Utah author of children’s book on grief charged with murder

[Sarzy]

Kouri Richins allegedly poisoned her husband and the father of her three children, Eric, with fentanyl slipped into a drink


A Utah woman who recently published a children’s book on losing a parent has been charged with murdering her husband, the father of her three children.

Kouri Richins, 33, of Kamas, Utah, a town outside Salt Lake City, allegedly poisoned her husband, Eric Richins, with a lethal dose of fentanyl slipped into a drink, according to authorities. Eric had five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his body when he died on 4 March 2022, investigators have said.


Kouri was arrested Monday at her home on counts of murder as well as possession a controlled substance with the intent to distribute it. She could face life imprisonment or the death penalty if eventually convicted of murder.

Court records show that Eric had told friends and family before his death that he believed his wife was trying to poison him. On Valentine’s Day a few weeks before his death, Eric became violently ill after having dinner with Kouri, breaking out in hives and having trouble breathing until he used his son’s EpiPen and took Benadryl.

Kouri allegedly bought $900 worth of fentanyl pills before this dinner, and she would later buy $900 more in pills before Eric’s death.

“He warned them if anything happened to him, she was to blame,” Eric told his family, according to records cited by National Public Radio affiliate KPCW.

Warrants obtained by investigators on the case allege that the couple had argued over purchasing a $2m home that Kouri wanted to remodel but Eric thought was too expensive. In January 2022, she tried to change a life insurance policy that Eric had with his business partner, Cody Wright, who helped him run a stone masonry business


Kouri unsuccessfully tried to remove Wright from the policy and make herself her husband’s beneficiary. Eric went on to remove Kouri from his will and replaced her with his sister, though he did not inform his wife that he was doing so.

Kouri ended up closing on the home on 5 March 2022, a day after Eric’s death, and threw “a large party at her home where she was drinking and celebrating”, according to court records.

The night of Eric’s death, Kouri told law enforcement officials that they were celebrating the purchase of the home, though her husband had told family members they would not be buying it. She said that she and Eric had taken a shot of alcohol and consumed a THC gummy. She told officers her son was experiencing night terrors, and she fell asleep in his bedroom. When she returned to the room she shared with Eric around 3am, he was cold to the touch and not breathing.

On 5 March 2023, almost exactly a year after Eric’s death, Kouri published a book titled Are You With Me? which, according to the book’s description, “is written to create peace and comfort for children who have lost a loved one”.

She promoted the book in an interview with KPCW on 12 April, telling the radio station: “It’s been a long, long year, a difficult year, and writing this book has brought peace to me and my boys.”

Kouri was scheduled to appear at a 19 May detention hearing for her state charges.


www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/may/09/children-book-author-grief-charged-murder-husband

[notoriousmkg]

Holy smoke, what a monster. The dude actually had to warn friends that if something happened to him, she was the one who did it. And then she wrote a children's book about the "loss".

[no1novice]

Kouri ended up closing on the home on 5 March 2022, a day after Eric’s death, and threw “a large party at her home where she was drinking and celebrating”, according to court records.


That's a bit of a give away!

[Sarzy]

May 9, 2023 21:14:17 GMT notoriousmkg said:

Holy smoke, what a monster. The dude actually had to warn friends that if something happened to him, she was the one who did it. And then she wrote a children's book about the "loss".

I know, what a piece of work! I'm so glad she didn't get away with it. 

May 9, 2023 22:56:53 GMT no1novice said:

Kouri ended up closing on the home on 5 March 2022, a day after Eric’s death, and threw “a large party at her home where she was drinking and celebrating”, according to court records.


That's a bit of a give away!

Haha right?! She clearly isn't the sharpest tool in the box 

[funky]

That is messed up. But this seems to have taken quite some time before she got arrested, as she had time to write and publish a book. But yeah, she probably wrote it before she killed him.

Poor guy and poor kids. I can only imagine how crazy life must have been with her as a partner and a mother.

[notoriousmkg]

Here's what I want to know based on what I heard this morning. One of the things that tipped off the police was that she claimed that her very next call after she woke up and went to the bedroom was to 911. Except that they found a flurry of messages that she had deleted and they were able to retrieve. Who were they to?

[no1novice]

May 10, 2023 15:40:08 GMT notoriousmkg said:

Here's what I want to know based on what I heard this morning. One of the things that tipped off the police was that she claimed that her very next call after she woke up and went to the bedroom was to 911. Except that they found a flurry of messages that she had deleted and they were able to retrieve. Who were they to?

The drug dealer

Court documents show that detectives said they found evidence that Richins had communicated with a person who has previously been charged for possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

Richins reportedly texted this person to ask for some prescription pain medication for an investor who had a back injury, and she was given hydrocodone pills. About two weeks later, Kouri said her investor wanted something stronger and requested "some of the Michael Jackson stuff," asking specifically for fentanyl. (The Los Angeles County coroner concluded that Jackson died from "acute propofol intoxication" in 2009).

In addition to the murder charge, Richins also faces charges involving the alleged possession of GHB — a narcolepsy drug frequently used in recreational settings, including at dance clubs.

The charges are based on officers' interactions with Richins that night and the account of an "unnamed acquaintance" who claims to have sold her the fentanyl. The acquaintance told investigators they sold Richins the opioid hydrocodone once and fentanyl twice, in February and March 2022.

The charging documents allege Richins deleted text messages from the night of her husband's death before handing her phone over to investigators and may have tried to poison her husband on Valentine's Day, a month before his death.

"Shortly after their dinner, Eric became very ill. ... Eric told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him," investigators wrote, referring to the Valentine's Day incident.

In court documents, family members interviewed by investigators indicate that Eric Richins was seeking to divorce Kouri Richins and had recently changed his will and life insurance policy. One of Richins' sisters told officers that Eric had long suspected his wife of attempting to poison him, including on a vacation to Greece several years ago. The warrants describe conflict between the couple over a $2 million home that Kouri Richins purchased with the aim to resell it quickly despite the objections from her husband based on the price.

Civil court filings that were submitted in different cases after Eric Richins' death outline how the suspicious circumstances surrounding his death have become entangled with questions over his assets and an estate held in a trust and managed by his sister. Kouri Richins has fought with members of her deceased husband's family since the day after his death in March 2022, the documents show.

Kouri Richins and her sister-in-law had a fight the day after Eric Richin's death at the family home, according to the documents. She subsequently sued for more than $3.6 million and to remove Katie Richins-Benson as trustee, arguing that a prenuptial agreement she and her husband signed entitled her to his assets if he died before they divorced.

It remains unclear how the estate dispute will be affected by the murder and drug possession charges against Richins. Utah law prohibits those convicted of homicide from profiting from their crime.

[notoriousmkg]

Thanks, Novice!

She subsequently sued for more than $3.6 million and to remove Katie Richins-Benson as trustee, arguing that a prenuptial agreement she and her husband signed entitled her to his assets if he died before they divorced.

^^^ Damn, people.  Be careful what you put in your prenup.  It's like an invitation for them to bump you off!

[trixie]

Well, I still have questions. She was a house flipper apparently, were they in that together or did he have another job? If he didn't want to buy the $2m home, did she just buy it on her own? Not bad, having enough credit for a purchase like that. The loan had to be approved before his death or she wouldn't be closing the day after he died. Obviously, she could've postponed it though, if only for the sake of appearances.

I wonder if she knew he had changed his will and beneficiaries and was planning to divorce her. No secret lover or co-conspirator, just about the money?

Oh well, now she can write a new book for her kids "Daddy's still with you, but Mommy's in Prison".

[louiswinthorpe111]

May 10, 2023 19:01:11 GMT trixie said:

Well, I still have questions. She was a house flipper apparently, were they in that together or did he have another job? If he didn't want to buy the $2m home, did she just buy it on her own? Not bad, having enough credit for a purchase like that. The loan had to be approved before his death or she wouldn't be closing the day after he died. Obviously, she could've postponed it though, if only for the sake of appearances.

I wonder if she knew he had changed his will and beneficiaries and was planning to divorce her. No secret lover or co-conspirator, just about the money?

Oh well, now she can write a new book for her kids "Daddy's still with you, but Mommy's in Prison".

So, there would have been red flags here.  The only way she could have closed on that house was if they were paying cash. I am assuming he was the breadwinner, so they couldn't have gotten a loan if he was dead.  There's a specific clause for that in all real estate deals and mortgages.  Unless he signed the papers the day of his death, but the buyers didn't sign until the day after.  But even then, all the attorneys would have had to redo the deed, papers, etc...  There's something missing here.

She wasn't subtle though, if he thought she was trying to kill him.  I'm all ready for this dateline episode.

[notoriousmkg]

^^^ It's super strange. Anybody who has ever closed on a house as a couple knows that there are a bunch of documents that you have to sign at closing - JOINTLY. The combined income that would have enabled them to purchase the house in the first place just got instantly halved. It kind of reminds of a Forensic Files murder case where the wife murdered the husband in collusion with the husband's life-insurance agent....

[trixie]

I'm still confused. I saw a segment on Inside Edition and it said she signed a contract on the house the day after, not closed on the house. So I would assume it's really not a done deal. Was she trying to get the contract signed before the other party knew he was dead? I read the OP again and it said the husband was co-owner of a masonry business and his business partner was the beneficiary of his life insurance policy (which she tried unsuccessfully to change before his death) Did she think she could access his business money to buy the house on his death? It just seems like such a weird motive, to kill your spouse over a house you wanted to buy.

[louiswinthorpe111]

^^The TODAY show said she signed the contract the day after and closed the next week...so it would have had to been a cash purchase because you can't close that fast with a mortgage.