Kouri Richins Trial Day 4: Housekeeper's Testimony Exposes Alleged Drug Pipeline
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 27 February 2026
⏱️ 18 minutes
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Summary
Day four of the Kouri Richins murder trial brought the witness prosecutors have been building toward since the case began. Carmen Lauber, Kouri Richins' former housekeeper, testified under immunity that she purchased illicit drugs for Kouri four times in the weeks surrounding Eric Richins' death in March 2022.
According to Lauber's testimony, the requests started with pain pills allegedly meant for an investor and escalated to fentanyl. Lauber says she told Kouri the pills were fentanyl and that Kouri told her to go ahead and get them. Cash was left in a house Kouri was flipping. Pills were dropped in a firepit. The system, as Lauber described it, was designed to keep Kouri at a distance from every handoff.
The most damaging testimony may have been what allegedly happened after Eric died. According to phone records displayed in court, Kouri texted Lauber three days after her husband's death asking if she still had her connection. She paid for the purchase with a check disguised as a cleaning payment. And when Lauber says she confronted Kouri about whether the pills had been for Eric, Kouri allegedly told her he died from a brain aneurysm.
The defense landed significant blows on cross. Lauber tested positive for meth throughout the period of the alleged deals, initially told investigators Kouri asked for oxycodone rather than fentanyl, and confirmed that a recorded meeting with investigators included the instruction to provide details that would ensure a conviction. Her drug source, Robert Crozier, has also changed his account of what he sold her.
Earlier in the day, toxicology testimony confirmed five times the lethal dose of illicit fentanyl in Eric's blood. No hydrocodone was detected. The jury also heard about phones belonging to Kouri's alleged boyfriend that were initially reported broken but later became operable and were processed by the FBI.
Kouri Richins has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is presumed innocent. Cross-examination continues Friday.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. |
| 0:03.2 | Here now, Tony Bruske. |
| 0:07.1 | Please tell me the pills were not for him. |
| 0:11.7 | That's what Carmen Lobber says. |
| 0:13.7 | She told Corey Richards on the phone. |
| 0:18.7 | A couple of days after Eric Richens was found dead in his bed. |
| 0:22.8 | Lauber, the housekeeper, the woman who cleaned the Richens' properties, |
| 0:26.5 | the woman who, by her own admission, had spent the previous month buying increasingly |
| 0:33.5 | powerful drugs at what she says was Corey's request, finally asked the question she didn't |
| 0:39.0 | want answer. And according to Labrers' testimony, Thursday in a Park City courtroom, Corey didn't flinch. |
| 0:48.4 | No, they were not. Eric passed away from a brain aneurysm, calm, clean, practiced. |
| 0:55.0 | The kind of answer that only works if the person on the other end doesn't push back. |
| 1:00.0 | And for a while, nobody did. |
| 1:04.0 | Erica, Riches did not die of a brain aneurysm, by the way. |
| 1:08.0 | Corey has blood not guilty. Two all charges, including aggravated murder, attempted criminal homicide, insurance, fraud, and forgery. |
| 1:17.7 | She, of course, is presumed innocent unless proven otherwise in a court of law. |
| 1:21.8 | But now Carmen Lauber is sitting on a witness stand in Summit County, testifying under immunity deals with three counties and the federal government, |
| 1:32.4 | walking a jury through exactly how she allegedly became the supply chain |
| 1:36.4 | and what prosecutors say was a deliberate killing. |
| 1:41.0 | Stay for the Corey Richens murder trial. |
| 1:47.4 | It was the day the prosecution put its most important and most vulnerable witness in front of the jury and by the time court recess the defense |
| 1:53.5 | had drawn blood but lauber was still standing barely there's more to come from Lauber as we get into the testimony what was all said |
... |
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