Kouri Richins’ husband, Eric, passed away unexpectedly last year, so she decided to write a children’s book to help her three young sons cope with their grief and find solace in the knowledge that their father would always be with them.
Ms. Richins, 33, was charged with m*rdering her husband by giving him a fatal dose of fentanyl on Monday, a little over two months after the publication of her book, “Are You With Me?”
Mr. Richins, age 39, was found to have five times the fatal dose of illicit, non-medical-grade fentanyl in his system, according to an autopsy and toxicology report. Court records state that the medical examiner determined fentanyl was taken orally.
On March 7, a little over a year after her husband’s de@th, Ms. Richins released her book, “Are You With Me?” She promoted the novel, about a young kid who loses his father but is constantly reminded of his presence, on KTVX-TV in Salt Lake City a few weeks later.
“My kids and I wrote this book on the different emotions and the grieving process that we’ve experienced in the last year, hoping it could help other kids deal with this and kind of find happiness someway or another,” Ms. Richins told KTVX.
“It’s comforting for them that they’re not living this life alone. Dad is still here, but in a different way.” On May 19, there will be a detention hearing. When reached for comment, Ms. Richins’s attorney did not immediately respond.
Court records show that on the evening of March 3, 2022, Ms. Richins and her husband, Mr. Richins, were out partying to celebrate the successful closing of a sale of a home that Ms. At about 9 o’clock, Mrs. Richins whipped up a Moscow mule in the kitchen and carried it to Mr. Richins in bed, where he had a nightcap.
Ms. Richins told police that she had gone to bed but had awakened at 3 a.m. because one of her sons was experiencing a nightmare. She said to police she went back to the bedroom and “felt Eric and he was cold to the touch.” to the evidence presented in court, she dialed 911.
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According to court papers, when emergency personnel and sheriff’s deputies from Summit County arrived, they found Mr. Richins lying on the floor at the foot of the bed. They did everything they could to save his life, but he was pronounced de@d.
Ms. Richins informed police that she checked on her son and forgot her phone was plugged in next to her bed. She claimed she went to her son’s bedroom, but court documents show that she really used the phone to send and receive texts while it was locked and unlocked “multiple times” before making the 911 call.
According to the court records, the texts were erased at a later time. Ms. Richins faces three counts of possession of a controlled substance, gamma-hydroxybutyric acid, with distribution intent in addition to the m*rder accusation.
It’s a medicine designed to treat narcolepsy, but it’s also widely used as a party drug in nightclubs, where it’s sometimes called a “date-rape drug.” According to court documents, a search of Ms. Richins’ phone revealed “several communications” with “an acquaintance” named simply as C.L.
C.L., who has been charged with various drug offenses, reportedly told investigators that Ms. Richins had contacted him between December 2021 and February 2022 for assistance obtaining pain medication for “an investor who had a back injury.”
After receiving the pain medicines, Ms. Richins called C.L. again two weeks later, asking for “something stronger,” as evidenced by the court papers. Specifically requesting “some of the Michael Jackson stuff,” she was referring to fentanyl.
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According to the papers, C.L. sold her between 15 and 30 fentanyl pills for $900. Mr. Richins fell unwell on Valentine’s Day, 2022, three days after Ms. Richins bought the drugs, following a romantic meal for two at their Kamas, Utah, home.
According to the evidence presented in court, Mr. Richins informed acquaintances after the incident that he believed his wife was attempting to poison him. The next fortnight, Ms. Richins phoned C.L. once more, this time requesting $900 worth of fentanyl pills.
According to the court papers, C.L. purchased the pills from a dealer and then left them for Ms. Richins outside the Midway, Utah, home she was selling, which is located south of Park City “Six days later,” the court documents said, “Eric was found de@d of a fentanyl overdose.”
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