A Utah woman who authored a children's book on grief after her husband's death has been found guilty of aggravated murder for poisoning him with fentanyl. Kouri Richins, 33, was convicted on Monday after prosecutors alleged she slipped five times the lethal dose of the synthetic opioid into a cocktail that Eric Richins drank in March 2022.
Prosecutors argued that Richins was deeply in debt—owing $4.5 million—and falsely believed she would inherit her husband's estate worth over $4 million. They also presented evidence of an affair with another man, Robert Josh Grossman, and text messages where she fantasised about leaving her husband and marrying Grossman. “She wanted to leave Eric Richins but did not want to leave his money,” said Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth.
The jury deliberated for just under three hours before delivering the verdict. Richins stared at the floor as the judge read the decision. She was also convicted of attempted murder for a previous poisoning attempt on Valentine's Day 2022, when she allegedly gave her husband a fentanyl-laced sandwich that caused him to black out. Additional charges included forgery and fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after his death.
Eric Richins' sister, Amy Richins, expressed relief: “We got justice for my brother.” Sentencing is scheduled for 13 May, what would have been Eric's 44th birthday. The aggravated murder charge carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
The trial was cut short when Richins waived her right to testify and her legal team rested without calling witnesses. Her lawyers maintained that prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence. However, digital forensic analysts presented evidence from Richins' phone, including searches for “what is a lethal.dose.of.fetanayl”, “luxury prisons for the rich America”, and “if someone is poisned what does it go down on the death certificate as”.
Prosecutors also played a clip of Richins' 911 call from the night of her husband's death, which Bloodworth described as “the sound of a wife becoming a black widow”, not a grieving widow as the defence had claimed.
