Park City Police Chief Wade Carpenter and former Summit County Sheriff David Edmunds are cooperating with a criminal obstruction of justice investigation tied to an alleged scheme to discredit a witness in the Kouri Richins murder case, their attorney confirmed Aug. 20.

Attorney Greg Skordas told the Park Record that Carpenter and Edmunds "did not participate in any effort to fabricate or anonymously circulate allegations against Eric Mainord, pressure Mainord to withdraw from the sheriff's race or interfere with the prosecution of Kouri Richins."

Mainord is a Summit County detective who served as a key investigator and potential witness in the Richins aggravated murder case. He filed to run against Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby in January.

Mayor Ryan Dickey issued a statement the same day declining to address the specific allegations but backing Carpenter, who has led the Park City Police Department since 2008. "I have full confidence in his leadership of our police department," Dickey said.

No criminal charges have been filed against Rigby, Carpenter or Edmunds.

What the warrant alleges

The Summit County Attorney's Office confirmed in May 2026 that it is investigating Rigby for alleged felony obstruction of justice. The investigation centers on an anonymous letter containing 13 allegations against Mainord that was mailed to Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson. The letter had no signature and no return address.

According to the search warrant, which was sealed until Aug. 11, the timeline began Dec. 22, 2025, when Carpenter called Summit County Chief Deputy Jon Evans. Carpenter told Evans that Edmunds planned to file a public records request for Mainord's personnel file from his time at the Heber City Police Department and asked Evans to tell Mainord to call Rigby. Mainord said he had "no intention" of doing so.

On Jan. 8, the day after Mainord filed to run for sheriff, Rigby met Summit County Sheriff Kacey Bates for lunch at Park City Hospital. Bates expected to discuss a campaign endorsement. Instead, Rigby brought a manila envelope containing the same 13 allegations against Mainord.

The warrant states that Bates "had the clear impression that Mr. Rigby was intimating that unless Mr. Mainord withdrew his candidacy, this information would become public and either directly or indirectly have a negative impact on the prosecution of Kouri Richins."

Within 30 minutes of that meeting, Carpenter called Bates and told her it would be "unfortunate" if the public records request findings affected the Richins trial, according to the warrant.

A handwriting expert has preliminarily identified the handwriting on Edmunds' public records request as a "possible" match for Rigby's, subject to further analysis.

Denials and next steps

Skordas emphasized that at the search warrant stage, investigators present their case to a judge without input from the people named. He said Carpenter and Edmunds had no opportunity to respond or challenge the information in the affidavit.

In a statement to KPCW on Aug. 19, Skordas went further, saying the cell records search "proven conclusively that there was no wrongdoing by either of these men."

Rigby, through his attorney, maintained on Aug. 19 that he acted lawfully and did nothing wrong, according to KPCW. He did not respond to the Park Record's separate request for comment.

The Summit County Attorney's Office served Verizon Wireless with the warrant for all three men's cell records on Feb. 11. Verizon returned data by May 20. What the search yielded is not public.

Mainord withdrew from the sheriff's race May 27. Rigby lost the June 23 Republican primary to Jeremy Hales. Richins was convicted of aggravated murder in March in the 2022 fentanyl poisoning death of her husband, Eric Richins. Mainord did not testify at trial.

The Summit County Attorney's Office has not announced a charging decision or timeline for next steps in the investigation.