A mother who wrote a children’s book about coping with grief after her husband’s death has been sentenced to life in prison for his murder. Kouri Richins, 26, killed her husband Eric Richins, 39, by slipping a fatal dose of fentanyl into a drink at their home near Park City, Utah, in March 2022.
Richins, a real estate agent, was convicted in March of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, fraud, and forgery. Prosecutors argued she was motivated by mounting debts from her house-flipping business and a desire to start a new life with another man. She had secretly taken out multiple life insurance policies on her husband and incorrectly believed she would inherit his estate, valued at over $4 million.
Poisoning Attempt on Valentine’s Day
Jurors also found Richins guilty of attempting to poison her husband weeks earlier on Valentine’s Day by lacing a sandwich with fentanyl. Eric Richins suffered hives and briefly lost consciousness after taking a single bite of the sandwich, which his wife had left on the front seat of his truck on February 14, 2022.
Prosecutors said Richins bought the sandwich from a local diner in Kamas at the same time she acquired several dozen fentanyl pills. A housekeeper later testified she sold Richins the pills before Valentine’s Day, and that Richins complained they were “not strong enough” and asked for a more potent batch.
Life Sentence on Husband’s Birthday
On Wednesday, May 13, which would have been her husband’s birthday, Richins was sentenced at the Summit County Courthouse to life in prison. She had laced Eric’s drink with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl, leading to her arrest in May 2023 while promoting her children’s book Are You with Me? about a boy coping with the death of his father.
Eric’s family tearfully remembered him as a skilled outdoorsman, hardworking businessman, and loving father to his three sons during the trial. “Eric was their coach, their father, but most important, was their very, very best friend,” his father Eugene Richins told jurors.
Evidence of Premeditation
Jurors were shown text messages between Richins and her lover in which she fantasized about leaving her husband and gaining millions in a divorce. Prosecutors also presented internet search history from her phone, including queries about the lethal dose of fentanyl, luxury prisons, and how poisoning is recorded on a death certificate.
Two of Eric’s friends recalled phone conversations from the day of the Valentine’s Day poisoning. After injecting himself with his son’s EpiPen and taking Benadryl, Eric woke from a deep sleep and told a friend: “I think my wife tried to poison me.”
Quick Conviction
The trial was expected to last five weeks but ended early after Richins waived her right to testify. Her legal team rested its case without calling any witnesses, with her lawyers expressing confidence that prosecutors had not produced sufficient evidence. However, an eight-person jury found her guilty on all counts after deliberating for just under three hours on March 16.
Eric’s sister Amy said she was “just very happy that we got justice for my brother” after the conviction, adding that she could now focus on supporting his sons.
Richins Speaks at Sentencing
Speaking publicly for the first time at her sentencing hearing, Richins said she wanted to convey a message to her sons, with whom she has not been able to speak since early 2024 after custody was transferred to her husband’s family. “The one thing I need you boys to know is that I did not abandon you,” she said. “Regardless of what anyone tells you, I would never ever leave you, boys. And I am so sorry that even for one second you think that I did.”
In a court filing, the Summit County Attorney’s Office invoked the three sons as they urged Judge Richard Mrazik to sentence Richins to life without parole. “The boys deserve finality and should not have to revisit their father’s murder at future hearings or worry about the Defendant’s potential parole,” prosecutors wrote. “Given the tremendous trauma and upheaval that the Defendant inflicted upon their childhood, this Court should ensure that she does not harm their adulthood.”
The couple’s eldest son, now aged 13, said he misses his dad but not his mum. “I’m afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family,” the boy said according to the filing. “I think she would come and take us and not do good things to us, like hurt us.”
