On March 4, 2022, Kouri Richins called 911 after finding her husband, Eric Richins, ‘cold to the touch’ and unresponsive at the foot of their bed. The 33-year-old mother was returning to the couple’s bedroom after sleeping in their son’s room because he was having a night terror – it was around 3 a.m. at the time.
On March 7, 2023, Kouri published a children’s book about grieving a loss. “A heartwarming and reassuring book that gently guides children through the difficult experience of losing a loved one,” the book’s description read – adding the book was ‘written by a loving mother’ with firsthand experience.
Kouri Richins was celebrated for a children’s book she wrote about grief after her husband died. But now the mother of three is being accused of murdering Eric Richins. pic.twitter.com/TYuUGqtwuN
— Inside Edition (@InsideEdition) May 9, 2023
Two months later, on May 8, 2023, Kouri was arrested and charged with the murder of her husband. She now faces one count of aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute. The shocking turn of events follows a year-long investigation by local authorities.
The investigation pegged Kouri Richins as a suspect from the very beginning, but it took them over a year to gather enough evidence to charge her with the murder of her 39-year-old husband. She had told police that her husband drank a Moscow Mule cocktail the evening before to celebrate her closing a house.
Kouri Richins wrote a children’s book on grief after she allegedly murdered her husband last year by poisoning him. One time the married couple went on a trip to Greece when Eric became violently ill. This scared him and he would remember later on down the road.
— Rose (@901Lulu) May 9, 2023
Kouri tried to… pic.twitter.com/gRLgRiWQIx
Eric’s autopsy revealed that he overdosed on fentanyl, which ultimately resulted in his death. A search warrant didn’t turn up any fentanyl or other drugs, but police obtained one of Kouri’s cell phones and several computers from the home. Those cell phones proved to be vital to the officer’s investigation.
The phone contained several messages between Kouri and an individual named C.L. – messages that had been sent and received, but since deleted. After interviewing C.L., investigators learned that Kouri had asked for ‘prescription pain medication for an investor who had a back injury’ on several occasions.
My main question every time, did she really think she would get away with this? She asked a friend for the fentanyl to poison her husband with. Mistake number one. How much you wanna bet she googled something about it? #KouriRichins pic.twitter.com/GGZ6Qf1Kvc
— Rose (@901Lulu) May 10, 2023
She explicitly asked for fentanyl and attempted to kill her husband several days later, but she didn’t give him enough. After purchasing more pills from the dealer, she attempted to kill her husband again and this time succeeded. He was found dead just six days after she obtained the second batch of fentanyl.
Husband Warned Friends of Kouri Richins’ Intentions
As their investigation continued, authorities learned that Eric Richins warned one of his friends that he had reason to believe his wife was trying to poison him. According to the friend, he had recently fallen ill on two occasions – once after his wife made him a sandwich and again after she made him a drink.
Kouri Richins (33) has been charged with the murder of her husband after she poisoned his beverage with Fentanyl on March 4, 2022. Before he died, Eric Richins told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him. He had five times the lethal limit in his system. They… pic.twitter.com/VYJZy6EGMq
— Rose (@901Lulu) May 9, 2023
According to court documents, the friend said Eric ‘warned them that if anything happened to him, she was to blame.’ His suspicion ran deep enough that he secretly removed his wife from his life insurance policy and will – replacing her with his sister – and was even looking into a divorce before his death.
Kouri Richins, who wrote a children's book on grief after her husband died last year, was arrested and is accused of poisoning him with fentanyl at their home in Kamas, a small mountain town near Park City, Utah. https://t.co/5Uc0GWYOVJ pic.twitter.com/FBdd4eesuc
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) May 10, 2023
After changing his will and life insurance policy, he was eventually notified by the insurance company that his wife had attempted to reverse his changes after logging into his account. All of these discoveries are what led authorities to arrest and charge her with the murder roughly one year after it all went down.
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Upon being charged with one count of aggravated murder and three counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, a judge ordered Kouri Richins to remain in jail without bail. A detention hearing is currently being scheduled for May 19, but Richins has yet to enter a plea – more coming soon!