Utah author Kouri Richins, who wrote a children’s book on grieving after her husband’s sudden death, has been charged with his murder…
ADVERTISEMENTAfter her husband died last year, Kouri Richins wrote a children’s book on grief. She has now been arrested in Utah, US, accused of poisoning her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in Kamas, a small mountain town near Park City.
Prosecutors allege that Richins, 33, called authorities during the night in March 2022 to report that her husband, Eric Richins, was “cold to the touch.”
The mother of three told officers that she had made her husband a Moscow Mule cocktail to celebrate his sale of a home. She later found her husband unresponsive and called the police.
A medical examiner later found five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in his system.
Court records show that Eric Richins had previously 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 ill after having dinner with Kouri, having trouble breathing until he used his son’s epinephrine autoinjector.
Kouri Richins allegedly bought nearly $1,000 worth of fentanyl pills before this dinner, and she would later buy more in pills before Eric’s death.
In addition to the murder charge, Richins also faces counts involving the alleged possession of GHB - a drug frequently prescribed for narcolepsy which can be sold illegally for use in recreational settings.
The charges come two months after Richins appeared on local television to promote 'Are You With Me?', a picture book she wrote to help children cope after the death of a loved one – a book she dedicated to "my amazing husband and a wonderful father".
For the TV segment, titled “Good Things Utah,” Richins talked of her husband’s death. She said during the show that grieving was about “making sure that their spirit is always alive in your home.”
“It’s explaining to my kid just because he’s not present here with us physically, doesn’t mean his presence isn’t here with us,” Richins told the anchors.
She also told local radio station KPCW last month during the promotion of her work that the book was to bring "peace" to her and her three sons.
"We wrote this book and we're really hoping that it provides some comfort for not just obviously, our family, but other families that are going through the same thing," she said.
Richins’ attorney, Skye Lazaro, has declined to comment on the charges.
A detention hearing is scheduled on 19 May.
