In a shocking twist of events, a woman who wrote a children’s book on grief after her husband’s death is now charged with his murder. Kouri Richins, 33, was arrested on Monday in Utah and is accused of poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, 39, with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in Kamas, a small mountain town near Park City.
Kouri Richins published her book, “Are You With Me?”, in April 2023, as a way to help children cope with the loss of a loved one. She appeared on a local TV show to promote her book and said her husband died “unexpectedly” in March 2022. However, an autopsy revealed that Eric Richins died from a fentanyl overdose, and that the level of fentanyl in his system was five times the lethal dosage. The fentanyl was also found to be illicit and likely ingested orally.
According to the charging documents, Kouri Richins told the police that she and her husband were celebrating her closing on a house for her business on the night of his death. She said she made him a vodka drink and brought it to their bedroom, where he consumed it while sitting in bed. She then went to sleep with one of their children who was having a night terror and returned to their bedroom around 3 a.m., where she found him cold to the touch and called 911.
“Defendant told law enforcement that when she left her room to go to her child’s room, she left her phone plugged in next to her bed and did not take it to her child’s room,” the warrant states.
“However, between when the defendant said she went to child’s room and when she called 911, the status on her phone shows that it was locked and unlocked multiple times and there was also movement recorded on the phone.”
