. No, no, no, no you man. He's been killed He's been killed No Try to calm down Right now we need to get you to the station

We need to get you to our police station I want to see him I can't let you in man, we have to do our job If you want us to find this killer, okay? We need you to calm down I need you to go with these detectives, okay? Do you have enemies? Is there anyone that would wanna hurt him?

This is not my foundation. Okay, who would wanna hurt him? Witnesses said they saw a black male running from me. I can't let you see him, ma'am. Ma'am, I cannot do this right now. Please, please, please. Ma'am, I can't go. Detective Yopi, I need you to take her to the station.

Please, please, please. I can't, ma'am. Go with these detectives. If you want to help your husband, okay? If you want to help your husband, you need to go to the station with these gentlemen. And tell us everything you know about who he knows, who he's connected to. Don't worry, we've already taken care of dogs with animal control for right now. Everything's under control. There's more.

But I just listen to that all day. Did you hear that, Donna Kelly? That was Dalia DiPolito when she's told her husband's dead. He's not dead. Later at the police station they're questioning her and he walks by. He goes, hi, you tried to kill me. But in this case now we're getting this very long letter where obviously Corey Richins, Moscow mule mom, is trying to convince her family to lie about her husband traveling to Mexico to get these drugs. Yes, that evidence is going to be explosive and very powerful in front of the jury. And compounding the actual letter is also the evidence that she's trying to

manufacture excuses for writing it. She says at first it was written for her lawyer's benefit so it's privileged. Well that's obviously a lie because right in the letter she refers to her lawyer by name. You know, tell my brother to go talk to the name of her lawyer. So, obviously, it's not written for the lawyer. But also then now she had to concoct a new lie because that one didn't fly. So, you have not only the letter with the instructions of how to lie, but you have her excuses for writing it, which compounds, again, shows her consciousness of her own guilt. While she's having some type of a seizure, Garn search herself, find a copy of a bombshell

letter instructing her own mother to fuel conspiracy theories that her dead husband had a drug problem and overdosed. He was at work every day, working, trying to pay for that mega mansion they were living in. In the letter, she reportedly asked her, the mother, to get her brother to concoct a story the husband, a year before his death, secretly told the brother he would get pain pills and fentanyl from a ranch hand in Mexico. She wrote that she would also say her husband asked the caterer, an alleged drug dealer, to hook him up with more. When actually that housekeeper caterer says that she,

Corey Richins, is the one wanting the money. So this is an incredible development in the case and oh by the way I don't know if you guys knew this but Justin Boardman in the Dahlia DiPolito case she then claimed something similar to what Moscow Mule Mom is saying. She claimed that was a script. It was all a setup. They were all acting for a reality show. The way Corey Richins is saying, oh, that letter telling everybody what to say about my husband being a dopehead. That was part of a manuscript. That's the ticket. A manuscript of a book I was writing. It's not going to work. No, that is a lot of drama if you will. It also reminds me of a case that was

investigated a couple cubicles over from my own and that was the Susan and Josh Powell case where Susan had put a letter in her work file at work that if she disappeared or died, that Josh probably did it. It's very interesting to me to see these sort of people get these intuitions that they might get off by their significant other, like he did as well. He really did. And you can read the entire letter at CrimeOnline.com, but it goes on to say, if you could read it, it says, I need Eric. Eric told Romney he gets pain pillars from Mexico. You may have to testify to this. Romney should have gotten

text from Eric talking about getting high. I mean, it goes on and on describing what would help her if they set it on the stand. Nancy, can I jump in? Yes, please jump in. Well, you know, not only is she witnessed tampering, but this is one more example of criminals embroiling their families in their crimes. They don't just take themselves down, they take everyone else down around them. I mean, if you read it, it goes on to talk about how you may have to testify to this. Maybe something like he gets high every night

and won't help take care of the kids. It just goes on and on and on. Remember Casey Anthony accused her brother and her father of molesting her. And all these things, there's this thoughtless attitude. There's this callous disregard for family members. So the family members are used just as much as she used her husband, she used the press,

she used her own children without any thought to the consequences. The so-called Moscow mule mom has been granted a delay in her murder case. In other rulings, the judge said statements Richins made to Detective O'Driscoll can be used at trial. The defense had argued O'Driscoll knew Richins had an attorney and questioned her without her attorney present. The

judge says Richins was not in custody at the time and had invited the detective into her home and expressed willingness and gratitude to be able to speak with detectives and did not ask the officers to leave. So therefore, the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination would not apply. That fateful evening has ruined the lives of the Richens children.

We wait as justice unfolds. Goodbye, friend.