Poison Plot: Utah Author Found Guilty of Husband’s Murder
Kouri Richins found guilty in a chilling fentanyl poisoning case after killing her husband. Shocking details reveal motive, fraud, and betrayal.
A Utah mother, who wrote a children's book about grief following the sudden death of her husband, has now been found guilty of his murder.
The jury determined that Kouri Richins poisoned and killed her husband in March 2022 by giving him a drink laced with fentanyl. The jury deliberated on the case for nearly three hours before delivering its verdict on Monday.
During the trial, the court heard how 35-year-old Richins had accumulated millions of dollars in debt, had taken out life insurance policies in her husband's name, and was also having an affair with another man.
Prosecutors presented more than 40 witnesses, including the woman who testified that she was the one who sold the drugs used to kill Eric Richins.
Her defense team decided not to call any witnesses and rested their case without calling her to the stand to testify in her own defense.
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Richins was also found guilty of insurance fraud in connection with her husband's death, which occurred at their home just outside the ski resort town of Park City. During the trial, prosecutors stated that she was under the mistaken belief that she would inherit his estate—valued at over $4 million—upon his death.
They also noted that she was planning a future with another man with whom she was having an affair.
Authorities revealed that Richins had previously poisoned her husband's sandwich on one occasion—an incident from which he narrowly escaped death—before subsequently increasing the dosage of the poison until it proved fatal. She was also found guilty of attempted murder in connection with this earlier incident.
Richins denied all the charges brought against her. The most serious charge—namely, aggravated murder—carries a potential sentence ranging from 25 years to life imprisonment.
Summit County Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth stated, "She wanted to leave Eric Richins, but she didn't want to leave his money."
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Richins was arrested in March 2023—two months after the publication of her book, *Are You With Me?* It was a children's picture book, which Richins claimed was written to help people—including her own three children—cope with the grief of losing a loved one.
In an interview with radio station KPCW prior to her arrest, she said, "We wrote this book, and we truly hope that it brings some comfort not only to our family but also to other families going through a similar loss." She dedicated the book to her husband, describing him as "my amazing husband and a wonderful father."
According to court documents, between December 2021 and February 2022, Kouri Richins messaged an individual who had previously been arrested on drug charges, asking for prescription painkillers.
Court documents state that she obtained hydrocodone pills, after which she requested something even more potent—"the Michael Jackson stuff"—specifically asking for fentanyl.
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Reportedly, three days after obtaining the drugs, she and her husband shared a Valentine's Day dinner together, after which he fell ill.
Court documents state, "Eric felt that he had been poisoned." "Eric told a friend that he believed his wife was trying to poison him."
According to court documents, two weeks later, Richins obtained more fentanyl. Government prosecutors stated that at midnight on March 4, 2022, Richens called the police to report that her husband was unresponsive.
She told officers that she had given her husband a drink mixed with vodka while he was in bed, and then went to sleep with one of her young children, who was feeling scared during the night. She later returned to her husband's room, where she reported that his body felt "cold to the touch."
Subsequently, the medical examiner determined that Mr. Richens had died from a fentanyl overdose. His body contained a concentration of the drug that was five times greater than a lethal dose.
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