Deputy Jayme Woody, previously a Summit County detective, testified Monday that the investigation into Eric Richins’ death had all but stalled by the fall of 2022, months after his fatal overdose.
That was until a private investigator hired by Eric Richins’ family provided a break. Deputies ultimately arrested his wife Kouri Richins in May 2023.
Todd Gabler said he was initially hired because the family was litigating property issues with Kouri Richins in civil court.
“I was following the instructions of my client to turn over anything I thought was relevant to the criminal investigation,” he testified Monday. “This is not my case. My case is in the civil court.”
Kouri Richins is charged with aggravated murder, attempted murder and financial crimes. She has pleaded not guilty.
Gabler said he interviewed 40 to 50 people in his investigation. He also pulled Eric and Kouri Richins’ phone billing records.
That led him to Kouri Richins’ housekeeper Carmen Lauber since the two allegedly exchanged hundreds of messages in the weeks before Eric Richins died.
Summit County prosecutors now allege Lauber bought the fentanyl Kouri Richins allegedly used to poison him.
During cross-examination Monday, her defense attorney Kathy Nester tried to portray Gabler as an extension of the Summit County Sheriff’s Office who isn’t bound by the same legal rules.
“I'm not a state actor, never been a state actor. I will never be a state actor,” Gabler said.
Not being bound by the same rules did allow Gabler to search the Richins family home after authorities arrested Kouri Richins and finished their own search.
He sometimes alerted sheriff’s deputies when he found something they missed, and the deputies would secure a search warrant.
He also placed GPS trackers on vehicles used by Kouri Richins, her mother and her brother.
Gabler said that in these and other instances he complied with Utah law and sound ethical practices.
“I don't need law enforcement to babysit me,” he told Nester at one point.
A 2008 KSL report indicates he has employed tracking devices before, including placing one on the then-Salt Lake County district attorney’s family car.
Gabler testified that he tipped off deputies about a good time to interview Lauber because she was “on the ropes in drug court.”
Prosecutors tried to emphasize that his and Summit County’s investigations were independent of one another.
Gabler did say that when he would request evidence from the Summit County Sheriff’s Office, such as the full 911 call. He said he was denied and added that police agencies are usually “one-way streets.”
Gabler was expected to be the prosecution’s second-to-last witness before Det. Jeff O’Driscoll. O’Driscoll took over from Woody as the lead investigator on the case in early 2023.
Tuesday morning, prosecutors briefly recalled a digital forensics expert to the stand. O'Driscoll is expected to testify Wednesday.
Then, the defense has its own witnesses and case to present.
The trial is scheduled through March 27.
