Talking Dateline: Book of Lies

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Search Glass Half-volt with Craig Melvitt from today. All in YouTube, and wherever you get your podcasts. Hi everyone. I'm Blaine Alexander. Today we are talking date line.

I'm so excited to have Andrea Canyon here to talk about her episode Book of Lies. Hi Andrea. Hey, Blaine.

“I like to call you my Atlanta Partner in Crime, right?”

That's exactly it. Yes. Hello, Partner in Crime. Hello, my Partner in Crime. If you come a sort of dynamic duo here, have it.

Yes. Well, this episode is certainly a good one. If you haven't seen it, you can watch the episode on peacock or listen to it in the date line podcast feed and then come right back here. And later we'll have an extra clip from Andrew's interview with a private investigator

on the case. And then of course we'll answer some of your viewer and listen to our questions from social media. All right, Andrea. Let's talk date line.

Let's do it. Okay. So Andrea, before we dive into this conversation, and there is a lot to cover in this conversation. Oh, yes.

“I think it's fair to say, but just give us a quick rundown of what this episode is”

about. Yeah. This episode is about a mother, Cory Richins, she had three young boys. She's married to Eric Richins, Cory calls 911 in the middle of the night. She has found Eric called to the touch.

First responders come. She's on the phone with 911. They're telling her to do CPR. She's saying she doesn't know what's wrong. They come.

They're trying to figure out what happened to Eric Richins. You know, he's healthy, he's young, he's 39 years old, he just dies suddenly. So fast forward, Cory in her grief writes a children's book about grief. Cory goes on TV, which is now, I guess you could call it an infamous TV appearance on good things Utah.

She talks about her book. She talks about her husband dying. And then not too long after that, she is arrested for the murder of Eric Richins. They say that she poisoned him with fentanyl, five times the lethal amount was found in his system.

She had said that they were celebrating a new deal, she was a home flipper, and they had a Moscow meal and a lemon drop shot, prosecutors say that she poisoned those drinks with the fentanyl. And took a long time, but Cory did go on trial for murder, and she was convicted. Well, that is quite a story.

I think that, I mean, we talk about all sorts of different ways that, you know, kind of murder plots unravel, but going on a local lifestyle TV show, talking about the

book that you wrote a certainly, I think, a first.

“And I think that's what, you know, well, we know that's why this case got so much attention”

was that book. You know, it was apparently she didn't write it herself, she had a ghost writer, but she did publish it. And, you know, it's just people, people see it sort of as another layer of diabolical behavior that you would, you're accused of killing your husband and then you write this children's

book about grief that you're, you know, the victim, and, you know, this is so sad, and all the while, according to prosecutors, she had murdered her husband. This is something that when you look at her on the show, you kind of think, what, what was going on inside her head? So I want to ask you, what was it like interviewing that reporter who did that interview

and who had that show? Yeah, I mean, the poor reporter, the anchor, right, the anchor, yeah, she's called a co-host, but, you know, Dina, she was, you know, she's just trying to do a good thing, you know, she's having a local author in quotes, come on her show, and it's such a sensitive topic and meant to help other families, you know, grieving and with children and, my goodness,

you know, then she ends up in the middle of a murder mystery because an anonymous email comes into the station, right, you know, with this subject line, like there were two, right, it was like one was like the name of the book and then, you know, she killed her husband, and it's just like, wait, what, this is a lifestyle show, we, you know, we deal

more serious topic on, it leads to this, so I mean, that's the kind of thing that I personally

though as an honest person would be fascinated to end up in a situation like that, I know that sounds really awful, but I would be like, wait, what happened? You know, I would be

“all over it. It takes, I mean, yes, I think as reporters, we're kind of like, oh, that's”

crazy, but like we're curious. Oh, what else can we find out about this, this insane, right? And listening to her story, it resonated with me because in my local news days, when I was here in Atlanta, I was the weekend morning anchor, and so you have an hour of news, and it's like, you know, of course, the hard news at the top, but then there's like 20 minutes at the back, and where you're talking about, like, here are the pets that need to be adopted.

Let me pet this puppy, and, you know, here's this community event, and so you just have

kind of just an interesting shepherd's pie of whatever community events or local people, and that's something that easily would have been part of that, right? So many events would have done that. Yeah, and here's your alleged killer. Yeah, because I'll throw

“that in with the puppies and the, you know, the baking and the, the community service, exactly,”

I'm curious, did you ever get a chance to read the book? Or so you copy of it? Yeah, yeah, I've seen the book, you know, it's just a basic book, and, you know, it's colorful, and there's a, you know, a picture of Eric, he's a guardian angel, and it has, you know, a dedication to him. They, she even has their dog in there. But yeah, it's like, it's really about

a father helping, or watching over his son, they do have three sons, so, but it was, I

believe it was supposed to be based on Eric being the angel. Okay. Okay. Well, one thing that I loved about this episode, Andrea, is the link to the diner and meeting the owner of the diner there. Gabe. Gabe. Gabe. Yes. Yes. So just, you know, seeing the type of people who come in, see, it just seemed to give a feel of, okay, I understand what this, what this guy's like, what this kind of town is like. Yeah, and, and it's just like homey, like, country surrounded

by mountains, and you get a lot of, you know, a lot of, a guy's coming in there and women, you know, um, they like outdoorsy stuff, their hunters, sure. They snowmobile, um, they, you know, they do all those winter things, because it's more of, even though it's a mix, actually, because it's the area park city and surrounding area. I mean, you have billionaires there. You have mansions, and then you also have the people who, who grew up there, you know, we're

moved there, and they just like the country, and they don't have, you know, God's a money, but they're just good people, and they, they just, you know, they love the beauty of it, and they love the outdoors. And so it's kind of a mix, but the diner felt very folksy. Yeah. Yeah. And Gabe was really nice and was very surprised to learn that his diner was, unfortunately, at the center of this part of this whole thing, exactly. Well, speaking of that, Andrea,

I mean, in addition to locations, you actually got inside one of the homes that Corey was flipping, which, yeah, that Corey had flipped, talked to the homeowner. I thought that was fascinating too, because, I mean, it really kind of puts you inside something else that was at the center of

“all of this. That was an important piece. Yeah. And this woman, we didn't really get into her story”

too much Molly cross-white, because there was still much other, you know, serious stuff to get, too. But, I mean, she, she bought the house, and then, you know, all of a sudden, she's contacted by a detective, and he's not telling her why, right? He's not telling her what it's about. And she didn't know she was buying the house from Corey. It was a company. Like, so she, she bought it from like an LLC. So she starts doing her own detective work. You know, wait, why was this detective

here asking these questions wanting to look around? Because he's not really sharing the details with her. And she starts, you know, going through her papers and she's Corey Richens, who sold, who was behind that company, who sold the house. And she was, she was like, floored, Molly, when she realized that now this house is where the prosecution alleges that Carmen, the housekeeper left the drugs for Corey in the fire pit in the backyard, right? So she,

she couldn't believe it. She just, I mean, when, when that happens, you just, or, wow, like, this house I bought is now an inverter investigation. It's crazy. This story is just whole of so many people who were unwittingly in some way tied to this, right? Like, the co-host of the show, the owner of the diner, I mean, all of these people who, in some way, have found themselves to be, intersecting with this, with this order plot. Even Linda, who worked at Home Depot, yes, you know,

because she loved Corey, and she thought Eric was like the best customer, and he was so nice. And, and you saw her, she was in tears over this, because she really believed in this couple. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, speaking of her, seeing just this beautiful couple,

the first thing that made me say, oh gosh, this is, this is going to be wild, was the

“tense nature, I guess, between Corey and Eric's family. I think that that was such a big”

tell, and it was very clear that obviously there was tension between the two of them and their marriage, but the tension between Corey and the family was wild. I mean, let's just kind of talk about that. I mean, just kind of going back, does it seem like there was strain on their relationship from the start? Like, when does this pick a spider spider on my computer? Just give me one second. Okay. Okay. Sorry. It's running across the desk. Sorry for anyone. Okay. Who doesn't like,

having bugs killed, I just killed it. I'm sorry. It's fine. Like, big big or like, you know,

it wasn't too big. I just don't like spiders. I don't know, especially not on your computer

in your house. Does anyone like spiders? Okay. I'm so sorry about that. I did hear your question. You killed it very far. Honestly, though. That was very, I guess, with a container of pistachios. Okay. All right. Let's, okay. I was getting some paper. Wait, what was that? Okay. It's just that going to take. Okay. Back on the deck. So this relationship with Corey and the family, you know, it's a little murky because

everyone has like different lenses perspective on things. And so like I have heard that Corey got along with Eric's dad, but then you hear like, she didn't get along maybe with the sisters,

but but then Linda was saying there was a baby shower and they all seem to be getting long.

So that's for really for them to say, not me, you know, what that relationship was. But after Eric's death, certainly it was on full display that there was major major tension. Yes. I mean, I think just the fact even going before, just the fact that he quietly made changes to his will and made his wife not in charge of his affairs and kind of said, hey, if something happens,

“you know, might want to look this way. That's a, I mean, that's why I don't think of somebody being”

that concerned about the state of their marriage that they would do something like that ahead of time. Like that's unbelievable. And well, it actually started even at the house the morning of Eric's death because the sister made a comment to someone from law enforcement like you need to look at Corey and that tells you right away that there was not a good relationship. I mean, if there was a good relationship, you're not going to be immediately pointing the finger at your brother's

spouse that, you know, she killed Eric, right? So clearly things couldn't have been great. But another thing that was like a big red flag for that relationship, least from this is from my own feelings was having her sign of prenapped five minutes before she's walking down the aisle in her wedding dress. In her wedding dress. I mean, yeah, that was, I just feel like, why is that happening? Regardless of who's side you're on, how you feel about who that just doesn't feel right,

right? Like, like, agree. Like, figure that out before you see, I have to, this is hilarious and certainly not the the point. It's very much in the side, but I know that we're both real housewives fans. And it made me think about what are the weddings that's featured in the show where there's a huge argument over a prenapped. Before which one? This isn't Lanna. It was Todd and Candy. There was episode so we're sitting around whether or not to sign a prenapped and that was just a

“huge deal. Candy's the money maker, honey. She's the one who, right? Candy. I mean, I think Todd was a”

producer. No offense to producers, but I think Candy's businesses in her music was bringing in a lot more money. There was a lot of drama around that, right? And so anytime, you hear a prenapped coming up, I mean, people could say there's no good way. There's no right way. There's no better way to do it. But certainly, when someone's in their wedding dress five minutes before they're getting ready to walk down the aisle, that is not the way that she do it. That's not fair to anybody.

Yeah, yeah, I don't, I don't think that was right. But yeah, I mean, no one's disputed that it happened. So, I mean, we've kind of heard a number of times at this point. When we get back, Andrea is going to share an extra clip from her interview with the private investigator on this case. He was a young Marine. She didn't care about convention. They made a life together. Then one night,

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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. Well, let's talk about the private investigator here. I mean, a unique aspect of this case was there was a private investigator hired by the rich and family, and I know that that is often a feature in many of our data and stories. There's a private investigator who comes in because

the family just thinks okay, the police aren't digging deep enough or no one's listening or whatever it is. And we see that private investigator really become a factor in getting to the bottom of what happened here. Yeah, he was very effective in this case. And we should say playing also that his name is Todd Gabler, the private investigator. The rich and family brought him on in part because Cory was suing the estate because of the trust and all that. So they needed him

to look into that. And they felt that Cory was squandering Eric's money, potentially that there were financial issues and then also they had this hunch that she may have killed him. They believed. So the private investigator was brought in for that. And he also he in turn hired a forensic accountant

to help out. So they kind of had a big team on this like like a powerful team looking into

everything and and the private investigator was giving information to the to law enforcement of what he was uncovered. He uncovered a lot. Yeah. I mean when you talk to a private investigator obviously they're brought in by one side or another. They have a very specific point of view. Talk about how you kind of walk through that when you do an interview and how you handle that

“and and treat that in the story like this. Well yeah in this case he was very important because”

we don't have law enforcement doing interviews. So he you know sometimes the private investigator kind of takes on that voice right and the private investigator knows so much about the case and in this case he really did. So it was really just like what impact did he have on the case and what steps did he take and what did he learn and you kind of just go from the beginning like how did you get the case? You know and then you what did you do next? Oh what did where did that lead you?

Oh wow and you know you just kind of let it unfold the way it unfolded for him and you know and he said something interesting. I said to him I said wow you really went down a rabbit hole and he corrected me and he said I think the difference between a professional investigator and an amateur investigators that a professional avoids falling down the rabbit hole. The amateur goes heading into those holes without a notion about what is objectively appropriate and he said

he he sought the family down basically and said I am not here to deliver you the answer that you

“want like if that's what you're looking for not accusing them of asking for that but he said”

I am here to get to the truth and whatever that is meaning if I discover that Eric died of an overdose you know that that he somehow accidentally did this to himself I am going to deliver that finding to you that was not the finding of course that the conclusion he came to but I really appreciate appreciated that about him that you know he was there to he says just find the truth and deliver the family the information that he uncovered. It's fascinating to hear you say that

because that sounds almost exactly like a private investigator I interviewed in a story that aired about a month ago it was malice it was about the family of Jake and Bert here in Georgia and his family hired a private investigator because the scene was staged look like a suicide

find that he did that by suicide basically you're going to have to accept that right obviously that's not

“what he found but you know the exact same thing and I think that's the mark of any good private”

investigator I think so too you you you you don't want someone just telling you like what what you think or what you want to hear that's that's it's not helpful to anybody exactly an entry we actually have some extra sound from the private investigator he's talking about Josh Grossman Corey's lover let's listen to that you discover Corey Richens has a lover a secret lover I do and in March of 2023 he calls me and so as the defense brought out I told him

the niric was under investigation for extra that she likely murdered him I don't say that to

try and influence her witness I say that to see how it lands on that person I want to know

not about the truth of the matter I want to know how he responds to that notion and what Josh Grossman tells me next is very instructive he says that he carries a wallet will so that if something should happen to him people will know that he is written in this wallet will

“the Corey was involved in the death of her husband that's what that statement of mine”

elicits from him wow wow well let's talk about um I'm glad we had that clip from the interview I mean let's talk about Josh Grossman I mean there was uh in terms of lines that I will remember from date line episodes um when he walked up and was getting sworn in and they given the normal you know the normal feel and it goes away what do you mean by the whole truth I mean I'd say I was watching this with Jay we were watching it together last night and we both just like looked at each other

like I mean you said this what okay this is what I mean by the whole truth what you tell the truth of the truth like you can't handle the truth no that's like I'm like from the movie right what's that movie that really with Jack Nicholson oh you good men if you can man there you go is Grossman a few good men I don't know um many like he's in the military and everything oh as many TV shows and movies that have people just swearing in the truth whole truth and nothing

but the truth and about the truth remember okay well what what do you mean by the whole truth was wild like part of it or all of it or what and also that's just putting a flag saying hey I'm not gonna tell whole truth right like if you have a question like yeah it's what I'm about to say the truth or not so then the judge tells all the juror tells everyone to leave the court room it's like let me have a little chat with this young man what in the world I mean doesn't that just

isn't that just kind of an immediate shot to his credibility when it gets on the slide I mean it's

hard I don't I don't know in what world you don't understand that direction yeah it's never heard

that one before after that I mean did that do you think the prosecution then had kind of like some rebuilding to do I mean yes the jury was excused but they did hear it I mean immediately if I were on the jury I think oh well I mean what did that saying blame we did interview those two jurors right who who said that they felt really bad for Josh and they believed him and imagine if you're the lover of a woman on trial for murder and you got to get up and for all those

people I mean I still don't understand like why he said when he said but like at the same time I you probably be a bit of a basket case I would think yeah I mean and clearly he was he was really having a hard time on the stand I mean you're very emotional I'm curious Andrea what did you make of their relationship Josh and Cory yeah I mean there was some evidence that she wanted a future with him based on you know some some planning text messages like they would live in

the carriage house at the mansion they had booked a at one point I believe a trip somewhere tropical

“together at for after the murder it seems like he definitely cared about her remember that one”

text message about like when she says if I got divorced and he said I would marry you like now so he I think he was in love with her you know wish was she in love with him is really the question that I do not have an answer to now her official statement on it is that she loved her husband and you know yes she had no fair but but she loved Eric very much and was planning on being with him you know forever well he mentioned the jurors let's talk about those jurors you

know it was one thing that the jurors said I think that was interesting is of course there's the evidence they they looked at the evidence they considered it but they said that something that was hard for them was convicting knowing that they would be taking a mother away from her sons yeah that's

Corey killed Eric those poor boys you know one minute they're living this happy life that

“their mom and dad and then the next their dad's gone in the middle of the night and emergency”

responders or in their house and then you fast forward some time and you've got search horns and moms being arrested and it's it's just really sad you know because it sounds like Eric was an awesome dad and Corey was an active mom and you know at the soccer games and all that and like you know I I hope that they're doing really well with Eric's family they're that's that's who who they're with and then finally I want to end talking about Eric's family I mean how

with this verdict there's never oh my gosh it's a close right it's that you can't bring a

person back but how did they feel afterwards having seen this case come to a conviction I mean I

“think there was relief you know we didn't again we didn't interview them so I think it was just”

this they're just they're just relieved this chapter is over doesn't bring Eric back but they in their hearts believe Corey's responsible and she was found guilty guilty guilty guilty guilty five guilty and and she has other stuff hanging over her head for you know financial stuff so yeah well there's certainly a lot to be said about this one this was a fascinating episode Andrea and of course the lots of social media questions and comments that we will get to after this

can't wait medically reduce each year at 65 99 plus taxes and fees until cancel all parents made 20 of 20 26 prices subject to change visit today dot com slash xfinity for full offer terms and details welcome back everyone we are here to answer some of your social media questions and this is being taped after the show aired so blame is on assignment as am I so I am joined by the

very talented producer Karen Israel Karen thank you for stepping in thank you Andrea great to be here

yeah and it was it was great working with you on this story as always so Karen you're going to kick it

off with some of the the observations comments questions from our loyal date line viewers and listeners so I like this first one it's about games dying from at j s 3 n j on x asked did the crew eat there oh yes we sure did we ate their twice right Karen so i'll say what i i'll say what i had and then you can say okay well why don't you tell people what i ate then since you have such a good memory well it must have been good because you had it twice the two to melt you are correct yes i had

the two to melt i it was delicious um and i also memorized snuck in a blonde brownie at the very

and the second trip yes and that was good and i got a little piece of that too you did really yummy

the food is very good at game diner game was great and so helpful to us and um cool little fun fact he told us when we were there he was signing or working on the paperwork he purchased the lot next to the game and he's putting in a mini golf course yes that's right he's quite the entrepreneur yes it'll be even more of a draw in the chemistry all right what have we got next Karen at k girl eight lawana on x asks who was the publisher of the book okay so do you know this because

i don't know this so i just know that it was a self-published book and she actually used a ghost writer

“to write the book and it was self-published and that's that's what i know okay vicki McCarthy”

page it on facebook said she wrote the story and had it published within a year like she had it planned already did we know that i mean i guess she came up with the idea right you don't that we don't know um what we do know is yeah so obviously it came out after his death for sure one thing that was that we did learn in court was that at least messages with her brother she said that this was

gonna write called it the big one in a text i don't know if that was about her ex death i don't

“know what about what she was thinking without one yeah all right next next viewer um this isn't”

interesting one because we we learned a lot about this um we learned that quarry and her friend Greg are in contact often on for 15 hours a day at mabel monahan on x asks how are they able to do that if she's locked up those jail prison phone calls cost of fortune yeah that one i was shocked

Karen when he told us that i could not believe the amount of time that they spend talking on the phone

you know the local jail it's there's there's not those the protocol of prisons where people have jobs and they have to be up at this hour and then they or they work you know they work in the kitchen or they work in the library like you don't have the same thing is happening in a local small jail

“so i guess that's how she has like she wouldn't be able to do that in prison no no and i from”

one i understand she has some kind of tablet yeah pad yes a tablet thing that so and from that so a lot of their communication is like a text system it'll be interesting i as you were saying about the different rules in prison how much access she'll have to a phone or other means of communication yeah and i i i know i know she'll have it obviously she'll have the emails she'll have the phone it's just i just don't know that it's going to be like on demand

like it seems to be right now um vani tweed on facebook says very interesting story i'm sure there will be a movie did she get sentenced yeah no well you know what what's the sentencing date it's actually a significant date it is the date it's scheduled is May 13th which is Eric's birthday um and as for a movie i absolutely have no information on this but i could see this being a lifetime movie couldn't you because they do you see it they do a lot of rip from the headlines

movies and now that there's a resolution i could definitely see them doing that this one certainly has enough twists and turns for for a good movie it sure does Karen thank you so much for being our surprise guest for this talking date line it's been fun going down memory lane it's great we'll have to go back to the mirror lake diner sometime at any time any time hopefully under different circumstances maybe you know just to relax and enjoy some good food well that is it for this week's

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