Mom who wrote book on grief to help her children get over their father's death charged with his murder after fatal dose of fentanyl found in his system

A Mormon mother who had written a book about grief that was meant to help her three sons deal with the unexpected death of their father has now been charged with his murder. Kouri Richins was arrested Monday under suspicion of fatally poisoning her husband Eric Richins last year in Kamas, Utah, per the Daily Mail.

The report noted that a medical examiner said that they discovered five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in Eric’s system when he died on March 4, 2022. Fentanyl is a painkiller that is approximately 100 times stronger than morphine.

Kouri claimed that she had prepared her husband a Moscow Mule and gave him a gummy with THC in it as a way to celebrate him making a sale for their real estate business. However, she claims that she left him alone to go check on one of her three sons, and when she returned to the bedroom at 3 am, her husband was allegedly “cold to the touch,” per the report.

After her husband’s untimely death, Kouri wrote a book entitled “Are You With Me?” - a children’s book meant to aid children in the grieving process of a loved one. But now the authorities have suggested that she fatally poisoned him with a lethal dose of fentanyl. While the police have not yet pinned down a motive, it has been reported that Kouri had changed her husband’s life insurance policy to make her the sole beneficiary, per the Daily Mail.

The report noted that Eric and his business partner had changed the life insurance policy back to what it was before Kouri changed it, and he apparently told friends that if anything were to happen to him, his wife would be the one to blame.

Eric’s family had claimed that his wife had attempted to kill him in the years leading up to his death, including two separate occasions where Eric became violently ill after having drinks or dinner with his wife.

The New York Post reported that court documents revealed police had executed a search warrant for Kouri’s phone and computers, and subsequently found communications between her and an “unnamed acquaintance.”

Investigators reportedly interviewed the acquaintance on May 2, who faced multiple counts of drug-related offenses, including possession of a controlled substance and intent to distribute. Kouri had apparently asked for “prescription pain medication for an investor” between December 2021 and February 2022, per the report. 

The Post added that Kouri “told (the acquaintance) to leave the pills at a house defendant was flipping in Midway, Utah. (The acquaintance) left the pills at the house, and the defendant left cash for them,” according to documents.

The acquaintance also shared with investigators that Kouri said that her alleged investor was looking for something stronger, adding that they were looking for “some of the Michael Jackson stuff,” specifically fentanyl.

On February 26, 2022, Kouri’s acquaintance purportedly got 15 to 30 fentanyl pills from an unknown dealer in Ogden, Utah, and then sold them to Kouri at her home for $900, according to the report.

Eric Richin was found dead a little over a week later.