Kouri Richins has been found guilty of murdering her husband, Eric. Photo / Kouri Richins
Kouri Richins has been found guilty of murdering her husband, Eric. Photo / Kouri Richins
A United States mother who authored a children’s book about grief has been found guilty of murdering her husband.
Kouri Richins fatally poisoned Eric Richins in March 2022 when she served him a cocktail laced with fentanyl, a Utah jury found yesterday, according to ABC News.
The court heard Richins,35, killed Eric to pay off millions of dollars in debt incurred from a failed business venture.
Prosecutors alleged she fraudulently took out several life insurance policies on Eric and was planning a “fresh start” with a man she was having an affair with.
She mistakenly believed she would inherit US$4 million ($6.8m).
ABC News reported the prosecution’s closing arguments portrayed Richins as a social climber desperate to be seen as “privileged, affluent and successful”.
“She wanted to leave Eric Richins but did not want to leave his money,” Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth said.
He also claimed Richins lacked experience obtaining “street drugs”, asking a dealer for the “Michael Jackson stuff”.
“She knows she wants it because it is lethal ... and she wanted [a] lethal, fatal death,” he said.
Children's author Khouri Richins wrote the book "Are You With Me" to help children deal with grief.
Richins’ defence team opted not to call any witnesses, according to the BBC, instead arguing the prosecution’s case was “sloppy”, “driven by bias”, and failed to prove its allegations beyond a reasonable doubt.
The jury deliberated for three hours before reaching a verdict, the BBC reported.
Richins looked downward as the decision was read out.
She was found guilty of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder, forgery, and insurance fraud.
The mother of three was arrested in March 2023, two months after she self-published Are You With Me?, a picture book designed to help children deal with the loss of a parent.
“We wrote this book and we’re really hoping that it provides some comfort for not just obviously, our family, but other families that are going through the same thing,” she told local radio station KPCW during a promotional tour.
Prosecutors claimed Richins had tried to kill Eric several times before his eventual death, including an episode on Valentine’s Day 2022 when she served him a fentanyl-laced sandwich.
The Associated Press reported he broke out in hives and temporarily lost consciousness.
Eric had five times the lethal dosage of the synthetic opioid fentanyl in his system when he died, a medical examiner found, according to the BBC.
During the trial, the court was shown screenshots of Richins entering search terms such as “luxury prisons for the rich America” and “Can cops force you to do a lie detector test?” into Google.
She is due to be sentenced on May 13.
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