Grief author Kouri Richins gave a rambling speech about love and claimed she 'can't believe this is real' as she was sentenced to life in prison for murdering her husband with a fentanyl-laced Moscow Mule cocktail in a warped bid to start a new life with her handyman lover and her slain spouse's multi-million-dollar estate.
The 35-year-old mom-of-three learned her fate inside Summit County Court in Park City, Utah, on Wednesday - on what should have been her husband Eric Richins's 44th birthday.
Dressed in lime green prison garb, handcuffs and shackles around her waist, Richins stood at the podium and gave a 40-minute-long speech in which she spoke directly to the couple's three young sons and insisted her innocence.
Richins described their father's murder as an 'unforeseen tragedy' and blasted the 'absolute lie' that she was responsible for his death.
'I would never have taken him from you boys. I know how much you need him, how much you love him,' she sobbed, dabbing her face with tissues.
Repeatedly, she told them to 'be like your dad' and vowed that, one day, 'I am coming home.'
'The cards and letters will never stop. I will never stop,' she vowed.
Richins's tearful display came after she sat pulling faces, rolling her eyes and raising her eyebrows as Eric's family members gave devastating victim impact statements to the court. The killer even pulled faces when therapists for her own three sons, aged just 13, 11 and nine, spoke of her abusive treatment of them, their fears that she could harm them if she ever walks free from prison and how much they miss their dad.
In their own words, the little boys shockingly revealed that their mom locked them in their rooms and the basement, threatened to kill their pets and denied them food in the aftermath of their father's murder.
Richins killed her husband, Eric Richins, by giving him a Moscow Mule cocktail laced with a lethal dose of fentanyl at the family home in Kamas, Utah, back in March 2022.
For more than a year, the real estate agent then publicly played the grieving widow, publishing a children’s book titled Are You With Me? and even appearing on local TV to promote it and share her seemingly heartbreaking story of navigating grief with their sons.
In May 2023, the facade crumbled and Richins was charged with murder. After a high-profile trial this March, in which jurors heard how she had botched at least one prior attempt to kill Eric on Valentine's Day 2022, the real estate agent was convicted of aggravated murder and four other felonies.
Now, she will spend the remainder of her days behind bars. In what marks the first time Richins has spoken publicly, she said she was in disbelief about her conviction and spoke to her sons.
'My sweet baby boys. I know that today you don’t want to speak with me or have a relationship with me,' she said, her voice growing more high-pitched. 'You may think you hate me. That’s okay. When the day comes that you’re ready, I will be here for you. I need you boys to know and understand that I have been desperately trying to get in contact with you. That all of my communication has been cut off from you. Now I will use every opportunity I can to get to you.'
Richins claimed that both she and Eric 'fell in love' with people outside of their marriage and had affairs but that they were 'a crazy beautiful mess' of a family. She said that she regretted some things and suggested Eric would too - if he were still alive to say so.
Richins told their sons, aged just 13, 11 and nine, to 'never give up on truth' and said that she hopes 'one day, when this is all over, we can sit down and talk about all of this and sort it all out.' 'I promise you boys one day it will be over,' she said. Repeatedly, she told the boys: 'Be like your dad.'
In a heartbreaking statement, Richins and Eric's youngest son, who was just five at the time of Eric's murder, recalled what he remembered from the morning of his dad's murder. 'I woke up to sirens and there were a lot of people at our house. I was scared. I was in a bedroom with my brothers,' he said through his therapist.
The little boy, who is now nine, said he felt like he had 'no control and felt helpless.' After his dad's death, he said that Richins 'put us in the basement while she was with a neighbor' and that 'everything she did made me feel uncomfortable.' While her son's comments about being 'scared' of being taken away by Richins and her family were read aloud, Richins pulled faces and raised her eyebrows.
'I feel a lot better about myself now than I did with Kouri,' he said.
Richins's middle child, now age 11, said, in a statement read by a therapist, that his mom tried to feed the boys uncooked lasagna and 'made us watch videos of children starving in war areas.' 'You took away my dad for no reason other than greed. You only cared about yourself and your stupid boyfriends,' he said, adding that he felt like he had to become the parent to his younger brother. 'You were not concerned about our health. When we got hurt, you didn’t even care. When C got run over by a side-by-side, you made him go to a soccer game without taking him to the doctor.'
'I don’t want you out of jail because I will not feel safe if you are out. You have never said sorry for anything you have done. With you in jail, I will be able to feel safe without worrying about your hurting me or anyone I love.'
The couple's oldest son, who is now 13, told the court that his mom was 'always drunk,' often locked him in his room, didn't give him food, and threatened to kill his lizard and other pets. 'I miss my dad. I don’t miss Kouri, I will tell you that,' he said, through a therapist.
All three children - who were five, seven and nine at the time of their dad's murder - referred to Richins not as their mother, but simply as 'Kouri.'
The boys and Eric's family members joined with prosecutors in asking the judge to hand down the maximum penalty of life without the possibility of parole on the highest charge of aggravated murder.
Both of Eric's sisters Katie and Amy revealed that they had begged their brother to leave Richins, but he didn't. Katie told the court that Eric knew his wife was dangerous - prompting Richins to open her mouth in apparent shock and speak irately to her attorney.
Amy, who said she feels like she has lost a sister in Richins as well as a brother in Eric, revealed that she received a message from a burner phone after Eric's death warning her that 'Kouri will have the last laugh.' Police have since told her it came from Richins.
The trauma of the last four years has taken its toll in all aspects of their lives, she said, sharing the heartbreaking news that she miscarried twins while dealing with the stress.
In her emotional statement, Katie broke down in tears as she paid tribute to the 'phenomenal brother, father, son, nephew, grandson, cousin, friend and businessman' that Eric was. 'His mind and heart was always on his boys. Everything he did was for them,' she said, her voice cracking. 'Today is Eric's birthday. I stand before you because he can't.'
Katie also spoke of how the couple's sons would spend most of their life without their father 'because their mother planned and carried out his murder.' 'She could not have done anything more selfish and more cruel to those boys,' Katie said, adding that they have suffered 'permanent trauma' at the hands of their mother.
Following Eric's death, Richins tried to drive a wedge between the boys and his family and tried to steal her own sons' inheritance. In the four years since Eric’s murder, Richins has continued to torment the family, she said - citing the now-infamous 'Walk the dog' jailhouse letter in which Richins spoke about targeting Katie’s daughter. 'It takes a sick mind to target kids,' Katie said, as Richins shook her head.
Katie went on to refer to Richins’s book, saying that Eric’s sons should not be 'bargaining chips or cash cows for some twisted children’s book about grief.' Katie also hit out at her sister-in-law's 'vile effort to deflect blame' by slandering Eric's name following his death.
Eric's elderly father Gene spoke of the pain of losing his child and how his son was betrayed by the person he should have been able to trust most. 'Despite everything he gave, his life was taken from him not from a stranger but by a person he should have been able to trust most in his life,' he said. 'He was betrayed in the most unimaginable way possible. His life was taken through calculated, intentional actions motivated by the greed, control and desire for a life with someone else,' Gene said, as Richins raised her eyebrows. 'I miss watching him grow into a man I was so proud of. One of the greatest joys of my life was seeing the kind of father he had become.'
Richins dabbed away tears and grew emotional as several of her family members also delivered statements. Richins's lawyer shared comments from Richins's mother Lisa Darden, sitting at the back of the courtroom, in which she insisted that she still believes her daughter is innocent and that she is grieving the loss of Eric. 'From a mother’s heart ask that Kouri be given a sentence that will allow her to have a presence in her children’s lives,' she said.
While she didn’t shed any tears hearing her sons’ heartbreaking comments, Richins broke down in tears when her own brother Ronnie delivered a statement. 'Little sister, I love you. I miss you. I miss your random banter. I miss your calls,' he said. Breaking down in tears and sniffing, Ronnie said he also missed the boys and the fun they used to have together. The siblings exchanged a knowing glance as he returned to his seat in the courtroom, mascara streaming down Richins’s face.
In their statements, Richins’s attorneys - who did not put on a defense for their client - said they did not agree with the verdict in the case and asked the judge not to return the maximum penalty of life without parole. Attorney Wendy Lewis said that in all her years practicing and the thousands of clients she has represented, this is the first time she believes her client is innocent.
In her explosive trial this March, jurors heard how the realtor had been motivated by a desire to get her hands on Eric’s $4 million estate and to escape their marriage in order to start a new life with her handyman lover. Throughout 13 days of emotional testimony, much of the trial hinged on the state's star witness, housekeeper Carmen Lauber. Lauber testified that she sold drugs to Richins four times around the time of Eric’s death, including providing her with the fentanyl used to kill Eric.
A first plot to fatally poison Eric unfolded on Valentine’s Day 2022 when Richins laced a sandwich she bought for her husband from a local diner. Eric fell ill and allegedly told friends he feared his wife was trying to poison him. It was after that failed plot that Richins allegedly requested more powerful fentanyl, asking Lauber for 'the Michael Jackson stuff.' Days later, Eric was dead.
Another key moment came when Richins’s lover, Robert Josh Grossmann, took the stand, breaking down in tears as he revealed a shocking conversation where Richins had asked him what it felt like to kill someone in the military just days after Eric died. The lovers’ text messages also became central to the case, along with Richins’ explosive internet searches, including 'women Utah prison', 'how to delete cell phone data' and 'if someone is poisoned, what goes down on the death certificate as.'
In closing arguments, prosecutors described Richins as a 'black widow' who was motivated by money and an affair to murder her husband. It took just three hours for the jury to return a verdict of guilty on all five felony charges of aggravated murder, aggravated attempted murder, two counts of insurance fraud and forgery.
During the sentencing hearing, the prosecutor also asked the judge to grant a protective order to block Richins from ever contacting the children or Eric's family. Under the law, the judge said that it was not within his power to do so. A restitution hearing has been scheduled for July 31. Richins is also facing a separate trial on a string of financial charges.
