Kouri Richins, a 33-year-old Utah mother of three, authored a children’s book titled “Are You With Me?” which deals with the topic of grieving after the loss of a loved one. The book was written in the wake of her husband’s unexpected death in March 2022. However, just a few months after its publication, Ms Richins has now been charged with her husband’s murder.
According to the Associated Press, Ms Richins was arrested on Monday 8th May 2023 and is accused of poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, with fentanyl at their home in Kamas, Utah.
Prosecutors allege that she made a late-night call to the authorities in March 2022 to report that her husband was “cold to the touch.”
When police arrived, Ms Richins told them that she had made her husband a mixed drink using vodka before leaving to help one of their three children sleep.
Upon her return, she found him unresponsive and called emergency services.
However, a medical examiner found that Eric Richins had five times the lethal amount of fentanyl in his system.
Ms Richins has been charged with murder, as well as allegedly possessing GHB, a narcolepsy drug that is often used recreationally.
The charges are based on accounts from the officers involved in the case, as well as an unnamed acquaintance who said they sold fentanyl to Ms Richins.
The charges against Ms Richins come just two months after she appeared on a local TV segment called “Good Things Utah,” where she spoke about her book and how it aims to help children deal with loss.
During the segment, Ms Richins described how the death of her husband had affected her and her three boys, and how important it was to keep his spirit alive in their home.
In a search warrant from 2022, investigators discovered that Eric had previously believed that his wife had tried to kill him.
“While investigating the death I was told by Eric’s family member that they suspected his wife had something to do with his death,” an investigator wrote in the warrant. “They advised he warned them that if anything happened to him she was to blame.”
“According to a sister, Eric and his wife went to Greece a few years ago and after his wife gave him a drink he became violently ill and called his sister saying he believed his wife had tried to kill him,” the warrant reads.
“On Valentine’s Day of 2022, his wife brought him a sandwich, which after one bite Eric broke into hives and couldn’t breathe. He used his son’s epi-pen as well as Benadryl before passing out for several hours.”
The warrant also states Eric Richins had recently changed his will and life insurance to make his sister a beneficiary and not Kouri.
“According to the family, Eric never disclosed to his wife that he had cut her out of the will,”
