Law&Crime Sidebar - Kouri Richins’ Mother May Have Inspired Utah Mom to Kill Her Husband: Warrant

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

A newly unsealed warrant points to Kouri Richins’ mother, Lisa Darden, as having possibly inspired her daughter to poison her husband, Eric. Darden had a romantic partner in 2006 that died unexpectedly of a drug overdose. A spokesperson for Eric’s family members said they believe Darden may have been involved in helping Kouri commit murder. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down the latest developments.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo 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. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. Did Ms. Richens, the defendant, identify who was unresponsive and anything else about that person's condition? Yes, she stated that it was her husband, Eric Richens, that was unresponsive that he was cold to the touch and not breathing. Could Corey Richens' mom somehow be involved in the death of her son-in-law? It is a wild new development in the case of the infamous Utah mom accused of poisoning her husband and then writing a children's book about his death. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

We have some notable updates for you in the story of Corey Richens. Now, as we've reported here on Sidebar, this is the third. 34-year-old Utah mother of three, who was accused of murdering her husband Eric in March of 2022. 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. Richens' housekeeper, a convicted drug dealer named Carmen Marie Lauber, had allegedly confessed to authorities that she supplied Richens with 15 to 30 fentanyl pills on two

separate occasions, approximately one month before Eric's name. 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? This was to help her sons deal with the loss of their father. Most famously, she went on a local news station talking about the book before her arrest. A judge has denied her bail, so she's been locked up ever since. prosecutors have suggested that the motive for this murder was financial,

that Corey Richens owned a real estate company, that she had arguments with Eric before his death about the possible purchase of a multi-million dollar Utah home that she had hoped to flip and sell for a profit. Court documents also state that Corey Richens 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, policy to herself without authorization. Eric apparently found out, changed the beneficiary to his sister, removed Corey from his will. Corey also would allegedly spend money on Eric's credit cards, 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, though. Now, that is the backstory of what is going on. But now, it is being reported that in a recently unseen. sealed search warrant, Richon's mother, Lisa Darden, has had an eerie and interesting past. You see, during the course of the investigation into Richens and the death of Eric, authorities were looking into those connected to the pair's life, and one of those people is Miss Darden. And Ms. Darden reportedly is very close with her daughter, spoke to her almost every day. If you've been following this case for a while, you know here that that name has come up before,

because last year, prosecutors accused Cory Richens of witness tampering after a letter addressed to her mother, Lisa Darden, was found in her jail cell. The letter allegedly instructs Richon's brother to testify falsely about how Eric got the drugs. It said, allegedly, quote, here is what I'm thinking, but you have to talk to Ronnie, meaning her brother. He would probably have to testify to this, but it's super short, not a lot to it. Eric told that he got pain pills and fentanyl from Mexico from workers on the ranch. In other words, trying to link Eric's death to the drug trade in Mexico. That's what the allegation was from reading this letter. Now, Richens denied any kind of wrongdoing with this letter.

She claimed that what she wrote in the letter was part of a fictional mystery book that she was writing about time served in a Mexican prison. But court documents read, quote, its audience, content, and purpose are readily apparent. The defendant is asking her mother to facilitate witness tampering involving her brother, seeking to have her brother support a false factual narrative. By the way, this came after authorities say that on a separate occasion, Richens had held up a letter on a video call with her mother so she could take pictures of it and read it. And she also apparently read to her mother a letter that was addressed to her by another inmate. Apparently, these letters haven't been found, but it does add an interesting dynamic to this.

the state ended up filing a motion to cut off contact between Richens and her mother and brother, but the court didn't agree, said this didn't amount to witness tampering. Okay, with that in mind, let's go back to what we're talking about right now. The unsealed search warrant with respect to Lisa Darden, Corey Richon's mother. It is our understanding that this search warrant was for all electronic communication devices belonging to Darden. The warrant was executed back in May of 2023. And we don't know what was found if it resulted in any evidence. or if it related to the Richens case in any way.

But here is where it takes an interesting term. You come to find out that, according to Detective Jeff O'Driscoll, Ms. Darden was living with a woman back in 2006. They were in a romantic relationship. And in April of that year, this woman, quote, died unexpectedly. The autopsy indicated that the woman died of all things an overdose of oxycodone, drug poisoning. Here is where it gets stranger.

According to the warrant written by Detective O'Driscoll, quote, further investigations showed that Lisa Darden had been named as the beneficiary of her partner's estate a short time before her death. The female did have current prescriptions for oxycodone and reportedly struggled with abusing her meds. But the warrant goes on to say that this woman who died was, quote, not in a state of recovery from addiction at the time of her death. Based on my training and experience, this would likely rule out the possibility of an accidental overdose. So first, I should tell you, we don't know exactly what became of this, whether Ms. Darden was investigated by law enforcement in connection with this woman's death, nothing to indicate that she was arrested or anything like that. It could be a number of reasons, could have been that there was not enough evidence, could have been that they didn't suspect her at the time.

And keep that in mind, because we'll get back to them a second. But let's tie it back to her daughter, Corey, because here is the kicker. Detective O'Driscollar writes, in this warrant, quote, conversations have been found on Corey's phone showing disdain for Eric on Lisa's part. Based on Lisa Darden's proximity to her partner's suspicious overdose death and her relationship with Corey, it is possible she was involved in planning and orchestrating Eric's death. Now, we also know that officers searched Ms. Darden's home and truck when Corey Richens was apprehended. They even got a warrant for doorbell camera footage. According to authorities, there were reports of other people coming to the home the night of Eric's death

that weren't reported by Corey Richens or her mother. So it seems like authorities wanted to know when Darden had left her daughter and son-in-law's home around the time that Eric died. But we have to be very, very clear here. Darden has not been criminally charged in this case, okay? A warrant is a device that is used to find evidence. It doesn't charge anyone with a crime or formally accuse someone of a crime. It is based on probable cause.

But, yeah, I'll say it right now. If this is true, this is weird, okay? It is weird that the mom's former lover died of an apparent drug overdose and her daughter is accused of lacing her husband's drink with a deadly drug, all for financial gain. Now, of course, Eric wasn't prescribed fentanyl. This was an illegal drug in his system, different than the oxycodone situation. But again, weird.

Let me just be clear one more time. And this is really important. unless Lisa Darden, the mother, were somehow involved in the death of Eric and she was criminally charged alongside her daughter, which let me be clear again, there's no evidence at this time to suggest that other than what we're hearing now from this arrest warrant, I'm just making the legal point. Unless that were the case, unless that were to happen, whatever occurred with Richon's mother is irrelevant. It will not come into Richon's criminal trial. Now, we do have a response from Corey Ritchin's camp, more specifically her attorney, Sky Lazzaro, who we have actually interviewed previously here on Sidebar with respect to other cases. But the statement reads, quote, Summit County is well aware that opioid addiction and fentanyl overdose is a rampant problem throughout the country. According to the CDC, 150 people die every day from overdoses related to synthetic opioids like fentanyl.

Not only was Summit County the first Utah County to file a lawsuit against Big Pharma opioid manufacturers and distributors in 2022 Park City Police, the Summit County Sheriff, Summit County Attorney, and Park City School District issued a joint statement to its citizens' warning. They're finding an increasing amount of fentanyl, a drug-fueling a surge in accidental overdoses nationwide. The fact that Ms. Darden's significant other was one of the millions that suffered from and ultimately succumbed to opioid diseases. is hardly suspicious. It is tragic and unfortunately quite common. The fact that Ms. Darden was the beneficiary of a romantic partner's life insurance policy is also not unique. It only demonstrates that her circumstances are no different than most families in America.

To suggest otherwise is nothing more than a baseless conspiracy theory. Now, of course, that could all be true. And that could also be one of the reasons why Ms. Darden wasn't investigated, perhaps, that they thought, that this was a case of an overdose, a case of an addiction. Of course, we are looking at it now in a different lens. And Detective O'Driscoll is looking at it in a different lens, given what has happened, to Corey Richens. But we also heard a response from Greg Scortis.

This is the spokesperson for Eric Richan's family. Scortis says, quote, anytime this case gets some notoriety, it opens up a wound to the family. goes on to say nothing about this seems really surprising because we always felt that Corey's mother was in some way involved in this he goes on to say quote this is just more I think evidence against Corey even though it's purportedly looking at her mother the parallels are really very similar and kind of spooky well we may learn a little bit more information about Richens and evidence against her and maybe her mom because it is being reported that a preliminary hearing is scheduled to start April 17th. Now, in Utah, a preliminary hearing is where the court, a judge, will listen to all kinds of evidence put forward by the prosecution, including witness testimony, and the defense will have an opportunity to respond as well. But the judge will have to determine if there is sufficient probable cause to show the crime was committed and that the defendant was the person who

committed the crime. If there is not sufficient probable cause, the case gets dismissed, if there is, it moves its way forward to a later trial. And in our experience, sometimes preliminary hearings are where we learn new information that prosecutors have against the defendant that we did not know about beforehand. So we will definitely keep a close eye on that. free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.