Jury finds Utah mom Kouri Richins guilty of murdering husband

…

It was after 3:00 a.m.and Lisa says Corey immediately called 911 and at the dispatcher’s instructions perform CPR.

When first responders arrived, they started working on Eric.

But it was too late.

>> It’s just unbelievable.

You’re in shock that something like that, you know, could happen.

>> It was those first responders who initially suspected Eric had died of an aneurysm.

The father of three young sons was just 39.

How were the boys? Did the boys know what was happening? >> They knew something was happening and they could see the ambulances and cops coming and very distraught.

>> They all just sat there on the couch and just cried together.

>> The sad scene was a far cry from the happy family they once were.

Cory and Eric met in 2009 at a local Home Depot.

Back then, Corey was a cashier.

Eric worked in construction and was a frequent customer.

>> I heard that he wanted her number for a long time and was kind of afraid to go get it.

So, he had to have a friend run in and go get it from her.

>> Eric asked her out and they hit it off when Corey said, “I’m dating this guy.

” What did you think? >> Uh, Corey was terrified of me meeting me.

>> Oh, really? Why? >> Because I’m the big brother and >> tough.

>> Yeah.

Yeah.

But DJ and Ronnie say Eric fit right in.

>> I thought he was a great guy.

In 2013, Corey and Eric got married and had the boys.

First Carter, then Ashton, and finally Weston.

Lisa says fatherhood came easily to Eric.

>> He taught those boys so much.

They idolized their father, and he idolized the boys as well.

Cory’s family got to know the Richens, including Eric’s two sisters, Katie and Amy.

>> They’d come up uh for birthdays here and there, and we’re all very friendly.

>> Eventually, Eric started a stonemasonry business, and Corey started her own real estate company, buying houses, fixing them up, and selling them for profit.

Greg Hall was her marketing director and good friend.

>> Cory had something that a lot of people don’t.

A lot of times you find an individual that is intelligent but no common sense or common sense and no intelligence.

She had both.

She was a brilliant young lady.

>> How many houses would she have on average that she was working on or trying to flip >> at one time? >> Yeah.

>> I would say on average three.

>> So it was kind of a constant rotation of >> buying a home, fixing it up, selling it.

>> Yes.

and Eric’s business continued to flourish.

>> They both lived very well and they both bought and spent what they wanted.

>> In their spare time, Eric loved to hunt and together they traveled the world.

>> It sounds like on the surface, Eric and Corey seemed to have it all.

Would you say that was so? >> I would say that.

Yes.

>> I don’t know that I can even begin to overstate how close this family was.

This was a huge loss.

Greg Scortis is the spokesman for Eric’s family.

>> He was this beautiful son and and brother, and to have that taken away from you, I I can’t imagine much worse than that.

>> Not long after Eric’s funeral, an autopsy revealed the cause of his death.

It wasn’t an aneurysm.

It was a lethal dose of fentinyl.

Fentanyl is many, many times more potent than oxies and the other pain medications that we typically use.

It’s a very dangerous drug.

>> But how did fentinel get into Eric’s system? Cory’s family believes his recreational drug use could be to blame.

Nearly every day, they say Eric would take a gummy with THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

It was always just just to relax at the end of the day.

>> And according to Ronnie, Eric did not always get the gummies from reputable sources.

>> Just about every trip that I had been on with him, he’d buy just from someone off the street.

>> Lisa says Eric also sometimes took pain pills.

>> Hey, do you have any pain pills? >> Hey, can you call and get a hook me up? >> He certainly wasn’t an opioid or an illegal drug user.

Cory’s family thinks Eric had taken something he didn’t know was laced with fentinel and that his death was a tragic accident.

Eric’s family strongly disputes this claim.

>> He didn’t die of a self-inflicted drug overdose.

>> Eric’s family wondered if Cory may have been involved.

>> They said, “This doesn’t smell right.

” No question the family thought that right from the beginning.

In the months following her husband’s tragic death, Corey Richen struggled to find her footing on her own and to navigate life as a single mom.

>> Cory was still completely distraught.

Even now, she’s never had time to grieve.

She’s doing her best to move on.

She didn’t know of a way of doing that.

>> Cory’s brother, Ronnie, says it was also hard for the couple’s three young sons.

>> The boys, it’s still hard for him.

They lashed out a little bit cuz they couldn’t quite understand what was going on and they needed some help.

And Corey needed some help.

>> Eventually, Corey found a way to turn her grief into action.

In March 2023, one year after Eric’s death, Corey came up with the idea to write that children’s book about coping with loss.

Are you with me? She promoted it on a local TV show, Good Things Utah.

>> I just wanted some story to read to my kids at night.

And so, you know, I was like, let’s just write one.

>> The self-published book follows the story of a child who lost his father, but is reminded his presence still exists all around.

In the book, Eric is portrayed as an angel who is always close by.

Yes, I am with you on Christmas.

Corey writes, “You can’t see my smile, but it’s there.

I’m here and we’re together.

” >> Like, Dad is still here.

It’s just in a different way.

>> Cory’s mother, Lisa, says writing the book was therapeutic.

>> I think the book was a great thing.

>> It helped them.

It helped them all.

>> Her family says it finally seemed as though Cory and the boys would be able to move forward.

It >> seemed to make the boys really happy.

>> While the family was working to get back on track, police had been investigating Eric’s death.

And just weeks after Cory’s appearance on TV to promote her book, >> new at 10.

This has been a talker all day today.

a Summit County woman who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief following her husband’s death, now accused of being the one that actually killed him.

>> On May 8th, 2023, Corey, the grieving wife, >> this is the home where police found Eric Richens dead, >> was now the prime suspect in her husband’s death.

>> You must have been in a panic.

>> I was shocked.

She can’t be arrested.

>> A Utah mother has been charged with murder.

Corey was charged with aggravated murder and taken into custody.

Court documents alleg she committed homicide by the administration of a poison.

Greg Scortis, the spokesman for Eric’s family, suspects Cy put a lethal dose of fentinyl in the drink she made Eric that night, the Moscow mule.

>> The dosage that he was given that night was of such a high level that no person could have survived it.

Sky Lazaro was her attorney at the time.

>> Did police ever test the glass that she gave Eric this cocktail in? >> They seized a number of items from the home.

Uh, and there was no fentanyl that was found on any glasswware.

>> Cory’s family says they struggled to make sense of the charges.

Corey denies any involvement in her husband’s death.

For anybody who knows Corey just knows she could not have done this.

She’d never do this.

>> Lisa says her daughter and son-in-law had a great relationship.

>> Nobody’s perfect, but they’re pretty close.

>> And like many couples that have disagreements, they were able to overcome their differences.

>> He didn’t want Corey to work.

He wanted her to be a stay-at-home mom, and she’s very independent, and that wasn’t going to happen.

Another issue, says Cory’s brother Ronnie, was the amount of time Eric spent away on hunting trips.

Sometimes four or five months a year.

It >> just kind of irked her because that is his biggest passion in his life is hunting and she might want him home a little bit more.

And so, you know, they might get in a fight about that.

>> And then, according to Cory’s mother, Lisa, there was alleged infidelity on Eric’s part.

She says she heard about it first from Corey and then from Eric.

It was a text about trust.

How I trusted him as a son-in-law, as a father, as a husband, and how could he do this? >> Cory’s family says the couple went to counseling, determined to work through their issues.

Scortis, who denies Eric ever cheated on Corey, says Eric had a different reason for wanting to make his marriage work.

>> He was going to do whatever he could to make it work because he he lived for those boys.

He would have done anything for those boys.

Let’s let’s go to counseling.

Let’s try to keep the family together.

>> Scores says at one point Eric had considered divorce, but ultimately decided against it.

He says to protect the boys in case the relationship didn’t work out, Eric put his estate into a secret trust without telling Corey and named his sister Katie in charge.

But in the months leading up to Eric’s death, Ronnie says the couple seemed better than ever.

How are they doing as a couple, as a family? >> Yeah, fantastic.

They were um probably one of the best spots I’ve ever seen them in in quite some time.

>> Everyone’s having fun, laughing, joking.

You know, it’s it seemed really great to me.

>> So, why would Cory want Eric dead? Court documents allege Cory was having an affair and planned a future with her paramore.

Along with that, a life insurance payout might have been a motive.

Scorais says Eric’s family agrees.

>> This is coldhearted greed.

>> At the time of Eric’s death, there were at least six life insurance policies on him, totaling nearly $3 million.

Court documents alleged that in January 2022, two months before Eric died, Corey forged Eric’s signature to get yet another policy worth an additional $100,000.

Cory is also accused in court documents of stealing from Eric’s personal accounts and misappropriating monies distributed from Eric Richen’s business dating back years.

According to Scortis, Corey didn’t just want the money, she desperately needed it.

Court documents allege her house flipping business was drowning in nearly $2 million of debt.

>> She was in way over her head.

She needed some money in a hurry.

It was a significant amount of money.

ScorI says a premarital agreement stipulated Corey had given up claim to Eric’s business assets except that if husband should die prior to wife while the two are lawfully married.

>> He was worth much more to her dead than divorced.

She felt that there was easy money and fast money to be made by not having her husband around anymore.

Cory’s attorney, Sky Lazaro, strongly disputes any allegations her client forged Eric’s signature, mishandled finances, or stole from Eric.

As for the claim Corey was in debt and needed the money, she says that’s simply not true.

>> She was in the business of flipping houses.

This is what they did.

Lazaro says taking on debt from lines of credit was part of how the business of flipping houses worked and the money would be paid back when a home sold.

>> It’s not as if she had all these conventional loans that she owed people money on it.

Sure, it looks like a large number, but we’re talking about business transactions with people who she did business with.

Eric and Corey sat down every month and did the bills together at all times.

Eric knew what was going in and what was coming out.

Lisa says Eric not only knew about the finances, but he was also very supportive of Cory’s new business opportunities, like the purchase of the mansion they were celebrating the night he died.

>> Eric saying, “Let’s have a shot.

Come on, let’s celebrate Cory.

” It was that night.

Scores says Eric’s family believes Corey gave him the Moscow mule laced with fentinel.

And he says Eric’s family believes it wasn’t the first time Cory had tried to poison her husband.

>> The time he died wasn’t the first time we believe that she tried to kill him.

just outside Salt Lake City in the shadow of Utah’s Wasach Mountains, home to fame ski resorts, including Park City, is the property that Cory Richens was planning on flipping the deal she and Eric were celebrating the night he died says her attorney Sky Lazaro >> is a decently good size home.

>> Lazaro showed us the nearly 10 acre estate.

>> Where are we? Give us a sense of why this is significant real estate.

>> So this is the Heber Valley.

Uh right over the hill is Park City, all the major ski areas.

Uh and then to the right is Deer Creek Reservoir.

So, this really sits between major recreational areas.

It looks ginormous.

It’s massive.

The 20,000 square ft mansion and its 4,000 ft guest house were originally built in 2017, but never finished.

The project was abandoned for 2 years until Corey discovered it.

I think this was kind of her dream when she got into this idea of flipping houses was to be able to do properties like this.

Lazarus says Corey used financing from a group of investors to make an offer on the house for $3.

9 million.

>> The plan was to develop this, turn it into a recreational hot spot given this is probably one of the most beautiful places in the world and hopefully sell it at a profit.

How much did she think she could make off of this house? >> Her and Eric sat down with an accountant one time and he said, “If you can get it done and stay under budget, you could walk away with $12 million.

” >> Wow.

It’s a That’s a big turn.

Yes.

>> From 3.

9 to 12 million.

>> Yes.

>> There’s a lot of excitement.

I remember how excited she was.

>> Greg Hall worked with Corey.

He says it was a solid investment.

>> It would have been a real easy flip.

They wouldn’t have had to to sit on that for long.

>> As far as you know, Eric was on board with this plan.

>> 100%.

>> But that’s not what Eric’s family remembers, says their spokesman, Greg Scores.

>> I don’t think he was ever in favor of that.

He was on board with supporting his wife.

That doesn’t mean he agreed with it.

In fact, the house is mentioned in this legal filing containing notes from an investigator who interviewed Eric’s family after his death.

They said Eric and his wife were arguing about buying the property.

And that wasn’t all.

Eric’s family told investigators.

According to that same filing, they made numerous allegations against Corey, including that they suspected his wife had something to do with his death.

They advised he warned them that if anything happened to him, she was to blame.

They also told investigators they believed Corey had tried to poison Eric before on two separate occasions.

According to the filing, Eric’s family said the first attempted poisoning was in 2019 when Eric and Corey and six friends were on vacation in Greece.

They said Eric became violently ill after Cory gave him a drink.

Ronnie says he heard it was all a misunderstanding.

>> Eric was on medication and that medication you’re not allowed to drink on.

He asked the waitress uh to bring a a virgin drink, a drink without alcohol.

She didn’t do it.

It made him very very sick.

Cory called his doctor, figured out what to do, and later that night, he was back and and fine.

Everyone that was there will tell you the exact same thing.

>> According to that same filing, the second time Eric’s family said Cory tried to poison Eric was the month before Eric died on Valentine’s Day 2022.

They said his wife brought him a sandwich, which after one bite, Eric broke into hives and couldn’t breathe.

Cory’s family deny she ever tried to poison him.

>> They ordered a sandwich and the sandwich was bad.

He went and took a nap and then went and coached one of his child’s games.

Aside from an assertion by the family, uh there doesn’t seem to be anything else out there that supports that.

Eric’s family also called into question Cory’s behavior following her husband’s death.

According to court documents, Eric’s family told investigators 2 days after Eric died, Corey punched Eric’s sister, Amy, in the neck and face when Amy tried to stop her from opening a safe they said contained between $125,000 and $165,000 cash.

>> There was an argument that broke out and Eric’s sister said that she owns the house.

Everything is put into a trust and she owns the house.

Remember, Eric had created that trust and kept it secret from Corey when they were going through those marital problems.

Until Eric’s death, Corey knew nothing about the trust.

According to court documents, >> if Eric had any sort of documents, he’d have them in the safe.

So, she went in to go see what was in there.

Amy came after Cory and, you know, Cory defended herself.

>> The two of them started pushing.

I was standing in the middle of them.

All they did was push.

Both of them were trying to swing over the top of me.

So, the narrative that’s been pushed that it was poor Amy got assaulted was nonsense.

>> The brothers say Amy stormed off and called the police.

A month later, Cory was charged with assault and later pleaded no contest.

>> Her husband’s just passed away.

She’s highly emotional.

Everybody’s highly emotional.

Things got a little heated between them.

Two families, two very different stories about what they believe happened to Eric.

But with accusations flying back and forth, what did the evidence show? >> The state has to prove that she did this, that she got the drugs and that she somehow gave them to him.

She had apparently contacted a drug dealer, a known drug dealer in that area and purchased fentinel and had done it on more than one occasion.

>> All right.

Have a seat, please.

>> In June 2023, Cory Richens appeared in court before Judge Richard Morazzic for a bond hearing.

>> The issue before the court is whether defendant Cory Richens should continue to be held without bail during the pre-trial period.

>> It was the first time since Richens had been charged in her husband’s death that the public got to see her.

And for the entire 4hour hearing, she sat in handcuffs next to her attorney, Skylazaro.

>> I cannot imagine how difficult it was for Cy to sit there and listen to everything that was talked about at that hearing.

>> To convince the judge why Richens should not be released, prosecutors Patricia Cassell, >> we have three witnesses.

>> Brad Bworth, >> detective, what was the sheriff’s office? >> And Joseph Hill presented evidence and called witnesses to make their case.

Richens had poisoned her husband.

It had all the elements of a mini trial.

>> In order for the judge to make a determination to detain someone at a bail hearing, the state has to prove substantial evidence.

>> Prosecutor Joseph Hill called to the stand cell phone expert Chris Cotoreos.

>> Sir, if you’d step in front of Britney, we’ll get you sworn in.

>> He asked him about Google searches he says Richens made on her phone.

Were you able to observe uh internet searches on that phone? Yes.

>> Those searches which were detailed in court documents included, can deleted text messages be retrieved from an iPhone? Can FBI find deleted messages? What is a lethal dose of fentinel? >> I don’t know that these searches mean as much when you look at the timing of when they’re done.

Lazaro says there’s an innocent explanation.

Those searches were conducted after Eric’s death.

>> I think it’s more to answer questions relating to what she was being accused of.

>> The state also called to this stand the lead investigator on the case, Detective Jeff O’Driscoll.

>> I was assigned to be the lead lead detective in this case in April of this year.

Prosecutor Bworth questioned Detective O’Drriscoll about where Richens may have gotten fentinel.

He specifically asked about an interview the detective conducted with Carmen Lobber, who said she worked for Richens.

She’s referred to as CL.

>> CL is an associate of the defendant.

Uh she cleaned houses for the defendant’s business as well as her personal home at times.

>> Detective O’Driscoll said CL had a criminal history with drugs.

At the time of their interview, she was on probation for multiple drug distribution charges, according to court records.

She has not been charged in connection with Eric’s death.

>> In our interviews, CL told us that in early 2022, the defendant reached out to her either by phone call or text message requesting that she procure fentanyl for what the defendant reported was a investor who had a back injury.

Detective O’Driscoll testified that CL told him she purchased 15 to 30 fentinyl pills and then sold them to Richens.

>> Seal told us that after purchasing the pills, she returned home.

She said that either later that night or the next day, the defendant met her and did a hand-to-hand exchange of pills for cash.

That transaction, says Detective O’Drriscoll, took place on February 11th, 2022, 3 days before Valentine’s Day, when, according to court documents, Eric’s family said Richens had tried and failed to poison Eric with that sandwich.

But there was more.

>> We’re going to now shift to a second drug buy.

>> Detective O’Drriscoll said CL told him Richens contacted her again.

Approximately a week later, >> the defendant reached out to her again by text or or call and said that she wanted some more fentanyl that was stronger than the previous batch.

>> This time, Detective O’Driscoll said CL told him Richens paid by check >> and the defendant came to the door and wrote her a check from her business, from the defendant’s business for $1,300 for the purchase of the fentanyl.

Just a week later, Eric was dead.

>> We dispute all of those allegations.

>> In her cross-examination, Lazaro asked Detective O’Driscoll if there could have been another reason for that $1,300 check.

>> It could very well be that Cory was paying her for cleaning houses.

Correct.

>> I don’t want to speculate, but >> it could be >> despite what CL said.

Correct.

>> Okay.

Lazaro says because Carmen Lobber is a convicted felon, she’s not credible.

>> She was on probation at the time.

I think anytime you have an informant type situation, it can call into question the veracity of their statements or the motive for what they’re saying.

>> In a cross-examination of detective O’Driscoll, Lazaro attempted to show how CL might have felt pressure to tell investigators what they wanted to hear.

You begin the interview by explaining to CL essentially how dire of a situation she’s in.

Correct.

>> I don’t have the interview memorized, but I know we talked about that.

Yes.

>> Okay.

Well, you told her that she was on probation to drug court for four first-degree felonies.

Correct.

>> Correct.

>> You essentially tell her that she has the potential of doing a considerable amount of state and federal prison time.

Potentially.

Yes, this is a common tactic in law enforcement to be able to leverage charges for information.

>> Lazaro also asked the detective what evidence there was to back up CL’s claims that she had sold fentinel to Richens.

>> And because Seal is working for the defendant, there’s communication.

Correct.

>> Correct.

>> But Detective O’Driscoll said he saw no text messages where Richens allegedly asks CL for drugs.

>> We didn’t find any.

It was anyone with her that could corroborate that she saw CL hand Corey drugs? >> Not that I know of.

>> 48 hours attempted to contact CL for comment.

We received no response.

>> They have to prove that she obtained drugs and gave them to her husband.

And unless they can connect those dots, they’re going to have a hard time proving murder in this case.

As Corey Richen’s bond hearing came to a close, her attorney, Sky Lazaro, was hopeful her client would be granted bail.

This is a case in which there doesn’t appear to be any smoking gun.

These cases are generally more favorable to the defense.

>> Good morning.

>> The prosecution closed its case to deny Richen’s bail with a victim impact statement from Eric’s sister, Amy.

>> I’m here today to represent my brother, Eric Eugene Richens.

Eric is gone and I am brokenhearted.

None of our lives will ever be the same.

Eric died under horrendous circumstances.

I am tormented at the thought of what he endured.

Please do not allow Corey to hurt Eric’s memory, our family, friends, and community anymore.

We have been through enough.

>> Judge Richard Morazzic spent very little time making his decision.

Richens would remain in custody.

>> The circumstances of this case weigh soundly against granting pre-trial release of any kind.

>> Richen’s family was disappointed.

They say her time in jail while waiting for her trial has taken its toll.

>> I hear her on the phone.

I hear her sobbing.

>> In September 2023, Richen’s family says she had a medical emergency in custody while taking prescription medications and needed to be rushed to the hospital.

>> What did she say happened to her? >> That they gave her the wrong medicine and it caused a seizure.

Richens made a full recovery, but while she was away, jail officials say they found this handwritten letter in her cell that was never sent.

The document, later filed in the court record, has become known for the word scrolled at the top of the page.

Walk the dog.

Prosecutors say it’s from Richens to her mother.

>> I take care of her 16-year-old dog, >> and her thing is, be sure you walk her.

She’s so worried about this dog.

In November 2023, prosecutors filed this motion asking the court for a no contact order to deny Richens access to her mother and brother.

In the motion, they say the letter is evidence of witness tampering.

They say Richens gives her mother instructions on what her brother Ronnie should say in court.

The letter instructs Lisa Darden to induce the defendant’s brother, Ronald Darden, to testify falsely.

The motion states, >> “To me, this letter is an attempt to get a witness to testify to something that isn’t true by spoon feeding the witness the testimony that he’s supposed to give.

” >> In the letter, Richens writes that her defense will need to establish that Eric bought drugs while traveling abroad.

We need some kind of connection.

Here’s what I’m thinking, but you have to talk to Ronnie.

he would probably have to testify to this.

>> In the letter, it appears that she’s laying out a little bit of her defense.

For example, your name is brought up.

Eric told Ronnie he gets pain pills and fentinyl from Mexico.

Almost like she’s laying out a case.

>> Saying, “Tell Ronnie.

” >> Richens goes on to write, “Ronnie should have texts from Eric talking about getting high as well.

Reward this however he needs to to make the point.

just include it all.

The connection has to be made with Mexico and drugs.

>> Is she giving you instruction in this letter? >> I don’t know.

I don’t know one way or another.

>> Um, most of that unfortunately I can’t speak about.

>> The things that are in the letter are true things and everybody who’s in her circle already knew this.

>> But Corey has a different explanation.

She says the letter is fiction.

In separate phone calls from jail that were recorded and later entered into the court record, she told her mother and Ronnie that the letter was part of a book she’s been writing and that it’s private.

The judge denied the motion for no contact, saying the state had failed to prove witness tampering.

>> It isn’t witness tampering because it didn’t go anywhere and it was never communicated to anyone.

As the families wait for the trial, they say their focus is on Eric and Corey’s three sons.

>> The family is concerned about the boys.

>> That’s the main focus, the boys.

That’s who’s important here right now.

>> Both families say they hope to gain custody.

The boys are currently living with a member of Eric’s family.

Lisa says they’re only allowed to speak to their mother twice a week on a video call.

just heart-wrenching as to what they’re going through.

>> Lisa, Ronnie, and DJ have been denied private visits with the kids, but Lisa says she does what she can to support them and attends all their sports practices.

>> And the reason I can do that, it’s a public place.

I can’t be stopped from going there.

I still get to see them.

I still get a hug and kiss and that keeps me going.

Besides the murder case, which could carry a sentence of 25 years to life, Corey faces another criminal case for fraud and forgery charges.

And there are multiple ongoing civil cases regarding the fate of Eric’s estate.

Both sides believe the other is after the money.

>> Both families are concerned about the boys.

>> You could say that.

You could say that.

I wouldn’t.

We believe that the defendant’s family is concerned about the money that they can get.

Whoever ends up with the boys ends up with the money.

That’s all they want.

It’s not right.

>> Until that’s resolved, both families are waiting for the trial to start and are hoping for a verdict that delivers their version of justice.

>> What is the family doing to stay strong? Now, >> you know, the family has the family.

They have each other.

They feel like the state has put together a good case and they’re going to stay united and and support each other no matter what happens in this case.

>> She’s innocent.

She’s been thrown in jail over something that she hasn’t committed.

>> Are you both confident that Corey will be found not guilty? Lisa, >> I am 100%.

>> 100% she’ll be out.

New CBS next.

A young romance is cut short when a mysterious car wreck leaves a man dead.

>> His car was way over there and his body was way down here.

>> There was footprints and tire tracks.

>> She believes that this was no accident.

>> There’s so many things missing from the story.

>>

The document hit the floor before the echo of the door had died.

Clara Ashworth stood in the middle of Aldis Prior’s front office with ink still wet on her fingers and her heart hammering so hard she could feel it in her back teeth.

She had read the numbers.

She had read every last one of them.

And every last one of them was a lie.

Sign it, Prior said.

No, sign it or I will have you removed from this property, this town, and this territory.

Clara looked at him.

She set the pen down on his desk.

Then remove me.

If you have ever stood your ground when everything was against you, this story is for you.

Subscribe to this channel and follow Clara’s journey all the way to the end.

And leave a comment below telling me what city you are watching from.

I want to see how far this story travels.

Hit that subscribe button and the notification bell so you never miss a single part.

The door of Aldis Prior’s office opened from the inside and Clara Ashworth came through it the hard way with Prior’s hired man’s hand around her arm and her traveling trunk scraping against the floorboards behind her.

They put her on the boardwalk outside with enough force that she had to grab the porch railing to keep from going down to her knees.

And then the door shut and the lock turned and that was the end of that.

She stood there for a moment.

The Nevada sun hit her face like a flat hand.

Red fork stretched out in front of her one long street of false fronted buildings and dusty horses and people who had stopped what they were doing to watch.

Clara straightened her spine.

She smoothed down the front of her dark brown dress with both hands.

She picked up her trunk by the rope handle and she walked.

She did not know where she was walking to.

She walked anyway.

The station master’s office was at the end of the main street, a low building with a green painted door that had seen better decades.

His name was posted above the window.

Esharp station master.

She pushed the door open.

The man behind the counter looked up.

He was old wire thin with spectacles perched on the end of a nose that had been broken at least once.

He took one look at Clara and her trunk and the expression on her face and set down his pencil.

Help you, miss.

I need to know if there is a boarding house in this town.

Widow Garrison takes borders.

Dollar a night meals included.

He paused.

You the woman prior sent east for I was.

Clara said I am not anymore.

Sharp’s mouth pressed flat.

He had the look of a man who had seen this particular kind of trouble before and did not enjoy seeing it again.

What happened if you don’t mind my asking? He asked me to sign documents that were not what he represented them to be.

Clara set her trunk down beside the door.

I read them first.

He did not expect that.

Sharp was quiet for a moment.

What kind of documents? property transfer records dressed up to look like household accounting ledgers.

She kept her voice level.

The signatures were forged.

The boundary descriptions did not match the original survey records I had reviewed on the train.

Two parcels of land that appear to belong to neighboring ranchers had been quietly folded into Prior’s holdings through a chain of amended filings that would take most people a year to untangle.

She paused.

It took me 40 minutes.

Sharp stared at her over the rim of his spectacles.

You read survey records for entertainment.

I read everything.

She held his gaze.

I was a legal accounting clerk in Cincinnati for 6 years.

I have read more fraudulent documents than honest ones.

Mr.

Prior’s work was not subtle.

Sharp was quiet again longer this time.

He picked up his pencil and set it down again.

He took off his spectacles and cleaned them with his shirt and put them back on.

Miss, he said slowly.

You understand that Aldis Prior is the business partner of Sterling Vance.

I gathered that from the letterhead.

And you understand that Sterling Vance is the deputy land commissioner for this county.

I gathered that as well.

And you still said no? I said no.

Clara agreed.

Sharp looked at her for a long moment.

Something moved behind his eyes.

Not pity, something else.

Something closer to respect the kind that comes with an edge of worry attached.

Dollar a night at widow garrisons, he said again quietly.

Third house passed the livery.

Blue door.

Thank you.

She reached for her trunk.

Miss.

She stopped.

Sharp had come around from behind the counter.

He stood in the center of the small room with his hands folded in front of him and the look on his face of a man about to say something he had been holding for a long time.

There’s a ranch about 3 mi east of town, Callaway Place.

Nate Callaway has been running that land since his daddy died near on 8 years.

Good man, honest man.

He paused.

Vance filed a boundary dispute against him 4 months back.

says the eastern 40 acres of the Callaway property overlap a parcel that belongs to the county land office.

Another pause.

Callaway’s been fighting it alone.

His hands quit when the legal trouble started.

Bank won’t extend his credit.

And the county assessor is Vance’s brother-in-law.

Clara stood very still.

Why are you telling me this? Because you just told me you can read survey records.

Sharp met her eyes.

And because Callaway is going to lose that land inside of 30 days if somebody doesn’t find the hole in Vance’s filing.

And I have been watching that man get taken apart piece by piece for 4 months and I am too old and too uneducated to stop it myself.

The room was quiet.

Outside a horse went past at a slow walk.

Hooves soft in the dust.

I have $2.

14.

Clara said the Callaway place isn’t hiring.

I don’t think he’s got anything left to pay with.

That is not what I asked.

Sharp looked at her.

No, he said.

I don’t suppose it was.

The walk east took the better part of an hour in the midday heat.

Clara carried her trunk as far as the edge of town, and then she left it with widow Garrison, who opened the blue door before Clara knocked, looked her over once, and said, “Dollar a night.

You look like you could use the meal that goes with it.

” “I may be back tonight,” Clara said.

I may not.

Widow Garrison looked at the direction Clara was facing.

Callaway Place.

Sharp told me about it.

The older woman was quiet for a moment.

She was broad-shouldered and darkeyed and had the kind of stillness that comes from having already survived the worst thing once.

“I knew his mother,” she said.

“Good woman raised that boy, right?” She paused.

Vance is going to take that land, miss.

Everybody in this town knows it.

Knowing it and stopping it are two different animals.

I know, Clara said.

I would like to see the documents before I make up my mind.

She walked east.

The Callaway Ranch came into view just as her feet were beginning to protest the distance.

She heard it before she saw it.

Not sounds of activity, but sounds of absence.

No cattle loing, no horses moving in a corral, no voices of hands working, just wind and the creek of a weather vein that needed oil.

The house itself was solid.

Whoever built it had known what they were doing.

The porch was straight, the roof intact, the windows unbroken, but the corral fence had a section down at the far end.

The garden beside the house was brown and unwatered, and the front door was standing open in the kind of careless way that meant the person inside had stopped noticing whether it was open or closed.

Clara walked up the porch steps and knocked on the open door.

Nothing.

She knocked again louder.

Go away.

The voice came from inside to the left.

Male flat with the particular texture of a man who had been saying those two words for long enough that they had worn smooth.

Mr.

Callaway.

Clara stayed in the doorway.

My name is Clara Ashworth.

I arrived in Red Fork this morning on the eastbound train.

I was supposed to be married to Aldis Prior.

I am not going to be married to Aldis Prior.

I have been told you have a land dispute with Sterling Vance and that the relevant documents are here on this property.

I would like to look at them.

A long silence.

Who told you that? The station master.

Another silence longer.

Then the sound of a chair scraping back.

Boots on floorboards.

A man filled the interior doorway and Clara took him in fast, the way she had learned to take in everything fast.

Because the first 30 seconds of looking at a thing told you more than the next 30 minutes of studying it.

He was tall, lean, in the way of a man who had been missing meals without mentioning it.

Dark hair pushed back from a face that had good bones under too much tension.

His eyes were brown and sharp and currently fixed on her with an expression that was equal parts suspicion and exhaustion.

He was wearing a shirt that had been white once and trousers that had been pressed once and boots that had been polished once, and all of those things had happened a while ago.

His right hand was wrapped in cloth from the knuckles to halfway up the forearm.

Bruised skin showed at the edges where the wrapping had shifted.

Not a working injury.

The placement was wrong.

The pattern of bruising was wrong.

Someone hit you, Clara said.

He looked at his hand, walked into a fence post.

You walked into someone’s fist.

His jaw tightened.

What do you want, miss? What did you say your name was? Ashworth.

Clara Ashworth.

She did not move from the doorway.

She had learned that standing in doorways gave you options.

I want to see the county’s boundary filing and your original deed and whatever correspondence you have had with Vance’s office in the last 4 months.

I can tell you within an hour whether the filing is fraudulent and what the specific mechanism of the fraud is.

He stared at her.

You can tell me that.

Yes, you are a woman who just got off a train.

I am a woman who spent six years as a legal accounting clerk reading documents exactly like the ones that are currently being used to take your land.

His expression did not change.

His eyes moved over to her face with the same careful assessment he probably gave horses he was considering buying.

Looking for something that would tell him whether the thing in front of him was what it claimed to be or something else entirely.

Prior sent for you.

He said he did.

And you didn’t sign whatever he put in front of you? No.

Why not? Because it was fraudulent.

She held his gaze.

And because my father lost everything he owned to a document just like it, and I have spent 10 years making sure I could read the kind of paper that destroyed him.

The silence stretched.

A fly buzzed somewhere inside the house.

The weather vein creaked.

Nate Callaway stepped back from the interior doorway.

Papers are on the table, he said.

The table in the main room had been cleared of everything except the legal documents which were spread across it in the pattern of a man who had been rearranging them for months, trying to find something he did not have the training to find.

Clara pulled the nearest chair out and sat down.

She did not take off her gloves yet.

She looked at the documents the way you look at a river before you step in, reading the surface for what the current was doing underneath.

How many parcels is Vance claiming overlap your land? She asked.

One, the eastern 40 acres, says the original survey from 1871 placed the county boundary line 200 ft west of where my deed says it is.

Does he have a copy of the 1871 survey? Filed it with the county assessor’s office.

Certified copy.

Did you request a copy of that filing? tried.

Assessor’s office said the document was under review and not available for public inspection.

Clara looked up from the papers.

They told you a certified public land record was not available for public inspection.

Nate’s mouth was flat.

Yep.

And your attorney couldn’t afford to keep one after the bank pulled my credit line in January.

She looked back at the papers.

Who is the assessor? Man named Doyle.

Walt Doyle married Vance’s sister 12 years back.

Of course he is.

She turned over the top page of correspondence.

Vance’s letter head was thick and expensive, the kind that was meant to communicate permanence and authority.

She read the first letter through once without stopping, then went back to the second paragraph and read it again slowly.

Mr.

Callaway.

Nate.

She looked up.

He was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and his wrapped hand tucked against his ribs and his eyes on her face.

Nate.

She turned the letter around and placed it in front of him.

Read me the second paragraph out loud.

He pushed off the wall, came to the table, bent over the letter.

His voice was careful.

The voice of a man who read but did not read often.

Pursuant to the boundary correction filing of March 14th, 1884, the original survey notation of record dated September 9th, 1871, and bearing assessor’s stamp number 4471 supersedes all subsequent deed recordings for the affected parcels, he straightened.

What does that mean? It means Vance is claiming the 1871 survey overrides your deed.

Clara reached into her traveling bag and removed a small notebook and the stub of a pencil.

What is the date on your deed? 1873.

My daddy bought the land in the spring of 1873.

From whom? Territory land office.

Direct purchase.

Do you have the original purchase receipt? He was already moving crossing the room to a wooden box on the shelf above the fireplace.

He pulled the box down and set it on the table beside the documents.

Clara watched his hands as he sorted through the papers inside.

His fingers knew where everything was.

He had been through this box many times.

Here.

He put a yellowed rectangle of paper in front of her.

She read it.

Then she turned back to Vance’s letter.

Then she opened her notebook and wrote a number down.

Then she wrote a second number beside it.

Nate.

She turned the notebook around.

He bent over it.

The number on the left is the assessor’s stamp number that Vance cites in his filing, 4471.

The number on the right is the stamp number on your original purchase receipt, which was issued by the same territory land office 2 years after that survey was allegedly conducted.

He looked at the numbers.

They’re the same number.

They are the same number, Clara said, which means either the territory land office assigned the same stamp number to two separate documents issued two years apart, which doesn’t happen.

Which does not happen.

She set her pencil down.

Or the 1871 survey that Vance filed with the county assessor’s office was created after 1873 using a stamp number copied from a legitimate document and backdated to 1871.

The room was very quiet.

Nate stood up straight.

He looked at the two numbers in her notebook and then he looked at her and his expression had changed.

The exhaustion was still there, but underneath it something else had woken up.

Something that had been asleep for long enough that it moved slowly, blinking, unsure of the light.

You got that from one receipt and one letter.

He said it is a starting point, not proof.

Proof requires the original filing from the county assessor’s office and ideally the stamp registry from the territory land office which will show when stamp number 4471 was actually issued and to what document.

She looked at him steadily but it is enough to know that the hole exists and if the hole exists it can be found.

He was quiet for a long moment.

his hand, the wrapped one, came up and pressed flat against the table beside the papers, and she noticed that his knuckles were white.

“Why?” he said.

“Why? What? Why are you doing this?” His voice was not suspicious anymore.

It was something else, something more careful.

You don’t know me.

You walked 3 miles from town to look at papers for a stranger.

You had a place to be this morning, a whole life you thought you were walking into, and instead you’re standing in my house reading county filings.

He paused.

Why? Clara looked at him.

She thought about her father’s face the morning the sheriff came.

She thought about the document he had signed because he trusted the man who handed it to him and did not know enough to read the fine print.

She thought about how he had looked at her afterward, not angry, just emptied out like the thing that had kept him upright had been quietly removed.

“Because I can read them,” she said.

“And you cannot, and there is a man in this county using that difference to take something that belongs to you.

” She picked up her pencil again.

My father could not read the document that destroyed him.

I made sure I would never be in that position and I made sure no one around me would be either if I could help it.

She turned back to the papers.

Now, do you have any correspondence from before January letters from Vance’s office before the formal boundary dispute was filed? He went back to the box.

They worked through the afternoon.

Continue reading….
Next »