Kouri Richins: "The Michael Jackson Stuff" and the Evidence Trail Prosecutors Built
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 907 Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2026
⏱️ 13 minutes
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Summary
The pretrial wins belonged to the defense. But the prosecution is walking into the Kouri Richins trial with a case they've spent four years constructing — and it starts with a prior poisoning attempt the jury will hear alongside the murder charge.
Former prosecutor Eric Faddis breaks down the state's strongest cards. Prosecutors allege Kouri laced Eric's sandwich with fentanyl on Valentine's Day 2022, months before his death. Two friends reportedly say Eric called them saying his wife tried to poison him. A new life insurance policy had allegedly gone into effect ten days earlier. His sister told authorities Eric said if anything happened to him, Kouri was responsible.
Carmen Lauber is expected to testify that Kouri directly asked her to buy fentanyl twice — and after the Valentine's Day incident, allegedly requested "the Michael Jackson stuff." Unsealed warrants reportedly show Kouri also asked a handyman to source fentanyl and propofol. The digital evidence includes Google searches allegedly about lethal fentanyl doses, luxury prisons, insurance payouts, and deleting digital records. A jail cell letter allegedly coached family members on testimony. And a handwriting expert is expected to testify that signatures on insurance documents paying Kouri millions were not Eric's.
Faddis explains how the prosecution connects five times the lethal dose, a prior attempt, an insurance timeline, and a Moscow Mule into one narrative — and whether 100-plus witnesses and 1,000 exhibits represent overwhelming evidence or strategic overreach.
#KouriRichins #RichinsTrial #EricRichins #CarmenLauber #FentanylMurder #ProsecutionEvidence #MichaelJacksonStuff #EricFaddis #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Bruske, Stacey Cole, and Todd Michaels. |
| 0:08.0 | The defense has made noise, but the prosecution still has amount of evidence for five weeks of trial in alleged prior poisoning attempt. |
| 0:17.3 | A direct witness who says Corey personally requested fentanyl forged documents, |
| 0:22.4 | damning digital evidence, and a financial timeline prosecutor say points to one conclusion. |
| 0:27.6 | Eric Fattis, defense attorney, is with us to help break down the state's strongest arguments |
| 0:32.8 | in what it takes to prove murder beyond a reasonable doubt. |
| 0:36.2 | Eric, let's get into the prosecution of this. |
| 0:38.8 | The attempted murder charges from Valentine's Day. That's the original attempt back in 2022. |
| 0:44.8 | Loving thing to do. The allegation is that Corey laced Eric's favorite sandwich. She winning, I don't |
| 0:52.3 | know, I really would love to know what the sandwich was, but that's not listed here. |
| 0:55.5 | Maybe it's in the affidavit somewhere. |
| 0:58.1 | But laced his favorite sandwich with fentanyl, left it in his vehicle, then he goes to get it from work and eats it, breaks out in hives, loses consciousness like you do after eating your favorite sandwich. |
| 1:12.6 | Two friends say Eric called them saying his wife tried to poison him. It's kind of weird that's |
| 1:17.5 | the first thing. That's come into this guy's mind. His sister told authorities he believed |
| 1:22.5 | Corey had spiked his drink years earlier in Greece. So he's living in paranoia and told family, if anything happened to him, she was to blame. |
| 1:31.4 | A new life insurance policy went into, in fact, February 4th, 10 days before that Valentine's Day attempt. |
| 1:38.3 | If the jury hears all of that, in that order, how does that reshape the case? You know, I think it's going to be pivotal |
| 1:48.6 | whether the jury believes that Cory Richens did actually engage in this prior poisoning, because |
| 1:55.9 | it obviously goes to her mental state. It shows a conscious objective. It shows planning over time. It shows that she |
| 2:02.4 | had this outcome she was trying to get at. She failed the first time, but she didn't fail this |
| 2:07.5 | subsequent time. And certainly if the jury believes it, that could tip the scales incredibly. |
| 2:14.9 | You know, we're not just talking about one poisoning, but multiple poisonings |
... |
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