Authorities say a woman in Utah poisoned her husband to death and then wrote a children’s book about dealing with loss. On Wednesday, she will be in court for a hearing to see if state prosecutors have enough evidence against her to go ahead with a trial.
For supposedly killing her husband with a lethal dose of fentanyl in March 2022 at their home in a small mountain town near Park City, Kouri Richins, 33, is facing several felony charges. Police say she put five times the amount of the synthetic opioid that would have killed Eric Richins, 39, into a Moscow mule drink that he drank.
According to the charging papers, she tried to kill him with a spiked sandwich on Valentine’s Day.
The mother of three self-published the children’s book “Are You with Me?” in the months before she was arrested in May 2023. The book is about a father who has angel wings and watches over his young son after he dies. The book could help authorities set up the crime as a planned murder with a complicated plot to hide it.
In order to help shape their stories in the case, both the defense and the prosecution plan to call witnesses and present proof. Judge Richard Mrazik of Utah’s state court will likely decide after the hearing if the state has shown enough proof to proceed with the trial.
Other family members, a housekeeper who says she sold the drugs to Kouri Richins, and Eric Richins’ friends who have talked about phone calls from the day authorities say his nine-year-old wife poisoned him for the first time could be witnesses.
Skye Lazaro, the defense lawyer, has said that the proof against her client is weak and based on a lot of different factors. Lazaro said the maid might have lied because she wanted to get off easy on drug charges, and he said Eric Richins’ sisters were biased against her client because they were fighting over his estate and there was also an assault case going on at the same time.
Katie Richins, his sister, filed a petition saying that Kouri Richins killed her husband for money reasons. Prosecutors say she bought nearly $2 million in life insurance policies without telling him and thought she would inherit his estate because of their prenuptial agreement.
Kouri Richins was found guilty Monday of attacking her other sister-in-law soon after her husband died. The charges were misdemeanors. Kouri Richins punched Amy Richins in the face during a fight over who could get into her brother’s safe, Amy Richins told the judge.
Beyond charges of severe murder, assault, and drug offenses, Kouri Richins is also facing charges of mortgage fraud, forgery, and insurance fraud for allegedly making fake loan applications and falsely claiming insurance benefits after her husband’s death.
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