A woman who published a children’s book to help kids deal with loss after her husband died is now facing an aggravated murder charge tied to his death.
Kouri Richins was also convicted of fraud for collecting insurance money after her husband, Eric Richins, passed away in March 2022.
Prosecutors say she laced a cocktail he drank with fentanyl, adding about five times the legal amount.
They claim she was carrying roughly $4.5 million US in debt and believed she would receive his $4 million estate after he died.
Kouri had been involved with another man and was making plans for a future with him.
A few months after he died, Richins put out a children’s book about grief to help her sons, and other kids, deal with losing a parent.
Jurors also found her guilty on several other felony charge – one included attempted murder, linked to what officials say was another poisoning attempt weeks earlier on Valentine’s Day, when she allegedly gave her husband a sandwich laced with fentanyl.
He wasn’t killed by that incident, but it reportedly left him with hives and caused him to pass out.
In court on Monday, relatives from both families could be seen crying and embracing.
Her defence lawyer argued that Eric struggled with a painkiller addiction and had asked her to obtain opioids for him; however, she had previously told police he had no history of using illicit drugs.
Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told the court she wanted out of the marriage but still wanted access to his money.
Richins has pleaded not guilty to every charge, and the most serious one, aggravated murder, carries a possible sentence of 25 years to life behind bars.
Prosecutors say Kouri, a real estate agent known for flipping homes, was dealing with serious debt and had plans to marry another man she was secretly involved with.
The prosecutors also said she had signed up for several life insurance policies on her husband behind his back. In total, those policies were worth about $2 million.
Jurors were shown text messages between her and Robert Grossman, the man she was seeing, where she discussed leaving her husband and potentially walking away with millions through a divorce.
Her search history was also brought up in court; it included some sinister questions like “what is the lethal dose of fentanyl” and “if someone is poisoned, what would the death certificate say.”
