SALT LAKE CITY — Twelve months following her husband’s passing, a Utah mother of three published a children’s book on her own, claiming it assisted her boys in dealing with their unexpected loss. Kouri Richins appeared on local television to promote “Are You With Me?” and received recognition for supporting young children through parental grief.
Just weeks following the book’s 2023 release, authorities took her into custody on murder charges related to her husband’s death.
The detention created widespread disbelief throughout her small mountain community near Park City, where twelve jurors will determine her future during a month-long trial beginning Monday.
The 35-year-old Richins confronts almost three dozen charges related to her husband’s death, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, forgery, mortgage fraud and insurance fraud. She has entered a not guilty plea.
According to prosecutors, she murdered her husband Eric Richins at their residence in March 2022 by adding fentanyl to a cocktail he consumed. They claim she faced significant debt and committed the murder for monetary benefit while planning a life with another man she was secretly dating.
This disturbing situation involving a formerly respected local writer accused of benefiting from her own alleged violent act has fascinated true-crime followers since her detention. Previously celebrated as an emotional story, her book now serves as evidence for prosecutors claiming she executed a premeditated murder.
Her defense lawyers, Wendy Lewis, Kathy Nester and Alex Ramos, expressed confidence that jurors will side with Richins after learning her version of events.
“Kouri has waited nearly three years for this moment: the opportunity to have the facts of this case heard by a jury, free from the prosecution’s narrative that has dominated headlines since her arrest,” her legal team said in a statement. “What the public has been told bears little resemblance to the truth.”
During the evening her husband died, Richins contacted emergency services to report discovering him “cold to the touch” at their bed’s foot, the police report states. Medical personnel declared him deceased, and an autopsy later revealed five times the fatal amount of fentanyl in his body.
According to charging documents, this wasn’t her initial attempt on his life.
One month prior on Valentine’s Day, Eric Richins informed friends he developed hives and lost consciousness after eating one bite of a sandwich Richins had prepared for him. She purchased the sandwich during the same week authorities say she obtained fentanyl pills from their family housekeeper. Opioids like fentanyl can trigger serious allergic responses.
Following self-administration of his son’s EpiPen and consuming large amounts of Benadryl, Eric Richins awakened from deep sleep and contacted a friend saying, “I think my wife tried to poison me,” according to the friend’s written testimony.
One day following Valentine’s Day, Kouri Richins messaged her supposed lover, “If he could just go away … life would be so perfect.”
The friend Eric Richins contacted that evening and the housekeeper who claims she sold his wife drugs may serve as crucial witnesses in the coming trial. Additional witnesses might include family members and the man Kouri Richins allegedly conducted an affair with.
The prosecution’s primary witness, housekeeper Carmen Lauber, informed police she provided Richins with fentanyl pills purchased from a dealer several days before Valentine’s Day. Later that month, Richins supposedly told the housekeeper the pills weren’t potent enough and requested she obtain stronger fentanyl, charging documents indicate.
Defense lawyers plan to argue Lauber never actually provided Richins with fentanyl and was motivated to fabricate her story for legal immunity. Lauber faces no charges in this case, and investigators confirmed at a previous hearing she received immunity.
Authorities never discovered fentanyl pills at Richins’ residence, and the housekeeper’s dealer stated he was incarcerated and withdrawing from drugs when he told investigators in 2023 about selling Lauber fentanyl. He subsequently claimed in a sworn statement he only sold her OxyContin.
Court documents show Eric Richins consulted with a divorce lawyer and estate planner in October 2020, one month after learning his wife made significant financial choices without his awareness. She maintained a negative bank balance, owed lenders over $1.8 million and faced a creditor lawsuit, court records show.
Prosecutors claim Kouri Richins incorrectly assumed she would receive her husband’s estate according to their prenuptial agreement terms. She also secretly established multiple life insurance policies on her husband totaling nearly $2 million in benefits, prosecutors claim.
She additionally faces accusations of falsifying loan documents and fraudulently collecting insurance payments following her husband’s death.
