Kouri Richins, children's author accused of killing her husband with fentanyl, goes on trial

A judge in the US state of Utah has decided that Kouri Richins will be tried for the alleged murder of her husband.

On Tuesday, August 27, the second day of Richins' preliminary hearing, Judge Richard Mrazik said prosecutors had presented enough evidence to charge the 34-year-old mother of three in the alleged murder of 39-year-old Eric Richins.

Kouri is accused of spiking a lethal dose of fentanyl into his drink on March 3, 2022.

She pleaded not guilty to all 11 charges she faces in court on Tuesday. Her trial is scheduled to begin on April 28, according to the Associated Press.

Kouri allegedly used fentanyl purchased from the family's housekeeper, Carmen Lauber, to poison Eric in March. She is also accused of slipping fentanyl into his sandwich on Valentine's Day 2022, after nine years of marriage.

Two of Eric's friends said in written testimony that he told them he used his son's EpiPen and drank a bottle of Benadryl after eating a piece of the sandwich.

After waking up, Eric reportedly told one of his friends, “I think my wife tried to poison me,” AP News reported, citing charging documents.

After this alleged incident, Eric became ill and developed hives.

Deleted text messages and location data recovered by police suggest Kouri may have been having an extramarital affair and made her way to her alleged lover's home after bringing the sandwich home.

According to AP, she texted the day after Valentine's Day saying, “If he could just disappear…life would be so perfect.”

In court on Monday, August 26, Detective Jeff O'Driscoll said Lauber told police Kouri asked her for stronger fentanyl when the Valentine's Day attempt failed.

“She learned that putting a lethal dose of fentanyl in a sandwich where Eric Richins can bite into it, feel the effects and put the sandwich back down is not the right way to administer it,” Summit County Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told Judge Mrazik, according to the AP. “She learned that it takes a whole truckload to kill him.”

Seventeen days later, Kouri called 911 in the middle of the night and claimed she found Eric “cold to the touch” at the foot of her bed, AP News reported, citing a police report.

After his death, a coroner found five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in Eric's body.

Kouri later self-published a children’s book about grief entitled Are you with me? before she was arrested in May 2023. The AP added that prosecutors could describe the book as a “calculated murder with an elaborate cover-up.”

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“We are not investigating any wrongdoing,” Mrazik told Park City public radio station KPCW.

“Yesterday, Ms. Richins was presumed innocent of all charges, today she is presumed innocent of all charges, and this will remain the case throughout the trial.”

Kouri's defense attorneys Kathy Nester and Wendy Lewis also issued a statement on Tuesday.

“Our focus now is to ensure justice is done through a fair trial,” they said, according to KPCW. “The last 15 months have taken a toll on Kouri and her three children. It is time to end this ordeal, restore her life and allow her and her family to move on.”