Mom Who Wrote Children’s Grief Book Charged With Murder: Kouri Richins
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Hello, everyone, and welcome back. I'm so happy to have you joining me to discuss yet another case. And if you're new, then welcome. So today we're going to be talking about a case that has been so highly requested from you guys. It has been

gone pretty viral in the media since the story first broke in early May. And there's now enough information available, I think, to make an episode on it. But it is ongoing, so more and more will come out. Also today, I am really excited to have a special guest joining me, Jennifer Coffendaffer.

who is a former FBI agent, reached out to me and I was so excited because I have been following her commentary on cases for the last about three years since 2020, I think is when I first came across her. And I find her take on cases to be very interesting. And when she reached out, this was one of the cases that she was interested in talking about here on the channel. So I

Special treat to have her here. Her career in federal law enforcement spanned over 28 years and included extensive investigative operational leadership and training experiences. She was a special agent for the FBI, specializing in gang, narcotics, organized crime, Title III electronic surveillance, and counterintelligence investigations. She has participated in numerous high-profile arrest operations, and she's often on my

favorite news network for true crime coverage, and that is News Nation. And I've always found what she has to say in her interviews so interesting. My name is Jennifer Coffendaffer, and I served as a federal agent for over 28 years. My areas of expertise are violent crime, organized crime, and gang investigations. I also served on the FBI SWAT teams, including the

the San Juan team, the Dallas team, and the Houston team. After I retired, I founded Firearms Beyond International, and we train civilians specifically in the area of self-defense. I also work as an expert for EGLE, which investigates cases that have happened and analyzes the facts to make a determination and an opinion regarding the actions that were taken.

Finally, I'm a network contributor for News Nation and have also contributed to all the various channels and networks, including Dateline, where I recently did a feature on the Idaho 4 murders.

And so today, both of us are here to talk to you about Corey Richens. But quickly, before we jump into that, I have to thank you guys for selling out our latest collection of the NECMEC charity merch. Every time I think I get enough stock, you guys just sell it out so quickly.

It just blows my mind and I can't thank you enough for your support. And because of your generosity, we have now reached over $200,000 raised for National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. My next goal I have set...

First, we started with 100,000. Now I want to go for half a million. And I think we will be able to get there with your support. So because these sold out so fast and it takes so long to get stuff back in stock, I've decided to do a pre-sale. So you can now place an order if you weren't able to get one. And if you're able to get one,

It will ship, you know, after a few weeks once they're back in stock, but at least you can claim yours. And as a reminder, 100% of the profit from this collection goes directly to NECMEC. Me and my team do not make a penny off of these. And they're available at milehighermerch.com, which I will have linked below. But...

Let's jump into this case here. So Corey Richens first got media attention when she wrote a book for children about how to deal with grief after losing her husband and feeling like there wasn't anything on the market for her children to read to cope with the loss. She went on local TV to promote the launch of her book. Well, it turns out that Corey was actually the one who took her husband's life and then

wrote a book about grief for her children and for other children out there. This was really shocking to people. As you can imagine, I myself was shocked when I first heard about this. And it

It's the reason why it's gone so viral on the internet, why so many people are talking about it. She was arrested on March 8th. It hit the news cycle the day after, but it really didn't start getting traction and going viral online until early May. But before I get into what exactly happened, let's start with a little background here so you can see how messed up

Corey Richens really is. Let's start with Eric Richens. Eric was born on May 13th, 1982 in Utah to his parents, Linda and Jean. And from what I've learned, the Richens family had somewhat of a legacy and were well known by people in Summit County, Utah. And

And those who knew Eric personally say that he was a really incredible and kind person. He was a devoted member of the Mormon church and took a lot of pride in his religion. He actually served a two-year LDS mission in Mexico City and even became fluent in Spanish during his time there.

He was known for being an incredibly hard worker throughout all stages of his life and was really dedicated to anything he put his mind to. Eric was a very outdoorsy person. He loved spending time in nature. Eric was especially drawn to hunting and spent most of his childhood learning the skills it took to work on his family's cattle ranch. He was known for being incredibly good at working with horses and cows and learned through blood, sweat, and tears how to become a rancher.

If he wasn't helping his father haul hay, he was feeding animals or mending fences. And outside of working on the cattle ranch, Eric also loved sports. He specifically liked cross country, basketball, baseball, and soccer. He also was an older brother to his two younger sisters, Katie and Eric.

Amy, and he was a fiercely loyal person when it came to his family. And of course, being loyal to his family growing up, he was also very loyal to his wife, Corey Richens, which that loyalty sadly ended up putting him in harm's way. And I think it goes without saying that being loyal to your family should not end the way that it ended for

So now let's talk about Corey. So Corey, before she married Eric, was Corey Darden. And before the two of them ever began dating, she was a cashier working at Home Depot in Utah. And it was actually at Home Depot that the two of them met. Eric was an entrepreneur.

And he co-owned a stone masonry construction business called C&E Masonry with his good friend Cody Wright. And of course, naturally working in construction, that meant Eric spent a lot of time at Home Depot. And in his many visits to Home Depot, he noticed Corey. And like many men that came into the store, he developed a bit of a crush on her.

And he only ended up getting the courage to talk to her after one of her co-workers noticed this little crush and suggested that he started using her checkout lane instead. So she was kind of the catalyst for getting the two together. About nine years ago, King says she and Corey worked together as cashiers at Home Depot, where Eric was a frequent customer as a contractor and one of her favorites. He would come in my line all the time. You could never forget his laugh.

And I would love I love that laugh so much. She says she was the one who encouraged him to ask Corey out after seeing her catch his eye. I says, you know, go over there and check out with her, you know, so they did. Anyway, they ended up getting having a date from then on. They were like glued to each other. You know, it was just it was perfect. I thought after Corey left the cashier job, they kept in touch and King felt a special connection to them because of their introduction. They seemed like they were my children.

And I was proud of them. And that's how I felt about them. They dated for a little while and then eventually they got married on June 15th, 2013. And then they went on to have three sons. And if there's one thing that you should know about Eric above all of his other wonderful qualities...

One thing you should know and remember about him is that he was an incredible father. He loved being a dad. He was so devoted to his sons. He spent as much time with them as he possibly could. He was a very involved dad. He coached all of their sports teams, and he had spent a lot of time already starting to teach them how to be a rancher the way that his father taught him. And so when you looked at this family from the outside, it really appeared that they had it all.

that their kids were happy and healthy, that they had a good relationship. Eric's business was successful. And Corey even got her license as a real estate agent and appeared to be doing well. They had all the things that they needed to live a comfortable and happy life as a family of five. And that's what many believed they were doing. But that happiness that they had

was all ripped away from them on March 4th, 2022, and at the hands of Corey herself. In the very early morning hours of March 4th, at 3 a.m., a 911 call was placed from inside the Richens' home in Camas, Utah. Corey was the one who made the call, and on the call, she tells dispatchers that she walked into their bedroom and she found her husband,

cold and unresponsive. And this call has not been released. I'm not sure if it will be, but I'm sure we can all imagine that it has been highly investigated at this point. So at 3.22 a.m., sheriff deputies and EMS responded to their home where they found Eric's body laying at the foot of the bed. They, of course, tried to perform life-saving measures, but it was too late. And 39-year-old Eric Richens was pronounced dead at the scene.

And Corey told EMS that she attempted to perform CPR. However, Eric had so much blood pooled in his mouth that they believe it's highly unlikely that she even touched him. And she also told them that he had a pillbox

pill problem. So of course they ask her where the pills were so they could see if he had attempted to overdose. But she tells them that she has no idea because the maid puts them in random places. And to be very clear, his family says that Eric had no type of pill problem and no pills were found in their house after it was searched. So clearly this was an attempt to make it look like this was Eric's

fault. And of course, they also asked her to give a detailed description of everything that had happened that night leading to Eric's passing. And here's how she said the night went down. According to Corey, the two of them were celebrating that night. Just hours before he passed at 11 p.m., they were celebrating that they had closed on the purchase of a $2 million home that they bought for her real estate business. The home was unfinished, but it was massive, dude. There

There's a concept video of the house that was done up by Rosewood Homes that shows

The vision for this 20,000 square foot estate, there is going to be eight bedrooms, adjoining bathrooms, and can sleep up to 60 people for business retreats or family reunions. It has a butler's pantry, swimming pool, therapy pool, exercise room, golf simulator, full-size indoor volleyball court, rock climbing wall, two common rooms, two kitchens, and even a room dedicated for virtual reality experiences. Basically, this thing was like a resort.

It sits on 8.75 acres and it's north of State Route 113 in East Midway. Corey's career was mostly centered around buying and flipping houses, which I'm sure many of you are familiar with how that works. Essentially, you buy a property, fix it up, and then sell it for more than you bought it for. But here's the thing.

Even though Corey said that they were celebrating closing on this home, that wasn't the full truth. The truth was that Eric did not want to buy this home because he thought it wasn't a smart financial decision. This home was known in their area as sort of a money pit.

and had a pretty good deal of controversy surrounding it. I mean, court documents literally state that she and Eric were fighting over her decision to make this purchase. And I can't imagine that anyone who was so against buying this house would be celebrating closing on it. Oh, and to be clear,

be clear the house hadn't even technically been closed on. Turns out they were still under contract and Eric was planning on telling Corey that they weren't going through with it the day after he died. Is that a coincidence? I'm not so sure but from what I've gathered Corey was determined to buy this property with or without her husband's stamp of approval and that's exactly what she did. But

But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself here because at this point, Corey is telling investigators that she and Eric had just finished celebrating closing on the property when he died hours later. Corey explained to investigators that because they were celebrating, she made him a Moscow mule and she brought him that Moscow mule in bed.

After this, it was time for them to settle down and start going to bed. But according to her, one of her sons had a nightmare and requested that she sleep with him. So she goes and sleeps in her son's room. And it wasn't until 3 a.m. that she returned to their bedroom. And that's when she found Eric unresponsive.

In this case, the 911 call, although we haven't seen it released, is going to be very important for investigators. Why? Because on these calls, it logs the specific information that was given, in this case, by Corey Richens. And Corey Richens has already made a lot of statements that do not add up. In other words, where one time she says one thing, but the facts show another thing. And that's what we're going to see in this tape.

I want to hear specifically if she truly says she gave CPR. If she did, there should be signs of that that they can see in terms of the autopsy and in terms of the valuation by the ME of his body.

Does it corroborate the fact, if she says it, that she gave him CPR? Also, exactly when she found him. I mean, the timing just doesn't match up at all. She says they were celebrating the closing of a house, oh, which by the way, wasn't closed on, and that in the middle of this celebration, she decided to go to the bedroom of one of her children because they were having nightmares,

but then returned at 3:00 in the morning only to find her husband cold. So what does she say on that 911 tape? Does it match up with this account? Is the timing correct?

How is her emotion on that tape? Oftentimes we'll hear an individual be highly emotional and then they back off and they're very serious and they're recounting of what they say because they're calculating and thinking it. So it's not really emotional. Finally, one of the big things I would be looking for

is, is she making guesses as to what happened to him? We see this so often. People who are truly traumatized and upset about a loved one, you know, that they've just found dead, they don't

think about how did it happen. They don't say, "Well, perhaps he had an aneurysm," or, "Perhaps he has a drug problem and he overdosed." When you hear things like that during this emotional timeframe, it's very calculated and it could really be a plus situation for the prosecution.

So just to recap here, we have Eric and Corey celebrating the closing of this estate around 11 p.m. She goes and makes him the Moscow Mule, brings it to him in bed. Then they start getting ready to go to sleep. She then goes to her son's room because he had a nightmare, sleeps with him for a little while, and then returns to their room around 3 a.m. to Eric's lifeless body. So pretty quick turn of events. And there's one more important detail that she told police.

She said in between the time that she left the bedroom and went and spent time in her son's bedroom, she did not have her phone with her. She left it next to her bed charging. And this is important to remember. Now, you would expect that a woman who has just lost her husband in such a sudden and shocking way would be...

riddled with grief, barely able to function. If I was in that situation, I would probably have to be sedated. But what Corey did the next day is really the opposite of grief. Literally, one day after Eric died, Corey threw a massive party at this new property, the one that

Eric did not want her to purchase. And you'd think maybe this was a party to celebrate Eric's life or something like that. Nope, not at all. Turns out this party was to celebrate closing on the estate, which she did the day after Eric died. So she had not closed on it before he died, the way that she had said. She literally, the first thing she does after her husband dies is goes and closes on this house.

Corey was seen at this party drinking and celebrating like nothing had happened 48 hours after Eric died. And what's really weird is sources say that Corey didn't even tell people that attended this party that Eric had just died. The only people that knew what had happened were his family.

family. Oh, and guess what else she did? She asked that Katie, Eric's sister, leave their house so that she could grieve in peace when reality is she wasn't grieving at all. She was literally partying.

Katie was understandably shocked and incredibly pissed about this. And the two of them got in an argument and she made it clear to Corey that she would no longer be able to live in their family home. And it was during this fight that Corey found out for the first time that Eric had made Katie power of attorney before he died and had written Corey out.

out of his will. And obviously, this was shocking to Corey, who thought that everything that belonged to her husband now belonged to her after he had died. But boy, was she wrong. And reports say that Corey was so pissed about this that she actually assaulted Katie and police were called to their home. And if that weren't bad enough, Corey then decided to sue Katie on March 28th

Less than three weeks after her husband's death, Corey filed a lawsuit against Katie over control of her husband's $3.6 million estate. It was Corey's opinion that Eric was trying to defraud her when he took her out of his will without her knowledge. She felt that she was entitled to his assets because according to their prenup,

which Eric's mother made Corrie's son on the day of their wedding, she believed that everything would go to her in the event of his death. So when she learned that everything would not go to her because Eric had signed everything over to his sister, she filed legal documents stating that the prenup should be abolished.

upheld. Now, the whole point of the prenup was to protect Eric because Eric had actually been married before. Eric's mother, Linda, was the one to draw it up, and she had Eric and Corey sign it on their wedding day. But she obviously couldn't have predicted that Corey would then use this prenup to try to steal what didn't belong to her. So much had changed in their relationship since this prenup was signed, and Eric had made other plans for his assets.

following his death but it was the fact that corey didn't know that eric had gone behind her back and put everything in his sister's name that really fueled this lawsuit and her petition to have the prenup

upheld. What a legal move by Corey Richens to now ask that the prenup that she had signed on the day of her wedding, she wants that enforced. Why? Because it says if they were legally married and her husband died, she would get all of his assets, all of the money.

So this is a very interesting legal move because that should be in place, but I believe the other information now known, especially the fact that she's been charged in his murder, will come into play. I have not seen specifically though where that is discussed in the prenup. So will it be enough to negate the prenup for a judge?

We'll have to see. And not only did she want control of Eric's assets, she also sued his sister Katie for $300,000. But luckily, Katie was fully prepared to fight back and was not going to give in to this bullshit. She filed her own petition asking the court to disqualify Corey from receiving any of Eric's assets, stating that Corey was currently being investigated for his death.

In this petition, it was revealed that Corey had been stealing money from Eric to buy the houses that she was flipping and made more than $30,000 worth of charges to his credit card without his knowledge.

knowledge. And this wasn't Corey's only financial crime. Far from it. It turns out in September of 2020, Corey got a $250,000 line of credit out on their house, spent that money, and also withdrew $100,000 from his personal bank account. Oh, and all those properties that she flipped and sold? Well, Corey is being sued for fraud by a couple that she sold a home to after they found toxic mold

In their new home. And the cherry on top, she wasn't paying taxes on certain income and owes over $130,000. Now I mentioned that this petition stated that Corey was being investigated for her husband's death.

And this is when things really start to get crazy if they weren't already. And even though Corey was going around telling people that Eric died of a brain aneurysm, his family knew that this couldn't be true. And after autopsy and toxicology was done, investigators knew that this couldn't be true either.

Upon its completion, the toxicology report proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Eric Richens was poisoned. It turns out he had five times

times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system. And this wasn't medical grade fentanyl. This was illicit fentanyl that you would buy from a drug dealer. Here's where things get even more wild. Before police even confirmed that Eric had been poisoned or performed any post-mortem testing, Eric's family knew that Corey had killed him.

And that's because in the weeks and months leading up to Eric's death, he himself explicitly told his friends and family that if anything happened to him, they needed to look into his wife. And he wasn't vague about it either. He literally told his friends and family that he thought his wife was trying to kill him. And so of course, when they found out that he had passed, that immediately came to mind. And it turns out there were

already two instances where Eric believed Corey had tried to kill him. And it started with a trip that they took to Greece several years back. Eric told his loved ones that while they were on vacation, he became extremely sick after Corey made him a drink. And he didn't mean sick as in his stomach hurt a little. Whatever she put in his drink was enough for him to suspect that she was trying to

to kill him. He literally called his sister while they were in Greece and told her that he thought Corey was trying to end his life. That particular incident, like I said, happened three years back, but the second attempt was only three weeks before he passed. Literally on Valentine's Day, 2022, Eric became almost entirely debilitated after Corey made him a sandwich.

He had such a strong reaction to whatever Corey had put in that sandwich that he had to use his son's EpiPens and Benadryl in order to help him breathe. So ultimately, when you look at this timeline and Eric died three weeks after that incident on top of a suspected attempted murder in Greece...

His family just knew that Corey was responsible and the police took them seriously. The Richens family's concern on top of the fact that Eric died at just 39 years old is what prompted investigators to look more closely into Eric's death. And like I said, the toxicology report proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Eric had been murdered.

So obviously their next steps are to look more into Corey and prove that she was the one who was responsible. But investigators decided to do this kind of on the down low. They don't want to tip Corey off that they're onto her. They don't want to spook her. So being quiet about the investigation was probably the best way for them to make a clean arrest. So over the next year, they started to look into Corey again.

And once they did, a literal treasure trove of information was dumped in their lap. They learned that in October of 2020, Eric had rewrote his will so that in the event of his death, none of his assets would go to Corey. And they also found out that Eric had contacted a divorce attorney and also an estate planning lawyer. They also found out that on top of writing Corey out of the will,

Eric had put his sister Katie in charge of his trust and power of attorney, so all decisions would go through her. And like I mentioned, Eric's assets were worth $3.6 million. And like I mentioned before, Corey didn't find out about any of this until the day after Eric died.

which was a well-deserved slap in the face. But just because she didn't know about the will didn't mean she didn't have another sinister plan in mind. Investigators found out that just three months before Eric's death, Corey gained access to Eric's life insurance policy and made changes to it without

without his permission. And something important to note here is that Eric also had a $2 million life insurance policy that he took out with his business partner, Cody, and they were listed as the other person's beneficiary so that in the event of either one of their deaths, the other would have the money to buy out the other person's half of the business. So in this case, Cody would have the funds to buy out Eric's half and take full control of their business.

But of course, that wasn't going to fly with Corey. So in January of 2022, she went online and changed Eric's life insurance policy so that she was the sole beneficiary. But luckily, his policyholder alerted Cody, who then told Eric, and Eric was able to go back and reverse this change. Certainly, Corey Richen's move...

to have her named as the sole beneficiary on life insurance policies without the knowledge of her husband was sneaky. But it was discovered, thankfully. And so because that change that she tried to invoke really had no practical outcome in terms of money being exchanged or money possibly going to her or litigation coming to light where she could actually fight this,

Because all of that didn't happen, I don't believe those actions that she took to make herself the sole beneficiary

will come to any fruition. Believe me, there's enough going on in this case without the prosecution looking at a weak case for the fact that she changed that beneficiary. I don't see that being litigated. And I'm sure many of you have a lot of questions about why Eric would have stayed after all of this. And it's hard to know exactly. And I don't want us to victim blame, judge him and say,

ridicule his decision to not get away from her sooner because we just don't know what was actually going on right we can't ask eric what his thought process was and eric valued his family above all else he loved his children and probably didn't want to make his departure from cory you know any more difficult on them than it had to be maybe he was really trying to think that out it's

just horrible what happened to him and adding judgment to his decision-making during this time, I think is so unhelpful. And we do know that he was talking to a divorce lawyer. So it was definitely in his plans. But from what I've read, um,

it sounds like he was mainly concerned about his kids and how it was going to affect them and wanted to do it right. There are sources out there that say he had some suspicion that she was having an affair. However, there's not much more information beyond that. And while many of you will question and disagree with his decision to stay with Corey, it doesn't change what happened. Also, the Richens family spokesperson said that even though he had all these concerns about Corey,

and was scared, Eric was, quote, very much in love with her. The spokesperson also said, quote, he lived for those boys. I believe he would have stayed in a less than desirable relationship if it meant he could do right by them. It appears that Eric may have stayed

in a relationship that wasn't good because he loved his boys and wanted to keep the family relationship together. And maybe he was hopeful that things would change. But his number one concern was for his boys. Which is just heartbreaking. And that's why in the beginning of the video, I said, I want you to remember above all else when it comes to Eric, that he was a good father.

Now, all the information that we've gone through so far is obviously extremely concerning, major red flags left and right, but it wasn't enough yet to prove that she was the one who actually killed Eric.

However, once the toxicology was performed and her phone records were looked into, investigators absolutely had the proof that they were looking for. After the report came back positive for five times the lethal limit for fentanyl, a search warrant was obtained and issued. And in the execution of this search warrant, all phones, computers, and other electronics were seized from Corey and Eric's home.

And through collecting all of that data, the undeniable evidence that Corey had killed Eric was confirmed. Even though she attempted to delete messages, which...

So many people do that in these cases. I don't think they understand that data that is deleted is easily recovered. And her text messages led them to a person named CL. So investigators looked into the CL person and they determined that they had a long history of drug-related charges. And after looking at text conversations between Corey and this CL person, it became clear that

that they were her drug dealer and that they supplied Corey with the fentanyl that was used to kill Eric. This CL person actually confirmed this during a police interview on May 2nd, 2023, and I'm guessing that they must have taken some sort of deal because the information they shared with police was damning, to say the least. According to CL's statement...

Corey had contacted them between December of 2021 and February of 2022, looking to get pain medicine for an investor that had a back injury. And a few days after she first made contact, CL and Corey had met up at one of the houses that she was flipping to do the exchange. But only two weeks after this, Corey had contacted them again.

Corey contacts CL again, and this time asks for something stronger. And this is when Corey told CL she wanted fentanyl. Specifically, she said that she wanted the Michael Jackson stuff. And Corey ended up buying $900 worth of fentanyl on February 11th, 2022, which is just three days before Valentine's Day, the second time that Eric believes fentanyl.

Corey tried to kill him, first time was in Greece. And then two weeks after that, Corey asked CL to make a purchase for $900 worth of the same pills. So on February 26th, just five days before Eric was killed, CL did another drop for Corey at one of the houses she was flipping and left the fentanyl in the fire pit. And everything that CL had shared with investigators was confirmed by Corey's cell records.

And guess what else was confirmed after looking through Corey's cell data? Remember earlier how I mentioned that Corey told police she had left her phone in her room charging when she went to her son's room before she found Eric dead? Well, that was definitely a lie.

The data shows that her phone was locked, unlocked, had movement, and sent text messages during the timeframe she claimed not to have the phone. Specifically, these messages were to her dealer and she deleted them. The defense's number one strategy in this case is going to be to try to say he was a drug user, he used fentanyl,

And the problem is going to be that the autopsy results, what the ME is going to say, and what all the facts in this investigation are going to point to is not that he was a drug user. It's going to point to the fact he was a great father. He was a devoted husband. He feared for his life and the fact that she might try to poison him, but stayed in a marriage to keep the family together. Stayed in the marriage because no matter what he thought,

In his brain, his heart truly loved Corey Richens. And so despite this skew that the defense will put that she was really a grieving widow, that she wrote this book to try to cope, it's not going to fly. She held a party within 24 hours of his death. She didn't even tell individuals that she was associated with and friends.

how he died or what happened that he even passed away. This whole situation is going to backfire if the defense is going to try to malign the character of Mr. Richens because quite frankly, he was a good man, a good man that didn't deserve to be poisoned in his bed.

on March 4th. So ultimately, the toxicology report and the phone data were enough for investigators to finally make an arrest. But before I get into her charges, I want to go back a little bit here and talk about this

Book that she had written for children about grief. Exactly one year after Eric was murdered, Corey published a children's book titled Are You With Me? And went on local television station Good Things Utah to promote it. The inside cover of the book even had a dedication that read, To my amazing husband and wonderful father.

In the aftermath of losing her husband so suddenly, Corey shared on local television that she needed a resource to help her kids deal with the emotions associated with losing a loved one. She said she tried looking for something like that that already existed but didn't have any luck, so she decided to make one herself.

The three C's, which include connection, continuity, and care. Three things that she deems are important when helping your children deal with grief. When it comes to connection, Corey explains how it's important to keep your loved one's memories alive. Talk about them and share memories. When it comes to continuity, she talks about how keeping routines is really important for kids'

dealing with grief to make sure they still have a bedtime, still eat three meals, things like that. Lastly, when it comes to care, Corey says it's important to affirm your children's upset feelings and this loss and let them know it's okay to feel sad, mad, lonely, whatever it is they feel. And what's so upsetting to me is the fact that this book really could be an incredible resource for a lot of families out there. And now it is

Totally tainted. The fact that this book was created by someone who is responsible for the grief their children are enduring is...

Just mind-blowing. Corey was literally planning on profiting off of her husband's murder. Unfortunately, I can't play the entire clip from the interview because of YouTube copyright claim, but I will link it below because it is interesting. Her body language, the way she speaks, it's so...

And it honestly just creeps me out. She is so remarkably evil. I can, however, share a brief clip from the interview. So I'm going to play that now. He was 39. It completely took us all by shock. And we have three little boys, 10, 9 and 6. And, you know, we kind of my kids and I kind of wrote this book on the different things

emotions and grieving processes that we've experienced last year. Dad is still here, it's just in a different way. So you actually wrote this book with your children. I did. And it's only been a year. How did you process and say, go from processing death to I need to write a book and help others?

You know, I just watched the struggle that my kids were going through. And I actually, you know, I went on Amazon and Barnes and Noble and trying to find something that we could use to cope at nights. Nights are the hardest. It seems like for everybody when, you know, dealing with anything, but I just wanted some story to read to my kids at night. And I just could not find anything. I couldn't find anything that really, you know, suited them or help them find comfort and peace. And so, you

You know, I was like, let's just write one. As you just saw, she's definitely trying to play this innocent, grieving widow who's just trying to help her children when in reality, she took him from them. It's God, it is so remarkably cruel that she can speak about her children's pain in that way, knowing she caused it and is now profiting off of it as well.

Corey Richens, in my opinion, is pure evil. And she planned on making a whole series of grief books. She talked about publishing the sequel of her first book and said the next book would be titled Mom, How Far Away Is Heaven? And I wouldn't be surprised, and I know Jennifer feels the same way, that she's

She probably planned all of this from the beginning. It's pretty clear when you look at Corey Richens that money was the motive. And if she wasn't going to get money through his will, well, this certainly was going to be another way to do it. Her book, Are You With Me? Every investigative bone in my body tells me that book, just like his murder, was planned. She planned it not only as a money-making mechanism...

But also, she wanted to spend this entire event to gain sympathy. And it's something we see all the time. If people can just focus on my sympathy, they might focus away from the fact that I actually committed this murder.

So I think it was a part of the plan, just like changing the law or the insurance policies. Those were the plan, just like using all of this money, over a million dollars from various avenues of his assets prior to killing him was part of her plan. She truly believed she was going to gain about $3.6 million

as well as freedom in killing her husband. And really, it's a tale as old as time. And those of you who are familiar with this case know already that her writing this book is what has caused this case to get so much attention. I mean, of course, writing a book for children on grief and then finding out that she is actually the person who caused that grief for the family is...

Nothing at all made me suspicious. I didn't have any spidey senses going off meeting and talking to her.

I did think she was a little emotionless, maybe lacking a little bit of warmth, but everybody grieves differently and I didn't want to judge. So I thought, you know, maybe she's still numb. It's only been a year. Maybe she's on autopilot. I didn't have anything that seemed out of the norm to me. I think people process things in different ways in their own time, but yes,

A lot of times on our show, Good Things Utah, it's a lifestyle show and we allow people to share their stories and however they process it. And I put myself a lot of times in their shoes and I think I would never be able to grieve in that amount of time and then write a book and then also take care of my three small children who are 10, 9, and 6.

So I did find it, wow, I can't believe that you've done it. So I needed to ask that question, like, how did you process this whole year and then write a children's book and then come on a show to talk about it? And even though the media really picked up this story in early May, quote,

Corey was actually arrested, like I mentioned in the beginning of the video, on March 8th, 2023. And this was three days after the book was published. And she was charged with felony first degree aggravated murder and three possession with intent to distribute charges.

DeSummit County now where a widow slash author is in jail tonight. She is facing aggravated murder charges one year after her late husband was found dead in his sleep. Now new details are emerging about how he died and what he told a friend just weeks before police say he was poisoned. News Specialist Debbie Worthen is digging deeper and deeper into this. And Debbie, what do we know so far?

Well, Mike and Dini, Corey Richens is here in the Summit County Jail tonight. We're told she is being held without bail. The Richens family released this statement. The Richens family has been devastated by the loss of their son and brother, Eric Richens, in March of 2022. They hope that justice will be done. The family is thankful to all law enforcement for their efforts in pursuing this matter.

As for Colby Sagers, he misses his friend. It's been sad without Eric. He loved to hunt, loved to be outside. Very honest guy. He was a great friend. And this...

literally makes me cringe so hard and pisses me off. But just three days before her arrest, Corey posted on social media saying, life is just so hard without you here. The cards I have been dealt seem like a game that just can't be played. As if she literally weren't the one who dealt herself the cards. I mean, it's just disgusting. Corey Richens is certainly innocent. She has not been proven guilty in a court of law. She's not been tried a

A jury hasn't spoken, but she is speaking from behind her cell walls about producing a made-for-TV show, documentary, about her television, about her story rights. Yes, she's already trying to make money, and again, she could be found innocent. And if she is, getting those wheels churning for a story and to sell that story.

Fortunately, those calls were interrupted and were discovered. A judge has placed a gag order regarding comments on this case, at least to a limited degree. And that judge wants to see justice. And certainly we could see, just like Corey Richens did at the beginning of this case in terms of scheming,

In my opinion, she's doing it right now from behind a cell in case she's found innocent. She wants to sell those rights and to make money. And again, what's at the forefront? Dollar signs. And I think that was at the forefront of her motive.

to kill her husband. Corey's next hearing was supposed to be scheduled for May 19th. However, that ended up being postponed because it appears that new charges were added to the list. This new charge includes the intent to distribute. Investigators also learned additional information that confirms that Corey's motive was financial.

It turns out that as far back as 2015, Corey was attempting to apply to life insurance policies in her husband's name. She had applied for four policies, totaling almost $2 million, but I can't help but wonder if it will come out that she applied to more than that. And as of right now, her next hearing is scheduled for June 12th, which is actually the date that this video will be going live.

So if anything new or crucial comes out today, I will be pinning a comment and adding that information to the description box. But that's all I have for you guys as of now. This case is just so heartbreaking. I can't help but feel devastated for these three children who have now lost both of their parents.

in very different ways, but I can't imagine the pain that they're going through. And I hope that they are getting the support and hopefully therapy that they're going to need. And I'm sure many of you are curious as of right now, Eric's children are in the custody of his sister. And I imagine they are being pretty shielded from the media. I mean, they're going to spend their whole lives knowing what their mother did. And I'm sure it's going to be incredible.

incredibly hard for them to process I just hope they are surrounded by those who love the most and they're getting the support they need also I wanted to thank Jennifer for being part of today's video and collaborating with me it was so exciting when she reached out to me she's actually going to be coming out to Colorado at some point to do some in-person work with me and I'm really looking forward to that

That is going to be it for me today, guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode. And make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. It really does help me out. If you want to watch the video version of this show, you can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked, or you can just search Kendall Ray. I will be back with another episode soon, but until then, stay safe out there.