Book of Lies

Streaming on Peacock.

“These men are going to come after me, taking them out smite only chance.”

Put 'em bullet in your head from the co-creator of Ozark. Looks like a family was running drugs. Execution stop killing it, fresh the keys. I only need some of them that might have been right for. The cartel killed my family.

I'm gonna kill them. All of them. MIA, streaming May 7th, only on Peacock. I'm Craig Melf, Cheers. Cheers.

I've always been a glass half-full kind of guy and now I'm talking to some people who look

at the world that way too. It's really fascinating folks who share their defining moments, their triumphs, challenges, their stories, their funny, and my candy. So I hope you'll join me each week and who knows. You might just come away with your own glass half-full.

Search Glass Half-full with Craig Melford from today. On YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts.

“Tonight on Date Live, you're just going to sit mom away from her babies and this needs”

more. I'm ready to get this one heck of a fight. So thank you so much, Eric. Corey says she went into the master bedroom. He's cold, he doesn't have a pulse, air guide in his sleep.

You seem like a healthy guy. Strong as an ox, she was a mess, just shattered. Corey wrote a book for kids on coping with grief. We think 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 that mom in his body. More than five times a lethal amount. People have skeletons in their closet. Eric and Corey both have secrets.

You 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 Greece,

but was she grieving or scheming? I'm less her hold, and this is day blind. [MUSIC PLAYING] 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 three 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 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 Corey Richins

led a charmed life. A beautiful couple may both look 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 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? It all began on March 4th, 2022, with a pre-done call to 911. "Okay, come and zap you what happened."

"I don't know what to do with my kids." Corey Richins told the dispatcher she'd woken up to find her husband, Eric, not breathing. "Here's a cold, cold cold." "I don't want to say."

First responders arrived at the house on Willow,

the court's 10 minutes later. "What's your first name? "That's what happened today." Corey told deputies she had already tried CPR. Paramedics continued those life-saving efforts.

"We've had two Episodes in there, man." Reporter shall be lofted and covered the story for NBC affiliate KSO. "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 "who's life can be saved." "Father and local businessman, Eric Richins, "was pronounced dead at the scene.

"Deputies asked Corey about their night."

"We had a drink together at night to celebrate

"something at work tomorrow." "Okay."

“What does Corey say happened that night?”

Corey 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, I guess.

"He went to bed, they're 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 them. "She stayed in his bed,

"likely fell asleep for some time." "I just looked up, I didn't wait, "but I slept with my pupils. "We got that I could wake up and I'm bed. "I just crawl over on his side."

"Oh, no." "And he was laying in bed." "He was on his bed, run 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 a horrible news." "Mom, mom.

"Who do they look at us?" "Who do they look at us?" "Who do they look at us?" "When Lisa got there,

“"she wondered if Eric's recent allergy shots”

"had something to do with his death." "We're going to be a reaction to the shots yesterday." "We would say it felt good from then, "like, he didn't look it last night." "He looked pale last night,

"and I just asked you, okay." "Yeah, but you're saying it's just what's 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've got to print that!" "I just talked to him, I can't cover my ears, I don't want it." When Eric's sister Katie arrived,

Corey told her what she had told deputies. "And they just turned over to settle in, "and you find it just a goal."

“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, by can't even describe it. "I mean, whoever she's at 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 gonna be on date line, I know it is." "My husband acted, he didn't just try it as sweet. "This is insane." (dramatic music)

By morning, the paramedics and deputies had packed up and left the Richens house. In small town, Camus Utah, the sad news traveled fast. At the mirror like diner,

the breakfast rush was in full swing when owner Gabe Moran first heard about his friend. "Who called you with the news?" "My wife." "That's a shocker when, you know,

"you just don't ever expect to get news like that." "You seem like a healthy guy, right, young." "Yeah, oh yeah." "Fibrent." "Strong as an ox,

"it's not like natural causes "and very unexpected."

Eric always seemed the picture of good health.

Gabe says he loved outdoor sports, especially snowmobiling. "We're still building at 11,000 feet. "He's not having any problems. "He's not short of breath.

"He isn't very strong good shape." "You saw Eric." The day he died. "Yeah, that morning he came in "and how does 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." Corey'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 he turned around, "she's just balling her eyes out. "You know, there was a few of us there "that were kind of keeping the boys preoccupied." "Yeah, and your heart is obviously breaking

"for Corey and for your three nephews." "Yes, yeah. "I mean, he was a good friend of mine.

"I broke down." - Eric and his two sisters were raised in a tight-knit family.

“He was particularly close with his father, Jean,”

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 Corey at the Home Depot.

She worked their part-time between college classes. - She was a darling, sociable, just nice. Cute, bubbly, very smart, I thought. - Linda King worked alongside Corey at the registers.

- I was always like the mother-hand,

you know how guys can get. - Were the guys interested in Corey then? - Almost every one of them were. - Yeah. - Sometimes she 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." - Yeah. - 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 Corey. - Why was Eric your favorite customer? - He just had the best personality. - He had the laugh.

- Happy to go. - Oh, the laugh. - Yeah. - Corey liked him too. - She goes, "I like him," you know.

- And it didn't take very long

and they were going out on the date. - This is like out of a rom-com, you know, meaning at Home Depot. - Oh, yeah. - She's working there, he comes in. - Yes.

- And they were on the fast track within a few months, Corey moved in with Eric. And soon, she was expecting a baby boy. - She was excited to be a mom. Was that, oh, is 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, just to be a mom. - They eventually married

and Eric started his own masonry business with his best friend. - But 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 Eric's work. - Yes, it's beautiful. - Yes.

- I mean, their work is incredible,

but Eric had such a drive and a direction

“that I think really propelled that company.”

- And gave Eric financial independence to buy that spacious five bedroom home. A good thing, because soon, the couple would welcome two more sons. Life was good for Corey and Eric in the boys.

- Yes, yeah, it was, it really was. - According to Corey, it was a much more stable life than she knew as a child. - Corey 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 two thousand places that they had moved all over the place. - For us to say in one spot for three, four months was saying a lot, we would move quite a bit.

It was probably different than most kids grew up, obviously. - DJ says his sister was driven, as a teenager, Corey worked for her aunts cleaning business, helping care for some of Park City's most lavish homes. Now, with her new life,

she was an interested in cleaning houses. Corey wanted to flip them and get in on the booming real estate market. Corey's good friend Greg Hall,

“who owns a marketing company, helped her get the word out.”

Her house flipping, is it like HG TV? - 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 make a profit. - By 2022, the couple was bringing in significant money

and between three kids and two careers, their lives were constantly in motion. - Busy, busy, busy, soccer, I mean, soccer was air expansion, but it was also the boys and they gave back

to the community a lot, I mean, they were busy. - And Corey 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 valleys 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, Corey got COVID and Eric 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 Eric. Eric does not stop. He's not gonna 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 two weeks after that, Eric was dead. A deputy at the scene told Corey,

there would be an autopsy. - Guess he was in good health and it was the age and everything like that, okay. Our medical examiner's gonna come and do their investigation real quick

Just to make sure that everything's documented 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. - Eric, when you're told, your husband just died, this is no longer your house.

There's probably gonna be an altercation and there was. (dramatic music) - He was a young Marine. She didn't care about convention. They made a life together.

Then one night, the Marine died. And then the death investigation took a wild, unexpected, and utterly bizarre turn. I'm Josh Maykowitz and this is trace of suspicion on all new podcasts from daylight.

Listen to all episodes of trace of suspicion now,

wherever you get your podcasts.

- Hey guys, Willie guys here, reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit Down podcast. On this week's episode, I sit down with one of the biggest bands in the world Mumford and Suns, as we get the boys together

to talk about their new number one album, Prize Fighter, and the evolution of that irresistible foot stomping sound. You can get our conversation for free, wherever you download your podcasts. - Get the best of NBC news with the subscription.

If you were asked deeper access and exclusive content, and now during the Xfinity member celebration, members can get an exclusive 50% off an annual subscription, head to Xfinity.com/membership to learn more. Xfinity, imagine that.

Subscription automatically renews each year at 6599 plus taxes and fees until canceled. Overns May 20th, 2026. Price is subject to change. Visit NBCnews.com/Xfinity for full offer terms and details.

(dramatic music) - Eric's three young boys were now fatherless. Over night, they'd lost their protector. They're best friend. Your heart must have broken for this boys.

- Oh absolutely. - Yeah, I mean, to lose an eye loss my dad when I was 20, for these kids to lose their dad,

“and you know, what's seven years old, 10 years old?”

I mean, 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, that completely destroyed her. - But as Corey grieved in those early days,

she also started getting Eric'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 Eric's sister arrived and said, "Hold on, you can't go in the safe."

- And then the sister, Amy, dropped a bombshell. She told Corey that Eric's other sister, Katie, was in charge of his estate and that the house didn't even belong to Corey and that situation did not end well.

- Yeah, Amy said that Corey 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 gonna be an altercation. And there was, there's a little bit of pushing. I got between them and then was there. - You were there. - I was there.

- Once I was between them, obviously they're both throwing over the top of me. - How mad was Corey when she realized what was it really happening? - The police took her upstairs in Eric's office

in the garage area. And they actually put Katie's attorney on the phone with Corey, so she could pretty much explain to Corey that nothing belongs to Corey 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. Eric 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 Eric's death, Corey 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, fit, listen. - You're gonna be the owner of the trust,

but don't tell her. - If Corey was surprised, perhaps she shouldn't have been.

The rich and family had always been protective

of Eric's assets. Decoray ever confided in you about some of the things with Eric's family.

“- The only thing that she ever did tell me was that”

the pre-nap was signed five minutes before she walked

She was interweading 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 unexpected.”

- It was a 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 gonna sign it. - Now, with her world falling apart,

Corey called Eric's best friend to vent. Her friend recorded the call. - They're taking my (beep) (beep) (beep)

(beep) - I thought the house was gonna stay with people about one. - 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 or his wife,

even the mother of his children, he loves you, right? And so, he would do anything for you and those three boys. I know Eric was still here today. He would say no, (beep)

“I'd be Corey to speak of that, just (mumbles)”

but, unfortunately, he had to set her up that way. - I just want my house, if I step in my house that he 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,

Eric's loved ones gathered for his funeral. - You were so close with Eric that you were a palber at his funeral. - There was a very sad service. - Eric'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 Corey and her in-laws seemed to be on display. Corey's name wasn't even mentioned at the service.

- There's a lot of talk about Eric in the boys and Eric in the boys and nothing about Corey. - 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 don't know if you had an aneurysm or something like all the blood. - For you. - Yeah.

- When the Emmy 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 results to come back.

Finally, there would be some real answers,

but not the ones anyone expected. - That's like, whoa, whoa, whoa, let's go on here. That's the last thing you'd expect with Eric. (dramatic music) - So they done with Eric the point he had gone to here.

He had all the autopsy. - In the days that followed Eric Richens' 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 EMT's responded on body camera footage.

We hear some of them wondering, how did this healthy young dad die? - I have an active, they didn't just die, and it's sleep, this is insane. - Any mental health conditions?

No, okay. How about any suicidal history? - No, okay. - No. - A month later, there was an answer.

Former homicide detective Wayne Nichols to reviewed the case for date line. - 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 fetin' all in his body,

which is an absolute game changer for this investigation.

- Fentin' all is 50 times stronger than heroin. It's a pain killer that some abuse because of its intense high. - Any history of prescription abuse? - No.

“- I mean, I think this is a high school and stuff.”

- Yeah, and good. - And good. - At the time of Eric's death, paramedics suspected he may have taken drugs so they administered Narcamb, but it had no effect.

- No halter anything? - No, no, he was called. - What made it even harder to fathom was the amount of Fentin' all found in Eric's system. - He had a lot to significant amount of Fentin' all

in his body more than five times

- And the Emmy confirmed the Fentin' all 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 Richins. - People have skeletons in their closet. Sometimes people 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 those are brain and ears. And then we're here in Fentin' all and overdose and it's like, whoa, whoa, what's going on here? And that's the last thing you'd expect with Eric.

- What did you think when you heard Fentin' all was the cause of death? - Accidental. I mean, we all knew Eric kind of liked to party. You know, he was the life of the party wherever you went.

But, you know, so I would think accidental, 100%. - Has he ever had any history of it? Let's just drug use or anything in the-- - No, no, no, no, ever. - Okay.

- Corey told deputies they had both taken marijuana edibles in the past. - We got these, I just want you to go to the bill. - Come here, go for it, go to bed. - You didn't see like, did though.

- It's like that gummy has been like a THC gummy. - Okay. - Is there any possibility of THC gummy is being laced with Fentin' all? - 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”

going to be able to discount that theory very, very early on in the investigation. - The toxicology report jumped started the investigation, sending law enforcement back to the rich in tone. - And this time they come armed with search warrant.

Is there any evidence left behind that they can figure out what happened to Eric? And it also includes seizing cell phones and other latrarch 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 Fentin' all 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 Fentin' all and how it got into his body. - Hey, this is Corey Richen. Hey, I just had 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. I promise I won't take up a ton of your time.

- This time asking the medical examiner if he knew how the Fentin' all 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?”

- Not definitively, I mean, it seems like, you know, with what the amount that's there that it probably was injected, you know, probably taking my mouth. - Okay, so the 15NG, like, is that like a substantial amount?

Is that like a threat? - That's a lot, that's a lot of Fentin' all of the blood. - Then the conversation turned to the source of the Fentin' all. - It's a variant of Fentin' all that is usually present in the setting of illicitly manufactured Fentin' all.

- Well, it's manufactured like a pharmacy. - I mean, I don't know, like a lot of most Fentin' all that we see that, you know, ends up people waiting people to die these days is related to, you know, and know that's manufactured by drug cartels

as opposed to, by pharmaceutical companies. - Oh, good Lord. Do you have any uneducated news about you being put? - No, that's all I know this is just like what the heck is this. - It was also tragic, but Cory 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 check my Facebook inbox and it said,

“"You need to investigate your children's book”

all third, do you know that she is a suspect

in the murder of her husband?" - As the first anniversary of her husband's death approached, Cory channeled her grief into a new project. A self-published children's book called, "Are You With Me?"

- She did it as a tribute to her children

and to give them a memory

“and for other children that have been through this.”

- 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 helped the boys cope with it. - To help promote her book. - Cory went on the Salt Lake City talk show, "Good Things You Talk."

- So my husband passed away unexpectedly last year. So it's March 4th was a one-year anniversary for us. - The book tells a fictional story that mirrors her own children's loss. Dina Manzaneros 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. And 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 Cory Richen's 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 three 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 last year. And 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 I inside as 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. - Cory goes on the program, good things you taught. Did you see her appearance?

- I did. I thought she did pretty good nervous, but yeah, I mean, it helps one kid. It was well worth it. - The co-host also sensed Cory'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 the fact that she's been through this tragedy? - I did. - That all changed when Dina arrived at work the next day. - Get on my computer, checking my emails

and there is a 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 opened it up and all it says in Capitol 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. - Killer 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 Dina pause. Then she remembered something

Corey 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 long issue." And I didn't pry when she said that and I thought,

"Oh, COVID, oh, well maybe he did have something

underline a week after that first email."

Dina got another message. - That's when I started to go, "Okay, hold on, what is going on?" I check my Facebook inbox and it's somebody that I don't know

“and it's 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 Corey'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. - Let's kickstart your wellness journey with the Darktidaya. - Workouts, meal plans.

It's your fast track to a healthier you.

members can get an exclusive 50% off an annual subscription

and to expinity.com/membership to learn more. Exfinity, and imagine that. Excription automatically renews each year at 6599 plus taxes in fees until canceled. Offerance may 20th, 2026, prices subject to change.

Visit today.com/exfinity for full offer terms and details. - Beyond writing a children's book, Corey had also filed two lawsuits months earlier. Her target was Eric Sister, Katie, who controlled Eric's trust and with it her brother's estate.

- You know nothing belongs to Corey at this point.

“So I think she was obviously pretty upset with that.”

- While Eric's estate attorney says she assured Corey she could stay in the house, Corey wanted to 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 Sister hired private investigator Todd Gabler. - My job was to investigate on behalf of the estate to determine whether there was a wrongful death to determine if there was financial mismanagement.

- Eric Sister's and father wanted to know of Corey squandered his money on her house flipping business or was even responsible for Eric's death. - When do you all realize that the rich and 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 I just basically don't stay away from my family. - The PI brought on a forensic accountant who found Corey was deep in the red. She'd taken on too many houses. - None of it was solvent.

- Robbing Peter to PayPal? - 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. - Corey 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 Eric discovered that loan that he set up the trust given control to his sister. The family says that he did that

because he didn't trust Corey. - And I think that's evident. There is a lot of evidence that suggests that the trust between these two was broken and that Eric took steps to protect his boys

from her, from her financial mismanagement. - To anyone who wonders why Eric 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 three sons. - As for the home she did so, some buyers accused Corey 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 great. - It looked good, looked good, but was not a place that we were gonna 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 it 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. - Great.

- Terran and Alek Wright bought a house from Corey that 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 families 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. - Wow.

- And they never saw it before.

of the walls and sewing. - Oh, 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 down stairs. - What was wrong with the bathroom? - I had lots of water damage. - The rights of 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 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 that, 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. (dramatic music) (dramatic music) - 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 stop at nothing, to get justice for Eric. - They would stop at nothing.

They wanted justice for their brother and son. - They believe they knew who that someone was,

even in those early hours after Eric's death.

- Eric Richens, 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 Wassatch 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 murals and lemon drop shots. The family told investigators, Eric was reluctant to buy that home. Pat Revy 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 two 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.

- Eric 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 Eric became violently sick. Now, we don't know why, but he left to the conclusion

that Corey was trying to poison him. - And then he starts saying these statements to family members that if something were happened to me, look at Corey.

“- The family says that's why Eric 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. 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.

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 in the Carmen Lobber,

they come to find out that she's got significant drug history and that she's actively in drug court working off for 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. - Low and behold, on the mirror, is Eric Richens obituary. This is telling Carmen is close to Eric 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 gonna be important. - Right. - For Homicide Biscuition. - No. - That's not me.

- When they asked her if she had sold drugs to Cory, her memory was fuzzy. - So I wanted that, it's so amusing. But, okay, so I wanted to date when she, yeah. But like I said,

oh, I hear a member of the guilty. - So they offered Carmen an incentive to help jog her memory.

“- We believe you and that's why we're here”

working on what you get out of jail free cart 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 might do it ever because I've struggled so hard to get with one of that. - That's great motivation. - Get the best of NBC news with a subscription.

If you were asked deeper access and exclusive content and now during the Xfinity member celebration, members can get an exclusive 50% off an annual subscription. Head to Xfinity.com/membership to learn more. Xfinity, imagine that.

Subscription automatically renews each year at 6599 plus taxes and fees until canceled. Offer ends May 20th, 2026. Price is subject to change. Visit NBCnews.com/Xfinity for full offer terms and details.

- Hey guys, Willie guys here. Reminding you to check out the Sunday Sit Down podcast. On this week's episode, I sit down with one of the biggest bands in the world, mumford and sons.

As we get the boys together to talk about their new number one album, Price Fighter. And the evolution of that irresistible foot stomping sound. You can get our conversation for free, wherever you download your podcasts.

- He was a young Marine. She didn't care about convention. They made a life together. Then one night, the Marine died. And then the death investigation took a wild, unexpected,

and utterly bizarre turn. I'm Josh Maykowitz, and this is Trace of Suspicion, an all new podcast from Vateline. Listen to all episodes of Trace of Suspicion Now, wherever you get your podcasts.

- Detectives were speaking with Housekeeper Carmen Lober,

“who they believed was the key link between Cory”

and the fentanyl that killed her husband, Eric.

Cory gets convicted of murder.

- Oh my God. - We need hard details. There's no more spare money on this. - I might do whatever, because I've struggled so hard to get with one of that.

- That's a great motivation. - Like I said. - You hold on to me. - I love Eric, if you were the damned of you. - And so Carmen began.

It was February 2022, a month before Eric died. Carmen said Cory reached out and asked if she could get drugs for a real estate investor. - Cory 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, Cory directed Carmen to a house she had flipped. Carmen told investigators she went inside, took the cash Cory had laughed and went to buy the drugs.

Carmen said she later returned and placed them in the backyard fire pit for Cory. I pulled into a driveway flat and now it was just a, it wasn't a big fire pit. Like it was a kind of 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? - What 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, Cory reached out again looking for more drugs.

- So there was a couple of, there was one, there was one, okay, now we're even so high. I know one thing that when we got one, it wasn't dark enough and I didn't know how much I really felt. - Dark enough, as in strong enough,

Carmen said, Cory wanted the Michael Jackson stuff. - All she knows about the Michael Jackson drugs 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 Crosher. It wasn't that hard to find him. He was in jail. - Corya, excuse me, I imagine you are.

So we're here to talk to you about a transaction that you made full over a year ago with a female named Carmen Walbert. He met her in an American Draper on two separate occasions in February up last year, so the whole over a year ago.

Okay, I think I will learn. But I just asked Cruplus to send me your friend all specifically.

“- I think she might have asked you for blue like now here.”

She knew what she would buy. - Okay, so she knew there was red on those pills. - With the dealer corroborating Carmen's story, detectives now believe they had what they'd been searching for.

The crucial link between Cory Richens

and the fentanyl that killed her husband. It was a Monday morning, a month after that TV appearance, law enforcement waited until Cory's boys were at school. And then they arrested her. - Cory Richens is here in the Summit County jail tonight

where told she is being held without bail. - I just kept a picky. She could do that. She would 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 Cory 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. - Cory 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? - So things would be alright. Things would be okay.

We're gonna help you. - Five weeks after her arrest, Cory got her chance to ask for bail. - Ms. Richens, good morning. - Attorney Skylasaro defended her.

There's nothing to show that Cory did anything to Eric. Being bad with money does not make you a murderer. - Toward the end of the hearing, Eric's sister Amy addressed the court.

I will be afraid not only for my own life and those of all of my family,

“but most importantly for the lives of Eric's three sons.”

- Her family has already suffered enough. Please do not let Cory out on bail, where she will be arrested to do further harm. - Defending Cory Darden Richens shall continue to be tamed without bail.

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

- It just benefits mom always from her babies

and this means war. (dramatic music) (dramatic music) - For nearly three years, Cory Richens called the Summit County Jail.

Home, you keep calling and visiting and messages. You know, this is daily. - Often on all day continually. - You're her lifeline. - Heart percent, 100%.

- We of course wanted to talk to Cory too. In May of 2024, she sent us a recorded message. - I've been silent for a year.

“Berkeley, for 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 the time we start speaking up, and 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 four years after her husband, Eric's death. Cory 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. Cory's another.

- My name is Brad Bloodworth. I'm one of Summit County's criminal prosecutors. The evidence will prove that Cory Richens murdered Eric Richens. - The prosecution rolled back the timeline

to Valentine's Day 2022, two 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 to look at the to go order that Cory called in. - So at 855, you know, it says a Greek, omelet, quinoa salad, bagel sandwich with hash browns and then Cory used typed in. - Does the detective tell you why this is coming into play?

- Sure, no order. - No. - Nope. - The prosecution argued Cory 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 Cory ordered it. Cory 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 p.m. that Valentine's Day.

“- Why is it to remember that phone call?”

- The fear in his voice, the urgency of the situation. - The state theorized that Cory 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 meal she made that night was ginger beer and fentanyl. The lemon shot dropped 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 Cory's behavior on her 911 call.

- The 911 call operator asks her to perform CPR. - Cory told first responder, 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 of the ground on the floor on the ground? - I can, I can't, I can't, I can't, 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.

- The sheriff's deputy was one of the first to the Richens House. He said Cory didn't act like most grieving family members right after a death. - Normally they have tears.

They look at me when I ask him a question while they respond, it just, every time I spoke to Miss Richens, just seems like her face was in her hands,

It was just a little abnormal.

“- Your Honor, the state calls Katie Richens Benson.”

- Eric Cisterkady also testified about Cory's behavior that morning. - She was like crying like I was, she wasn't hysterical. - Katie said not long after Cory told her boys their father was dead.

She was talking about closing the deal on the midway mansion. - I was dumbfounded. - And I looked at Cory 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 Cory and the drugs that killed Eric. For that, they needed their star witness. - The Honor of the state to cause Carmen Lopper. - On the stand, she admitted to a troubled past.

- Do you have a criminal history involving drugs? - Yes. - Carmen testified about Cory asking her if she knew someone who could get pain medication for one of her investors.

- I had text Cory back and told her that I had a friend that could get them, but they were fatten off hills. - How did Cory retains her spot? - She said, okay, go ahead and get them. - 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 Eric 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, he was, like four years ago. So I don't really remember if I met her more than once. - The prosecution presented even more digital evidence to the jury.

The searches Cory made on her cell phone. Those searches were incriminating the prosecutor told the jury. - These are the searches. - What was Cory retains 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 Cory 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 I think about the truth subject to the beans and penalties of poetry? - You're not a host. (upbeat music)

- Is the state ready to proceed, Mr. Butter? - Prosecutors may not be legally required to provide motive in a murder case, but they also know it's human nature to wanna know the why.

Why would Cory Richens murder her husband, Eric? - Reason number one, said prosecutor Brad Bloodworth. - Money. - More than anything. She wanted his money to perpetuate her facade,

a privilege, affluence, and success. - Do you solemnly swear the truth? - The prosecution called forensic accountant Brooke Carrington to the stand. She was initially hired by Eric's family after he died.

- As of the date that Eric Richens died, Cory Richens was in financial distress. On March the 5th, 2022, immediately after closing on the midway mansion, white was the amount of Cory Richens' liabilities.

- Right around eight million dollars.

- As her company tanked the state argued, Cory Homedin on her husband's life insurance policies. A month before he died, prosecutors said Cory 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. - Cory ended up with nearly $1.4 million in life insurance money from Eric's death.

Prosecutors also highlighted for the jury the prenuptial agreement Cory had signed. - Their prenuptial agreement meant that if she left him,

- 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 Cory a few months”

before he died. - She talked about how she was feeling trapped. And she said it in many ways it would be better if you were dead. - The prosecutor told the jury that book Cory

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 10 months at $5 profit of copy.

That is not a tethered to reality, but it does provide insight in how desperate she was for money. - According to the prosecution,

there was more than money to Cory's motive.

She had been cheating on Eric and was planning a fresh start with another man. - There was some question behind the scenes of the courthouse that 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 Cory seated just feet away, the clerk began swearing him in.

- To solve my swear the testimony you're about to give in the matter before the court

“to be the truth, the whole truth, and I think that the truth”

is subject to the pain's and penalties of Cory. - You got a hold of me. - 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 Cory'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'd 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 gave me money whenever I needed it. I just, you know, I liked her.

So I had worked for free, not that she didn't, you know. Pay me, as she did, from time to time and lump sums. - Jerry, that time that you were romantically involved with Miss Richens, did you love her? - Yes.

- Jerry, 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. Cory 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 Cory. - He was having a very difficult time, breathing deeply, making noises, spitting in his chair. Cory 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 Cory that he was in love with her. She responded, like, "Actually, in love with me?"

If I was divorced right now and asked you to marry me tomorrow, you would? Josh replied, "Yes, in love with why oh you, 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 will make you need a minute or two. - I don't know what I mean. - Let's just start with it.

- When we take a five pause for a moment, if you don't mind. - Testimony soon resumed. And the subject again, those texts, one week before Eric died, Cory wrote Josh,

"I have a crazy dream. "I divorce and come up with millions and millions. "We buy midway and live in the guesthouse. "Race and kids have a little farm." Deal?

Cory and Josh even made plans to celebrate her purchase of the midway mansion on March 4th, 2022.

he texted, "What's going on with you?

"You good?" Cory responded, "No, Eric passed away."

“Josh said the next time he saw Cory was two 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 Cory 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 Cory 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. - Understand. - Thank you sir, I don't have any further questions. - After calling dozens of witnesses.

“- Okay, you're on it then, it's daybreak.”

- It was the defense's turn, with a move. 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

and Park City Utah a lot to work with. - They put on 43 witnesses to make their case. - I'm one of Ms. Richens' attorneys, so it's nice to meet. - The defense cross-examine 38 of them, hoping to unravel it.

- Going back to the web searches. - Cory's attorney, Alex Ramos, one of the jury to understand that those questionable searches Cory made on her phone happened after Eric died.

- I'm adding her aware that all these searches were done after Ms. Richens knew she was under investigation, correct? Yes. - Cory's former lawyer, Skyla Zaron, 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? Josh is 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 him head on from the beginning. - There was no running away from Josh. The prosecution hammered the point that Cory wanted a new life.

The defense argued it was in a fair. - Nothing more. - Would it be fair to say that the talk about a future together between you and Cory was really more a fantasy than a realistic expectation?

- My opinion, you want my opinion on it? - Sure. - Let's say, yeah, yeah, more something that maybe I thought I wanted, but didn't necessarily, I couldn't picture it in the future, you know.

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

- Was everyone laughing? - Yes, if you're laughing and we jokingly said don't eat what Cory threw you to. - When it came to the accusation that Eric's death would bring Cory

an infusion of cash, the defense pointed out, Eric 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 him 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 better off with him if it's purely financial motivated. - The money, the boyfriend, the sandwich, the Google searches were all problems for Cory.

- He had to name this album after name. - But it was the cross examination of Carmen the housekeeper that could make or break the defense's case. - The 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 was in the best guess.

the defense got Carmen to admit she had a history

“of lying in drug court to stay out of prison.”

- To add excuse when you're using-- - Let's true, add excuse why. - 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 willing to go forward with the truth, yes. - And 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 calling never actually used the word fentanyl

when talking to Carmen. - You told authorities during the course of these interviews, the 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. - Do you solemnly swear this to me? - With the lead detective,

the defense drove home the point that law enforcement

never found any fentanyl in the Richens house.

- During that four years, period of time, as recently as less than a month ago, you were still issuing search warrant. 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 bolt load of fentanyl in his stomach,

it came out of the house with him. - If the lead detective couldn't point 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 hydrocodam bottle. Why wasn't it tested? What was kept in that bottle? - The pain killer was prescribed to Eric six 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. - He didn't put in an evidence bag? - No.

- He 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 her client, the defense rushed. - 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 and 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 going to hurt Corey? Are we leaving them on a high note?

- And we've been able to effectively cross exam and 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, 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 three children, Eric's Richens. - Do not let them fool you.

- Do not fall for red herrings. Corey Richens did not kill Eric Richens. - Don't want. - 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. - We're sitting side by side for three 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 gonna talk for five 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 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 Lover. Carmen, 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

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 testimony. - They felt for Corey's former boyfriend, Josh, too. - You know, at my heart, the lead 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 just try the case through cross examination? - I don't think it was a mistake as as much

as they were 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 richins 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 jurors' heartstrings. - I was not expectedly widowed when I was not much holding the quarry

and I had two moves. 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 three children and I understand that. I was rooting 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 three hours. - The court has 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 the courtroom and the judge makes it very clear that there is to be no outward reaction.

- Anybody in here can't follow these instructions. This is your chance, the lead. - I'm looking at Cory 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. - Council, Ms. Richens, please stand. Count one, aggravated murder. We, the jury unanimously, find that the defendant Cory Richens is guilty

of aggravated murder. Count two, attempted aggravated murder. We, the jury unanimously, find that the defendant. Cory Richens is guilty of attempted aggravated murder. - guilty guilty guilty guilty guilty.

- And you just see Cory just, yeah. - Her head goes down, you could just read her face. - 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 defeats. - Defeat?

“- I saw a broken woman, but I think there's carnage everywhere.”

- It was shock. I mean, he was literally just shock. You know, my mother said, Cory 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, 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.

- Four 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 voice as we all continue to heal. Thank you all for being here. - Cory 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 is not yet entered a plea. Her three boys are living with Eric's family. Cory'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 wants a symbol of everything Cory dreamed of. Now has new owners, and renovations are well underway. At the mirror-like diner, Gabe Moran thinks about Eric

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 Cory Richen's murder trial, or that his friends' three sons would be left without a father. - Eric was just a simple good guy. You know, when his kids don't ever die, you know,

and that's the part that hits me hard.

And those kids will be okay. Eric taught him right. They are smart, strong kids. They'll be okay. But it's not fair.

♪ ♪

“- That's all for this edition of Date Line,”

and don't forget to check out our Talking Date Line podcast, at which we'll go behind the scenes of tonight's episode, available Wednesday, in the Date Line feed, wherever you get your podcasts. We'll see you again next Friday at 9th, 8th Central.

I'm Lester Holt, for all of us at NBC News. Good night. (upbeat music)

“- Friday night, on an all new date line.”

- Can't be her, she can't be gone. - A young lost-toon smurder became a family's fight for justice. - The frustration, the feeling of helplessness.

- Until the truth finally emerges.

- This called me, he ends, and we have a name. - I was just freaking out, and I'm like, everybody get to headquarters. - And all new date line, Friday night at 9th Central, only on NBC.