March 30, 2026

Are You With Me? | The Kouri Richins Murder Case

Are You With Me? | The Kouri Richins Murder Case

Part One of a Two Part Series On March 4, 2022, Eric, a successful stonemason and devoted father of three young boys — died suddenly after drinking a Moscow Mule his wife prepared for him. The cause? A lethal dose of fentanyl, five times the amount...

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Season 10
Part One of a Two Part Series
On March 4, 2022, Eric, a successful stonemason and devoted father of three young boys — died suddenly after drinking a Moscow Mule his wife prepared for him. The cause? A lethal dose of fentanyl, five times the amount needed to kill. What followed shocked the nation: Kouri, the grieving widow, wrote and self-published a children’s book about coping with loss titled Are You With Me?, appearing on local TV to promote it while secretly facing mounting accusations.

Prosecutors say Kouri poisoned her husband for money — secretly opening nearly $2 million in life insurance policies without his knowledge, forging documents, and attempting to kill him weeks earlier on Valentine’s Day. She also allegedly had an extramarital affair and was drowning in debt. After a highly publicized three-week trial, a jury convicted Kouri Richins on March 16, 2026 of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, insurance fraud, and forgery.

She now faces 25 years to life in prison. Kelly Jennings of “Unspeakable: A True Crime Podcast by Kelly Jennings” breaks down the timeline, the evidence, the courtroom drama, and the heartbreaking impact on Eric’s family and their three sons. This is the full, unfiltered story of a picture-perfect family that hid a deadly secret.

Timestamps
03:32 Eric Richens: The Family Man
11:19 The Marriage Proposal
15:36 The 911 Call
21:19 A Family in Distress
26:45 The Investigation Begins
33:17 Grief and Funeral Planning
45:39 Shocking Medical Findings
1:14:51 Unraveling Motives
1:17:48 The Mystery Deepens

#unspeakable #podcast #crime #truecrime #kouririchins
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Welcome to Unspeakable, a true crime podcast where I tell

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stories of real crimes with real victims, whose cases are

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so shocking that many are left wondering how is this

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even real? I use my experiences in law enforcement corrections,

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and combined with my years as a criminal justice educator,

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dig deep into complex cases of evil acts, some so

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evil many feel they are unspeakable. Warning. Unspeakable as intended

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for mature audiences. If you are easily offended, then I'm

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not your girl. Listening discretion is advised. Hey, y'all, it's

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caj You're back with another episode of Unspeakable. How's your

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week going? I know I ask you every time, but

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I'm genuinely curious. I've had a pretty solid week. I mean,

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I did have an epic cut down by my own

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child yesterday because I thought that maybe I was talented

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enough to wax my own eyebrows. Now, I will let

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you know that it was a failure because I don't

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know how to do it, apparently, and I waxed an eyebrow, y'all.

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It was so swollen that she asked me what was

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wrong with my face? When I picked her up yesterday?

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So let that be your inspiration for this week. If

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you're having a bad week, at least you don't look

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like me, all right, So let's do a few shout

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outs here, and I'm gonna shoot you straight. I don't

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know if I might be duplicating some shout outs, but

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I'd rather be safe than sorry. So if you're like,

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wait a minute, you already gave me a shout out, Kelly,

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that's okay. You're getting double the pleasure, double the fun here,

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so I'm gonna do it again. So we're gonna start

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in Travelers Rest, South Carolina, where miss Amanda and I

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think we're gonna pronounce this ca Amanda caa or is

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it just C with a y? But I think so

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Amanda ca over there in Travelers Rest, South Carolina. How

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are you doing, my friend? I appreciate you joining and

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supporting my show. You're the difference. I say that all

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the time, but it is the absolute facts. I'm waving

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at you on the camera. Thank you, my friend. Please

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tell all your friends to listen to your shout out

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and to listen to this episode. But then we're gonna

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come right on back here to my neck of the woods,

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right in Springfield, Louisiana, where miss Amy Bennett is living. Hey, Amy,

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what is going on right there down the street? I

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actually went and looked at some property out your way recently,

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So thank you for joining my Patreon. You are the

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absolute best. And then I'm gonna go to a tooka,

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Tennessee where miss Lexi Munroe is living, and Lexi, how

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are you doing over there in Tennessee? Beautiful country, isn't

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it beautiful over there? I'm so happy to have you,

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and I thank you so very much for supporting my show.

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But today we're gonna go to the great state of Utah.

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When I tell you, I have been flooded uh with

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requests for this episode, I am not exaggerating. So I'm

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gonna give you exactly what you want. And I'm gonna

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do you another solid and tell you that this is

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going to be a two part series because people have said, hey,

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can you tell us in the beginning instead of leaving

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us to find out at the end. Sure, Absolutely, no problem,

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So this will be a two parter. Trust me, you'll

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be glad that I did that, and I can give

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you all of the details. So, like I said, We're

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gonna go to Utah, and I have actually been there before,

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which a beautiful place to be. And I was actually

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in Utah whenever the Oklahoma Nope, not Oklahoma, whenever the

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Boston Marathon bombing happened. I remember watching that happen on

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a big screen right there in Utah. So this is

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a great place to live. And two people that would

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agree with me on this would be Eric and Corey Ritchens.

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So the couple have been married for nine years whenever

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this story takes place, and they had created a beautiful

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family together, three children, three sons, were the product of

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their union. And these kids, and I know we all

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say this, but these kids were everything that their parents

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wanted and prayed for. And in the same right, these

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boys had just been born to a daddy built just

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built for the job of being a boy. Dad. See Eric,

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we're gonna talk about him for a second. He was

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a serious athlete whenever he was younger. And so you

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want to play sports, boys, you got it. Eric played

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all of the sports, basketball, baseball, soccer, He ran cross country.

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And so whenever his boys got a little bit older

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and they were able to actually say I want to

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play sports, he was over the moon for this. That

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said He was even stoked so much that he wanted

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to act at his son's as his son's coach and

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damn near everything that they played, be aggressive, give it

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your all. He was someone that was going to cheer

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these kids on everything that he had, support them. But

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also the kids that he was coaching, well, he treated

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them just like his own sons. He took this team

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on and he believed that in these children that they

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could just succeed and that they would if they would listen.

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He could instill what they needed to be great athletes

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and their dedication was palpable as far as him being

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a coach, because he would do things like show up

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early to the games. He even had signs made okay

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that were individually for the kids for the athletes to

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cheer them on. He would show up early and he

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would put those in the ground so the kids would

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see those whenever they showed up. He was their number

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one supporter alongside being the coach. There was no doubt

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about this. And to give you a little insight to

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why he was the way he was, it's because he

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came from hard working stock. Himself. Eric and his sisters

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were raised on a cattle farm and from a very

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young age. They were taught the value of grit and

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sweat and hard work. Eric was the oldest child in

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his family, and so he protected his sisters with a

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fierceness that only older brothers would understand. And he helped

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even his sisters as they grew up to learn the

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hard things in life and hard work. But he also

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encouraged them, and that probably was part of that foundation

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of how you have to work with young people to

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get them where they need to be, just as the

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he did whenever he was younger with his sisters. He

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did this with his own boys when he became an adult,

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and he would preach to them, if you do not

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put in the effort, you will not reap the success.

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Anybody can stand on top of a mountain and appreciate

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getting a medal, but if you don't put in the

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hard work, you're never going to reach the top. And

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Eric was proof of this on and off the field,

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so to speak, because work hard and play hard was

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his life. Eric had built a very successful masonry business

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from the ground up. It's not like he inherited it

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or something like that. No, it was his built from

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the ground up, and he was very wealthy as a

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result of all of his hard work. He worked this

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business so intensely that it grew beyond his wildest dreams,

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and he was certainly dedicated to working because he was

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reaping the benefits. But he also believed in enjoying life too.

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It cannot be all work and no play. There was

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just more to life than making money. So alongside his

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sports talents, Eric was also an avid outdoorsman and hunter,

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and so he did things like travel the globe and

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he had even acquired multiple trophy animals from the likes

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of Africa, Mexico, Canada and beyond. And he couldn't wait

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for the day that his baby boys would be able

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to do this with him as well. But for now,

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I need you to know that these boys are all

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three under the age of ten, so world travel would

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just have to wait a little while.

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Now.

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His wife, Corey, she wasn't one sitting on the back

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burner either in terms of success. She had built a

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name for herself as well. Buying homes and flipping them

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was her specialty. And we are not talking small, little

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you know, slumlord houses or anything like that. I'm talking

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big houses with million dollar budgets. To do the flipping.

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The company that she created had scaled extremely quickly, and

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for just some insight to this, she purchased one home

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in twenty nineteen that she would flip and sell, and

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by twenty twenty she had bought five and in twenty

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twenty one it had scaled to fifteen homes. So if

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you've never built homes or you've never flipped homes, I

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need you to know that is massive growth, and that

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is a lot for one person to be undertaking it

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one time. But she was killing it. She was making

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a lot of money. And it's safe to say, looking

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at what I've just told you that both of them

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had a lot to bring to the table. Now, Corey,

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she was originally from Oklahoma and her parents' marriage was

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just drought with issues. While Eric grew up on that

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farm with two loving parents that were very devoted and

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very involved in his life, Corey's upbringing was going to

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be a bit different. On the other side, her dad

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would end up going to prison when she was just

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six years old. Now, as the story goes, I'll tell

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you I didn't dive deep into this what her dad did,

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but the story is allegedly that he was drunk and

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he fell asleep at the wheel and he hit a

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police officer, killing that officer that was trying to do

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like a traffic stop or something along those lines. When

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that happened, her parents divorced, which is when her mother

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packed up Corey and her brother and moved them to

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Utah where they would continue to grow up. So, while

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her future husband was busy working the land and the cattle,

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Corey was with her mother, moving from casino to casino

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as her mother gambled away any money that she had,

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so craving stability of her own and realizing through her

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you know, their teen years, that this is just not

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the type of life that I want for myself. Corey

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decided then in there that she was going to make

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her own way in life. And so what she did

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was she started by enrolling in college and working towards

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a college degree. So while she was in college trying

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to make changes so that she could build a life

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worth living, that's where she met Eric. That was in

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two thousand and nine, and the two fell in love.

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They did date for four years, and through those four

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years they just were infatuated with each other, and so

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they eventually decided to tie the knot. Now. Eric took

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those four years that they dated one day at a

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time because he wanted to be sure, absolutely sure before

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he got married that this is what he wanted because

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this was not Eric's first marriage. Even though they were young,

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Eric had already been married and divorced. So when he

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was a little bit younger, Eric had married a girl

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by the name of Julie, and that was back in

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two thousand and five. They obviously thought that this was

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going to be forever, but things soured pretty quickly, and

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that was within four years of their marriage, and so

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they would end up divorcing in two thousand and nine. Again,

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two thousand and nine is the same year that he

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met Corey, so this time he was a little more

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gun shy about popping the question. But at the four

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year mark, when they were still completely smitten with one another,

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the marriage isle was where he wanted to be. He said,

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this shows me that this is the long run and

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that I actually want to do this. So off to

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the marriage aisle they went, well, I mean, I guess technically,

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off to the backyard they went, because they had their

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wedding at home in the backyard. But it was lovely

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and they sealed the deal with a kiss. And Corey

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couldn't have cared less when Eric had asked her to

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sign a prenup whenever they were going to get married.

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I know a lot of people are turned off to that.

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Corey couldn't have cared less. The reason he wanted a

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prenup is really important because his first marriage, when it soured,

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it left this lasting impact on him because Julie, his

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ex wife, had fought him tooth and nail financially. So Corey,

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she knew that this was going to be the plan

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all along. They were going to sign a prenup, but

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it didn't matter, y'all. They were in love and it

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just it wasn't a thing. So after the wedding, they

224
00:12:54.840 --> 00:12:58.480
began building their family, one tiny baby boy at a time,

225
00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:03.279
So three boys within nine years made their family complete.

226
00:13:03.600 --> 00:13:07.679
And even better was that Katie, which is Eric's sister,

227
00:13:08.200 --> 00:13:11.600
she was selling her sprawling home, a very nice home,

228
00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:14.440
and both Eric and Corey loved it. They loved it

229
00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:17.759
so much that they bought her house from her. So

230
00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:22.200
this family was just really tight knit and you know,

231
00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:25.039
up in each other's lives and even buying homes from

232
00:13:25.039 --> 00:13:28.039
one another. Now, the home was gorgeous. Like I told you,

233
00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:32.000
it was two stories. It had multiple garages with a

234
00:13:32.159 --> 00:13:36.000
massive shop in the back with an additional two large

235
00:13:36.120 --> 00:13:38.879
roll up doors on it. It was bricked on the front,

236
00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:42.559
all that jazz. So super nice house, especially when you're

237
00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:45.679
starting out your marriage together and life was coming together

238
00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:49.759
so beautifully that they were now at a point in

239
00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:53.799
their life where the world was literally at their fingertips

240
00:13:54.200 --> 00:13:58.559
with success abounding. It's things. I would say that dreams

241
00:13:58.559 --> 00:14:01.639
are really made of when you think about getting married

242
00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:05.919
and where will we be in five ten years. So

243
00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:10.000
on March third, twenty twenty two, after a very long

244
00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:13.120
day of work, the rich AND's family got settled in

245
00:14:13.159 --> 00:14:15.679
for the night, just like we all do. The boys

246
00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:19.159
got their bath, they got their pjs on, they ate supper,

247
00:14:19.639 --> 00:14:23.320
and then everyone went off to bed. Well, Corey decided

248
00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:25.480
to stay up for a little while while Eric went

249
00:14:25.519 --> 00:14:28.559
to bed to rest. But Eric told her he wasn't

250
00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:30.639
going to be going to sleep. He just wanted to

251
00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:33.480
go lay down and relax. Now, he was not a

252
00:14:33.559 --> 00:14:36.279
huge drinker or anything like that, but he did enjoy

253
00:14:36.679 --> 00:14:40.159
a Moscow mule every now and then, and so Corey

254
00:14:40.200 --> 00:14:43.000
happily made him his drink, brought it to him in bed,

255
00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:45.799
and he sipped on his drink while he relaxed and

256
00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:49.039
watched a little bit of TV. So the evening went along.

257
00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:52.320
Everyone in the home fell asleep, and that was until

258
00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:55.600
Corey was awakened by one of the children having a

259
00:14:55.720 --> 00:14:58.840
nightmare or a night terror. And so she did what

260
00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:01.440
us mamas do. She got up and she went to

261
00:15:01.480 --> 00:15:04.000
go try to settle him down. Well, that resulted in

262
00:15:04.039 --> 00:15:06.399
her getting in the bed with him, and she snuggled

263
00:15:06.440 --> 00:15:08.960
down and the both of them fell asleep and kind

264
00:15:09.000 --> 00:15:11.960
of dozed off together, and it got quiet again in

265
00:15:12.039 --> 00:15:15.519
the house. Well, a few hours passed and in the

266
00:15:15.639 --> 00:15:19.200
early early morning hours, this is between about three and

267
00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:23.000
four am, Corey woke up, and with the baby boy

268
00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:26.000
now happily asleep and resting, she decided that she wanted

269
00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:28.240
to go seek the comfort of her own bed and

270
00:15:28.360 --> 00:15:31.000
sleep next to her husband. So she went to the

271
00:15:31.000 --> 00:15:34.360
bedroom and she quietly entered so that she wouldn't wake

272
00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:38.320
Eric up, and she slid into the bed and as

273
00:15:38.360 --> 00:15:42.080
she pulled up the covers, she kind of brushed against Eric,

274
00:15:42.879 --> 00:15:46.600
and my god, he was cold, you know, she said, goodness, gracious.

275
00:15:46.639 --> 00:15:49.440
So she went and she tried to pull the comforter

276
00:15:49.679 --> 00:15:51.799
over Eric, thinking, you know, the air condition and the

277
00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:55.840
fan must have chilled him a bit. But when she

278
00:15:55.879 --> 00:16:00.399
went to go cover him, he just seemed off. It

279
00:16:00.799 --> 00:16:04.600
was like he didn't respond, like someone who's kind of

280
00:16:04.639 --> 00:16:08.080
being covered up would kind of snuggle or shift. As

281
00:16:08.120 --> 00:16:11.840
she did this, he was lying on his back and

282
00:16:11.919 --> 00:16:16.159
he did not move at all. So she reached over

283
00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.320
to kind of pat him, and she was surprised when

284
00:16:19.360 --> 00:16:22.159
she held her hand on him just how cold he was.

285
00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:27.360
So she's Eric, Eric, and she starts shaking him Eric,

286
00:16:28.039 --> 00:16:32.360
and that's when she realizes, oh my god, he's not responding, Eric, Eric,

287
00:16:32.720 --> 00:16:35.360
and so she jumps up, She flips on the light.

288
00:16:35.759 --> 00:16:38.440
She searches for her cell phone. She grabs it and

289
00:16:38.480 --> 00:16:42.039
she dials nine one one. Here is a snippet the

290
00:16:42.159 --> 00:16:45.120
very beginning of that nine one one call No.

291
00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:52.039
No, that looks pretress of the emergency Manson's so breathing cold.

292
00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:53.840
Okay, what's theatress?

293
00:16:55.720 --> 00:17:02.759
Two into spoil o cord two eight days low court?

294
00:17:03.960 --> 00:17:07.799
Uh huh, I was the guest, one of one gays

295
00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:12.519
we got just connected him. We're three fives, he said,

296
00:17:12.559 --> 00:17:20.119
it was for ninety seven. Okay, it's gonna be in Francis. Hey, okay,

297
00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:21.240
tell me exactly what happened.

298
00:17:22.759 --> 00:17:25.640
So I don't know what I was put it with

299
00:17:25.799 --> 00:17:26.359
my kids.

300
00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:29.599
Okay, I can't evenna tend you. I need you to

301
00:17:29.640 --> 00:17:35.000
take a deep breath. What's going on? I don't I

302
00:17:35.079 --> 00:17:35.440
don't know.

303
00:17:35.680 --> 00:17:38.079
I just I was like, became with my kids.

304
00:17:38.200 --> 00:17:40.920
I just came into bed, did our bed and I

305
00:17:41.079 --> 00:17:43.519
turned over and he's breaking just cold.

306
00:17:43.880 --> 00:17:44.720
He's so cold.

307
00:17:44.960 --> 00:17:45.640
Who's cold?

308
00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:48.920
I want said the line on it.

309
00:17:51.160 --> 00:18:00.240
And he's not breathing. He's not breathing, So I need

310
00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:01.920
you to confirm it for me and Ken not breathing.

311
00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:10.160
So okay, we're gonna can you do Cprus.

312
00:18:10.839 --> 00:18:14.039
So this is just devastating to listen to. I know

313
00:18:14.160 --> 00:18:16.119
you picked up on that, and I do want to

314
00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:19.160
be very clear that this was the shortened version of

315
00:18:19.279 --> 00:18:22.279
the call. It was much much longer than that. But

316
00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:25.880
I just was gonna kind of sum it up for

317
00:18:26.000 --> 00:18:29.400
you because it was very medical, clinical type thing, and

318
00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:31.960
it's a very long call that I think honestly might

319
00:18:32.039 --> 00:18:34.640
lose your attention. So you got to hear that portion.

320
00:18:35.119 --> 00:18:38.759
After that, they discussed the operator and Corey discussed pulling

321
00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:42.400
Eric off of the bed. We've got to start CPR.

322
00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:46.039
But Corey is so overwhelmed and scared because of how

323
00:18:46.160 --> 00:18:48.079
cold he is that she says, oh my god, I

324
00:18:48.119 --> 00:18:49.799
can't touch him. I can't, I can't, I don't. I

325
00:18:49.839 --> 00:18:52.519
don't know what to do here. But the operator does

326
00:18:52.559 --> 00:18:54.640
her job. She continues saying, we've got to get him

327
00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:56.400
off the bed. We've got to get him off the bed.

328
00:18:56.680 --> 00:19:00.720
And so eventually Corey goes, okay, okay, And so standard

329
00:19:00.839 --> 00:19:03.680
what we would do is if she's smaller than Eric, okay,

330
00:19:04.319 --> 00:19:06.720
is that pulling him and pulling his dead weight for

331
00:19:06.839 --> 00:19:09.680
lack of a better term, is very difficult. So you're

332
00:19:09.680 --> 00:19:12.240
gonna advise the person grab the sheet that he's on,

333
00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:14.440
and I want you to pull the sheet, pull as

334
00:19:14.519 --> 00:19:17.200
hard as you can. And Corey says, he's just too heavy,

335
00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:19.440
it's dead weight. I can't get him off of the bed.

336
00:19:19.839 --> 00:19:22.279
And so she's just coached. You got to pull him,

337
00:19:22.519 --> 00:19:24.680
pull him one side in the other, grab an arm,

338
00:19:24.759 --> 00:19:26.799
grab a leg, do whatever you've got to do. Do

339
00:19:27.000 --> 00:19:29.680
not worry about hurting him, don't worry about it. Just

340
00:19:29.799 --> 00:19:31.839
let him fall to the floor. That's the least of

341
00:19:31.920 --> 00:19:34.079
our worries get him on the floor. You got to

342
00:19:34.160 --> 00:19:35.960
understand how important it is that when you want to

343
00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:38.720
do CPR on someone, you cannot do it in a bed.

344
00:19:38.960 --> 00:19:40.400
If you don't know that, I'd love to teach you

345
00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:42.599
that right now, They've got to be on a hard,

346
00:19:42.839 --> 00:19:46.640
flat surface so that the compressions will be effective. So

347
00:19:46.799 --> 00:19:50.000
she keeps working, she keeps working, and then eventually she

348
00:19:50.160 --> 00:19:52.720
is able to get him off the bed and drop

349
00:19:52.839 --> 00:19:55.480
down to the floor. So when she gets him on

350
00:19:55.519 --> 00:19:59.319
the floor, she does eventually start get getting CPR started.

351
00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:03.880
She's along with the operator one, two, three, four, she's

352
00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:07.519
giving these compressions and then it felt like a lifetime.

353
00:20:07.920 --> 00:20:12.279
But eventually EMS does arrive and they take over working

354
00:20:12.720 --> 00:20:16.839
on Eric. Now, with all of the commotion, the screaming,

355
00:20:17.039 --> 00:20:20.759
and just the panic, the kids had now woken up

356
00:20:20.839 --> 00:20:24.359
from their sleep. So Corey at one point, even on

357
00:20:24.440 --> 00:20:26.640
the phone, still says get out of the room, get

358
00:20:26.680 --> 00:20:28.400
out of go, go, go, get out of the room.

359
00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:30.119
Do not stay in here. And she's trying to shield

360
00:20:30.200 --> 00:20:34.960
her children from seeing what is going on. So fire,

361
00:20:35.400 --> 00:20:38.519
police and medical responders were now all on the scene,

362
00:20:38.920 --> 00:20:41.880
and the gravity now that they have taken over starts

363
00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:45.799
to just really hit Corey. And this is a standard reaction,

364
00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:48.839
if you're curious, people will have this what's called maybe

365
00:20:48.920 --> 00:20:51.799
kind of like a relief reaction where someone else now

366
00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:54.119
has taken over and they can really just fall into

367
00:20:54.240 --> 00:20:58.440
all of their emotions. Well, Deputy Vincent Gwen he was

368
00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:01.519
a deputy with the Sheriff's office. He pulls Corey from

369
00:21:01.559 --> 00:21:04.359
the room to get her out of the chaos, and

370
00:21:04.519 --> 00:21:07.240
he wants to start kind of questioning her and try

371
00:21:07.319 --> 00:21:09.400
to make sense of what is going on, because not

372
00:21:09.559 --> 00:21:11.799
much was really given in that nine one one call

373
00:21:11.880 --> 00:21:13.400
as to how did we get to where we are

374
00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:17.599
right now? So his BODYCM was rolling the entire time

375
00:21:17.720 --> 00:21:20.640
that all of this is happening. And because you know

376
00:21:20.759 --> 00:21:23.680
that I'm one of those people, I went and watched

377
00:21:23.720 --> 00:21:25.839
because I wanted to see what all was said on

378
00:21:25.960 --> 00:21:29.319
the body cam. Seeing the home while this is happening,

379
00:21:29.319 --> 00:21:32.240
I'll tell you it was nice and neat and orderly

380
00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:36.960
lived in, but a very nice home. And the first

381
00:21:37.079 --> 00:21:40.799
responders are all huddled around Eric, who is on the floor,

382
00:21:41.079 --> 00:21:45.039
and they are working swiftly and professionally to try and

383
00:21:45.200 --> 00:21:48.039
save Eric's life. You can hear the first responders in

384
00:21:48.079 --> 00:21:51.319
the background as they call out audibly one thing after

385
00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:54.319
another to each other as they work on him. So

386
00:21:54.400 --> 00:21:57.240
you'll hear one responder will say, I gave him EPI

387
00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:00.960
talking about an EpiPen or apinephrin or epineph excuse me

388
00:22:01.440 --> 00:22:05.240
to try to stimulate him. Another one says blood sugar

389
00:22:05.559 --> 00:22:09.599
four fifty eight, and that caught my attention. Whoa, you know,

390
00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:12.839
And even one of the responders that's there, you hear

391
00:22:12.960 --> 00:22:17.279
him audibly go whoa, because everybody knows that's a very

392
00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:20.480
high blood sugar, especially for someone that's lying on the ground.

393
00:22:21.279 --> 00:22:23.960
So Deputy Gwen, like I told you, pulled Corey from

394
00:22:23.960 --> 00:22:25.599
the room as all of this is going on. It's

395
00:22:25.720 --> 00:22:29.599
very traumatic, extremely emotional. So they're moved over to the

396
00:22:29.640 --> 00:22:33.319
living room. Corey is weeping. She is stunned by what

397
00:22:33.720 --> 00:22:36.880
is going on. She's crying, trying to make sense of

398
00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:39.519
what is happening here. And you can hear the steady

399
00:22:39.599 --> 00:22:43.599
hum of the Lucas machine while she's talking. And this

400
00:22:43.720 --> 00:22:45.599
Lucas machine, if you're not aware what that is, it's

401
00:22:45.640 --> 00:22:51.759
a portable robotic device and it's gonna deliver automated, consistent

402
00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:55.400
chest compressions to people or patients that are believed to

403
00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:59.160
be in cardiac arrest. So basically it's gonna give consistent

404
00:22:59.599 --> 00:23:02.599
quality the CPR. And at the same time, this is

405
00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:05.119
now freeing up the hands of the first responders so

406
00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:08.319
that they can do other necessary tasks. So it's really

407
00:23:08.640 --> 00:23:11.319
kind of a neat thing. I'm gonna put this video

408
00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:14.240
for you on Patreon if you would like to see

409
00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:17.079
and watch. But I wanted to explain to you what

410
00:23:17.160 --> 00:23:21.960
you're hearing while she's crying and everything is happening in

411
00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:25.359
all of this commotion. So Deputy Gwen asks her some

412
00:23:25.640 --> 00:23:29.680
questions while the responders are continuing to work on Eric,

413
00:23:30.119 --> 00:23:33.880
and I'm gonna let you listen here as she's answering

414
00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:36.640
the questions for this officer. I'm going to alert you

415
00:23:36.680 --> 00:23:38.400
to this too, that you're gonna hear a lot of

416
00:23:38.480 --> 00:23:41.279
paper crinkling in the audio. It's not a bad audio.

417
00:23:41.720 --> 00:23:44.160
It's just that the deputy is looking through some documents

418
00:23:44.200 --> 00:23:47.079
and filling out some paperwork while this body cam is rolling.

419
00:23:47.599 --> 00:23:49.920
And I also want to be very transparent here that

420
00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:54.119
I have shortened the audio for some time purposes and

421
00:23:54.200 --> 00:23:58.039
cut out non essential portions of the video like silent

422
00:23:58.160 --> 00:24:00.839
gaps and things of that nature. So go ahead here,

423
00:24:01.119 --> 00:24:03.119
and I want you to listen to Corey as she's

424
00:24:03.160 --> 00:24:06.920
answering the questions for the deputy. As everything is still

425
00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:07.480
going on.

426
00:24:08.200 --> 00:24:11.519
Let's let them do their work in there. That's what

427
00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:20.799
happened today. He was just time we were there. When

428
00:24:21.279 --> 00:24:22.279
you say we were fine?

429
00:24:22.680 --> 00:24:22.960
What what?

430
00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:26.440
What time did you see him? When he was alert?

431
00:24:27.759 --> 00:24:29.039
We had a dream together?

432
00:24:29.200 --> 00:24:33.480
And then I just celebrate something at work tomorrow. Okay,

433
00:24:35.880 --> 00:24:40.160
we went to bed, I would medic kids their bed.

434
00:24:40.880 --> 00:24:45.359
What time did you guys go to bed? Nay thirty nine?

435
00:24:46.440 --> 00:24:47.720
Okay? Fine?

436
00:24:48.680 --> 00:24:51.720
And then what what? What alerted you to him today?

437
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:52.319
Right now?

438
00:24:53.359 --> 00:24:56.599
What? I just fucked up? I always when I sleep at,

439
00:24:56.640 --> 00:24:59.160
my kids wake up and I go back in my

440
00:24:59.240 --> 00:24:59.640
own bed.

441
00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:05.519
I just crawled over on his side, and he was

442
00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:10.119
laying in bed. He was on his back on the beat.

443
00:25:10.200 --> 00:25:10.559
And then.

444
00:25:12.960 --> 00:25:15.079
Okay, and he was on you said he was on

445
00:25:15.200 --> 00:25:19.680
his back. Okay, where are your children now?

446
00:25:22.599 --> 00:25:23.960
Want to sleep in that?

447
00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:26.680
Round two are awake with their air to the door.

448
00:25:30.440 --> 00:25:32.119
Where are the other two at that are awake?

449
00:25:32.720 --> 00:25:33.200
Now?

450
00:25:33.200 --> 00:25:35.200
I bet your and where is that at?

451
00:25:35.720 --> 00:25:37.319
Who's there first? With your lap.

452
00:25:38.200 --> 00:25:41.680
Okay, is there any family members we can call right now?

453
00:25:41.960 --> 00:25:42.160
Yeah?

454
00:25:42.200 --> 00:25:43.839
I need to go. I need to go.

455
00:25:43.960 --> 00:25:44.880
My mom so bad.

456
00:25:45.079 --> 00:25:47.440
Okay, I think I don't know the name was once

457
00:25:47.640 --> 00:25:54.400
on the phone. Okay you my mom, yep, I'll give

458
00:25:54.400 --> 00:25:57.079
you a phone right now. Okay, I need to call

459
00:25:57.160 --> 00:25:57.640
his dad.

460
00:25:57.839 --> 00:26:00.839
He's gonna be okay right like I went, I got it,

461
00:26:01.000 --> 00:26:02.359
bet and then it just good.

462
00:26:02.759 --> 00:26:05.640
They're they're doing their best. Okay, man, here, you can

463
00:26:05.759 --> 00:26:08.200
use my phone. Does he have any medical conditions or

464
00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:08.799
anything like that?

465
00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:12.680
I mean he has lives disease.

466
00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:15.160
Limes disease, but.

467
00:26:16.799 --> 00:26:18.680
I mean fucking major like.

468
00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:22.240
So, no heart problems or anything like that.

469
00:26:22.920 --> 00:26:25.880
No, I mean he just said his chest was hurting

470
00:26:25.920 --> 00:26:26.720
pretty much to them.

471
00:26:26.839 --> 00:26:27.759
But that's.

472
00:26:29.319 --> 00:26:32.920
I mean, not if he doesn't drink it off water,

473
00:26:33.240 --> 00:26:34.599
you know when he gets.

474
00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:35.440
On the bike downstairs.

475
00:26:35.480 --> 00:26:41.440
I don't know it just did dods.

476
00:26:46.759 --> 00:26:49.519
I thought he was really tired because he got his

477
00:26:49.680 --> 00:26:52.359
allergy shots yesterday.

478
00:26:52.440 --> 00:27:02.640
Barty okay, but my son, and then when did did

479
00:27:02.720 --> 00:27:04.079
you discover him? One time?

480
00:27:07.039 --> 00:27:07.680
He got up?

481
00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:09.640
Like I got my phones.

482
00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:19.880
PEP three about three? Okay, did you immediately call the

483
00:27:20.119 --> 00:27:20.720
nine one one?

484
00:27:22.519 --> 00:27:22.720
Yeah?

485
00:27:22.799 --> 00:27:25.480
Well, I mean I got up and will soon as

486
00:27:25.519 --> 00:27:29.319
I turned over and he was cold, I just saw something.

487
00:27:30.200 --> 00:27:31.960
I mean, I just put the blanket on it cause I.

488
00:27:32.079 --> 00:27:34.200
Just thought it from local.

489
00:27:34.359 --> 00:27:34.839
So I just.

490
00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:40.000
And then I stopped that for a minute, and I

491
00:27:40.200 --> 00:27:45.519
just didn't feel like it's like freaking or anything itself.

492
00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:55.480
I okay, Corey, I need it. I'm gonna need to

493
00:27:55.480 --> 00:27:58.200
ask you some questions real quick. Okay, has you ever

494
00:27:58.240 --> 00:28:02.079
been in the military? No, No, because he used tobacco.

495
00:28:02.400 --> 00:28:02.440
No.

496
00:28:03.799 --> 00:28:06.440
And what does he do for a living and ste

497
00:28:06.480 --> 00:28:19.640
facing company? And then when when you discovered him, was

498
00:28:19.680 --> 00:28:20.240
he on the bed?

499
00:28:22.400 --> 00:28:22.599
Huh?

500
00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:26.119
Yeah, this is what I got to side like normal.

501
00:28:30.079 --> 00:28:33.559
I just thought he was cold, his gold in there,

502
00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:38.359
so I put the blanket on it. His buddy just

503
00:28:38.440 --> 00:28:40.279
felt like hoppy?

504
00:28:40.599 --> 00:28:40.880
Did I?

505
00:28:42.359 --> 00:28:44.640
And which way was he facing? Was he facing towards?

506
00:28:46.440 --> 00:28:49.319
No, he was just up, just facing up.

507
00:28:49.640 --> 00:28:50.799
Oh, so he's laying on his back.

508
00:28:51.400 --> 00:28:51.640
Okay.

509
00:28:55.920 --> 00:28:57.359
And then did you pull him to the ground.

510
00:28:58.240 --> 00:29:01.640
Yeah, that's the lady on the boat told me to Darst.

511
00:29:01.200 --> 00:29:02.240
To take this sheet.

512
00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:07.960
It full the sheet, Nica to THEO.

513
00:29:08.000 --> 00:29:10.039
They're out so I could do see your.

514
00:29:10.279 --> 00:29:13.480
Okay, what's his highest level education?

515
00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:20.119
It's a bachelor's degree. Ass't acted.

516
00:29:20.200 --> 00:29:21.839
We didn't just die in his sleep.

517
00:29:22.000 --> 00:29:23.119
This is insane.

518
00:29:24.400 --> 00:29:27.240
So there you can hear, Corey basically is recounting everything

519
00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:30.279
I've told you so far and that nothing the night

520
00:29:30.319 --> 00:29:34.319
before had happened. They had that drink together that I mentioned.

521
00:29:34.359 --> 00:29:37.559
She made him to celebrate a big work event that

522
00:29:37.720 --> 00:29:39.640
was happening the next day. She was supposed to be

523
00:29:39.720 --> 00:29:41.759
closing on a on a house, a big project, and

524
00:29:42.119 --> 00:29:45.720
they were proud of that. She adds too, that you know,

525
00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:48.079
trying to figure out what's going on here, Eric had

526
00:29:48.160 --> 00:29:52.039
lime disease, which had been affecting him. He had complained

527
00:29:52.359 --> 00:29:55.200
about chest pain the night before, and so she's like,

528
00:29:55.279 --> 00:29:57.400
I don't know if the lime disease can cause that.

529
00:29:58.799 --> 00:30:01.319
She was convinced at one point point that maybe he

530
00:30:01.400 --> 00:30:04.400
had worked out downstairs on an exercise bike and maybe

531
00:30:04.440 --> 00:30:07.079
he just hadn't drink drank enough water was kind of

532
00:30:07.119 --> 00:30:08.960
her thoughts of why his chest would have been hurting.

533
00:30:09.039 --> 00:30:12.160
But now she's just racking her brain to anything that

534
00:30:12.240 --> 00:30:15.279
could have caused these chest pains because now she believed

535
00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:17.240
that's the cause of why he was on the floor

536
00:30:17.319 --> 00:30:20.799
getting CPR. And the other thing that had happened that

537
00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:23.599
she could think of was that he had gotten allergy

538
00:30:23.680 --> 00:30:29.359
shots that day. Okay, so allergy shots, if you've gotten

539
00:30:29.400 --> 00:30:31.880
those before, you know exactly what I'm talking about here.

540
00:30:31.960 --> 00:30:35.720
But I am highly allergic to cats, so highly allergic

541
00:30:35.799 --> 00:30:38.599
to that as well as pollen that I too get

542
00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:41.920
allergy shots every week. And so when you get those,

543
00:30:42.160 --> 00:30:45.839
because of your body's response to these allergy shots to

544
00:30:45.880 --> 00:30:48.319
try to build your immunity so you won't have horrible reactions,

545
00:30:48.599 --> 00:30:52.000
it can make you. You can get kind of tired

546
00:30:52.039 --> 00:30:55.920
almost from the reaction. So she brought up that he

547
00:30:55.960 --> 00:30:58.680
did get his allergy shots that day. This also is

548
00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:01.880
happening during COVID and COVID was was huge, and so

549
00:31:02.880 --> 00:31:05.599
they talk about COVID and she says, look, you know

550
00:31:06.079 --> 00:31:08.440
he had COVID, but he's over it. She said, he

551
00:31:08.599 --> 00:31:12.400
last tested negative about a week ago, so this can't

552
00:31:12.440 --> 00:31:14.759
be COVID related. I mean, he had a negative test.

553
00:31:15.359 --> 00:31:19.319
The only thing questionable, and that's if you even consider

554
00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:22.240
this questionable, so a lot of people don't, was that

555
00:31:23.000 --> 00:31:26.079
she believed that he might have eaten a THCHC gummy

556
00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:28.880
before he went to bed. She said he did that

557
00:31:29.160 --> 00:31:32.599
every now and again. Now and again, because she said

558
00:31:32.640 --> 00:31:34.920
that he was having some back issues. His back had

559
00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:38.359
been hurting, and so he felt like these THHC gummies

560
00:31:38.799 --> 00:31:42.960
helped to ease that back pain that he was experiencing.

561
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:46.880
But there was nothing that she could think of that

562
00:31:47.160 --> 00:31:51.079
was a direct cause of why her husband is now

563
00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:53.400
on the floor in the condition that he is in.

564
00:31:54.359 --> 00:31:56.559
So once she answers all of these questions, she gives

565
00:31:56.599 --> 00:31:59.400
everything she can possibly think of. That's when she gets

566
00:31:59.440 --> 00:32:02.480
on the phone and she starts making the phone calls,

567
00:32:02.880 --> 00:32:05.759
crying saying, oh my god, Eric's not breathing. Eric is

568
00:32:05.799 --> 00:32:09.839
not doing well. Help you know, everybody's here, they're working

569
00:32:09.880 --> 00:32:14.640
on him. Please help. So family starts showing up, which

570
00:32:14.839 --> 00:32:20.119
is an absolute emotional nightmare to witness because it's all

571
00:32:20.240 --> 00:32:25.000
again on this body cam. So his sister, Eric's sister

572
00:32:25.119 --> 00:32:29.960
Katie shows up. She is quite hysterical. She's hyperventilating in

573
00:32:30.119 --> 00:32:31.960
these in these videos, it's like she doesn't know what

574
00:32:32.039 --> 00:32:35.960
to do. She's almost out of control. Bless her heart too,

575
00:32:36.119 --> 00:32:41.240
because her daughter was extremely sick while this was going on,

576
00:32:41.440 --> 00:32:45.680
and so her little girl was vomiting. Okay, so she's

577
00:32:45.839 --> 00:32:48.440
just double in a nightmare right now. Matter of fact,

578
00:32:49.119 --> 00:32:51.200
that's why she had been awake. Remember this was three

579
00:32:51.279 --> 00:32:55.920
to four am. And Katie explains that, look, I was

580
00:32:56.000 --> 00:32:59.759
awake and answered the phone because she said, I, you know,

581
00:33:00.359 --> 00:33:03.079
was calling me. And when she answered the phone, she

582
00:33:03.160 --> 00:33:05.079
kind of answered it, Dad, how'd you know? I was up?

583
00:33:05.200 --> 00:33:07.960
She was up because her daughter was vomiting, and she

584
00:33:08.000 --> 00:33:10.039
couldn't believe that her dad. She couldn't figure out how

585
00:33:10.039 --> 00:33:12.400
he knew that she was awake to even be placing

586
00:33:12.480 --> 00:33:16.480
this phone call. But that's whenever she realized he wasn't

587
00:33:16.559 --> 00:33:18.759
he didn't know she was awake. He was calling because

588
00:33:19.640 --> 00:33:21.759
Eric and what was happening. He was trying to call

589
00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:25.000
her and alert her, and so she just let out.

590
00:33:25.200 --> 00:33:27.079
This was when she was at home. She just let

591
00:33:27.119 --> 00:33:30.799
off this guttural scream and she collapsed to the floor.

592
00:33:31.519 --> 00:33:35.119
Well because of her screams, that had alerted her husband

593
00:33:35.559 --> 00:33:38.400
and he comes running in the room and Katie is

594
00:33:38.440 --> 00:33:41.920
on the floor screaming, he's not he's not breathing, he's

595
00:33:42.000 --> 00:33:45.640
not breathing. Well, her husband thought that she meant their

596
00:33:45.880 --> 00:33:48.559
daughter because the daughter was sick. So he goes and

597
00:33:48.680 --> 00:33:50.559
he runs over to their daughter to check on her,

598
00:33:50.640 --> 00:33:53.240
and he's like, no, Katie. Katie calmed down. She's fine,

599
00:33:53.319 --> 00:33:56.519
she's fine, She's okay, and that's when Katie's able to

600
00:33:56.559 --> 00:34:01.000
get it out. No, it's Eric, it's Eric. And so

601
00:34:01.279 --> 00:34:04.079
they just grabbed their children, including their daughter who was

602
00:34:04.240 --> 00:34:07.559
actively vomiting, threw her in the car, and they flew

603
00:34:07.680 --> 00:34:11.199
over to Eric's house, and that is how they had

604
00:34:11.440 --> 00:34:15.280
gotten there so quickly. So as Katie comes into the house,

605
00:34:15.679 --> 00:34:19.199
her first initial thing to do was that she was

606
00:34:19.239 --> 00:34:21.719
trying to find all of the boys, her nephews, because

607
00:34:21.719 --> 00:34:23.360
she wanted to just wrap them up in a hug,

608
00:34:23.719 --> 00:34:26.559
comfort them. And she found the boys. They were all

609
00:34:26.639 --> 00:34:29.840
huddled in one of their bedrooms, and so she didn't

610
00:34:29.840 --> 00:34:32.360
want to scare them, but she just wanted to love

611
00:34:32.440 --> 00:34:34.599
on them, and so she got them all together and

612
00:34:34.719 --> 00:34:37.679
she took them all to the upstairs bonus room, because

613
00:34:37.719 --> 00:34:40.280
they're very clearly awake at this point. They know something

614
00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:42.639
is happening, but all of their toys were up there,

615
00:34:43.000 --> 00:34:45.400
all of their things to keep them busy. So she

616
00:34:45.559 --> 00:34:47.800
was trying to just give them something to do, get

617
00:34:47.800 --> 00:34:50.719
their mind off of it, reassure them it's okay. Aunt

618
00:34:50.800 --> 00:34:54.320
Katie's here, and then she goes back downstairs to try

619
00:34:54.400 --> 00:34:58.079
to understand what's happening. So she's asking questions that are

620
00:34:58.480 --> 00:35:02.280
all over the place, all over the place, and she's breathless,

621
00:35:02.639 --> 00:35:06.800
clearly in shock. So as they're both women are trying

622
00:35:06.840 --> 00:35:10.679
to understand this, Katie and Corey together fall to the

623
00:35:10.760 --> 00:35:14.800
floor and they're just hugging each other in in devastation.

624
00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:18.800
Well about this time, Corey's own mom showed up as

625
00:35:18.840 --> 00:35:21.719
well as Eric's dad finally had made it on scene,

626
00:35:22.239 --> 00:35:26.920
and it becomes even more chaotic and emotional with each

627
00:35:27.480 --> 00:35:33.480
passing minute. The dad becomes so distressed that he goes

628
00:35:33.519 --> 00:35:36.519
to collapse and he has to be grabbed on either side.

629
00:35:36.559 --> 00:35:38.199
I think it was deputies that did that, grab him

630
00:35:38.199 --> 00:35:40.039
on either side, and they have to like kind of

631
00:35:40.159 --> 00:35:42.760
carry him to the couch because he's starting to go down.

632
00:35:43.039 --> 00:35:45.280
I mean, this is this is a family that was

633
00:35:45.360 --> 00:35:50.000
so tight knit that they they could not even grasp this.

634
00:35:51.079 --> 00:35:53.760
So the cops in that moment step away, two of

635
00:35:53.840 --> 00:35:56.119
them at least, and they start kind of whispering to

636
00:35:56.239 --> 00:35:58.559
each other and they're trying to not talk in front

637
00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:00.760
of the family, but they're like one of them says,

638
00:36:00.800 --> 00:36:02.400
you know, the kids are in the house, I'm really

639
00:36:02.760 --> 00:36:04.639
I'm really worried about the kids. I don't want them

640
00:36:04.679 --> 00:36:07.360
to come downstairs and see what obviously is not a

641
00:36:07.400 --> 00:36:10.599
pretty sight. And so they're kind of discussing what to

642
00:36:10.719 --> 00:36:14.159
do and not trying to add to the drama. Well,

643
00:36:14.599 --> 00:36:16.559
by it was not a pretty sight. Let me kind

644
00:36:16.559 --> 00:36:19.039
of lay it out here for you. When responders got

645
00:36:19.079 --> 00:36:23.559
on scene and they start doing compressions, blood started coming

646
00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:26.800
out of Eric's mouth and blood started coming out of

647
00:36:26.840 --> 00:36:32.159
his nose. So it was really not a good looking scene. Okay,

648
00:36:32.320 --> 00:36:36.000
it was pretty bad. So eventually the responders continued to

649
00:36:36.039 --> 00:36:39.519
work on him. But eventually, I mean they just they

650
00:36:39.599 --> 00:36:43.599
had to make the call. Eric Richins could not be saved.

651
00:36:44.199 --> 00:36:48.199
And now Eric was lying dead on the bedroom floor

652
00:36:48.760 --> 00:36:53.039
while his wife and his family and his kids were

653
00:36:53.079 --> 00:36:55.880
all in the other rooms, and it was going to

654
00:36:55.960 --> 00:36:59.559
have to be broken to them that there was nothing

655
00:36:59.639 --> 00:37:03.679
more that could be done. So when this is shared

656
00:37:03.960 --> 00:37:10.039
and the finality of it all hits Corey immediately is

657
00:37:10.440 --> 00:37:12.960
just I don't know, she doesn't know what to do.

658
00:37:13.360 --> 00:37:16.079
How do I tell the kids? What do I tell

659
00:37:16.079 --> 00:37:17.400
the kids? What do I go to I can't go

660
00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:20.960
look my children in the face. I can't go look

661
00:37:21.000 --> 00:37:23.159
at their young eyes and explain their daddy, their hero

662
00:37:23.400 --> 00:37:25.480
was gone. He was fine just hours ago, and now

663
00:37:25.519 --> 00:37:29.039
he's dead. It's she doesn't know what to do, and

664
00:37:29.159 --> 00:37:32.280
how do you break that news. Well, in a moment

665
00:37:32.360 --> 00:37:36.840
of clarity, Corey turns and she asks the officer why

666
00:37:37.000 --> 00:37:39.239
was their blood coming out of his mouth and his nose?

667
00:37:40.079 --> 00:37:40.519
What was that?

668
00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:45.280
And by that time the officers and the first responders

669
00:37:45.320 --> 00:37:47.599
had kind of done a little discussion and had a

670
00:37:47.639 --> 00:37:51.519
little talk, and so the cop tells her, look, a

671
00:37:51.639 --> 00:37:55.719
responder said that this might possibly have been an aneurism,

672
00:37:56.280 --> 00:37:59.280
because in that responder's experience, if there was a type

673
00:37:59.280 --> 00:38:04.039
of aneurism, when CPR starts, blood sometimes will seep out

674
00:38:04.119 --> 00:38:07.360
of the mouth and the nose. But that was obviously

675
00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:10.559
not determined and the medical examiner would have to make

676
00:38:10.599 --> 00:38:13.960
the final call. For now, it was just a guess,

677
00:38:14.639 --> 00:38:17.480
and that's what the family had to go off of.

678
00:38:18.400 --> 00:38:21.039
So for a bit after they make the call that

679
00:38:21.159 --> 00:38:25.239
he is deceased, the home becomes somewhat of a scene

680
00:38:25.280 --> 00:38:28.719
that has to remain secured until investigators could get there.

681
00:38:29.239 --> 00:38:32.239
The police investigators and they could document everything as well

682
00:38:32.280 --> 00:38:34.159
as they had to wait for the Medical Examiner's office

683
00:38:34.199 --> 00:38:37.519
to get there and do their part. So part of

684
00:38:38.239 --> 00:38:42.079
that includes maintaining what I guess I would use the

685
00:38:42.119 --> 00:38:44.519
word crime scene. I don't know if crime is necessarily

686
00:38:44.599 --> 00:38:47.960
right at this moment, but part of this included maintaining

687
00:38:48.039 --> 00:38:51.880
the scene a crime scene security log, and what would

688
00:38:51.920 --> 00:38:54.840
be I guess referred to as a death checklist. And

689
00:38:55.000 --> 00:38:58.559
so this is going to be including things like doing

690
00:38:58.760 --> 00:39:00.840
a basic sweep of the home to see if there's

691
00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:05.639
anything like illicit drugs. But they found no illicit drugs,

692
00:39:05.719 --> 00:39:08.400
no drug paraphernalia, there was no needle in his arm,

693
00:39:08.719 --> 00:39:12.960
there was no residue or anything like he had snorted something.

694
00:39:13.039 --> 00:39:15.599
Things that they were just looking for that are common

695
00:39:16.039 --> 00:39:21.320
in unexpected deaths like this. Well, Narcan, which we're all

696
00:39:21.360 --> 00:39:25.679
familiar with, which is the reversal for opioid overdose. Narcan

697
00:39:26.039 --> 00:39:30.360
hadn't even been administered to Eric, because the truth was

698
00:39:30.440 --> 00:39:34.920
that the first responders were pretty certain Eric was already

699
00:39:34.960 --> 00:39:37.800
too far gone when they were just when they arrived.

700
00:39:38.280 --> 00:39:42.440
Their efforts had really just been an olympian leap of

701
00:39:42.840 --> 00:39:48.039
possibly trying to save his life. But that's why they

702
00:39:48.039 --> 00:39:49.760
had done what they had done. But they never administered

703
00:39:49.840 --> 00:39:54.199
Narcan because this was to them obviously not an overdose

704
00:39:54.559 --> 00:39:58.000
because they were given information that Eric was not a

705
00:39:58.079 --> 00:40:00.719
drug user in any way, shape or form. So I know,

706
00:40:00.840 --> 00:40:03.079
we all kind of jumped to negative thoughts sometimes when

707
00:40:03.800 --> 00:40:05.800
this kind of situation is going on, but it just

708
00:40:06.039 --> 00:40:10.960
wasn't the case here. So the homeless photographed the bedroom

709
00:40:11.199 --> 00:40:14.400
as was Eric's body. He was in his boxers and

710
00:40:14.480 --> 00:40:17.519
there was like a sheet on top of him. When

711
00:40:17.559 --> 00:40:20.320
they removed the sheet, the AED pads were put on

712
00:40:20.440 --> 00:40:22.920
like the shocking machine. Those pads were still in his chest.

713
00:40:23.159 --> 00:40:26.440
He still had tubing in his mouth, and so they

714
00:40:26.480 --> 00:40:29.360
photographed all of this, and then his body was taken

715
00:40:29.440 --> 00:40:32.119
to the Morgue for autopsy. And again, as you know

716
00:40:32.159 --> 00:40:34.599
I always do, I've got photos and I've placed those

717
00:40:34.639 --> 00:40:40.360
on Patreon for you. So Eric's dad is just overcome

718
00:40:40.840 --> 00:40:44.880
with grief. He had already just so you know, recently

719
00:40:44.960 --> 00:40:49.199
lost his own wife to a very strange fungal infection

720
00:40:49.440 --> 00:40:52.599
that had attacked her lungs and it ended up killing her.

721
00:40:53.119 --> 00:40:55.480
And now a little bit of time had passed, but

722
00:40:56.119 --> 00:41:00.199
he's now lost his son. You know, right after using

723
00:41:00.239 --> 00:41:03.400
his wife, he and Eric had made these plans to

724
00:41:03.519 --> 00:41:06.199
buy a cabin together. They were going to try to

725
00:41:06.440 --> 00:41:09.199
just really hold on to one another, and this cabin

726
00:41:09.320 --> 00:41:10.920
was going to be a place that they could his

727
00:41:11.119 --> 00:41:15.159
dad could go now enjoy since he was close to retirement,

728
00:41:15.639 --> 00:41:18.320
and then he and Eric would buy in it together

729
00:41:18.519 --> 00:41:20.559
and then when his dad's time came to pass on,

730
00:41:20.800 --> 00:41:22.880
he would just leave it to Eric. It was just

731
00:41:22.960 --> 00:41:25.920
this plan that they had to help each other through

732
00:41:25.960 --> 00:41:28.679
the grief. But now he had not only lost his wife,

733
00:41:28.719 --> 00:41:32.079
but he had lost his son, who it's fair right

734
00:41:32.119 --> 00:41:35.079
now to say was his best friend. This man, this

735
00:41:35.199 --> 00:41:38.639
daddy was just in a world of hurt. And when

736
00:41:38.679 --> 00:41:43.679
the news was finally broken to the kids, they did

737
00:41:43.760 --> 00:41:47.760
not take it well either. The oldest son, when he

738
00:41:47.960 --> 00:41:51.639
heard tore off running to the bedroom Eric's body was

739
00:41:51.639 --> 00:41:55.159
gone by then, and grabbed his daddy's eye watch off

740
00:41:55.239 --> 00:41:57.239
of his nightstand and he came running out with it,

741
00:41:57.400 --> 00:41:59.719
holding it and he wanted to wear it. He wanted

742
00:41:59.719 --> 00:42:01.559
to kill keep it because that I watched in that

743
00:42:01.719 --> 00:42:05.039
moment would make him feel close to his dad. Well,

744
00:42:05.159 --> 00:42:07.800
Corey was hesitant at first, and she took it from

745
00:42:07.880 --> 00:42:09.519
him and was like, hold on, you know, what are

746
00:42:09.519 --> 00:42:13.559
you doing? But then, realizing that this was their child's

747
00:42:13.599 --> 00:42:17.320
way of grieving and that it gave him comfort, she

748
00:42:17.440 --> 00:42:19.519
gave it back to him and said, okay.

749
00:42:19.599 --> 00:42:19.719
Here.

750
00:42:21.280 --> 00:42:25.280
So Eric's sister, Katie, she was also grieving extremely hard.

751
00:42:25.559 --> 00:42:28.679
They were very close, they had been their entire lives,

752
00:42:29.199 --> 00:42:32.199
and matter of fact, you know, Eric and his sister

753
00:42:32.320 --> 00:42:35.079
were planning a trip to Disneyland for all of the

754
00:42:35.199 --> 00:42:39.239
kids and their spouses when he died. It was on

755
00:42:39.760 --> 00:42:42.039
real I'm sure we've all experienced this. He was here,

756
00:42:42.159 --> 00:42:45.440
I talked to him last night, and now he's gone.

757
00:42:46.880 --> 00:42:47.519
What the hell?

758
00:42:48.320 --> 00:42:48.480
You know?

759
00:42:48.679 --> 00:42:51.559
We were playing this Disney trip. One of their sons,

760
00:42:52.199 --> 00:42:54.960
Eric's seven year old son was an incredible mathematician, and

761
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:57.800
they were just talking about putting him in special coding

762
00:42:57.920 --> 00:43:00.840
classes so that he could capitalize on this skill that

763
00:43:00.920 --> 00:43:05.480
he had. This just can't be real. It can't, but

764
00:43:05.639 --> 00:43:12.360
it is, and it was. So Katie would kind of

765
00:43:12.400 --> 00:43:15.039
take the role of the strong one in this moment,

766
00:43:15.199 --> 00:43:23.800
and she would really shoulder the important things that would

767
00:43:23.840 --> 00:43:26.119
have to be done in the next few steps. Now

768
00:43:26.159 --> 00:43:29.760
that everyone was just thrust into the situation. So Katie

769
00:43:30.559 --> 00:43:32.559
was also a good person to take control of this

770
00:43:32.719 --> 00:43:35.119
because she was very in tune with her brother's life,

771
00:43:35.159 --> 00:43:38.400
I mean his life, his finances, his business, and so

772
00:43:38.599 --> 00:43:41.440
she was the one that would take the reins. And

773
00:43:42.360 --> 00:43:44.719
what she did was she decided to call a family

774
00:43:44.920 --> 00:43:48.880
meeting to plan out Eric's funeral. There would be no

775
00:43:49.199 --> 00:43:53.159
expense spared for the man that they all loved so dearly,

776
00:43:53.320 --> 00:43:56.760
and they wanted to honor him in every way possible.

777
00:43:57.719 --> 00:44:01.239
But at this family meeting, the family would kind of

778
00:44:01.239 --> 00:44:04.880
start having disagreements on what should be done and they

779
00:44:04.880 --> 00:44:09.480
would have some tense moments. So, for example, while Corey

780
00:44:10.079 --> 00:44:14.000
let Katie take the reins, Corey's mom was there too,

781
00:44:14.519 --> 00:44:16.639
and so they started talking about what to do with

782
00:44:16.719 --> 00:44:20.199
his body, and Corey's mom said, well, you know he's

783
00:44:20.239 --> 00:44:24.440
going to be cremated, right. Well, this very visibly upset

784
00:44:24.880 --> 00:44:29.280
Eric's dad, like he was clearly not happy with that

785
00:44:29.480 --> 00:44:33.960
statement because Eric, he said, my son wanted to be buried.

786
00:44:34.199 --> 00:44:37.039
He didn't want to be cremated. That's our family tradition.

787
00:44:37.280 --> 00:44:39.760
We believe in cremate. I mean, we believe in burial.

788
00:44:40.480 --> 00:44:43.519
But Corey's mom was like, no, I talked to Eric,

789
00:44:43.679 --> 00:44:47.280
this is just a while back, a couple of years ago,

790
00:44:47.599 --> 00:44:50.199
and he told me he wanted to be cremated because

791
00:44:50.199 --> 00:44:53.800
he didn't want bugs crawling all over him after he died.

792
00:44:54.239 --> 00:44:57.800
We had this conversation, so emotions were running high, this

793
00:44:58.000 --> 00:45:02.239
is just an example, but were running high, and they

794
00:45:02.320 --> 00:45:06.119
were able to settle the dispute. Everybody calmed down, and

795
00:45:06.440 --> 00:45:09.239
they were able to move forward with the planning. And

796
00:45:09.519 --> 00:45:13.320
this is the hard part, isn't it, Because everyone's devastated.

797
00:45:13.920 --> 00:45:16.880
Everyone's wanting to do what's best for the person who

798
00:45:17.280 --> 00:45:20.639
is no longer around to even speak for themselves, and

799
00:45:20.800 --> 00:45:24.760
so it's a difficult thing. So when the service was

800
00:45:24.880 --> 00:45:28.519
planned and the plans were finalized, the final decision was

801
00:45:28.559 --> 00:45:31.119
made that they would bury Eric, and that they were

802
00:45:31.159 --> 00:45:34.920
going to bury him next to his sweet and precious Mama,

803
00:45:35.199 --> 00:45:40.440
who had already passed away. Well after the funeral, Corey

804
00:45:41.159 --> 00:45:44.960
would get the finalized report from the medical examiner, and

805
00:45:45.960 --> 00:45:50.440
she would find that Eric's death was actually a result

806
00:45:50.599 --> 00:45:56.159
of COVID in combination of an issue with his lungs

807
00:45:56.960 --> 00:45:58.159
due to fungus.

808
00:46:00.000 --> 00:46:00.679
He's like, what.

809
00:46:02.239 --> 00:46:05.239
Are you saying, the same thing that his mother died of,

810
00:46:06.199 --> 00:46:11.800
And indeed it seemed that way. So the family was

811
00:46:12.280 --> 00:46:15.880
very surprised by this as was corey because Eric had

812
00:46:16.119 --> 00:46:21.000
none of the same symptoms as his mother had displayed none.

813
00:46:21.320 --> 00:46:25.840
So fungal lung infections can present with symptoms all over

814
00:46:25.880 --> 00:46:28.679
the place, and it could be symptoms that mimic bacterial

815
00:46:28.719 --> 00:46:33.400
pneumonia or even tuberculosis. So his mother her symptoms would

816
00:46:33.440 --> 00:46:37.400
be things like persistent fever, a cough that would sometimes

817
00:46:37.440 --> 00:46:42.800
produce blood, chest pain, shortness of breath, and fatigue. But

818
00:46:43.079 --> 00:46:49.239
other common indicators are like unexplained weight loss, night sweats, wheezing,

819
00:46:49.960 --> 00:46:53.760
muscle aches, and so. Thinking it through, Eric had some

820
00:46:54.199 --> 00:46:59.239
generally similar complaints. His back was aching, but there was

821
00:46:59.400 --> 00:47:02.960
nothing like what they had watched their mother suffer through

822
00:47:03.079 --> 00:47:07.360
before her death. Now it was all so tragic and

823
00:47:07.559 --> 00:47:11.960
so unexpected, and a once beautiful family was now broken

824
00:47:12.639 --> 00:47:17.800
without the leader of their household. Okay, but the cause

825
00:47:17.840 --> 00:47:20.679
of his death was just so. How could this happen

826
00:47:20.719 --> 00:47:21.840
to both a mother and a son?

827
00:47:23.079 --> 00:47:23.360
Just so?

828
00:47:23.920 --> 00:47:27.239
What a weird link, you would think, right. So Luckily

829
00:47:27.320 --> 00:47:32.519
for the family, though, Eric in his life was no slouch.

830
00:47:33.079 --> 00:47:35.159
And when I say this, I mean in direct relation

831
00:47:35.320 --> 00:47:39.800
to the fact that he prepared for the worst for

832
00:47:39.920 --> 00:47:43.920
his family. He was smart enough that while he was alive,

833
00:47:44.039 --> 00:47:47.119
He had all of his financial matters in order as

834
00:47:47.159 --> 00:47:49.559
well as he had set up a trust to ensure

835
00:47:49.599 --> 00:47:51.760
that his kids would have a great life in the

836
00:47:51.800 --> 00:47:54.920
event that something ever happened to him or you know,

837
00:47:55.000 --> 00:47:57.840
their mother God forbid, or or anything like that. So

838
00:47:57.960 --> 00:48:01.239
as far as Dad's went, he was exceptional and his

839
00:48:01.440 --> 00:48:07.119
forethought to his children's lives was proof of this. So

840
00:48:07.280 --> 00:48:10.800
as the days and the months passed, the loss became

841
00:48:11.159 --> 00:48:13.880
easier to cope with, but it still hurt.

842
00:48:14.679 --> 00:48:14.840
You know.

843
00:48:15.639 --> 00:48:19.840
Corey was now a widow, and through that experience she

844
00:48:20.119 --> 00:48:24.239
was really understanding what it must be like, or what

845
00:48:24.360 --> 00:48:27.679
it is like to be the single mother of three children.

846
00:48:28.760 --> 00:48:32.639
So she decided after some time that she needed to

847
00:48:32.800 --> 00:48:37.400
evolve her grief into something useful. I can't just wallow

848
00:48:37.519 --> 00:48:40.599
in this. I've got to try to do something maybe

849
00:48:40.719 --> 00:48:45.280
it could possibly help others in the future. And so

850
00:48:45.800 --> 00:48:48.800
this is when she decided that she wanted to write

851
00:48:48.840 --> 00:48:54.199
a children's book with this central theme of sensing a

852
00:48:54.400 --> 00:48:59.920
father's spirit after death. Everything that she had learned through

853
00:49:00.119 --> 00:49:03.159
the experience of losing Eric had built her for this,

854
00:49:04.000 --> 00:49:06.199
and while she was going through the motions of trying

855
00:49:06.239 --> 00:49:10.239
to help her own children navigate this uncharted territory. She

856
00:49:10.440 --> 00:49:13.840
realized that this could be useful, there was something good

857
00:49:13.920 --> 00:49:16.480
that could come from this. And so here's an example.

858
00:49:16.599 --> 00:49:18.800
She wrote the book by the Way, and she published it,

859
00:49:19.280 --> 00:49:23.079
beautiful book. And so here's Corey promoting that book on

860
00:49:23.360 --> 00:49:26.440
a show it's called Good Things Utah. And so I'm

861
00:49:26.480 --> 00:49:28.320
going to give you a little brief snippet of her

862
00:49:28.679 --> 00:49:29.960
explaining her book.

863
00:49:30.159 --> 00:49:32.599
Joining us Now is author of Are You with Me?

864
00:49:33.000 --> 00:49:36.639
Corey Richands to share her three c's to helping kids

865
00:49:36.719 --> 00:49:39.360
cope with grief. And Corey, I want to start with

866
00:49:39.679 --> 00:49:42.400
your story. What happened in your personal life?

867
00:49:42.760 --> 00:49:46.760
So, my husband passed away unexpectedly last year. So it's

868
00:49:47.039 --> 00:49:50.159
March fourth, was a one year anniversary for us, and

869
00:49:51.079 --> 00:49:55.119
he was thirty nine. It completely took us all by shock.

870
00:49:56.400 --> 00:49:58.960
And we have three little boys, ten, nine, and six,

871
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:03.000
and you know, we kind of my kids and I

872
00:50:03.199 --> 00:50:07.280
kind of wrote this book on the different emotions and

873
00:50:08.320 --> 00:50:11.840
grieving processes that we've experienced last year, and you know,

874
00:50:12.039 --> 00:50:14.880
hoping that it can kind of help other kids, you know,

875
00:50:16.960 --> 00:50:19.920
deal with this and kind of you know, find happiness

876
00:50:20.400 --> 00:50:21.960
some way or another.

877
00:50:22.039 --> 00:50:25.760
In terms of taking lemons and making lemonade. I'd say

878
00:50:25.880 --> 00:50:29.400
that this was a pretty good example of moving forward

879
00:50:29.960 --> 00:50:35.039
and having hope with remembrance of her beloved husband just

880
00:50:35.199 --> 00:50:40.280
at the peak of her life. So what I decided

881
00:50:40.320 --> 00:50:43.280
to do because I'm a curious person, and I did this.

882
00:50:43.840 --> 00:50:46.480
I wanted to hear the book. I wanted to buy

883
00:50:46.519 --> 00:50:47.239
the book and read it.

884
00:50:47.760 --> 00:50:47.920
Well.

885
00:50:47.960 --> 00:50:50.440
I went on Amazon to buy it not available, so

886
00:50:51.599 --> 00:50:53.679
I was able to find some excerpts of the book,

887
00:50:53.920 --> 00:50:55.599
And so I was going to just give you a

888
00:50:55.679 --> 00:50:58.119
taste of the book so that you could see what

889
00:50:58.280 --> 00:51:01.079
it's like. So the first page, obviously is kind of

890
00:51:01.119 --> 00:51:03.440
like a tribute, and it says always on our minds,

891
00:51:03.760 --> 00:51:07.039
forever in our hearts. And it's an image of a

892
00:51:07.119 --> 00:51:09.719
cartoon image of the dad with wings and the boys

893
00:51:09.880 --> 00:51:12.360
and the wife on either side, and even their little

894
00:51:12.360 --> 00:51:17.000
dog Harley. Okay, is there in cartoon form. And then

895
00:51:17.360 --> 00:51:20.079
the first page, are you in the clouds when I

896
00:51:20.159 --> 00:51:23.119
look up to see you to tell you about my day,

897
00:51:23.679 --> 00:51:26.480
ask you about yours, and tell you that I love you?

898
00:51:27.719 --> 00:51:30.000
Are you at my soccer game when I scored that

899
00:51:30.199 --> 00:51:32.880
goal for you? I looked for you in the crowd,

900
00:51:33.000 --> 00:51:37.000
but you weren't there, did you see it. Are you

901
00:51:37.119 --> 00:51:39.880
with me on my birthday to blow out my candles

902
00:51:40.519 --> 00:51:44.039
to celebrate another year and watch me grow, teach me

903
00:51:44.280 --> 00:51:49.360
new things, and watch me make mistakes. So it's from

904
00:51:49.400 --> 00:51:53.559
a child's point of view, obviously what these pages are saying.

905
00:51:54.360 --> 00:51:57.840
And then it continues on are you with me on

906
00:51:58.000 --> 00:52:01.199
my first day of school? When I'm scared, nervous and

907
00:52:01.280 --> 00:52:05.119
have the butterflies while I make friends? Will the teachers

908
00:52:05.159 --> 00:52:08.400
be kind? Will you walk the halls with me on

909
00:52:08.559 --> 00:52:11.679
that day? Are you with me when I'm sad because

910
00:52:11.679 --> 00:52:14.519
I miss you, when I'm thinking about you and I'm

911
00:52:14.559 --> 00:52:17.480
wondering what would be be playing today if you were here?

912
00:52:18.639 --> 00:52:21.599
Are you with me on Christmas? When Santa delivers my presence?

913
00:52:22.000 --> 00:52:23.960
When I rip through them as fast as I can

914
00:52:24.320 --> 00:52:27.079
because I can't wait to see what's next. Did you

915
00:52:27.320 --> 00:52:30.719
see what I got from Santa? Now that's just a

916
00:52:30.800 --> 00:52:34.199
few of the intro pages, but then it's really neat.

917
00:52:34.800 --> 00:52:38.119
But the follow up pages towards the end are kind

918
00:52:38.159 --> 00:52:42.559
of like the Daddy's response from Heaven. Yes, I'm with you.

919
00:52:42.800 --> 00:52:45.880
When you score that goal for me, You couldn't hear me,

920
00:52:46.400 --> 00:52:50.039
but I was with you. I yelled and clapped out loud,

921
00:52:50.239 --> 00:52:54.679
just as always. Yes, I am with you while you

922
00:52:54.719 --> 00:52:58.199
blow out your candles for yet another birthday. Although I'll

923
00:52:58.280 --> 00:53:01.920
miss the upcoming years, I stand hand in hand with you,

924
00:53:02.719 --> 00:53:07.440
walking with you, helping you, and praising you. I will

925
00:53:07.519 --> 00:53:11.440
watch you grow into a fine young man. And you

926
00:53:12.360 --> 00:53:16.280
read this, and my goodness, if that's not touching, if

927
00:53:16.320 --> 00:53:20.679
it's not wonderful way to express to a child that

928
00:53:21.119 --> 00:53:24.639
daddy is still here. He may not see him. It's

929
00:53:24.719 --> 00:53:27.079
kind of like the wind. You may not see me,

930
00:53:27.199 --> 00:53:30.880
but you will feel me. And I'm here. So the

931
00:53:31.039 --> 00:53:35.480
book is being promoted, it's going over well, and things

932
00:53:35.800 --> 00:53:41.320
do start looking up. Life does move forward. But something

933
00:53:41.760 --> 00:53:46.480
just really bothered Eric's dad about Eric's cause of death.

934
00:53:47.199 --> 00:53:50.280
He just couldn't let it go. He couldn't get over

935
00:53:50.360 --> 00:53:54.320
the fact that his son's symptoms did not match his wife's.

936
00:53:55.480 --> 00:53:57.760
I get the feeling. Obviously I wasn't there, but I

937
00:53:57.840 --> 00:54:01.519
get the feeling that her death was very cral, very

938
00:54:01.760 --> 00:54:07.280
sad to watch, and Eric's was just so swift. So, uh,

939
00:54:08.039 --> 00:54:12.199
Dad makes a call to sister Katie and they start

940
00:54:12.400 --> 00:54:14.920
talking about this, and they kind of start going over

941
00:54:15.000 --> 00:54:17.679
the fact that that is just so different. How could

942
00:54:17.760 --> 00:54:20.320
this be and where did he get the fungus from?

943
00:54:20.880 --> 00:54:23.199
You know, what is this common connection? And also wouldn't

944
00:54:23.199 --> 00:54:25.400
you fear for his children that they might contract it?

945
00:54:25.519 --> 00:54:28.519
Or fear for your sister or the nephews or people

946
00:54:28.559 --> 00:54:31.559
that are around them that they might contract this somehow?

947
00:54:31.760 --> 00:54:36.320
How is this happening? And so Dad asked, Katie, will

948
00:54:36.360 --> 00:54:39.599
you call the medical Examiner's office have them explain it

949
00:54:39.679 --> 00:54:42.800
to you again. I just need to understand, and she says,

950
00:54:42.840 --> 00:54:45.559
of course, Daddy, I'll do that for you. But when

951
00:54:45.599 --> 00:54:51.039
she made that phone call, the medical examiner confirmed that yes,

952
00:54:51.159 --> 00:54:55.519
he had spoken to Corey, but at that time, he

953
00:54:55.679 --> 00:54:59.360
hadn't determined the cause of death back whenever they spoke,

954
00:54:59.719 --> 00:55:04.400
because he was still awaiting the toxicology panel. He hadn't

955
00:55:04.440 --> 00:55:09.119
had the results back yet. So back in May, Corey

956
00:55:09.599 --> 00:55:13.320
called the Medical Examiner's office and mentioned to them that

957
00:55:13.480 --> 00:55:17.599
his mother had recently died from a fungal infection. It

958
00:55:17.800 --> 00:55:22.239
wasn't the other way around, And when Eric's autopsy report

959
00:55:22.840 --> 00:55:28.559
was completed, the medical examiner's report listed the following There

960
00:55:28.760 --> 00:55:31.719
was a set of menifit in a system, which is

961
00:55:31.840 --> 00:55:34.960
you know, tailan or whatever. And he also had alcohol

962
00:55:35.079 --> 00:55:36.960
in his system, which that makes sense because he had

963
00:55:37.039 --> 00:55:43.960
drink his drink at bedtime. He noted pulmonary edema, which

964
00:55:44.199 --> 00:55:46.679
is like, you know, fluid on the lungs, which is

965
00:55:46.840 --> 00:55:52.559
common in overdose deaths, but that was odd because this

966
00:55:52.719 --> 00:55:56.960
was not an overdose. But this finding of this pulmonary

967
00:55:57.119 --> 00:56:01.880
edema combined with the compressions from CPR when they're actively

968
00:56:01.960 --> 00:56:05.719
trying to save someone, that can cause fluid to leak out,

969
00:56:05.840 --> 00:56:07.440
like the blood that had come out of his mouth

970
00:56:08.000 --> 00:56:10.960
or his nose. Also when they intubated him during those

971
00:56:10.960 --> 00:56:13.480
resuscitation efforts, that could have caused damage which could have

972
00:56:14.000 --> 00:56:18.239
caused blood to come out, but this was not the

973
00:56:18.400 --> 00:56:22.559
case here. He did have the pulmonary edema, but the

974
00:56:22.639 --> 00:56:24.199
blood and all of that coming out of the mouth,

975
00:56:24.440 --> 00:56:27.599
that was not the case here because Eric was already

976
00:56:27.719 --> 00:56:30.880
dead when they had started working on him. They knew

977
00:56:30.920 --> 00:56:32.480
that when they were on the scene, they were just

978
00:56:32.559 --> 00:56:34.960
trying that note you know, that Olympian leap, like I

979
00:56:35.039 --> 00:56:37.440
told you, to try to do something valiant and save

980
00:56:37.480 --> 00:56:41.760
his life. So the doctor explained that this meant even

981
00:56:41.840 --> 00:56:45.639
though he was getting CPR with that machine, there was

982
00:56:45.800 --> 00:56:51.679
no blood return that was actually occurring so the blood

983
00:56:52.559 --> 00:56:54.400
and that was coming out of his mouth and his

984
00:56:54.599 --> 00:56:59.880
nose could not be from that CPR and that pullm

985
00:57:00.079 --> 00:57:03.039
areaedema because again the blood was not returning while they

986
00:57:03.039 --> 00:57:05.239
were doing this. He was dead, so that would not

987
00:57:05.280 --> 00:57:06.880
have been the cause of the blood coming out of

988
00:57:06.920 --> 00:57:10.679
his nose in his mouth. But the doctor had kept

989
00:57:10.800 --> 00:57:13.639
looking at this and he just kept saying, and this

990
00:57:13.920 --> 00:57:17.840
really looks like a drug overdose. But Eric was not

991
00:57:18.519 --> 00:57:21.679
a drug user. Also already told you this. But he

992
00:57:21.800 --> 00:57:25.239
looks over the records and no drug paraphernalia of any

993
00:57:25.360 --> 00:57:28.599
type had been found at the home. And that's really

994
00:57:28.719 --> 00:57:32.280
common if someone's overdosing, they usually will find pills or

995
00:57:32.519 --> 00:57:35.519
needles or something right there that go, well, there it

996
00:57:35.639 --> 00:57:38.840
is that's the cause of this overdose. And the doctor

997
00:57:39.000 --> 00:57:44.840
looking him over externally could find no outward cause of death. Now, internally,

998
00:57:45.079 --> 00:57:49.360
Eric did have some damage. He had some rib fractures,

999
00:57:49.440 --> 00:57:52.760
but that was attributed to the CPR. He looked at

1000
00:57:52.800 --> 00:57:56.079
his heart, the heart was normal. A panel was run.

1001
00:57:56.719 --> 00:58:03.280
All findings were negative for bacterial and fungal infections. They

1002
00:58:03.320 --> 00:58:06.440
were negative. They had even checked to see if he

1003
00:58:06.480 --> 00:58:11.000
had possibly died from anaphylaxis. After his allergy shots, but

1004
00:58:11.119 --> 00:58:15.440
there was zero evidence of that. Now I'm going to

1005
00:58:15.480 --> 00:58:18.280
tell you this, Like I told you, I get allergy shots,

1006
00:58:18.679 --> 00:58:20.480
and so I was thinking along while I'm reading this

1007
00:58:20.599 --> 00:58:25.159
report too, and I actually went into anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis when

1008
00:58:25.159 --> 00:58:27.719
I got allergy shots one time. One time. Now I

1009
00:58:27.760 --> 00:58:30.440
had been getting them for a year and had no problems.

1010
00:58:30.639 --> 00:58:32.360
And you have to stay there fifteen minutes after you

1011
00:58:32.440 --> 00:58:34.079
get the shot, just in case, and I thought it

1012
00:58:34.119 --> 00:58:36.039
was ridiculous. I remember thinking about going, this is dumb.

1013
00:58:36.039 --> 00:58:37.599
I've been getting shots for a year. Why do I

1014
00:58:37.639 --> 00:58:40.840
have to sit here? Sure enough, it only took one time,

1015
00:58:41.360 --> 00:58:43.719
but I was sitting there all of a sudden, I

1016
00:58:43.800 --> 00:58:46.400
started coughing. I started I couldn't catch my breath. I

1017
00:58:46.440 --> 00:58:49.199
remember walking over to the window and I turned around

1018
00:58:49.360 --> 00:58:50.920
and it just hit me like a ton of breath.

1019
00:58:50.920 --> 00:58:53.440
I mean, I could not breathe. My airway closed off,

1020
00:58:53.840 --> 00:58:56.239
and I turned around and by the grace of God,

1021
00:58:56.480 --> 00:58:58.719
the receptionist looked up at me and went, uh, oh,

1022
00:58:59.039 --> 00:58:59.760
that's all I heard.

1023
00:59:00.239 --> 00:59:00.360
I know.

1024
00:59:00.440 --> 00:59:02.920
People came running and then I kind of started losing

1025
00:59:02.960 --> 00:59:05.760
it because I wasn't getting in any air. They carried

1026
00:59:05.800 --> 00:59:08.960
me back on a gurney. They hit me with epipins.

1027
00:59:09.280 --> 00:59:12.239
They poured benadrill liquid down my throat and started drinking that.

1028
00:59:12.800 --> 00:59:16.320
And it was scary. It was extremely scary. And I

1029
00:59:16.400 --> 00:59:18.199
only share this not to make the story about me,

1030
00:59:18.599 --> 00:59:21.000
but I can relate to why they even tested for that,

1031
00:59:21.440 --> 00:59:23.840
because just because you don't have a reaction for a

1032
00:59:23.960 --> 00:59:26.920
year doesn't mean you won't on a year and a day, right.

1033
00:59:27.559 --> 00:59:32.719
So there was zero evidence though, of anaphylaxis, shock, or

1034
00:59:32.760 --> 00:59:37.000
anything in his system. They also tested him for sepsis

1035
00:59:37.079 --> 00:59:38.960
to see if maybe had a blood infection or something

1036
00:59:39.039 --> 00:59:45.079
like that. That came back negative. The autopsy was really inconclusive.

1037
00:59:45.199 --> 00:59:48.360
It found nothing, so the doctor decided to take it

1038
00:59:48.400 --> 00:59:51.519
a step further, drew some samples and sent them off

1039
00:59:51.679 --> 00:59:55.880
for an in depth complex toxicology panel to be run.

1040
00:59:56.960 --> 01:00:02.239
The findings of those tests they came back they would

1041
01:00:02.320 --> 01:00:08.960
shock everyone, including Corey. Now, because Eric's official cause of

1042
01:00:09.119 --> 01:00:17.239
death was a fentanyl overdose. He had five times the

1043
01:00:17.360 --> 01:00:21.039
amount of fentanyl in his system that it would take

1044
01:00:21.559 --> 01:00:26.719
to kill somebody. This was so out of the scope

1045
01:00:26.840 --> 01:00:30.480
of believability that they thought that this had to be

1046
01:00:30.559 --> 01:00:32.800
a mix up. Maybe it was the wrong labs. Maybe

1047
01:00:32.840 --> 01:00:34.920
the wrong name was put on it, but no, there

1048
01:00:35.239 --> 01:00:37.000
are measures in place to make sure that this is

1049
01:00:37.039 --> 01:00:40.480
not mixed up. It was true, It was right there

1050
01:00:40.559 --> 01:00:44.480
in black and white, and truth be told. It now

1051
01:00:44.599 --> 01:00:48.320
made some other things looking back start to make a

1052
01:00:48.480 --> 01:00:52.159
little bit of sense. So do you remember how Eric's

1053
01:00:52.159 --> 01:00:54.880
blood sugar was well over four hundred when the first

1054
01:00:54.960 --> 01:00:57.679
responders were working on him, and they yelled it out

1055
01:00:57.760 --> 01:01:00.559
and they were like, WHOA, that's high. They kind of

1056
01:01:00.599 --> 01:01:06.199
thought maybe his glucose was high because of undiagnosed diabetes,

1057
01:01:06.239 --> 01:01:09.519
maybe he spiraled into a blood sugar event and that

1058
01:01:09.719 --> 01:01:13.760
had caused his death. But the findings were that he

1059
01:01:13.960 --> 01:01:17.599
was not a diabetic. But knowing what we know now,

1060
01:01:18.400 --> 01:01:23.960
high glucose makes sense because the research shows that fentanyl

1061
01:01:24.079 --> 01:01:30.320
induced respiratory depression leads to brain hypoxia, which is low oxygen,

1062
01:01:30.360 --> 01:01:33.719
you're not getting any air, and that will subsequently trigger

1063
01:01:33.800 --> 01:01:38.960
your body to release glucose levels or glucose levels will

1064
01:01:39.079 --> 01:01:43.880
rise as a result of that. So maybe that is

1065
01:01:43.960 --> 01:01:48.800
why his glucose was so high. The once oddities now

1066
01:01:48.840 --> 01:01:50.519
are kind of starting to fall into place, at least

1067
01:01:50.559 --> 01:01:53.000
for the doctor. Okay, that makes sense for why the

1068
01:01:53.039 --> 01:01:56.760
glucose was so high. But where in the hell did

1069
01:01:57.039 --> 01:02:02.360
Eric ever come in contact with fentanyl? Corey and the

1070
01:02:02.480 --> 01:02:06.920
rest of the family were dumbfounded and now completely and

1071
01:02:07.000 --> 01:02:11.239
totally stumped. They didn't even know where to go from here.

1072
01:02:11.320 --> 01:02:15.320
When that toxicology panel came back. Eric was a family man.

1073
01:02:15.599 --> 01:02:20.519
He was nowhere near suicidal. Also, his mother had been

1074
01:02:20.559 --> 01:02:23.320
a drug counselor. That was her job, and she had

1075
01:02:23.400 --> 01:02:28.000
taught them from children the dangers of drugs, and they

1076
01:02:28.079 --> 01:02:31.719
took that serious. All of her children took that very seriously.

1077
01:02:32.360 --> 01:02:35.639
Eric went to work every single day and he made

1078
01:02:36.000 --> 01:02:38.719
tons of money. Have you ever seen somebody who is

1079
01:02:38.719 --> 01:02:41.440
a drug addict, especially a fentanyl user. Does that sound

1080
01:02:41.519 --> 01:02:44.119
like someone who uses fent? Because it doesn't to me.

1081
01:02:44.880 --> 01:02:49.320
He even played sports well into adulthood. He rode four wheelers.

1082
01:02:49.360 --> 01:02:53.440
The family joke was that he held the record for

1083
01:02:53.519 --> 01:02:57.199
the most motorized vehicle collisions and rollovers, as well as

1084
01:02:57.280 --> 01:03:00.000
the family's stitch count record of he got two hundred

1085
01:03:00.079 --> 01:03:02.039
stitches in his face once from a wreck that he

1086
01:03:02.199 --> 01:03:07.199
was in. My point is this, Eric was full of life.

1087
01:03:07.519 --> 01:03:12.719
He was always on the move and the thought of him, Okay,

1088
01:03:12.800 --> 01:03:15.199
maybe he just tried it once and it killed him.

1089
01:03:15.360 --> 01:03:20.360
The thought of that and overdosing that may have slipped

1090
01:03:20.400 --> 01:03:23.360
into the minds of some people. But here's another element

1091
01:03:23.400 --> 01:03:25.599
of Eric's life that matters, and this is why totality

1092
01:03:25.599 --> 01:03:30.159
of circumstance. I love that thought process. But one of

1093
01:03:30.239 --> 01:03:33.400
the major things in Eric's life was that he was

1094
01:03:33.480 --> 01:03:36.599
a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of

1095
01:03:36.679 --> 01:03:39.280
Latter day Saints. He was such a devout member of

1096
01:03:39.320 --> 01:03:41.920
that church that he went on a two year mission

1097
01:03:42.199 --> 01:03:45.800
in Mexico City. He was so invested in spreading God's

1098
01:03:45.880 --> 01:03:51.280
word that he learned to speak Spanish fluently for this purpose. Now,

1099
01:03:51.719 --> 01:03:55.480
let's be real, good people do make bad decisions, but

1100
01:03:55.760 --> 01:04:01.079
this one was just so far fed. No one had

1101
01:04:01.119 --> 01:04:06.480
ever seen him knotted out, slumped over, behaving oddly, nobody zero.

1102
01:04:07.880 --> 01:04:11.280
Where would he have even gotten it from? This would

1103
01:04:11.280 --> 01:04:13.320
have been a huge question. When would he have had

1104
01:04:13.400 --> 01:04:15.800
time to go get it. Everyone could account for him

1105
01:04:15.800 --> 01:04:17.360
being at work and doing what he was supposed to do.

1106
01:04:17.480 --> 01:04:20.960
He's coaching, he's doing all this stuff. So everyone was

1107
01:04:21.119 --> 01:04:24.000
left with this burning question in their mind of basically

1108
01:04:24.119 --> 01:04:28.920
what the hell. Even police were now very suspicious of

1109
01:04:29.039 --> 01:04:33.039
everything that was going on. So they decided that they

1110
01:04:33.119 --> 01:04:35.760
wanted to go search the house again and see if

1111
01:04:35.800 --> 01:04:38.840
maybe they had missed something the first time that they

1112
01:04:38.920 --> 01:04:43.320
had searched. So this time they were very meticulous in

1113
01:04:43.400 --> 01:04:46.880
their search. When I say meticulous, I'm talking about looking

1114
01:04:46.920 --> 01:04:51.000
in pockets of clothing, opening every cabinet, opening jars, and

1115
01:04:51.119 --> 01:04:56.800
looking inside, very very meticulous. And this time they did

1116
01:04:57.199 --> 01:05:03.239
locate thc gummies. So when I say they found some,

1117
01:05:03.400 --> 01:05:04.920
I don't mean like three or four. I mean like

1118
01:05:05.000 --> 01:05:08.559
a lot of them. They found them in multiple places

1119
01:05:08.599 --> 01:05:11.400
around the house. Like I just mentioned, in the jacket,

1120
01:05:11.519 --> 01:05:15.719
pockets of some clothing, in the closet, the master bathroom

1121
01:05:15.960 --> 01:05:19.480
they found some. They also found some in clear baggies

1122
01:05:19.880 --> 01:05:24.880
that were not in their original gummy packaging. Now, Corey

1123
01:05:25.000 --> 01:05:27.519
had mentioned that maybe he had taken some of the

1124
01:05:27.559 --> 01:05:32.119
gummies the night that he died, So was it possible

1125
01:05:32.679 --> 01:05:39.880
that maybe he accidentally overdosed on those gummies. Well, no,

1126
01:05:40.480 --> 01:05:44.239
he did, So then it's like, well, did he get

1127
01:05:44.280 --> 01:05:46.679
some bad gummies maybe and they had fentanyl in them.

1128
01:05:47.320 --> 01:05:49.679
That's a good thought. So they take and they test

1129
01:05:50.559 --> 01:05:55.199
none of them contained fentanyl. Also, this is where science

1130
01:05:55.239 --> 01:05:57.920
comes in and it's super important. But the type of

1131
01:05:58.280 --> 01:06:03.079
fentanyl that had killed Eric had specific properties that are

1132
01:06:03.320 --> 01:06:07.920
only found in illicit forms of fentanyl, and it would

1133
01:06:08.039 --> 01:06:13.360
not have ever been found in pharmaceutical grade facility prepared

1134
01:06:13.599 --> 01:06:17.519
and sold fentanyl like on the patches and stuff like that.

1135
01:06:17.800 --> 01:06:19.920
It has different compounds. So AKA, what I'm telling you

1136
01:06:20.039 --> 01:06:22.760
is that this was absolutely a street dope drug that

1137
01:06:23.000 --> 01:06:26.360
had to be bought ilicitly off the street. So Corey

1138
01:06:26.440 --> 01:06:29.599
follows up with the medical Examiner's office herself, and she

1139
01:06:29.760 --> 01:06:34.239
had some very specific questions for the medical examiner. She

1140
01:06:34.400 --> 01:06:37.400
wanted to know why was there an addendum to the

1141
01:06:37.760 --> 01:06:41.800
death report that had originally been made, But really what

1142
01:06:42.119 --> 01:06:44.239
it was it wasn't an addendum, It wasn't a change.

1143
01:06:44.280 --> 01:06:48.559
It was actually a supplemental because when the toxicology results

1144
01:06:48.639 --> 01:06:53.159
came back, obviously it was an updated report. So she says, Okay,

1145
01:06:53.280 --> 01:06:56.400
can you tell me did he inject it or did

1146
01:06:56.480 --> 01:06:58.360
he eat it? Can the report tell you how he

1147
01:06:58.440 --> 01:07:02.039
got it in his system? And the doctor said or

1148
01:07:02.679 --> 01:07:05.039
in the report had said that because of how much

1149
01:07:05.119 --> 01:07:08.599
fentanyl was in his stomach, the doctor believed he would

1150
01:07:08.599 --> 01:07:11.559
have had to have taken it orally. It was not injected,

1151
01:07:12.440 --> 01:07:16.159
and the doctor also confirmed that this had been a

1152
01:07:16.880 --> 01:07:21.800
massive overdose. People would die with half of what was

1153
01:07:21.880 --> 01:07:24.960
in his system. And to be specific, and fentyl is

1154
01:07:25.079 --> 01:07:27.400
so scary, y'all we all know this. I hope you're

1155
01:07:27.400 --> 01:07:29.559
preaching to your kids the importance of you never take

1156
01:07:29.599 --> 01:07:32.320
anything that a doctor did not describe, prescribe for you

1157
01:07:32.440 --> 01:07:35.599
for this reason. But the fentanyl had killed him so

1158
01:07:36.119 --> 01:07:42.320
fast after consumption. Get this. Eric's blood alcohol content when

1159
01:07:42.360 --> 01:07:45.920
they tested him was the equivalent to a two point

1160
01:07:46.119 --> 01:07:49.840
eight blood alcohol content. Point oh eight is drunk. Two

1161
01:07:49.920 --> 01:07:52.719
point eight is what he had. This would have meant

1162
01:07:53.360 --> 01:07:55.280
in every day. You know, if you pull someone over

1163
01:07:55.320 --> 01:07:58.840
and give him a DWI that you were hammered drunk.

1164
01:08:00.079 --> 01:08:05.519
But he wasn't. He died so quickly after ingesting this

1165
01:08:06.679 --> 01:08:11.119
fentanyl that his body physically did not have any time

1166
01:08:11.559 --> 01:08:15.800
to absorb it nor metabolize it. So all of the

1167
01:08:15.920 --> 01:08:20.000
alcohol that he had drank in his system was still

1168
01:08:20.119 --> 01:08:23.079
in his gastric system. It had not even been absorbed

1169
01:08:23.119 --> 01:08:26.279
into his blood, so the blood alcohol was just high

1170
01:08:26.600 --> 01:08:29.600
because it never had been processed at all. It just

1171
01:08:29.680 --> 01:08:34.760
stayed in his stomach. He was dead very quickly, so

1172
01:08:36.439 --> 01:08:38.520
she asked the question, will you be able to tell

1173
01:08:38.680 --> 01:08:41.359
how it got into a system? Doctor's like, I can't

1174
01:08:41.399 --> 01:08:43.720
be for sure, I don't know. So she follows up

1175
01:08:43.760 --> 01:08:47.199
what else was in his system? And the doctor follows

1176
01:08:47.279 --> 01:08:49.079
up with that too, and he said, well, now we

1177
01:08:49.159 --> 01:08:53.560
also know that he had sarah quial in his test results. Now,

1178
01:08:53.600 --> 01:08:56.399
sarah quill is a drug usually used for like bipolar

1179
01:08:56.479 --> 01:08:59.000
and all that, but he can also be used sometimes

1180
01:08:59.039 --> 01:09:02.239
people It makes you really so you could take it

1181
01:09:02.359 --> 01:09:05.279
to aid if you were having trouble sleeping. So that's

1182
01:09:05.319 --> 01:09:07.640
when Corey gets an aha moment. She's like, wait a minute,

1183
01:09:08.039 --> 01:09:11.239
could the fentanyl and the sarah quill have been mixed?

1184
01:09:12.520 --> 01:09:15.760
And the doctor explained, well, I mean, I actually can't

1185
01:09:15.840 --> 01:09:19.159
tell you that because usually what happens if we see

1186
01:09:19.199 --> 01:09:21.479
this is that someone has been prescribed sarah quill, they

1187
01:09:21.520 --> 01:09:24.000
took their medicine like normal, and then whenever they took

1188
01:09:24.079 --> 01:09:26.840
the drug, the fentanyl, it just it killed them. But

1189
01:09:26.960 --> 01:09:30.840
whether it happened together or separately, that's not something that

1190
01:09:30.960 --> 01:09:34.800
I can I can figure out from testing. But all

1191
01:09:34.840 --> 01:09:37.439
of that aside, it's kind of important to note here

1192
01:09:38.199 --> 01:09:42.119
Eric wasn't even prescribed sarah quill, So where did he

1193
01:09:42.199 --> 01:09:46.039
get that? So as Corey is asking all of these

1194
01:09:46.199 --> 01:09:48.359
questions and she's trying to make sense of it all,

1195
01:09:49.079 --> 01:09:54.560
Eric's sister was now stewing on something, something that Corey

1196
01:09:55.359 --> 01:10:00.279
did not know. Remember when I told you that Eric

1197
01:10:00.399 --> 01:10:03.800
and Katie had been extremely close their entire lives, that

1198
01:10:04.000 --> 01:10:06.720
was not just word filler that I was giving you here.

1199
01:10:07.159 --> 01:10:10.600
They were so close. They talked about everything together, everything

1200
01:10:10.680 --> 01:10:13.279
from politics to their own sex lives. I mean they

1201
01:10:13.279 --> 01:10:17.399
were that close of siblings. And this closeness meant that

1202
01:10:17.800 --> 01:10:22.840
Eric confided in Katie quite often, and in recent months,

1203
01:10:23.960 --> 01:10:29.399
he was becoming increasingly agitated with Corey, so much so

1204
01:10:30.359 --> 01:10:33.119
that he had even asked her if she knew any

1205
01:10:33.239 --> 01:10:38.239
divorce attorneys. It made him sick to even think about

1206
01:10:38.840 --> 01:10:42.880
having to break up his family and having to divorce again.

1207
01:10:43.800 --> 01:10:46.560
But he had found out something that he was not

1208
01:10:46.760 --> 01:10:52.239
willing to accept nor overlook. Back in September of twenty twenty,

1209
01:10:53.479 --> 01:10:56.319
Eric was going through his financials and he happened to

1210
01:10:56.399 --> 01:11:01.800
stumble upon some transactions that he was unaware of. All

1211
01:11:01.880 --> 01:11:04.640
in all, I'll shorten it for you, but he believed

1212
01:11:04.800 --> 01:11:10.840
that Corey had spent or withdrawn a massive amount of

1213
01:11:10.960 --> 01:11:14.600
money from the bank accounts without his knowledge, and we're

1214
01:11:14.600 --> 01:11:16.239
talking to the tune of one hundred grand.

1215
01:11:16.760 --> 01:11:17.000
Okay.

1216
01:11:17.079 --> 01:11:20.119
Now they're rich, okay, for all intents and purposes, So

1217
01:11:21.600 --> 01:11:24.600
you know, to the average joe's a ton of money. Now,

1218
01:11:24.640 --> 01:11:26.359
it's still a lot of money even if you're rich.

1219
01:11:27.760 --> 01:11:32.439
But he also found that she had borrowed an additional

1220
01:11:32.640 --> 01:11:38.039
thirty grand against their credit cards. Now, look, they're married,

1221
01:11:38.279 --> 01:11:42.359
all of their assets are obviously used together, and this

1222
01:11:43.119 --> 01:11:46.079
was a lot of money. But the fact that she

1223
01:11:46.199 --> 01:11:49.439
hadn't mentioned it to him just was not setting right

1224
01:11:49.520 --> 01:11:52.840
with him. Failure to mention this meant it almost felt

1225
01:11:52.840 --> 01:11:55.319
like she stole it, even though they were married, okay,

1226
01:11:55.359 --> 01:11:58.720
and they shared finances and stuff. But when he realized this,

1227
01:11:59.600 --> 01:12:03.079
he just he was already aggravated with her, and he

1228
01:12:03.159 --> 01:12:05.039
just felt like he needed to make some serious changes

1229
01:12:05.119 --> 01:12:08.279
in his life. Why was he still aggravate or already

1230
01:12:08.279 --> 01:12:11.840
aggravated with her? Well, Corey had also been riding him

1231
01:12:12.399 --> 01:12:14.880
on the fact that she was accusing Eric of cheating.

1232
01:12:15.960 --> 01:12:19.520
Now there was no evidence of him having sexual contact

1233
01:12:19.600 --> 01:12:22.600
with any other woman, and he just at this he

1234
01:12:22.720 --> 01:12:25.520
was just over it. Okay, All the money's being spent.

1235
01:12:25.800 --> 01:12:28.159
You're accusing me of cheating. I'm working my ass off.

1236
01:12:28.600 --> 01:12:32.239
This just isn't cool. So while everything on the outside

1237
01:12:32.319 --> 01:12:34.640
may have looked blissful, you know, on Facebook and all

1238
01:12:34.680 --> 01:12:37.119
that kind of stuff, behind closed doors things were not

1239
01:12:37.279 --> 01:12:37.880
that happy.

1240
01:12:39.319 --> 01:12:39.439
Now.

1241
01:12:39.640 --> 01:12:42.039
Eric had confided all of this in his sister because

1242
01:12:42.079 --> 01:12:46.399
she was his confidant and he was ready for a divorce,

1243
01:12:46.520 --> 01:12:48.560
but he was just so worried about the boys. He

1244
01:12:48.720 --> 01:12:50.680
was worried about his kids, and he wanted to do

1245
01:12:50.840 --> 01:12:54.560
things correctly, and he wanted to do them initially under

1246
01:12:54.600 --> 01:12:58.199
the radar so as to not alert Corey and calls

1247
01:12:58.239 --> 01:13:01.000
a huge blow up that would have affect his children

1248
01:13:01.079 --> 01:13:04.760
for the time being. So Katie spoke with her husband,

1249
01:13:04.800 --> 01:13:08.199
and he did know a divorce attorney, and so Eric

1250
01:13:08.359 --> 01:13:12.279
asked his brother in law, Katie's brother, excuse me, Katie's husband,

1251
01:13:13.000 --> 01:13:17.840
if he would contact the divorce attorney for him. Okay,

1252
01:13:17.920 --> 01:13:20.600
well that's kind of weird. So the question becomes, well,

1253
01:13:20.680 --> 01:13:22.560
why why wouldn't he do it? Why would he want

1254
01:13:22.600 --> 01:13:27.520
his sister's husband to do it. Well, Katie's belief was

1255
01:13:27.600 --> 01:13:31.880
that Eric did not want Corey to see any of

1256
01:13:32.119 --> 01:13:35.079
the calls or emails that would be going back and

1257
01:13:35.199 --> 01:13:38.000
forth between him and a divorce attorney, because again all

1258
01:13:38.039 --> 01:13:39.800
of theirs, you know, they looked at each other stuff.

1259
01:13:40.720 --> 01:13:43.039
So the brother in law had set it up and

1260
01:13:43.359 --> 01:13:46.920
Eric had eventually met with that divorce attorney in person,

1261
01:13:47.560 --> 01:13:50.880
but he would die before they went forward with it

1262
01:13:50.960 --> 01:13:55.439
in any way. So Katie couldn't help but think, now,

1263
01:13:56.479 --> 01:13:58.560
maybe Corey had something to do with his death. I mean,

1264
01:13:58.640 --> 01:14:00.720
this is a pissed off sister. Just be flat out

1265
01:14:00.760 --> 01:14:03.479
with it. Okay, she's pissed off her brother's dead. Now

1266
01:14:03.560 --> 01:14:05.880
people are trying to almost make She felt like they

1267
01:14:05.920 --> 01:14:09.119
were saying he committed suicide because he was a drug

1268
01:14:09.159 --> 01:14:11.720
addict or an accidental overdose or whatever, and she just

1269
01:14:11.800 --> 01:14:13.840
didn't want to believe that in any way, shape or form.

1270
01:14:14.119 --> 01:14:16.079
And she knows in the back of her mind that

1271
01:14:16.199 --> 01:14:18.680
Corey was kind of being a crappy wife, at least

1272
01:14:19.000 --> 01:14:22.359
through her brother's eyes, and that he was wanting to

1273
01:14:22.479 --> 01:14:26.359
divorce her. So Corey may not have known that, but

1274
01:14:26.479 --> 01:14:30.439
Katie knew it. So Katie decided whatever, she was going

1275
01:14:30.520 --> 01:14:32.960
to call the police, and she was going to alert

1276
01:14:33.000 --> 01:14:36.600
them to the fact that there was a known financial

1277
01:14:36.720 --> 01:14:40.479
issue that her brother told her about and when the

1278
01:14:40.560 --> 01:14:46.079
police got that information, they went, hmm, maybe this is

1279
01:14:46.279 --> 01:14:49.640
worth looking into, because again they agreed that Eric's death

1280
01:14:49.680 --> 01:14:53.399
seemed really out of place. But the thing they realized

1281
01:14:53.520 --> 01:14:56.279
very quickly from the start was that Eric and Corey

1282
01:14:56.439 --> 01:14:59.640
had a signed prenup and this wasn't a secret. They

1283
01:14:59.760 --> 01:15:04.520
sign the day of their wedding. Corey obviously knew about

1284
01:15:04.640 --> 01:15:08.359
this prenup, So what would her motive be. She knew

1285
01:15:08.680 --> 01:15:12.279
that she was not entitled to his business because the

1286
01:15:12.319 --> 01:15:15.159
prenup in essence, said that his masonry business was his

1287
01:15:15.640 --> 01:15:18.359
and in the event of a split, it would remain his,

1288
01:15:18.560 --> 01:15:20.720
and she was not entitled to any portion of it.

1289
01:15:21.079 --> 01:15:23.359
So that kind of like want want, want on that

1290
01:15:23.680 --> 01:15:28.640
theory that maybe this was financially motivated. Sure, she had

1291
01:15:28.680 --> 01:15:31.039
made a financial decision that Eric was pissed off about,

1292
01:15:31.359 --> 01:15:35.079
but lots of marriages have that happen. And then there's

1293
01:15:35.079 --> 01:15:37.640
another kicker here if you're not following the timeline tightly.

1294
01:15:38.359 --> 01:15:43.199
Eric died two years after that had taken place. It

1295
01:15:43.319 --> 01:15:45.520
wasn't like she had stolen all the money and then

1296
01:15:45.640 --> 01:15:47.880
like you know, he died. No, I mean, there was

1297
01:15:47.920 --> 01:15:50.319
a two year gap between that and they had worked

1298
01:15:51.319 --> 01:15:54.880
been working through things and living together since that time.

1299
01:15:55.880 --> 01:15:58.359
So police decided that maybe they should talk to more

1300
01:15:58.680 --> 01:16:03.439
people who knew the Richens and maybe could give some

1301
01:16:03.560 --> 01:16:07.800
additional insight to their daily lives. But they also wanted

1302
01:16:07.840 --> 01:16:12.760
to look more closely at Eric's associates as well. There

1303
01:16:12.880 --> 01:16:16.680
had to be a motive somewhere, if and only if

1304
01:16:16.960 --> 01:16:22.479
this actually was nefarious, if somebody wanted him dead, there's

1305
01:16:22.520 --> 01:16:26.159
got to be a motive. If not, it's kind of like,

1306
01:16:26.479 --> 01:16:29.520
had Eric decided to kill himself or was it possible

1307
01:16:29.920 --> 01:16:33.960
that it was all just a tragic accident. So as

1308
01:16:34.039 --> 01:16:37.960
police dove deeper into the lives of everyone associated with Eric,

1309
01:16:38.840 --> 01:16:42.359
this case would be turned on its head. And it's

1310
01:16:42.880 --> 01:16:45.520
going to begin to sound more like a game of clue,

1311
01:16:46.600 --> 01:16:50.079
because they're going to speak to Eric's sister and his

1312
01:16:50.319 --> 01:16:54.479
business partner. They're going to talk to the housekeeper and

1313
01:16:55.159 --> 01:17:00.640
to the attorney, and then a random PI, a random

1314
01:17:00.800 --> 01:17:04.640
private investigator, is then going to appear out of nowhere.

1315
01:17:05.880 --> 01:17:08.840
Now he claims that he's been looking into things independently

1316
01:17:09.439 --> 01:17:13.640
and says that there's details that these detectives haven't yet uncovered,

1317
01:17:14.560 --> 01:17:19.920
and then almost too casually, he's going to reveal some

1318
01:17:20.079 --> 01:17:23.439
things to them that kind of get the police going

1319
01:17:23.720 --> 01:17:27.920
on a track. This wasn't the first time that something

1320
01:17:28.279 --> 01:17:32.279
felt off, and now everything is going to begin to shift,

1321
01:17:33.000 --> 01:17:37.279
because if what this PI is saying is true, then

1322
01:17:37.399 --> 01:17:43.079
what happened to Eric Richins wasn't random, and it also

1323
01:17:43.439 --> 01:17:50.479
wasn't simple, and it certainly wasn't over. So what really

1324
01:17:50.840 --> 01:17:55.039
happened to Eric Richins the night that he died? Was

1325
01:17:55.119 --> 01:18:01.760
it murder, an accident, or something way more calculated than

1326
01:18:02.079 --> 01:18:08.199
anyone would ever realize. Well, this is just the beginning,

1327
01:18:09.000 --> 01:18:10.760
and I'm going to give you all of the answers

1328
01:18:11.359 --> 01:18:14.159
in Part two's conclusion next week.