Author of children's book about grief charged with murder of husband
Park City, Utah - Author Kouri Richins wrote a children's book to help her sons deal with their father's sudden death – but this week, she was arrested and charged with her husband's murder!
Richins' husband, Eric, died suddenly at 39 on March 4, 2022, at their home in Park City, Utah.
A year later, she published a children's book called Are You with Me?, which she described as the result of a long a painful grieving process.
In an interview with KTVX-TV, Richins said: "My kids and I wrote this book on the different emotions and 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."
She continued, "It’s comforting for them that they’re not living this life alone. Dad is still here, but in a different way."
But the story took a shocking turn on Monday, when the 33-year-old widow was charged with murdering her husband by poisoning him with a lethal dose of fentanyl.
Erich Richins thought someone was trying to poison him
Eric Richins died with five times the legal dosage of fentanyl in his system, per court documents.
Kouri Richins told the authorities that she and Eric had been celebrating the night he died. She reportedly made him a Moscow mule around 9 PM, which he drank in their bedroom.
The writer said she then went to bed but ended up sleeping in one of their children's rooms because of a night terror. At 3 AM, she returned, "felt Eric and he was cold to the touch," and called 911.
Summit County sheriff’s deputies and emergency medical workers were unable to revive Eric, and he was pronounced dead.
Despite telling investigators she'd left her phone plugged in next to her bed when she went to her son's room, her phone was found to have been in use.
A search of the phone revealed "several communications" with a person identified in court documents only as C.L., who has faced multiple drug-related charges. That person told investigators they were in contact with Richins between December 2021 and February 2022, selling her fentanyl pills for $900.
After she allegedly purchased the pills, Eric Richins became very ill following a Valentine's Day meal at home. He later told friends he thought his wife was trying to poison him.
Kouri Richins's detention hearing is set for May 19. In addition to murder, she also faces three felony counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.
Cover photo: screenshot/ bookshop.org