Sometimes, fact really is stranger — and much more macabre — than fiction.
In a stunning development for a Utah mom and children’s book author, she’s now being accused of heinously murdering her own husband for profit.
According to the Associated Press, 35-year-old Kouri Richins had written a children’s book about grief following the death of her husband.
In May 2023, Richins had self-published the illustrated children’s book “Are You With Me?” which follows a father with angel wings looking after his young son after passing away.
Richins claimed that the book’s purpose was to help children, including her own, learn to cope with the grief of losing a parent. Eric Richins, Kouri’s then-husband, passed away in 2022.
But is there more to this story than meets the eye?
Prosecutors certainly think so.
The Associated Press reported that prosecutors painted Richins as a money-hungry monster who used fentanyl to kill her husband.
In March 2022, Richins allegedly slipped five times the lethal dose of fentanyl into a cocktail that her husband was drinking.
Alarmingly, this apparently wasn’t even the first attempt, as Richins was further accused of trying to poison him during Valentine’s Day with “a fentanyl-laced sandwich that made him break out in hives and black out.”
Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told the jury that Richins was drowning in roughly $4.5 million of debt and operating under the mistaken assumption that her husband’s death would leave her in control of an estate valued at more than $4 million. According to the state, that financial pressure formed a central motive in the case.
Prosecutors also contended that Richins was envisioning a new life with another man she had been involved with, arguing that the alleged affair further underscores why she may have wanted out of her marriage.
“The evidence will prove that Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life,” Bloodworth argued. “More than anything, she wanted his money to perpetuate her facade of privilege, affluence and success.”
Prosecutors alleged that in the years leading up to Eric Richins’ death, Kouri Richins quietly secured multiple life insurance policies on her husband without his knowledge, totaling nearly $2 million in potential payouts. Court filings further showed her finances were in dire shape, including an overdrawn bank account and at least one lawsuit from a creditor.
In court, Bloodworth walked jurors through a string of text messages between Richins and Robert Josh Grossman, the man prosecutors say she was romantically involved with. The messages, he argued, painted a picture of someone eager to exit her marriage.
According to the state, Richins messaged Grossman about fantasies of divorcing her husband, walking away with millions, and eventually building a new life together. Prosecutors suggested those exchanges were not idle chatter but insight into motive.
Jurors were also shown portions of Richins’ online search history, which included queries such as “luxury prisons for the rich America” and “Can cops force you to do a lie detector test?” The prosecution contended those searches raise troubling questions about her state of mind.
Richins has vehemently denied these allegations.
Her defense team painted Eric’s death as a possible overdose, and urged jurors to wait to hear Kouri’s side of the story.
This trial is ongoing and slated to go through March 26.
Richins has been charged with close to three dozen criminal counts, ranging from aggravated murder and attempted murder to forgery, mortgage fraud, and insurance fraud. If convicted on the top charge alone, she could face a prison term of 25 years to life.
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