Grief author found guilty of fatally poisoning her husband in twisted plot to get his $4 million estate
A mother who wrote a book to her three sons about dealing with the death of their father has been found guilty of murdering him.
Kouri Richins, who was married to Eric Richins up until his 2022 death, was sat in the court room as a jury deliberated for three hours over her role in his fentanyl overdose.
The mother-of-three faked an insurance claim prior to her husband’s death and also attempted to kill him on Valentine’s Day – weeks before he passed away.
In the end, the jury convicted her of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder for her failed attempt to kill him, forgery and two counts of insurance fraud related to his life insurance.
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The conviction could carry a life sentence without the possibility of parole, which is the maximum charge for murder.
Her sentencing is scheduled to take place on 13 May, which is the day Eric would have turned 44.
Eric had been found dead in their home in Kamas, Utah, early in the morning on 4 March, 2022, with an autopsy revealing he had five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in his system.
One year later, Kouri released a book on grief for her sons called Are You With Me?
According to the product description, it aims to 'create peace and comfort for children who have lost a loved one' and follows a young boy who questions whether his father is with him during special moments like birthdays, Christmases and his first day of school.
A month before she was arrested, she told ABC4 she 'wanted some story to read to my kids at night and I just could not find anything'.
She added: "Just because he’s not present here with us physically, that doesn’t mean his presence isn’t here with us. Dad is still here, it’s just in a different way."
Kouri was millions of dollars in debt at the time of her husband’s death, and killed him after lacing a Moscow Mule and Lemon Drop alcoholic beverage in a bid to inherit his $4 million estate.
Weeks prior, Kouri had laced Eric's sandwich with fentanyl on Valentine's Day, which caused him to black out. He told two friends he thought he was going to die, according to CNN.
Searches on Kouri's phone included 'what is a lethal.dose.of.fetanayl', 'luxury prisons for the rich America' and 'if someone is poisned what does it go down on the death certificate as', the Guardian reports.
“She did not have the money to leave Eric or the money to salvage her business,” prosecutor Brad Bloodworth said, adding: “Kouri Richins is an intensely ambitious person. She is a risk-taker. There was a way forward – Eric had to die.”
In fact, Kouri was not named in Eric's will, and it was his sister who was the beneficiary of his estate and his $500k life insurance policy.
KSL TV reports he changed his will, creating an estate his sister would control for the benefit of his three children.
Eric's sister came across Kouri trying to break into her husband's safe after his death, which held between $125k and $165k in cash.
When Eric's sister told Kouri the money wasn't hers, Kouri punched her in the face and neck and was convicted of assault.
Eric's life was insured up to $2.2 million, but witnesses for the prosecution said some of the policies were riddled with errors, and on one document, Eric's signature was likely forged.
Prosecutors also revealed Kouri was having an affair, and speculated she might have wanted her husband out of the way to start a life with a new man.
Kouri waived her right to testify during the trial and the defence did not call any witnesses.
Eric's sister Amy Richins said: "Honestly I feel like we’re all in shock. We got justice for my brother."
Britt Jones