Law&Crime Sidebar - 5 Critical Developments in Utah Mom Kouri Richins' Poisoning Murder Case

Episode Date: January 20, 2024

Utah mom of three Kouri Richins is accused of poisoning her husband Eric Richins by mixing fentanyl into a deadly cocktail she made for him. New court documents claim traces of an antipsychotic medication, prescribed to Kouri, were found in Eric’s stomach during his autopsy. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber has the latest developments in this high-profile case.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: If you've been injured at work you can go to Pondlehocky.com/LCSidebar or pick up the phone and call them @ 833-669-4043HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokePodcasting - Sam GoldbergVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee 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 binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. The woman accused of fatally poisoning her husband may have also been giving him her own antipsychotic medication. We're breaking down the biggest revelations from newly unsealed documents, including an autopsy report related to Corey Richens and her husband, Eric's, death, with forensic death investigator Joseph Scott. Morgan. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. Jesse Weber. 33-year-old mother of three, Corey Richens, is accused of killing her husband Eric in March of 2022, and prosecutors charged her with aggravated murder and drug possession after she allegedly put five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his drink before bed. Now, Richon's housekeeper,

a convicted drug dealer named Carmen Marie Lauber, had allegedly confessed to authorities that she supplied Richens with dozens of fentanyl pills on two separate occasions, approximately one month before Eric's death, and said that Corey paid her about $900 each time. Now, Corey was arrested on murder and drug charges in May of 2023 after she wrote and published a children's book called Are You With Me to Help Her Son's Deal with the Loss of Their Father? Most famously, she went on local news, a local news station, a program talking about the book before her arrest. A judge ended up denying her bail, so she's been locked up ever since. Prosecutors have suggested the motive for the murder was financial. That Corey owned a real estate company. She had arguments with Eric before his death about the possible purchase of a multi-million

dollar Utah home that she hoped to flip and sell for a profit. Court documents also state that Corey had purchased four different life insurance policies on Eric totaling almost $2 million. Then, in January of 2022, Corey reportedly changed the beneficiary for Eric's policy to herself without his authorization. Eric apparently found out, changed the beneficiary to his sister, removed Corey from his will. Corey also allegedly spent money on Eric's credit cards,

his bank accounts, his business credit line. And when Eric found this out, he reportedly started looking for or talking to a divorce lawyer, this was back in 2020, but all of this kind of gives you the backstory of the couple. But now we are learning new details. And for that, let me bring on Forensic Death Investigator from Jacksonville State University,

University and host of the Bodybags podcast, my good friend Joseph Scott Morgan. Good to see you, sir. How you doing? It's good to be with you, Jesse. Great to be back and chatting about this case. It's certainly intriguing. It is intriguing. And I want to start with like this big bombshell. And when we thought about who to ask, you know where we're coming to you. So according to this newly unsealed search warrant from, I believe the sheriff's office, in Eric's autopsy, the medical examiner's office noted that there was a small amount of, and I hope I don't butcher the name here, quite-a-opi, am I saying that, quita-quipa, how do I say it? Betiapine.

Betiapine. Also, and Serraquil, and that was found- Serraquil, yeah, let's roll with Seraquil. How's that? Seraquil, let's roll with that. It was found in Eric's stomach. What is this drug and what do you make of it? Okay, the drug essentially is an antipsychotic, and it's actually prescribed for people that are

doing with issues regarding schizophrenia. most of the time and also associated depressive disorders when they're like in a manic phase so you'll go physician would prescribe it to somebody with severe bipolar disorder perhaps and it's a dangerous drug it's very dangerous and apparently as miss richens is concerned this drug had allegedly been prescribed her for a sleep aid well let's let's be clear about that so so she says so let's back this up right so this drug you're right treats things like bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, but according to the search warrant affidavit, Corey had a prescription for this.

Eric did not. And Corey told detectives that it was used as a sleeping aid, but the medical examiner, as far as I can tell, said, that is not what this drug is used for. Yeah, and it's important to delineate that because this is a very dangerous drug. If you're not experiencing a need for this, this can really have some serious side effects, both from a mental standpoint, obviously, but also physiologically. you know, how you're going, how your body is going to respond to it. You know, you're already dealing with him being dosed with fentanyl, which is it pushes the individual into a depressed

respiratory state. And many times that's the mechanism for them dying. And then you have this outlier of Seraquil, which is to say that it would be a contraintricate, it would be contraindicated as something you should not do is, is certainly an understatement. It can cause all kinds of heart problems relative to these individuals, everything from hyper to hypotension in an acute phase. What is really intriguing about this, Jesse, is that what the medical examiner is saying relative to the drug. No, they're not saying that they drew this up and this was discovered in his bloodstream. They're saying that this was found in his stomach content. So that means that this drug was applied to him within just a couple of hours of him dying.

Because, you know, we can, the stomach, the digestive system moves at a predictable rate. Right. And so if you have gastric content and at the risk of being too graphic, I'll try to soft that a little bit at autopsy. One of the things that occurs is that the stomach is literally removed and tied off at both ends and we very carefully go through the contents of the stomach in a very controlled, controlled manner at autopsy. And we will collect all of the gaster content that is therein. That'll be placed in a tube. And then that is, that is actually examined at the tox lab separate from blood

and urine and all those other things. That's good to know because people are looking at this and saying, wait, if it wasn't his medication and it was hers, could she have slipped it into that drink? Would that be a way that it could have gotten into his stomach? Yeah, it could have been, or, and here's the one thing that we don't know, Jesse, is that many times at autopsy, one of the things, if you go through and you read a forensic autopsy report, the pathologist, when there's actually a section, some will have a subsection called gastric content, and then sometimes it will just fall under, you know, under the digestive system. But either way, if there is particulate what appears to be pill matter is what they'll refer to it as, because it doesn't change a lot when it enters the stomach. Remember, pills have coatings on them. They're very resilient. Some of them are time release, that sort of thing.

So you can still appreciate these in place. And I really wonder if when the pathologist was taking a look at the content, if they actually saw pill fragments, or if this was something that was ground up so fine that he ingested it, I don't really know how water soluble it is. That's really interesting because, in other words, you're saying if it was ground up and placed in the drink that he wouldn't have noticed this versus if it was a solid pill. And it also matters because it would determine. how long the pill was there.

Like, for example, if she put it, if he ingested it, I don't know, seven hours before versus right, you know, the time he drank this, this drink, that would be, they're able to determine that, right? Yeah, and I'd be very surprised if he were to ingest a liquid, say, I'm just arbitrarily pulling this number. You had mentioned seven. There would still be evidence in the stomach, seven hours. I think that that, you have to tighten down that time window.

Or she gave him a pill saying it was something else, you know, like here, this is a, you know. And real quick, if you don't know this, it's fine. Sure. On the pill, would it say what it is? Would he, or does it look like a different kind of medication? It depends on the branding. and it'll be stamp, essentially. And all these pills have some kind of unique stamp that goes along with them. For Syracwell, I'm not sure. I don't think it's a scored pill, though, where it has the line that goes down the middle where you can break it in two.

It is prescribed, again, for people that have serious psychotic issues. And the fact, I think it says a lot about her. By the way, another aspect to the Richens case is that aside from the criminal case, she's also on an ongoing legal battle with Eric's family regarding inheritance and his wrongful death. And when thinking of lawsuits, particularly when it comes to personal injury lawsuits, let me talk to you for a minute about Hanli Hockey Giordano, because whether you're hurt at work or an accident or even social security disability injuries, whatever it may be, you're going to need an experienced team in your corner. And Panli Hockey Giordano is a powerhouse law firm.

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where you can pick up the phone and call them at 833-669-4043. All right, let's get back to Richens. So if she really did, if she allegedly gave him this pill in conjunction with the drink in conjunction with fentanyl, that would have deadly consequences? Have you ever heard of someone ODing

from this, a toxic fatal interaction? No. And, okay, let's back up. I have never heard of anyone specifically Odine on Syracquil. It doesn't mean that it hasn't happened. I think the potential could exist. However, here's the key. Fentanyl itself, you don't know what you're getting. When you say fentanyl, we're not talking about pharmaceutical grade fentanyl. Like you would be administered, you know, for a doctor in the hospital for pain relief, all right? If this is coming from a drug dealer, there's a high probability. This is something that is manufactured. outside of a pharmaceutical company. So you don't know what the mixture is going to be with that.

Now, on top of that, and that's going to have the fentanyl properties, but on top of that, you introduce this other drug into this deadly mix, and that's where the lethality comes in, Jesse. I'm glad you mentioned that because in the affidavit, they said that the fentanyl that was in his system was, quote, illicit and not pharmaceutical grade. So they were able to determine that this was, like, you know, street stuff. But going back now, so she's prescribed this.

she claims to detectives it's a sleeping aid. I believe authorities have requested her medical records to get to the bottom of this. Have you ever heard it being used as a sleeping aid? And if she, it wasn't prescribed as a sleeping aid and she wasn't honest with detectives, what do we think about this? Oh, my God. There are so many other drugs she could be prescribed for having difficulty sleeping, like Ambien, you know, that is specifically there for that purpose.

you would have to be, in order for, I think, any physician that is rightly practicing, there would have to be a rationale to go to Syracool. As a sleeping aid, as a sleeping aid. Yeah, as a sleeping aid, it would not be the first choice on the list. It's going to cause drowsiness. As a matter of fact, you know, I've heard of people that have taken Sericle, and if they're in, like, an acute psychotic phase and they're giving this medication, it drags them down so low where they, they,

almost become like zombies and they can sleep for hours and hours. Some people have slept for up 48 hours on the stuff. So that gives you, yeah, it gives you some ideas to how powerful this stuff is, yeah. And if this was prescribed her, she would have known that, which again, if you're going to poison your husband and you want him dosed and you want him lethargic or you want him zombieed out, again, I don't know, but that's where I'm starting to go with this medication. I don't know. In a hypothetical, I could go with purpose and intent. Yeah. You know, when you begin to think about it.

Well, that's what leads me to this next part because the fact that she was prescribed this medication, my mind now goes to mental health defense. So the Cleveland Clinic, the website says that this drug is, you know, it's an anti-psychotic medication. You mentioned talks about schizophrenia, bipolar, balances the level of dopamine and serotonin your brain. But the Utah statute says that it is a defense to a prosecution under any statute or ordinance that the defendant, as a result of a mental condition, lacked a mental state

required as an element of the offense chart. And for aggravated murder, you need to prove intention, you need to prove that they did this intentionally or knowingly. So now I'm wondering if she's being treated, what could be a very serious psychotic condition, does that lead you to think that maybe she might have a mental health defense? Oh, quite possibly. But as you know, with mental health defense, it's a double-edged sword, Right. Because if she is, if she is out of her mind psychotic, how does she have the ability to begin to formulate this idea where she could allegedly, this is a hypothetical, weaponize a prescribed medication? You know, in that higher realm of thinking, I'm going to try to take out my husband. So what can hypothetically? What can I do in order to facilitate that? Well, I have enough good sense to know that these two things, if you place them together, there's a high.

high probability that if it doesn't kill an individual, it certainly could put them in a coma. And by the way, just to take a step back from this case, we know that it's been alleged that this wasn't even the first time that Corey had tried to poison Eric, that Eric had broke out in hives, he had trouble breathing after eating a sandwich that was prepared by Corey the month before his death. Eric became ill in Greece a few years back after Corey gave him a drink. And he allegedly said that, you know, she was trying to kill him. he reportedly told loved ones that if something happened to him, Corey was to blame.

I mean, what do you make of that in your experience in terms of seeing somebody who's accused or found guilty of poisoning another is there usually attempts beforehand? Because let's be clear, her attorneys have said, quote, there has not been a single text message or other document turned over and discovery to support the allegation that Eric ever believed Corey attempted to poison him. So you tell me what you think about the alleged. past action. Well, I think that this, yeah, yeah, and I think that you would have to go back and kind of, you know, the circumstances, I found the circumstances in Greece kind of

interesting, you know, going all the way back. And now, in light of this finding that they've released relative to the discovery, you know, you're not going to have a local fentanyl dealer in Greece if you're traveling over there. So what kind of agent could have been applied to him over there that would have caused this kind of reaction. Now, I guess you could take fentanyl tablets there and maybe they wouldn't look at it. I have no idea, but it's kind of risky. So I hope, I certainly hope that from a toxicological standpoint,

they're going to take a very broad spectrum view at this. And I'm sure that they probably have. And I mean, nothing, at this point, Jesse, nothing would be off the table for me. I would even consider things like heavy metals as well. And hoping, hoping also that at his autopsy, the medical examiner, which I have no doubt that they did, took sufficient sampling at the autopsy, everything from organ tissue, the hair with roots, nail clippings. I just hope that they did

everything that they possibly could to take a look to go down every possible avenue that they could to glean as much info as possible. Joseph Scott Morgan, forensic death investigator from Jacksonville State University, host of the Bodybags podcast. My good friend, thank you so much for coming on. Really appreciate it. You bet, buddy. All right, everybody, that is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Thank you so much for joining us. Please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time. podcasts or Spotify.