In March 2022, Kouri Richins, 33, found her husband, Eric Richins, cold to the touch in their home in Summit County, Utah. She called 911, and the 40-year-old father of three sons was pronounced dead shortly after emergency personnel arrived. The mother went on to write a children’s book about grief in the wake of her husband’s death to help herself and her children heal. Today, prosecutors allege she's the one who killed him.
Richins allegedly killed her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl, prosecutors say, according to KSL-TV. Charging documents state the mother had communication with a person with a criminal history of drug distribution and that her account of the night her husband died just didn’t add up. The children’s book author now faces felony murder charges.
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Richins claimed she had made her husband a drink the night he died.
Shortly after her husband's death, Kouri Richins spoke with police regarding the fateful night. In court documents obtained by KSL-TV, Richins told investigators that she made her husband a vodka drink the night he died because the couple was celebrating the closing of a house.
While Eric Richins sipped the drink, she said she checked on one of her three children. She said she fell asleep but returned to her bedroom around 3 a.m. and found her husband’s body cold. She called 911.
She claimed her phone was in the bedroom.
Richins told police that her cell phone was in her bedroom while she was with her child, but that was proven untrue, according to court documents, per KSL-TV. Records indicate the phone was active while she was in her child’s bedroom.
“In addition, tolls on the defendant’s phone show that messages were sent and received during that time. These messages were deleted,” court documents state.
After obtaining a search warrant for the phone, police found the mother had ongoing communication with an acquaintance who had “multiple counts of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and other drug-related charges.”
Her husband died from an oral dose of fentanyl, five times an ordinarily lethal dose, KSL-TV reported.
Kouri Richins allegedly asked for drugs.
In a May 2 interview with police, Richins’ acquaintance said she asked for “prescription pain medication for an investor.” Court documents state she received the medication.
“(Kouri) told (the acquaintance) to leave the pills at a house defendant was flipping in Midway, Utah. (The acquaintance) left the pills at the house, and the defendant left cash for them," the documents state, according to KSL-TV.
The contact said Richins allegedly contacted them again and asked for fentanyl, “something stronger and asked for ‘some of the Michael Jackson stuff.'”
Eric Richins believed he was poisoned.
Kouri Richins’ acquaintance admitted to getting 15 to 20 fentanyl pills for her in February 2022, and that she paid them $900, documents state. Her husband reportedly told a friend he believed his wife had tried to poison him after he became ill after a Valentine’s Day dinner, according to KSL-TV. Kouri Richins allegedly contacted her acquaintance about a month later and paid another $900 for more pills. Her husband died two weeks later.
Eric Richins' obituary praises the young father.
“Eric was a family man, who always strove to be the absolute best father and husband. He was an attentive and loving father to his three sons Carter (9), Ashton (7), and Weston (5), and a devoted husband to the love of his life, and wife of nine years, Kouri (Darden) Richins," it reads. "Eric did absolutely everything in his power to provide his family with every possible opportunity to learn, grow, and have fun.”
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Richins wrote a book about her grief.
In early April 2023, Richins spoke with KPCW about Are You With Me?, a book she penned to help children experiencing grief after losing a loved one. She told the news outlet she wasn’t an expert or published author but just a mom trying to help her kids deal with the loss of their dad.
“I think it gave us a sense of distraction for one, and gave us something to put our minds towards,” she said. “So that was huge for us. Because you can go every day, and you know, you can either live in sadness or you can take that sadness and make something good out of it. So, it was a really good distraction from this last year and going through, you know, the first holidays without my husband, his birthday, like our anniversary, you know, all these things, and it gave us something to work towards.”
A second book, Mom, How Far Away is Heaven?, is due in May. On Tuesday, Amazon pulled Are You With Me? from its site, KSL-TV noted.
Richins has been charged with one count of first-degree aggravated murder and three second-degree felony charges of possessing a controlled substance with the intent to distribute, according to KSL-TV.
