Kouri Richins: Understanding Love Bombing & How Abusers Set the Trap | Surviving the Fog Part 1
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 2 March 2026
⏱️ 14 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Kouri Richins case forces us to ask: How do smart, capable people end up with partners who allegedly want them dead?
Eric Richins was hardworking, devoted to his sons, present. Prosecutors allege his wife was millions in debt, had a boyfriend, allegedly bought fentanyl—all while Eric believed he had a real marriage.
How did he miss it? He didn't. He was targeted.
This is Part 1 of "Surviving the Fog"—a psychological deep dive into coercive control. We're using the Kouri Richins case as a framework to examine patterns documented in abuse research, not to diagnose anyone.
This episode examines love bombing—the overwhelming intensity that feels like fate. These personalities select their targets, study their wounds, and become exactly what they've been missing.
The constant texting is surveillance disguised as devotion. The speed is entrapment disguised as passion. The soulmate feeling is a script, not fate.
Trauma bonding hijacks your brain chemistry. The intermittent reinforcement creates addiction. You're not staying because you're weak—you're staying because your nervous system has been rewired.
The person you fell in love with may have been a performance. And performances can't be sustained.
Kouri Richins is presumed innocent until proven guilty. This is educational content.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers with Tony Bruske. Here now, Tony Bruske. |
| 0:07.0 | Why do smart, successful, capable people end up married to someone who allegedly wants them dead? |
| 0:14.9 | Eric Richens wasn't naive. By all accounts, he was a hardworking man who built a masonry business, |
| 0:22.7 | loved the outdoors, hunted, and devoted himself to his three sons. His family describes |
| 0:28.3 | him as present, capable, reliable, the kind of guy who showed up. According to prosecutors, |
| 0:36.2 | his wife was texting her boyfriend about their future together while Eric was still coming home every night thinking he had a marriage. |
| 0:44.5 | Prosecutors alleged she was $4.5 million in debt buying fentanyl from her housekeeper and planning a life that didn't include Eric, except for his life insurance and his estate. |
| 0:56.3 | How lovely. |
| 0:58.0 | If the prosecution is right, Eric Richard spent years living with someone who was allegedly |
| 1:02.1 | plotting his death, and he didn't quite fully see it coming. |
| 1:09.4 | So the question everyone asks is, how did he miss it? |
| 1:14.8 | That's a question we're going to explore, not just in this episode, but across this entire |
| 1:19.3 | series throughout this week, five parts. |
| 1:24.0 | Before I go further, let me be clear about what this series is and what it isn't. |
| 1:27.7 | We're examining psychological patterns of coercive control, narcissistic abuse using the Corey Richens case's framework. |
| 1:34.9 | We're not diagnosing her or anyone else with a personality disorder. |
| 1:38.2 | I'm not qualified to do that, and I'm not attempting to do it here. |
| 1:42.0 | We're examining our behavioral patterns. |
| 1:44.6 | The prosecutors have alleged patterns that are well documented in abuse research |
| 1:48.2 | and that I've experienced personally. |
| 1:51.3 | Corey Richens has presumed innocent and so proven guilty. |
| 1:54.8 | This is educational content, if you will, not clinical advice. |
... |
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