Surviving the Survivor: #BestGuests in True Crime · Surviving the Survivor

The Women Making True Crime Headlines & the Disturbing Allegations That Put Them Behind Bars

·1 hr 32 min·5 clips

Corey Richens is accused of killing Eric Richens with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl.

1. Surviving the Survivor's 'Women Gone Wild and Worse' episode centers on women in true-crime cases, especially Corey Richens and other defendants in California and Louisiana. 2. Joel Waldman hosts the show and introduces Carm, his mother, as a licensed therapist, Holocaust survivor, and recurring true-crime commentator. 3. The episode asks why women accused of violent or sexual crimes attract attention when those accusations clash with social expectations of mothers and caregivers. 4. Joel says Corey Richens is a mother of three accused of killing Eric Richens with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl. 5. Joel adds that Richens later appeared on local Salt Lake City television promoting a children's book about grief that she did not write herself. 6. Carm says Richens appears detached, rigid, and emotionally disconnected from what is happening around her. 7. Carm argues that Richens may be more emotionally detached than intellectually limited, and that her face does not show much change. 8. Joel and Carm discuss whether jurors might read Richens' 'dull' look as innocence rather than calculation. 9. Carm says Richens may have acted to get out of the relationship while protecting financial benefit. 10. The episode then turns to Shannon O'Connor in Los Gatos, California, where prosecutors said she hosted alcohol-fueled sex parties for middle and high school children from 2020 to 2021. 11. Joel notes that jurors convicted O'Connor on at least 48 of 63 counts after a court reporter read the verdicts for more than a half hour. 12. The charges included child endangerment, furnishing alcohol to a person under 21, annoying or molesting a child under 18, and sexual penetration of an intoxicated person. 13. Joel says prosecutors described O'Connor as a 'cool mom' who gained trust before introducing alcohol and encouraging sexual conduct. 14. A victim identified as John Doe told the court, 'I was manipulated to lie to my parents,' and said the events still traumatized him. 15. Carm compares the case to other patterns of sexual behavior, including older women and younger boys, and connects it to the public image of mothers. 16. Joel then introduces Misty Roberts, the former mayor of Derrida, Louisiana, who was convicted after a six-day trial with disturbing testimony. 17. Joel says Roberts hosted a booze-fueled pool party at her home with her 16-year-old son and his friend present. 18. Joel states that Roberts had sex with the 16-year-old friend, and Carm responds by comparing the case with earlier examples of women who leave family relationships for lovers. 19. The tone is conversational, combative, and sometimes humorous, with Joel and Carm interrupting each other while moving between crime commentary and personal asides. 20. Listeners interested in women in true-crime trials and psychological commentary will get the most from this episode, while people wanting a tightly focused single-case analysis may skip it.

As heard by us

A live panel tracks a 63-count conviction through sentencing, psychology, and strange detours around a volatile case.

A live true-crime panel centers on a woman convicted on 63 counts, using her case to talk through sentencing, motherhood, and possible psychological dimensions.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You get a 63-count conviction, looming sentencing, and a conversation that keeps swerving into the human reactions around it.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Surviving the Survivor: #BestGuests in True Crime