Transcript of Book of Lies New

Tonight on Dateline. You took an innocent mom away from her babies, and this means war. I'm ready to get this one heck of a fight.

Something's wrong with Eric.

Kori says she went into the master bedroom. He's cold. He doesn't have a pulse. Eric died in his sleep.

He seemed like a healthy guy.

Strong as an ox. She was a mess, just shattered.

Kori wrote a book for kids on coping with grief. We think here she is trying to help other families.

I thought, wow, that's wonderful.

The results of the toxicology come back, and it's stunning.

Eric has fentanyl in his body.

More than 5 times a lethal amount.

People have skeletons in their closet.

Eric and Corey both had secrets they were keeping from each other.

Did you feel that she loved you? Yeah. Yeah. I think she did. We see a whole other side that we didn't know about.

Sex, greed, lust, secrets, money. There's so many layers to it. That's what blows my mind.

A young widow wrote the book on grief, but was she grieving or scheming? I'm Lester Holt, and this is Dateline. Here's Andrea Canning with Book of Lies.

There are times in life when we all deal with grief, but some losses cut deeper than others. When a 39-year-old father died suddenly, his widow set out to help their 3 young sons make sense of it. She published a book called Are You With Me? about a father who becomes a guardian angel. Talking about loss with kids can be a tricky subject. Then she went on a local TV show TV show to share it with the world. My kids and I kind of wrote this book on the different emotions and grieving processes that we've experienced last year. Before that awful loss, it seemed Eric and Kori Richens led a charmed life. A beautiful couple. They both looked very successful. They looked very happy together, raising their boys in this idyllic place surrounded by mountains just outside of Park City, Utah. But things aren't always as they seem. You're a TV a lifestyle host who's now in the middle of a murder investigation. It's crazy. This is the most surreal thing that has happened in my career.

How did this happen to a normal mom having a really good life? How did it get from there to here? 911, what's the address of the emergency?

It all began on March 4th, 2022, with a pre-dawn call to 911.

Okay, tell me exactly what happened. No, I don't know. I was sleeping with my kids.

Corey Richens told the dispatcher she'd woken up to find her husband Eric not breathing.

He's just cold.

Who's cold?

My husband.

First responders arrived at the house on Willow Court 10 minutes later.

What's your first name? So what happened today? He was just fine. We were fine.

Corey told deputies she had already tried CPR. Paramedics continued those life-saving efforts.

He's had 2 epi in one can.

Reporter Shelby Lofton covered the story for NBC affiliate KSL. They're doing what they can, but the efforts are failing. And so the bedroom is loud and chaotic. There's a lot of people in there.

But it doesn't look like this is a man whose life can be saved.

Father and local businessman Eric Richins was pronounced dead at the scene. Deputies asked Corey about their night.

What time did you see him when he was alert?

We had a drink together at 9 to celebrate something at work tomorrow. Okay. What does Corey say happened that night?

Kori says that the night Eric died, they decided to have a Moscow Mule and a Lemon Drop.

She told the deputies after the two drinks, she and Eric turned in for the night. We went to bed.

I went to bed with my kids. He went to bed in our bed.

Nate Eaton followed the story for East Idaho News.

One of their sons was having a rough night, having nightmares. So she went to lie down with him. She stayed in his bed, likely fell asleep for some time.

I just woke up.

I know when I sleep with my kids, I always wake up and I go back to my own bed. Mm-hmm.

I just crawled over on his side and—

Oh, no. And he was laying in bed?

He was on his back on the bed.

And then she realized something wasn't right. He wasn't snoring. Normally, he snored. She jumped out of bed. She turned on the light. He doesn't have a pulse.

Corey called her mom, Lisa Darden, with the horrible news.

Mom, mom, come to my house! Come to my house!

When Lisa got there, she wondered if Eric's recent allergy shots had something to do with his death.

Maybe a reaction to his shots yesterday.

I mean, He said he didn't feel good from then.

Like, he didn't look good last night.

He looked pale last night.

And I—

he just—

I asked if you were okay, and he said yeah, but he was saying his chest was hurting.

Soon they got word to Corey's older brother DJ. How do you get the news that Eric has died?

My mom called me that morning to let me know, and then I jumped in the car and headed down there immediately.

That's such, you know, just shocking news when someone is that age, so young, to just die in the middle of the night.

Yeah.

It's not normal.

It's not. Oh my God, I can't breathe. I just talked to him like a couple hours ago.

When Eric's sister Katie arrived, Cori told her what she had told deputies.

And I just turned over to cuddle him.

00:06:30

As Eric's family and friends struggled with his loss, they could not have known the saga of Eric and Corey Richens would take years to untangle.

The betrayal here is remarkable and unique.

Something was about to happen that would rock your family to its core.

It did. I can't even describe it. I mean, who— whoever sees that coming?

It's one of those stories that has sex, greed, lust, secrets, right?

Money. The first thing I thought about when I heard this story was, this is going to be on Dateline. I know it is.

My husband's active. He didn't just die in his sleep.

This is insane.

By morning, the paramedics and deputies had packed up and left the Richens' house. In small-town Kamas, Utah, the sad news traveled fast. At the Mirror Lake Diner, the breakfast rush was in full swing when owner Gabe Morin first heard about his friend. Who called you with the news?

My wife. Yeah.

That's a shocker when, you know, you just don't ever expect to get news like that. He seemed like a healthy guy, right? Young.

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Vibrant.

Strong as an ox. It sounded like natural causes and very unexpected.

Eric always seemed the picture of good health. Gabe says he loved outdoor sports, especially snowmobiling.

We're snowmobiling at 11,000 feet. He's not having any problems. He's not short of breath. He's, he's in very strong, good shape.

You saw Erik the day he died?

Yeah. That morning he came in and had his chicken fried steak. We chatted for a bit. Everything was normal.

How did he look physically to you when he was here?

Yeah. Healthy. Normal.

Less than 24 hours later, he's gone.

Yeah.

Cory's brother DJ arrived from Wyoming to console his sister.

I mean, Corey was, I'll say, a puddle in a corner. It's like every time you turn around, she's just bawling her eyes out. You know, there was a few of us there that were kind of keeping the boys preoccupied or—

Yeah. And your heart is obviously breaking for Corey and for your 3 nephews.

Yes. Yeah. I mean, and he was a good friend of mine, you know? So as soon as I got the news, I broke down.

Eric and his 2 sisters were raised in a tight-knit family. He was particularly close with his father, Gene, who taught him the value of hard work at the family's cattle ranch. During college, Eric took on some masonry work. It was on one of those jobs that he met Kori at the Home Depot. She worked there part-time between college classes. She was a darling, sociable, just nice, cute, bubbly, very smart, I thought. Linda King worked alongside Kori at the registers.

I was always like the mother hen, you know, this, you know how guys can get.

Were the guys interested in Corrie then?

Almost every one of them were. Yeah. Sometimes she'd get a little scared, you know, so I'd have to walk over there and tell them, come on over to my register, you know, and deal with Mama over here, you know.

So they would, you know. You're like her protector.

I was.

Linda did approve of one customer who took an interest in Corrie. Why was Eric your favorite customer?

He just had the best personality. He had the laugh. I'm gonna go— aww. The laugh.

Yeah. Kori liked him too. She goes, I like him, you know.

And it didn't take very long and they were going out on a date.

This is like out of a rom-com, you know, meeting at Home Depot.

Oh, yeah.

She's working there.

He comes in.

Yes. And they were on the fast track. Within a few months, Kori moved in with Eric. And soon she was expecting a baby boy. She was excited to be a mom. Was that always something she wanted to do?

Over the moon. I didn't know that so much until she had her first son. And that, that was her life calling, was to be a mom.

They eventually married and Erik started his own masonry business with his best friend.

They did rock on these beautiful, beautiful homes here in Park City. I mean, gorgeous 20,000-square-foot homes.

Yeah, I've seen some of Erik's work. Yes. It's beautiful. Yes.

I mean, their work is incredible, but Erik had such a drive and a direction that I think really propelled that company.

And gave Erik financial independence to buy that spacious 5-bedroom home. A good thing, because soon the couple would welcome 2 more sons. Life was good for Kori and Erik and the boys.

Yes. Yeah, it was. It really was.

According to Kori, it was a much more stable life than she knew as a child.

Kori did not have the best of childhoods. Her father served time in prison, and she says that by the time she was a teenager, she had lived to two dozen places, that they had moved all over the place. For us to stay in one spot for 3, 4 months was saying a lot. We would move quite a bit. It was probably different than most kids grow up, obviously.

DJ says his sister was driven. As a teenager, Kori worked for her aunt's cleaning business, helping care for some of Park City's most lavish homes. Now, with her new life, she wasn't interested in cleaning houses. Kori wanted to flip them and get in on the booming real estate market. Kori's good friend, Greg Hall, who owns a marketing company, helped her get the word out. Her house flipping, is it like HGTV?

Yeah, kind of. She would find something that she felt that she could buy at the right price and fix it up and flip it and, and make a profit.

By 2022, the couple was bringing in significant money. And between 3 kids and 2 careers, their lives were constantly in motion.

Busy, busy, busy. Soccer. I mean, soccer was Erik's passion, but it was also the boys. And they gave back to the community a lot. I mean, they were busy.

And Kori was working on the biggest deal of her career, the purchase of a 20,000-square-foot home she called the Midway Mansion. This estate was quite something. Was an unfinished house in the middle of this beautiful valley surrounded by our gorgeous snow-capped mountains. That's a massive deal. This wasn't just something that was pennies. This was millions of dollars to buy. And then in the middle of all that, Kori got COVID, and Erik suddenly fell ill.

And he gets really, really sick on Valentine's Day, to the point that he has to lie down and take a nap in the middle of the day. That is not Erik. Eric does not stop. He's not going to lay down for 90 minutes on a weekday and have a nap because he doesn't feel well.

Eric told a friend he thought it might have been an allergic reaction to a sandwich he ate. After using an EpiPen, he felt better. But perhaps it was a warning sign of things to come, because 2 weeks after that, Eric was dead. A deputy at the scene told Cory there would be an autopsy.

Because he was in good health, and his age and everything like that. Okay, our medical examiner is going to come and do their investigation real quick, and then also our detective, just to make sure that every— everything's documented, you know, correctly.

As Eric's body went off to the medical examiner's office, his family made funeral arrangements, and Corey was about to discover that her husband had been keeping a secret.

I mean, when you're told your husband just died, this is no longer your house, there's probably gonna be an altercation. And there was.

Eric's 3 young boys were now fatherless. Overnight, they'd lost their protector. Their best friend. Your heart must have broken for those boys.

Oh, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, to lose it— I lost my dad when I was 20. For these kids to lose their dad and, you know, what, 7 years old, 10 years old? I mean, that's, that's crazy. That's terrible.

How are the boys handling it?

I don't think for them at their age that it had actually clicked in their mind what had just happened.

Corey's friend Greg Hall says she lost the love of her life. How was she doing?

She was a mess. She was just shattered. It completely destroyed her.

But as Kori grieved in those early days, she also started getting Erik's affairs in order.

There was a safe in the garage that she was trying to get in and call the locksmith to open up the safe. And Erik's sister arrived and said, "Hold on.

You can't go in the safe." And then the sister, Amy, dropped a bombshell. She told Cory that Erik's other sister, Katie, was in charge of his estate and that the house didn't even belong to Cory. And that situation did not end well.

Yeah. Amy said that Cory did end up punching her and the police were called to the home. I mean, when you're told, you know, your husband just died and you're told this is no longer your house, there's probably going to be an altercation. And there was. There was a little bit of pushing. I got between them. And then once I was there, I was there. Once I was between them, obviously they're both throwing over the top of me.

How mad was Kori when she realized what was really happening?

The police took her upstairs into Erik's office in the, in the garage area, and they actually put Katie's attorney on the phone with Kori. So she could pretty much explain to Kori that, you know, nothing belongs to Kori at this point. So I think, you know, she was obviously pretty upset with that.

A year and a half before he died, while the couple was going through a rough patch, Erik had secretly gone to an estate planner to set up a trust. He put his sister Katie in charge. The trust states that in the event of Erik's death, Kori would be provided for, but everything else, all other assets, would go to their sons, Those are big steps that he took, creating this trust, putting it in his sister's name, right?

He took big steps before he died. And then telling his family that, listen, you're going to be the owner of the trust, but don't tell her.

If Corey was surprised, perhaps she shouldn't have been. The Richens family had always been protective of Erik's assets. Did Corey ever confide in you about some of the things with Eric's family.

The only thing that she ever did tell me was that the prenup was signed 5 minutes before she walked down the aisle. She was in her wedding dress, ready to go through the doors, down the aisle, and then it was presented to her.

That's a tough thing on your wedding day.

Yeah, I think that would be kind of— you wouldn't expect that. It was pretty much an ultimatum to her that either sign it or we're not getting married. Well, here she is holding the baby at that point. Obviously, she's going to sign it.

Now, with her world falling apart, Kori called Erik's best friend to vent. Her friend recorded the call.

They're taking my fucking house, Bryce. This is my fucking damn house. I thought the house was going to stay with you no matter what.

No, no, the house goes to the trust's name, which goes to Katie. She has the right to sell it. She has the right to remodel it. She has the right to do whatever. I have no rights to the house, so to speak, of the trust.

But Eric would always say that you were his wife, you're the mother of his children, he loves you, right? And so he would do anything for you and those 3 boys. I know if Eric was still here today, he would say, no, boy, I need Corey to be protected. But unfortunately, he didn't set her up that way.

I just want my house and my stuff in my house that me and Eric bought.

I just want my house. They can have all the money. They can have all the money.

A week after he died, with family tensions running high, Erik's loved ones gathered for his funeral. You were so close with Erik that you were a pallbearer at his funeral.

I was. It was a very sad service.

Erik's friend Gabe sensed something else.

There was a weird tension about the funeral, and I just thought it was odd.

Whatever was happening between Kori and her in-laws seemed to be on display. Kori's name wasn't even mentioned at the service.

There was a lot of talk about Eric and the boys and Eric and the boys and nothing about Kori.

And still, there was that lingering question on everyone's mind. How did Eric die? Paramedics at the scene wondered if his sudden death could have been the result of a burst artery, an aneurysm.

I wonder if he had an aneurysm or something with all the blood. But, bummer, pretty young. Yeah.

When the ME completed the autopsy, she noted there were small nodules on Eric's lungs.

He did have COVID when he died. They did find signs of COVID in his system. But they said that did not contribute to his death at all.

So what had killed Eric? It would take a few more weeks for the toxicology psychology results to come back. Finally, there would be some real answers, but not the ones anyone expected.

It's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on here? You know, that's the last thing you'd expect with Eric.

Something's wrong with Eric.

The police, the ambulance are here. It's like, I don't know what's happening.

In the days that followed Eric Richen's death, nearly everyone who knew him asked the same question. How could a seemingly healthy 39-year-old suddenly die in his sleep? There were multiple stories around town about how Eric might have died.

And it all started actually from— The night that EMTs responded, on body camera footage, we hear some of them wondering, how did this healthy young dad die? My husband's active.

He didn't just die in his sleep.

This is insane. Any mental health conditions? No. Okay. How about any suicidal history? No. Never.

No. A month later, there was an answer. Former homicide detective Wayne Nichols reviewed the case for Dateline. The results of the toxicology come back weeks later.

Yes.

And it's stunning to a lot of people in Eric's world.

It absolutely is. It's pretty evident that Eric has fentanyl, uh, in his body, which is an absolute a game changer for this investigation.

Fentanyl is 50 times stronger than heroin. It's a painkiller that some abuse because of its intense high.

Any history of prescription abuse? No. I mean, no, but he was in high school and stuff.

Yeah.

Okay. Pain pills, I think.

At the time of Eric's death, paramedics suspected he may have taken drugs, so they administered Narcan. But it had no effect.

No pulse or anything?

No.

No pulse. No, he was cold.

What made it even harder to fathom was the amount of fentanyl found in Eric's system. He had a lot, a significant amount of fentanyl in his body, more than 5 times what is considered a lethal amount of fentanyl. And the ME confirmed the fentanyl was street-made, not prescription-grade. Eric is a dad. He's a businessman. He wasn't really known as some type of drug user in the community. What does law enforcement do with that when that's sort of the bio you've been given about Eric Richens?

People have skeletons in their closet. Sometimes people, uh, are hiding the pain that they're really in, and they cope with that with drugs or alcohol.

Eric's friend Gabe couldn't believe it.

I heard it was a brain aneurysm, and then we're hearing fentanyl and overdose, and it's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on here? And, uh, you know, that's the last thing you'd expect, uh, with Eric.

What did you think when you heard fentanyl was the cause of death?

Accidental. Um, I mean, we all knew Eric kind of liked to party. You know, he was the life of the party wherever he went, but You know, so I would think accidental, 100%. Does he have any history of illicit drug use or anything in the past year? No. No, never. Okay.

Cory told deputies they had both taken marijuana edibles in the past.

Weed gummies.

Sometimes he'll take a gummy before he goes to bed.

Mm-hmm.

It didn't seem like you—

It's like a gummy, as in like a THC gummy. Okay.

Is there any possibility of THC gummies being laced with fentanyl?

Anything is possible when it comes to the world of illicit drugs. You know, with THC gummies though, now being so normal, I think law enforcement's gonna be able to discount that theory very, very early on in the investigation.

The toxicology report jump-started the investigation, sending law enforcement back to the Richens' home.

And this time they come armed with search warrants. Is there any evidence left behind that they can figure out what happened to Erik? And that also includes seizing cell phones and other electronic devices belonging to the family.

That included taking the family's iPad and Corey's phone, hoping they'd offer clues.

They never found any trace of fentanyl in the house. Now, you could argue that it never was in the home, or was it flushed down the toilet, or was it thrown out in the garbage?

Or did the police just never find it?

Or did the police just never find it?

From what we can infer, the experts don't know how Eric had that fentanyl and how it got into his body.

Hey, this is Corey Richens.

Hey, I just have some quick questions for you. Months later, Corey was back on the phone recording more calls.

I'm just trying to understand the toxicology report, and I promise I won't take up a ton of your time. Oh, you're fine, you're fine.

This time asking the medical examiner if he knew how the fentanyl got into her husband's system.

So does this tell you, like, if he—

if it was, like, injected, if he ate it, if— I mean, is that what this— can you tell from this report?

Report? Not definitively. I mean, it seems like, you know, with what the amount that's there, that it probably was ingested, uh, you know, probably taken by mouth.

Okay, so the 15 ng, like, is that like a substantial amount?

Is that like a trace? That's a lot. That's a lot of fentanyl in the blood.

Then the conversation turned to the source of the fentanyl.

It's a variant of fentanyl that is usually only present in the setting of illicitly manufactured fentanyl?

Illicitly manufactured like a pharmacy?

No, no, no. Like a lot of— most fentanyl that we see that, you know, ends up people leading people to die these days is related to, you know, fentanyl that's manufactured by drug cartels as opposed to by pharmaceutical Oh, good Lord. Do you have any indication he was abusing Fett? No, that's why all of this is just like, what the heck is this?

It was all so tragic, but Corey was ready for a fresh start and a new venture.

You know, I just watched the struggle that my kids were going through.

Her story would get people talking, just not in the way she expected. I I checked my Facebook inbox and it said, "You need to investigate your children's book author. Did you know that she is a suspect in the murder of her husband?" As the first anniversary of her husband's death approached, Kori channeled her grief into a new project, a self-published children's book called "Are You With Me?" Her friend Greg Hall watched it take shape.

She did it as a tribute to her children and to give them a memory, and for other children that have been through this. Mm-hmm.

Her boys were surely struggling. How could they not be?

Correct. That's correct. And she wanted to comfort them. And I thought it was a good thing. All she was trying to do was find a way that— kind of help the boys cope with it.

To help promote her book, Cori went on the Salt Lake City talk show Good Things Utah. So my husband passed away unexpectedly last year.

So it's—

March 4th was a 1-year anniversary for us. The book tells a fictional story that mirrors her own children's loss. Dena Manzaneras is a co-host of the KTVX program. It's about a little boy who has lost his dad, and as he's going through His life going to school, going on different adventures. He's wondering if his dad is still there, and they're trying to keep that memory a part of his life every day. In the book, the dad is still there, but he appears as an angel who's watching over his son. Yeah, he's the guardian angel. One passage reads, "I will forever love you, my sweet baby, until we see each other again." Yes, I am with you. Did Cori Richins' story seem like something that could help other people? I think what was appealing is that she was a grieving mother who was in her 30s raising 3 small kids. Here she is trying to cope. She's trying to spread a message to others to help them cope as well. That sounds like a conversation that we would like to hear more about. My kids and I kind of wrote this book on the different emotions and grieving processes that we've experienced.

Experience last year and, you know, hoping that it can kind of help other kids. Myself and the co-hosts on the show are all moms with children. We all have empathy for other mothers. You know, I just watched the struggle that my kids were going through, and inside is an illustration of the whole family, including their dog. And there is something special for Eric: dedicated to my amazing husband and a wonderful father. You are an amazing woman and mom, and we thank you for being vulnerable and sharing this and touching the lives of others.

Thank you. I really appreciate being here.

Kori goes on the program Good Things Utah. Did you see her appearance?

I did. I thought she did pretty good. Nervous, but yeah, I mean, it's— if it helps one kid, it was well worth it.

The co-host also sensed Kori's nerves. And something else. What I did notice was just reading body language, she was a little bit protected. She had her big heavy coat on, and I thought, oh, she'll take it off before we do the interview. But she never did. Did you chalk that up to, you know, the fact that she's been through this tragedy? I did. That all changed when Deena arrived at work the next day. Get on my computer, checking my emails, and there is an anonymous message that's come into the entire station. To every single person at the station? Yes. The subject line was, "Are you with me?" I open it up, and all it says in capital letters and many exclamation points is, "You know she killed her husband." I mean, this is creepy. It was definitely creepy. It was definitely weird, but we didn't— we didn't really give it another thought after the initial—

Whoa.

You don't think maybe she did kill her husband? No, because wild emails can come in. And we thought it was bizarre. We clocked it as being completely bizarre. Still, the email gave Deena pause. Then she remembered something Cori shared in the green room at the TV station about Eric's death. She said, my husband passed away from COVID and he had a lung issue. And I didn't pry when she said that. And I thought, oh, COVID. Oh, well, maybe he did have something. Underlined. A week after that first email, Dina got another message. That's when I started to go, OK, hold on. What is going on? I checked my Facebook inbox. And it's somebody that I don't know. And it said, you need to investigate your children's book author. Did you know that she is a suspect in the murder of her husband? The plot thickens. Yes. And this is the point where I felt like I knew something was up. Something was up. Investigators had been looking into Cori's past, and her story of a perfect life with her husband was about to unravel.

It's a house of cards. It is a delicate house of cards that she has constructed, and it's beginning to fall apart.

Beyond writing a children's book, Kori had also filed two lawsuits months earlier. Her target was Eric's sister, Katie, who controlled Eric's trust and with it her brother's estate.

You know, nothing belongs to Kori at this point. So I think, you know, she was obviously pretty upset with that.

While Eric's estate attorney says she assured Kori she could stay in the house, Kori wanted to unload undo the trust and get at least half of her husband's assets. Still, her brother maintained she was only interested in one thing.

Everybody looked at it as she was trying to get money out of the estate or whatever. She never cared about the money. She was trying to keep her house.

In response to Corey's lawsuits, Eric's sister hired private investigator Todd Gabler.

My job was to investigate on behalf of the estate to determine whether there was was a wrongful death, to determine if there was financial mismanagement.

Erik's sisters and father wanted to know if Corey squandered his money on her house flipping business or was even responsible for Erik's death. When do you all realize that the Richens family has hired a private detective to look into all of this?

We knew he was reaching out to people. He reached out to my older sister too. And then I reached out to him. We didn't have a pleasant conversation, we'll say, but—

Uh, I just basically told him, "Stay away from my family." The PI brought on a forensic accountant who found Cori was deep in the red. She'd taken on too many houses.

None of it was solvent.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul?

That's exactly right. Having no money to fund your next project, you take the funding from your previous project and apply it to that. It's a house of cards. It is a delicate house of cards that she has constructed And it's beginning to fall apart. Corey was in a huge amount of financial trouble. She was borrowing money from lenders that charged extremely high interest rates to pay off other lenders that were charging high interest rates.

And there was something else. A year and a half before he died, Eric's family says he learned Corey had secretly borrowed against their own home to start her business.

Kori has taken out this home equity line of credit, $250,000, without telling him. And she apparently forged his signature on this.

It was after Erik discovered that loan that he set up the trust giving control to his sister. The family says that he did that because he didn't trust Kori.

I think that's evident. There is a lot of evidence that suggests that the trust between these two was broken. And that Erik took steps to protect his boys from her, from her financial mismanagement.

To anyone who wonders why Erik didn't just leave, did you learn anything during your investigation about why he chose to stay?

I think that he was concerned for the welfare of his 3 sons.

As for the home she did sell, some buyers accused Kory of lying about their condition. And then back here, the lipstick on a pig kind of classic scenario is what we stepped into here. We knew Molly Crosswhite bought one of Corey's homes in Midway, Utah. Her plan was to rent it out, but she left it not in great shape. Not even though it looked good. Looked good. Looked good, but was not a place that we were going to be proud or comfortable putting tenants in. Molly wanted the house and set up an inspection. We learned there was no insulation, there was electrical issues. Disappointed, she wanted some of her money back. We had to negotiate while under contract a credit that we would get at closing and let them know, hey, we can't rent it out the way that it is. Still, she says the credit didn't begin to cover the home's problems. Looks good, feels bad kind of a deal, right? Taryn and Alec Wright bought a house from Corey that they all they also say looked good.

I remember, you know, walking into the front door and we— I'm getting goosebumps right now looking up. I was like, we immediately agreed. We're like, wow.

Weeks after moving in, they say their family's health started to seriously decline. Then they found something troubling in their son's bedroom. When I moved the dresser away from the wall, the mold was growing behind the dresser, and so we never noticed it before. Yeah, and that's when we noticed it growing out of the walls.

And so—

Oh my gosh. Yes. After testing revealed dangerous mold levels throughout the house, the family immediately moved out. They say their health issues improved.

I do.

Val Maynard sold the house to Corey and said he disclosed to her it had serious issues.

I showed him the really bad bathroom we hadn't used for about a year or so. Downstairs.

What was wrong with the bathroom?

I had lots of water damage.

The Wrights have now sued Corey, alleging, among other things, that in the sales contract she checked no on each question related to previous water damage. Corey has denied the allegations in the lawsuit. For Corey, the walls would soon start to feel like they were closing in. That's because investor Investigators were about to find a surprising trail of texts.

There were dozens of texts on some days going back and forth.

That's a lot for a housekeeper.

A lot for someone who's cleaning your house.

And more scandalous accusations were coming. You discover Corey Richens has a lover, a secret lover.

I do. Corey wanted to live her life without Eric Richens.

For over a year, the tragic death of Eric Richens continued to weigh heavily on his family. They were searching for answers and for someone to be held accountable. This was a family who would— that would stop at nothing to get justice for Eric.

They would stop at nothing. They wanted justice for their brother and son.

They believed they knew who that someone was, even in those early hours after Eric's death.

Eric Richen's sister approached one of the investigators in the driveway and said, I think Corey had something to do with it.

Really?

They assumed that she was involved in his death, so they had to build their case.

When you have a family member pointing out a spouse right away, that is a big red flag.

A big red flag.

Another red flag, that huge property, the so-called Midway Mansion. This 20,000-square-foot mansion that sits on 10 acres at the base of the Wasatch Mountains was one of the properties Corey wanted to flip, but that would cost millions of dollars and was apparently a big source of contention between Corey and Eric. Remember, Corey said they were celebrating the Midway Mansion deal the night before Eric died with those Moscow Mules and lemon drop shots. The family told investigators Eric was reluctant to buy that home. Pat Reavy is a reporter with ksl.com.

Corey was really hot on getting that property and flipping it, but Eric, not so much. He thought, no, this is just not going to be a wise investment.

Eric's sister was stunned when she learned Corey was going to close the deal just hours after his death. The family was also troubled by Corey's initial story that Eric died of a lung fungus, just like the one that killed his mother.

She told even Eric's dad that they found this same fungus in Eric's lungs, which was a complete lie.

Even Eric had been suspicious of Corey. He told his family about that Valentine's Day sandwich that made him sick just 2 weeks before his death.

I spoke with a number of people who he had contacted regarding his health condition that day, and they were all very alarmed at how he sounded and what he was saying to them.

What was he saying?

He was saying that Corey was trying to poison him.

Erik had also told his family about an unusual drink he had with Corey on vacation years earlier.

They took a trip to Greece and that after Erik became violently sick. Now, we don't know why, but he leapt to the conclusion that Corey was trying to poison him.

And then he starts saying these statements to family members that if something were to happen to me, look at Corey. The family says that's why Erik secretly removed Corey's control over his estate. He wanted to protect his sons from a wife he no longer trusted. He's 39 and creating this living trust and making big changes. It gives us reason to believe that he was in fear for his life. So my husband passed away unexpectedly last year.

So—

And as she sat under the TV lights on Good Things Utah, Corey may have believed the heat of the investigation was fading. She was wrong. A year after Eric's death, a new detective was assigned to the case.

We're seeing the shift from law enforcement looking more at Corey as a suspect.

One reason investigators eventually ruled out the possibility that Eric had accidentally overdosed. Did you find any evidence that showed that Eric Richens had a secret drug problem?

There's no evidence to suggest that. At all.

As they were looking for a connection between Corey and the drugs that killed Eric, investigators found something curious on her phone.

They look at the frequency of communication, who she's communicating with the most, who she's calling the most. They also notice a frequency of communication with Carmen, who is her housekeeper.

These two are, it seems, talking about or discussing more than just cleaning houses.

Yeah, absolutely.

Detectives found evidence of 800 text messages between Corey and Carmen prior to Eric's death. Most of the texts had been deleted.

So when law enforcement looks into Carmen Lauber, they come to find out that she's got significant drug history and that she's actively in drug court working off her previous charges. I think this would be a big moment for law enforcement.

So they start putting two and two together. That maybe Carmen's the one supplying the fentanyl. Yeah.

And I don't think it's a huge leap. You've got deleted text messages. You've got an abnormal frequency in communication between Corey and her housekeeper. And then you've got the drug history. They need to talk to Carmen immediately.

Detectives were able to get a search warrant for Carmen's house.

They find a firearm during that search. I can tell you from experience, when a convicted felon is in possession of a firearm, Those are real consequences.

And they found something else up on a wall amongst inspirational quotes and family photos.

Lo and behold, on the mirror is Erik Richens' obituary. This is telling. Carmen is close to Erik and the boys, and she is conspicuously absent from his funeral. Her absence is noticed by the family. And I consider that early on as possible evidence of consciousness of guilt.

It was becoming clear to investigators that Carmen was connected to Eric's death.

It's just not me.

They arrested Carmen on that gun violation and sat her down in an interrogation room.

That the details about everything we've been talking about are going to be important, right, for homicide investigation.

When they asked her if she had sold drugs to Corey, her memory was fuzzy. So I wanted—

that's so confusing, but okay. So I want to say when she, she asked, but like I said, um, oh, I remember when you said—

So they offered Carmen an incentive to help jog her memory.

We believe you, and that's why we're here working on what your get-out-of-jail-free card looks like.

Soon enough, Carmen's memory seemed to get better, and she would have quite the story to tell.

We need hard details. There's no more— I'm going to do whatever because I've struggled so hard to get with my math. That's great motivation.

Detectives were speaking with housekeeper Carmen Lauber, who they believed was the key link between Corey and the fentanyl that killed her husband Eric.

Give up the details that will ensure Corey gets convicted of murder. Oh my God. We need hard details. There's no more scrambling. I'm going to do whatever because I've struggled so hard to get me my nap. That's great motivation. Like I said, you will know the truth. I love Eric. He was a damn good dude.

And so Carmen began. It was February 2022, a month before Eric died. Carmen said Corey reached out and asked if she could get drugs for a real estate investor.

Corey figured that Carmen might have access to someone who could provide her with drugs.

And Carmen did. A few days before Eric ate that Valentine's Day sandwich, Corey directed Carmen to a house she had flipped. Carmen told investigators, She went inside, took the cash Corey had left, and went to buy the drugs. Carmen said she later returned and placed them in the backyard fire pit for Corey.

I pulled into the driveway of this flat, and there was just a— it wasn't a big fire pit. Like, it was a tiny fire pit.

It's kind of the infamous fire pit of Midway, and it's right here. And this is where, apparently, drugs were left. I'm not quite sure. Detectives paid a visit to the owner of the house. You've already met her, Molly Crosswhite. How did you feel when you started to learn these details that this house that you bought might have been used to secure, really, a murder weapon of sorts, drugs? It was upsetting. It just was kind of just shocking. I don't know how else to say it, but the last thing I expected. In the interview room, the detectives were turning up the heat on Carmen. She told them that just days before Eric died, Corey reached out again looking for more drugs.

So there was a couple of— there was one. Okay, now we're eating somewhere. I know one thing, that when we got one, it wasn't dark enough. I mean, I don't know how—

dark enough as in strong enough. Carmen said Corey wanted the Michael Jackson stuff.

All she knows about the Michael Jackson drug is that it killed him. But that message indicates a state of mind that she wants the drugs that are lethal. Doesn't matter what it is.

Detectives tracked down Carmen's drug dealer, a man named Robert Crozier. It wasn't that hard to find him. He was in jail.

How are you? Confused. I imagine you are. So we are here to talk to you about a transaction that you made a little over a year ago with a female named Carmen Lauper. You met her at Maverick and Draper on two separate occasions in February of last year, so a little over a year ago. Okay. I think I was there. Did she ask for blues specifically or fentanyl specifically? I think she might have asked me for For blue light manicure. She knew what she bought. Okay, so she, so she knew that there was absolutely—

With the dealer corroborating Carmen's story, detectives now believed they had what they'd been searching for: the crucial link between Corey Richens and the fentanyl that killed her husband. It was a Monday morning, a month after that TV appearance. Law enforcement waited until Corey's boys were at school and then they arrested her. Corey Richens is here in the Summit County Jail tonight. We're told she is being held without bail.

I just kept on thinking, she couldn't do that. She— she wouldn't do that. Yeah, it's a lot to process, especially in a small valley like this. It's pretty heavy stuff.

Suddenly, the story of the grieving mother turned alleged killer who wrote a book to help her sons was everywhere. A headline-making case out of Utah.

Oh, indeed.

Part-time author turned alleged killer.

If you haven't heard by now, this is Corrie Richens. And the reason we're talking about this today is they have now formally charged her.

If she did it, if she planned this, how in the world can you come on live TV, put yourself in the spotlight, want publicity for your product, and tell us that The most important thing to you is to keep his memory alive each and every day. Kori called her friend Greg. Do you remember the first thing she said to you during your first phone call after her arrest?

Yeah. She was crying and she said she was scared.

And what did you say to her?

Things would be all right. Things would be OK. We're going to help you.

5 weeks after her arrest, Kori got her chance to ask for bail.

Ms. Richins, good morning. Good morning.

Attorney Sky Lazzaro defended her. There's nothing to show that Kori did anything to Erik. Being bad with money does not make you a murderer. Toward the end of the hearing, Erik's sister Amy addressed the court. If she gets out on bail, I will be afraid not only for my own life and those of all of my family, but most importantly, for the lives of Erik. 3 sons. Our family has already suffered enough. Please do not let Corey out on bail where she will be a risk to do further harm.

Defendant Corey Darden Richards shall continue to be detained without bail.

Corey later entered a plea of not guilty and braced herself for the battle she was about to fight.

You took an innocent mom away from her babies, and this means war.

For nearly 3 years, Corey Richens called the Summit County Jail home. You keep calling and visiting and messages. You know, this is daily, off and on, all day, continually. You're her lifeline.

100%. 100%.

We, of course, wanted to talk to Corey, too. In May of 2024, she sent us a recorded message.

I've been silent for a year, worked away from my kids, my family, my life, living with the media, telling the world who they think I am, what they think I've done. And it's time to start speaking up. I'm anxious to get to trial, and I'm ready to get this one heck of a fight. You took the innocent mom away from her babies, and this means war.

In February 2026, almost 4 years after her husband Eric's death, Corey at last got her chance to fight the charges against her: first-degree murder and attempted murder, along with fraud and forgery. She sat at the defense table, flanked by her new team of attorneys. Eric's supporters lined one row of the packed courtroom, Kory's another.

My name is Brad Bloodworth. I am one of Summit County's criminal prosecutors. The evidence will prove that Kory Richens murdered Eric Richens.

The prosecution rolled back the timeline to Valentine's Day 2022, 2 weeks before Eric's death.

Good morning, sir. Hello.

Turns out that sandwich Eric ate that made him sick came from his friend Gabe Moran's Diner. The jury got a look at the to-go order that Corey called in.

So at 8:55, you know, it says a Greek omelet, quinoa salad, bagel sandwich with hash browns, and then Corey is typed in.

Does the detective tell you why this is coming into play?

Sure. This order? Nope. Nope.

The prosecution argued Corey was the one who picked up the food so she could put something in Eric's sandwich, her first failed attempt to murder her husband.

We know that Corey ordered it. Corey picked it up in person. Eric was a really good friend of mine.

Eric's business partner Cody Wright told the jury Eric called him at 2 PM that Valentine's Day.

Why is it you remember that phone call? The fear in his voice, the The urgency of the situation.

The state theorized that Corey learned from her mistake after that failed attempt with the sandwich.

You bite into that and you taste the sourness of that fentanyl pill. You do not get the full dosage of what has been put on that sandwich because you take a couple of bites and you put it down.

Prosecutors argued her next try was something easier to ingest.

The Moscow Mule she made that night was ginger beer and fentanyl. The lemon shot, drop shot, maybe lemon and fentanyl. If it's in a shot glass masked by alcohol, you throw that back and the wrong taste doesn't matter because it's too late. It's already in your system.

The prosecutor told the jury to listen carefully to Corey's behavior on her 911 call.

The 911 call operator asks her to perform CPR.

Corey told first responders she'd started CPR, but the prosecution said there was more to the story. She seemed to do everything she could to avoid CPR as precious minutes ticked by. Are you able to lay him on the floor, on the ground? I can't.

I can't.

I can't. I can't.

I can't.

I can't.

I can't. You can do it. You can do it.

This sheriff's deputy was one of the first to the Richens' house. He said Corey didn't act like most grieving family members right after a death.

Normally they have tears. Um, they look at me when I ask them a question while they respond. It just— every time I spoke to Miss Richens, just seems like her face was in her hands and I couldn't see her face. It was just a little abnormal. Your Honor, the state calls Katie Richens Benson.

Erik's sister Katie also testified about Corey's behavior that morning.

She wasn't crying like I was. She wasn't hysterical.

Katie said not long after Corey told her boys their father was dead, she was talking about closing the deal on the Midway mansion.

I was I was dumbfounded. And I looked at Corey and said, you can't tell me you're going to close on that Midway mansion when my brother just died.

And she looked at me matter of fact and said, yeah, absolutely.

He has nothing to do with it. The money's already gone through.

It's all my business.

I'm going to.

Behavior was one thing, but to make the case stick, prosecutors knew they needed to connect the dots between Corey and the drugs that killed Eric. For that, they needed their star witness.

The Honorable State calls Carmen Lauper.

On the stand, she admitted to a troubled past.

Do you have a criminal history involving drugs?

Yes. Carmen testified about Corey asking her if she knew someone who could get pain medication for one of her investors.

I had texted Corey back and told her that I had a friend that could get them, but they were fed not pills. How did Corey Richens respond?

She said, okay, go ahead and get. The state called this digital forensics expert to prove that Carmen met up with drug dealer Robert Crozier just days before the Valentine's incident and the week before Erik died.

They're located in, at, or near the exact same location.

Prosecutors argued it was proof Carmen was telling the truth.

So all of that information corroborates the story that Carmen is telling.

Which was helpful because when he took the stand, Robert Crozier couldn't remember how many times he'd met up with her.

Like, it was like 4 years ago, so like, I don't really remember if I met her more than once.

The prosecution presented even more digital evidence to the jury. The searches Corey made on her cell phone. Those searches were incriminating, the prosecutor told the jury.

These are the searches. What was Corey Richens worried about?

How to completely wipe an iPhone clean remotely. Can cops uncover deleted messages? Luxury prisons for the rich in America. Signs of being under FBI investigation. What is a legal dose of fentanyl? Your thoughts on those searches?

It is incredibly important information about her state of mind at the time that those searches were made.

But why had Corey allegedly killed Eric? This wife and mother of three had kept her share of secrets, but perhaps none as explosive as him. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you're about to give in the matter before the court to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth subject to the pains and penalties of perjury.

You are the whole truth. Is the state ready to proceed, Mr. Bloodworth?

Prosecutors may not be legally required to provide motive in a murder case, but they also know it's human nature to want to know the why. Why would Kori Richens murder her husband, Erik? Reason number one, said prosecutor Brad Bloodworth, money.

More than anything, she wanted his money to perpetuate her facade of privilege, affluence, and success.

The prosecution called forensic accountant Brooke Carrington to the stand. She was initially hired by Erik's family after he died. As of the date that Erik Richens died, uh, Kori Richens was in financial distress.

On March 5th, 2022, immediately after closing on the Midway Mansion, what was the amount of Kori Richens' liabilities? Right around $8 million.

As her company tanked, the state argued, Kori homed in on her husband's life insurance policies. A month before he died, prosecutors said Corey took out a $100,000 policy without Eric's knowledge. This handwriting expert testified Eric probably did not sign that policy himself.

There was no evidence that Eric authored this signature.

Corey ended up with nearly $1.4 million in life insurance money from Eric's death. Prosecutors also highlighted for the jury the prenuptial agreement Corey had signed.

Their prenuptial agreement meant that if she left him, she would also leave most of his money.

The state argued that she believed Eric was worth more to her dead than alive. I got hired originally as an admin. Becky Lloyd worked for Eric's company. She recalled a conversation with Corey a few months before he died.

She talked about how she was feeling trapped. And she said that in many ways, it would be better if he were— if you were dead.

The prosecutor told the jury that book Corey supposedly wrote to help her children through their grief was, in reality, also a money grab.

You see the emails. They're in evidence. She thought she would sell 100,000 copies in 2 weeks. 10 months at $5 profit a copy. That is not tethered to reality, but it does provide insight in how desperate she was for money. She promoted it.

According to the prosecution, there was more than money to Kory's motive. She had been cheating on Erik and was planning a fresh start with another man. There was some question behind the scenes at the courthouse if they were even going to find him for him to testify. And then her former boyfriend, Josh Grossman, entered the packed courtroom. Josh Grossman comes in, but it starts off rocky immediately. With Corey seated just feet away, the clerk began swearing him in. Do you solemnly swear the testimony you're about to give in the matter before the court to be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, subject to the pains and penalties of perjury? He asks, "What do you mean by tell the whole truth?" And the judge immediately stops everything, whisks the jury out of the courtroom, and sits Mr. Grossman down and tries to spell out for him what he is signing up for.

Mr. Grossman, do you understand the difference between what's true and what's not true? I do. Do you promise under the pains and penalties of perjury to tell the truth when you're asked questions? Absolutely.

And Josh agrees to do that finally, so the jury's brought back in. Josh's discomfort was palpable. He testified that he started working for Corey's house flipping business in the Park City area in 2020. He told the jury he'd stay in the houses they were working on.

I had my dog with me. We do live-in flips, me and the dog. Other than accommodations, did she pay you for your service? I mean, we didn't have any contractual agreement, you know. She took care of me, you know. I lived for free. She did. She gave me money whenever I needed it. I just, you know, I liked her, so I'd work for free. Not that she didn't, and, you know, pay me. She did, from time to time, in lump sums. And during that time that you were romantically involved with Miss Richens, did you love her? Yes. During that time, did you feel that she loved you? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I have a tendency of going head over heels though, probably more than most. So, you know, I think she did.

The prosecutor pointed out that a few months before Eric died, Corrie had even booked a trip with Josh to the island of St. Martin.

I think that was a birthday present.

Josh's discomfort only grew as the state showed the jury dozens of text messages between him and Corrie. He was having a very difficult time breathing deeply, making noises, spitting in his chair. Cori was texting with Josh and drove an hour to visit him on Valentine's Day 2022, the day prosecutors alleged she tried to poison Eric with that sandwich. The following day, Josh texted Cori that he was in love with her. She responded, "Like, actually in love with me? If I was divorced right now, right now and ask you to marry me tomorrow, you would? Josh replied, yes, in love with Y-O-U, of course I would.

He then puts his head down on the witness stand like he doesn't want to be there. He then starts to cry and wipes tears from his eyes. Mr. Grossman, that moved me. Do you need a minute or two? Let's just start with that. Why don't we take a pause for a moment, sir? If you don't mind.

Testimony soon resumed, and the subject again? Those texts. One week before Eric died, Cori wrote Josh, "I have a crazy dream. I divorce and come up with millions and millions. We buy Midway and live in the guest house. Raise some kids. Have a little farm. Deal?" Cori and Josh even made plans to celebrate her purchase of the Midway mansion on March 4th, 2022. When he didn't hear from her that that day, he texted, "What's going on with you? You good?" Cori responded, "No, Eric passed away." Josh said the next time he saw Cori was 2 weeks later. That's when she asked the Iraq War veteran about his time in the military.

She asked if I had ever killed anybody. Sir, what was that follow-up question? She asked me how it made me feel or something along those lines. And then I answered her. I took it as not out of the normal, though, really. The prosecution made the point that Corey was trying to deal with her guilt of killing her husband by trying to figure out how her boyfriend dealt with it.

Josh said his relationship with Corey cooled off in the months following Eric's death.

Things weren't the same, so I don't know if that led to us parting ways or what, but there was a lot on both of us, you know what I mean? I understand. Thank you, sir. I don't have any further questions.

After calling dozens of witnesses—

Okay, Your Honor, then the state rests.

It was the defense's turn with a move no one no one was expecting. I saw a lot of mouths dropped and eyebrows shot up, and they stared at that defense table. Prosecutors had given jurors in Park City, Utah, a lot to work with. Do you solemnly swear that The testimony you're about to give— They put on 43 witnesses to make their case. I'm one of Ms.

Richens' attorneys, so it's nice to meet you.

The defense cross-examined 38 of them, hoping to unravel it.

Going back to the web searches—

Corey's attorney, Alex Remus, wanted the jury to understand that those questionable searches Corey made on her phone happened after Eric died.

I imagine you're aware that all these searches were done after Ms. Richens knew she was under investigation, correct? Yes.

Corey's former lawyer, Sky Lazaro. The timing of these searches, I think, are probably the most critical and important part of the analysis of them. These searches were done after she was served the search warrant for her home and for her electronics.

She just found out her husband died of a lethal overdose of fentanyl.

You might want to know what that means. Those searches, to me, were less of an issue than some other things in this case. How does the defense combat a lover? You know, Josh's mere existence in this? Sometimes the best way to combat things that are bad for your client or optically bad for your client is just to hit them head on from the beginning. There was no running away from Josh. The prosecution hammered the point that Cori wanted a new life. The defense argued it was an affair affair. Nothing more. Would it be fair to say that the talk about a future together between you and Corey was really more a fantasy than a realistic expectation?

My opinion? You want my opinion on it? Sure. I'd say yeah. Yeah. More of something that, that maybe I, I thought I wanted, but didn't necessarily— like, I, I couldn't picture it in the future, you know.

To counter witnesses who said Erik was scared about how sick he got after eating that Valentine's Day sandwich, Corey's old friend Ali Staking testified Erik thought the whole thing was funny.

Was everyone laughing?

Yes, we were all laughing, and we jokingly said, don't eat what Corey feeds you. When it came to the accusation that Erik's death would bring Corey an infusion of cash, The defense pointed out Erik made a lot of money and would continue making plenty more. He declared to the IRS that he made over $750,000.

That was just in one year.

I mean, if you accept that theory that she doesn't like him or she doesn't want to be married to him, you know, she's— she's better off, uh, with him if it's purely financial motivated. The money, the boyfriend, The sandwich, the Google searches were all problems for Corey.

Good afternoon, Ms. Lauben. Good afternoon.

My name's Wendy. But it was the cross-examination of Carmen, the housekeeper, that could make or break the defense's case. Reasonable doubt is one of the things that you don't always get in cases. But this case does have certain amounts of reasonable doubt. And that is, you know, the stuff with Carmen. There was Carmen's fuzzy memory when police first talked to her.

You told them more than once over those days you had a lot of memory problems, correct? That my memory wasn't the best, yes.

To underscore her credibility issues, the defense got Carmen to admit she had a history of lying in drug court to stay out of prison.

That's what addicts do when you're using.

That's true, addicts lie. And the defense said with Carmen, it was always about staying out of prison. You are willing to do whatever it takes to save yourself from getting kicked out of drug court and going to prison.

Correct. I'm going to go forward with the truth. Yes. And you're gonna—

you tell them, I'll do whatever it takes?

Yes.

The prosecution had given Carmen immunity in exchange for her testimony, and the bottom line, said the defense, was Corey never actually used the word fentanyl when talking to Carmen. You told authorities during the course of these interviews that Corey Richens never asked for fentanyl?

Yes.

Robert Crozier, who also received immunity for his testimony, said on the stand he didn't have fentanyl to sell at the time Eric died. You had no access to it in January, February, March of 2022?

No.

Do you solemnly swear this— With the lead detective, the defense drove home the point that law enforcement never found any fentanyl in the Richens' house during that 4-year period of time. As recently as less than a month ago, you were still issuing search warrants, is that right?

Yes. And there were a total of at least 10—

or 10 searches by law enforcement of Ms. Richens' home, is that right?

There were 10 search warrants issued, yeah.

We have no murder weapon. Like, you haven't found Anything that was connected to Eric's death? No fentanyl in the house, correct?

There was a boatload of fentanyl in his stomach that came out of the house with him.

If the lead detective couldn't point to any fentanyl in the house, the defense argued maybe Eric kept a secret stash in this old pill bottle. What else do we find on that first day that Eric died?

What else do they find? The hydrocodone bottle. Why wasn't it tested? What was kept in that bottle.

The painkiller was prescribed to Erik 6 years earlier. The defense asked the first detective on the scene about it. Wasn't there an empty hydrocodone bottle seized from right next to Mr. Richens' bed? There was. You didn't put it in an evidence bag?

No.

You didn't swab it for the inside of it? No, it was empty. Do you know where it is to this day?

No.

When it was time for the defense to put on its own witnesses, Corey's attorneys asked for a break. We're all seated, really on the edge of our seats in that courtroom, anticipating that the defense will call witnesses. Then the jury heard this.

Your Honor, after consulting with our client, the defense rests.

I saw a lot of mouths dropped and eyebrows shot up, and they stared at that defense table. What did you make of the defense not calling any witnesses? When you're the defense in trial, everything is on the spot, kind of game day decision. How's it going and what do we do next? And you have to calculate the risks. Not putting on witnesses, is that gonna hurt Cori? Are we leaving them on a high note? And have we been able to effectively cross-examine everyone in order to get the points we needed to make for her defense through the state's witnesses?

Mr. Bloodworth, would you like to proceed? Yes, Your Honor, we may proceed.

To a packed gallery, both sides made their closing arguments.

All the evidence in this case proves that Corey Richens murdered her husband and the father of her 3 children, Eric Richens.

Do not let them fool you. Do not fall for red herrings. Corey Richens did not kill Eric Richens.

Count 1.

And with that, the case went to the jury.

So I'm looking at Corey, and I said to the lady next to me, I'm like, I said, she's shaking. And she goes, she's trembling.

After sitting side by side for 3 weeks, the jurors tasked with deciding Corey Richens' guilt or innocence began their deliberations. We spoke with two of them, Mark and Eric. Out of privacy concerns, they asked us not to use their last names. Take us into that jury room.

I mean, as soon as we got in the jury room, we just all needed to sit down and take collective breaths. And then after that, we just started to say, hey, look, we each are going to talk for 5 minutes about what we saw. Not necessarily is Corey innocent or guilty, but just What did your lens as a person see on this trial?

Mark's front row seat in the jury box allowed him to keep close watch on the defense table. Did you keep an eye on Corey Richens' expressions throughout the trial and how she was reacting to things?

I absolutely did. For the most part, I think there was a poker game that was being played. After they told me—

The jurors were also glued to the testimony of key witness Carmen Lauber. Karmen, the housekeeper, tricky witness because she has this past with drugs, she's in trouble herself, and she's been given a bit of a lifeline here, you know, to help the prosecution.

I saw a woman who was making genuine efforts to get on the right path and improve her life. And frankly, her testimony combined with the digital evidence of her travels really corroborated her her testimony.

They felt for Corey's former boyfriend Josh too.

You know, my heart bled for him. He was having problems breathing, he needed water. I had such compassion for him, especially being a veteran.

As for the defense, do you think that was a mistake to not put on a formal defense and, you know, just try the case through cross-examination?

I don't think it was a mistake as much as their tactic, and that was their right to do so.

Juror Eric thinks though the defense could have made more of the fact that no one knows for sure how Eric Richens ingested that fentanyl.

I think probably if they had focused on that, then they may have gotten to reasonable doubt.

In the plus column for the defense, a closing argument that tugged on this juror's heartstrings. I was unexpectedly widowed when I was not much older than Cory, and I had two little boys. How do you judge someone in that moment?

They want you to look at a woman in the worst moment of her life and to judge her grief.

There is no wrong way to grieve.

It was a plea for not sending a mom to jail who has 3 children, and I understand that. I was rooting that, that, but then I got back to deliberations and it was like, wait a minute, Mark, like, take a deep breath, stop focusing on the emotional element. And every time I tried to give her a lifeline or an off-ramp off It just ended and it just pointed right back to her.

After only 3 hours—

The court is informed that the jury has reached a verdict.

The speed at which the jury came back was shocking to everyone. We all quietly file into that courtroom and the judge makes it very clear that there is to be no outward reaction.

If anybody in here can't follow these instructions, this is your chance. I'm looking at Corey, and I said to the lady next to me, I'm like, I said, she's shaking. And she goes, she's trembling. And I looked down at her feet, and they were shaking. Counsel, Ms. Richens, please stand. Count 1, aggravated murder. We the jury unanimously find that the defendant Corey Richens is Guilty of aggravated murder. Count 2, attempted aggravated murder. We, the jury, unanimously find that the defendant, Corey Richens, is guilty of attempted aggravated murder. Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty.

And you just see Corey just—

Yeah.

Her head goes down. You could just read her face.

Right. She did a pretty good job throughout the whole trial having that poker face on. But at that moment, she looked down and her world came crashing down inside her head.

A look of defeat.

Defeat. I saw a broken woman, but I think there's carnage everywhere. It was shock. I mean, it was literally just shock. You know, my mother said Corey did a good job that she just didn't break down there. And I said, well, it's not a matter of breaking down. I said, it's just shock. You don't know what to do. I said, and I felt the same thing she did.

For Eric's family, finally justice. 4 years ago, our family lost the brightest light. Eric is deeply loved and missed every single day. We are grateful to everyone who has worked tirelessly to bring justice for Eric. Our focus is now on honoring Eric's life and supporting his boys as we all continue to heal. Thank you all for being here. Corey is scheduled to be sentenced next month. She faces the possibility of 25 years to life behind bars. She also has another criminal case pending with 26 additional financial charges. She has not yet entered a plea. Her 3 boys are living with Erik's family. Kori's book is out of print now, but we did find it on eBay selling for more than $5,000. Back in the shadow of the Wasatch Mountains, the Midway Mansion, once a symbol of everything Corey dreamed of, now has new owners, and renovations are well underway. At the Mirror Lake Diner, Gabe Morin thinks about Eric when someone orders his favorite, chicken fried steak, or sits in his usual seat.

You know, I'm sad this whole situation happened, but I think it's the right outcome.

He certainly never imagined the role his diner would play in Corey Richens' murder trial, or that his friend's 3 sons would be left without a father.

Derek was just a simple, good guy, you know, and his kids don't have a dad, you know, and I— that's the part that hits me hard. You know, and those kids will be okay. Eric taught them right. They are smart, strong kids. They'll be okay. But it's not fair. That's all for this edition of Dateline. And don't forget to check out our Talking Dateline podcast, which will go behind the scenes of tonight's episode, available Wednesday in the Dateline feed wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you again next Friday at 9, 8 Central. I'm Lester Holt. For all of us at NBC News, good night.