A Utah woman who wrote a children’s book about grieving her husband’s death was charged Monday with his murder.
Kouri Richins, 33, is accused of spiking her husband Eric’s drink with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl.
Earlier this year, Richins went on multiple local television programs to promote her book, “Are You With Me?” which was written to help children understand and cope with the death of a loved one.
“It’s explaining to my kid, just because he’s not present here with us physically, doesn’t mean his presence isn’t here with us,” Richins said in a “Good Things Utah” segment on local ABC affiliate KTVX.
But Richins was the reason her husband was “not present here with [them] physically,” according to police.
On the night of March 3, 2022, Richins mixed her husband a cocktail and gave it to him in bed at their home in Kamas, prosecutors said. She then left to sleep with one of their young children.
When she returned at 3 a.m., Eric Richins was cold to the touch, and she called 911. Eric was pronounced dead at the scene after first responders tried to save his life.
When promoting the book, Richins said her husband died unexpectedly. However, an autopsy revealed he had enough fentanyl in him to kill five people, according to prosecutors.
Police said Richins reached out to an “unnamed acquaintance” to get her hands on some fentanyl before she and Eric had a Valentine’s Day dinner, local CBS affiliate KUTV reported. At that dinner, Eric “became very ill” but recovered, investigators said.
According to police, shortly before his death, Eric warned friends and family that “if anything happened to him, [his wife] was to blame,” local NPR affiliate KPCW reported. He even changed his will to benefit his sister, not his wife.
After Eric recovered from Valentine’s Day dinner, Richins reached back out to her source for more fentanyl, police said.
Investigators said Richins used that fentanyl to spike her husband’s drink on the night of March 3.
More than a year later, she was charged with one count of aggravated murder and three counts of possession with intent to distribute. Her next court appearance is scheduled for May 19.