Wife Writes Grief Book After Husband’s Death, Then Gets Convicted of Killing Him | Kouri Richins

Now part of the Darkcast Network. Welcome to Indie Podcasts With a dark side. At, uh, 3:21am On March 4, 2022, Kouri Richins called 911 from her home in Camas, Utah. She told the dispatcher that her husband, Eric Richins, was not breathing, was cold to the touch, and didn’t have a pulse. According to Kouri, she had been sleeping in one of her son’s rooms at the time because he was having nightmares. She said she returned to her bed, tried to put her arm around Eric and realized something was wrong. Quote, I turned over like to put my arm around Eric and he was just cold. Like, it was like a. Like putting your arm over a cement brick. Welcome, LaMs. Welcome to a new episode of Love and Murder Heartbreak to Homicide. As you can tell, I’m finally talking about the case of the author who gained fame from writing a children’s book about her husband’s death, or only to gain a different kind of fame when it turned out she was the one who murdered him. So, by popular lamb demand, I’m bringing you the case of Kouri Richards. I wasn’t ignoring your requests. I wasn’t. I was just waiting for the outcome of the case to be able to do the entire thing in one episode. So here we are. Finally. Before we begin, uh, don’t forget to do two things for me. First thing is to follow Love and Heartbreak to Homicide on Facebook. You get like one to two minute cases there, and you support the podcast by simply watching the videos, sharing and commenting over there. The second thing you can do is to subscribe to this podcast on whatever platform you’re listening on, like currently listening on, so you don’t miss an episode. You can also subscribe for free on the Patreon patreon.com loveandmurder where you do get some bonuses for being a free subscriber. But if you want more cases, more of my unhinged rantings at these crazy perps, case extras, after shows and more, then join the lam fam at one of the bonus tiers. $3 a month and up. Patreon.com uh, loveandmurder and now, without further ado, let’s get into this case of Kouri Richens on, um, Love and Murder. When first responders arrived at 3:31am 10 minutes after the 911 call, they found a scene that looked like a tragic medical emergency. But one paramedic noted something strange. Eric appeared to have been, quote, dead a while. Kouri told police that she had performed CPR before help arrived, but Emergency personnel reported there was no physical evidence to support that claim. Responders reported that there was a large amount of blood coming from Eric’s mouth that would have been disturbed had CPR actually been performed. Kouri explained that she and Eric had been celebrating a business deal that evening. She told investigators that she’d made him a uh, Moscow mule in the kitchen and brought it to their bedroom. According to her, Eric drank the cocktail while sitting in bed before she went to sleep in her son’s room. Eric was pronounced dead at 4:58am Eric Eugene Richins was born on May 13, 1982 and was raised as a part of an affluent ranchin family. As a member of the church, Eric dedicated two years of his young adulthood to a religious mission in Mexico City. Then, uh came back and established himself as a successful business businessman, owning and operating C and E Stone Masonry llc. He was described as a family man who lived life to the fullest with few regrets. By 2009, Eric was about 27 years old and already running his successful masonry company. Kouri Darden was born on April 20, 1990. I couldn’t find much about her childhood, but during her college years she supported herself by working as a housekeeper. Kouri said that her upbringing influenced her professional drive, saying that she was not raised to live a typical conservative life where a woman’s role was limited to being a homemaker and mother. She wanted to be more, which nothing is wrong with being a stay at home mom. That’s a full time job in itself. Cooking, cleaning, homework, kids, uh, at the same time though, nothing’s wrong with being a working mom either. Different strokes for different folks. And be proud of whichever path you choose. In 2009, at the age of 19, while she was working as a cashier in Home Depot, she first met Eric. They married on June 15, 2013 in a backyard ceremony. On their wedding day, they signed a prenuptial agreement stating that neither spouse had rights to the other’s assets unless Eric died while they were still married. Which. Pause here and I have a serious question. What do you think of that? Like signing a prenup. I know a lot of women, not all, but a lot, have a problem with it, but truthfully, I have no problems with it. If I have to sign one, I have no problems. I’ll have my lawyer read it over and I’ll put my own stipulations in there. For instance, if we have kids and you think that with this prenup you’re not going to support your kids, you’re going to be out your mind. And I’m the type of mother that whatever money you give me for the child goes only to the child and not to my lifestyle. If after I buy all the necessities for my child, there’s money left over, well, then I’ll put that in my kid’s saving account. That way, you know, they’ll have money for college or to start a business or whatever they want to do when they grow up. That’s my mentality on that subject. So what do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Anyway, from my sources, from my references, signing this prenup was listed as a point of contention. And I do want to point out that everything I’m saying here comes from sources and not from my butt. Some people love messaging me to tell me how much I got wrong in the case. You can view my sources under almost every episode on my website. If what I’m saying is supposedly wrong, then you can feel free to reach out to, you know, cbs, abc, NBC, or whatever larger corporations yourself. And stop telling me this. To those on the outside, Eric and Kouri were the quintessential Utah success story. Eric was a goofy cowboy dude and a dedicated father who ran a flourishing stone masonry business. He was deeply involved in his three sons lives, coaching their sports teams and teaching them to fish in camp. In 2019, Kouri launched K. Richins Realty LLC and became heavily involved in real estate development projects such as flipping houses. One of those projects involved obtaining a, uh, $250,000 home equity line of credit on Eric’s premarital home. However, the cracks in the marriage started early. As Kouri’s real estate business expanded, so did her financial problems. In the same year that she launched her business, Kouri became interested in a massive unfinished property in Herbert City known as the Midway Mansion. The Property sat on 10 acres and included 20,000 the Elite and included uh, a 20,000 square foot main house and a 4,000 square foot guest house. Kouri viewed it as the opportunity of a lifetime to finance the deal. She took on millions of dollars in high interest debt and by 2020 her financial enterprise was collapsing under a mountain of debt. Meanwhile, Eric was becoming increasingly concerned about his finances. In September and October, Eric discovered that Kouri had withdrawn $100,000 from his bank accounts and spent another $30,000 on his credit cards. He consulted both a divorce attorney and an estate planning attorney, Crystal Bowman Carter. In November 2020, without Kouri’s knowledge, Eric created the Eric Richens Live In Trust. Look, honestly, I don’t blame him. I don’t blame him the trust placed his business interests, life insurance proceeds, and estate assets under the management of his sister, Katie Richins Benson, for the benefit of his three sons in the event of his death. It also removed Kouri as the beneficiary of a $500,000 life insurance policy and as the designated trust, he transferred his partnership interest in his business to the trust. The trust also laid claim to the amount of $100,000 to $165,000 in cash Eric kept in a home safe. Can you imagine that? Like, you just have $100,000 in cash in your safe? Like, just sitting in your house? Like, I cannot imagine that. Hopefully one day I’ll be able to do that. But. Whew. Uh. Eric told his attorney that he wanted to protect himself from what he viewed as an ongoing abuse and misuse of his finances. As Eric quietly tried to protect his assets, Kouri’s business problems were still becoming worse. As investigators began looking closer at Eric’s death, they discovered that his family already had concerns. Eric’s sister told investigators that Eric had previously warned them that if anything happened to, they should look at Cory. They pointed to an incident that happened in Greece in 2019 and another incident on February 14, 2022, just weeks before his death. So let’s get into these incidents, shall we? After vacationing In Greece in 2019, Eric reportedly became severely ill after Kouri served him a drink. According to Eric’s family, he later told his sister that he believed Kouri had poisoned him. Family members said the incident was serious enough that Eric warned them that if anything ever happened to him, Kouri was responsible. Then, on February 14, 2022, Kouri brought Eric a sandwich and left it in his truck, along with a love note. After taking a bite, Eric became seriously sick. He broke out in hives, had difficulty breathing, and eventually blacked out. To stabilize himself, he used his son’s EpiPen, drank Benadryl, and went to sleep. During the incident, Eric texts Kouri, I’m gonna go lay down for a bit. If I don’t start getting better, I’m going to head to the hospital. After that incident, Eric told a friend the same thing he’d previously told his sister. I think my wife tried to poison me. However, despite both of these incidents, the marriage continued, and two weeks later, Eric was dead. Which my question is, I’m going to ask you, if you suspected your significant other was trying to kill you, would you stay in that relationship? Because I’m going to tell you, if I ever suspected that something was poisoned and my significant other is trying to kill me, I’m not staying there. I will still tell everybody. Yeah, I think if something happens in my own house that I moved out on, and this is where I am now, I think this person was trying to poison me. So if anything happens, you know, don’t believe that I, uh, committed suicide. Don’t believe that it was any. This person did it. But I’m taking myself out of that environment, and I’m not eating a damn thing. Eating or drinking. You could bring me a glass of, uh, water. I’m not taking it. Even if you bring me the glass, I’m not taking it. I will buy my own plastic cups, paper plates. I will carry it on my person at all times until I’m able to get out of this house. I will only eat food that I bought that I literally saw, prepared myself, or I prepared it myself in pots that I bought. I will have a backpack full of kitchen stuff that I always have on my person. And I don’t care if you feel offended. Like, I don’t. I just. I wouldn’t stay in that situation. And also my children, too. Like, I don’t know if you’re capable of poisoning me, and I, you know, think that you’re about to poison me. I extend that to my children, too, personally. So what do you think? What would you do? So now investigators know this. And with that in mind, they requested a toxicology report. And in April 2022, toxicology results confirmed Eric had died from an overdose of illicit fentanyl. The medical examiner determined that the drug had been ingested orally. Investigators also got warrants to examine phones, electronic devices, financial records, and communications between Kouri and the people around her. What they found would eventually become what prosecutors called a, uh, quote, mountain of proof. While the investigation was quietly moving forward, Kouri was publicly presenting herself as a grieving widow and marketing. On March 7, 2023, she published a children’s book called are you with me? A book dedicated to Eric and their three sons that focused on grief and losing a parent. She went on local TV shows like Good Things, Utah to promote it. And this personally is where I first heard about her promoting herself as an author. In promoting the book, Kouri said, quote, I just wanted some story to read to my kids at night. And so, you know, I was like, let’s just write one. And literally, that quote is what I heard from myself when she came out and said it. When I. When I was introduced to her, she told audiences as she said, quote, that is still here. It’s just in a different way. Behind the scenes Investigators were uncovering a very different picture. First, they found evidence that Kouri had hired a ghost writer, Shane Walter, to write the book. So she wasn’t even the author. Shane said that when he worked with her, she appeared deeply affected by Eric’s death. He described her as frequently crying and becoming emotional when discussing Eric and his sons. Second, while looking through the couple’s electronics, detectives found that while Kouri claimed that she had been sleeping in one of her son’s rooms on the night that Eric died, phone records showed that her device was unlocked six times and moved several times during those hours, including in the minutes leading up to the 911 call. Investigators also discovered deleted messages between Kouri and her former housekeeper, Carmen Lauber, along with a picture that Eric took of himself covered in hives. Remember when he’d eaten that sandwich on February 14th? Yeah. He’d taken pictures, and apparently they had been deleted from, uh, both of their phones after Eric had already been dead. Digital evidence showed another detail prosecutors would find significant. At approximately 8:30am just hours after Eric died, Kouri’s phone accessed a, uh, gif, showing a woman wiping away tears with a dollar bill. Okay, I say gif. Some people say gif. I say gif. Get over it. Other GIFs include captions such as I’m really rich and idiots. Idiots everywhere. This is after her husband died. This is what you’re looking up. And the, uh, I’m really rich one, really. Investigators also uncovered Internet searches that prosecutors would argue showed a guilty conscience. Among those searches were, what is a lethal dose of fentanyl? If someone is poisoned, what does it go down on death Certificate as? Can FBI find deleted messages? Can cops uncover deleted messages? IPhone? How investigators recovered deleted messages. Luxury prisons for the wealthy in the United States. What? Women prisons in the United States. How long does life insurance companies take to pay? They also found evidence that data had been deleted from Eric’s Apple watch shortly after his death, before Kouri gave it to one of her children. At the same time, investigators were digging through financial records. These records showed what was happening to Kouri’s real estate business. It was on the verge of collapse between March and June 2019. As I stated, Kouri had started her real estate business. But what we didn’t know was that she used a, uh, fraudulent power of attorney to open a, uh, $250,000 home equity line of credit. So, remember, I told you she did that before? Well, it was fraudulent. So she took out that HELOC on the family home without Eric’s permission. She even forged Eric’s signature to be Able to get the loan without his permission. A, uh, forensic accountant even reported that by the time Eric died, her business owed millions of dollars and was struggling to stay afloat. Investigators also found evidence that Kouri had taken out at least six life insurance policies on Eric over the years, Often without his knowledge. The life insurance policies totaled nearly $3 million. Actually, on January 1, 2022, Kouri had tried to change the beneficiary of Eric’s $2 million life insurance policy to herself. However, the change was reversed when the insurance company alerted Eric’s business partner. Then, after his death, she received more than $1.3 million in life insurance payouts, Most of which she used to pay down her business debts. In addition, they found that later on the day that Eric died, Kouri had closed on a $3.9 million mansion in Herbert city. So on the day he died, she’s buying a house. Can you imagine that? On the day your husband or your wife, your significant other dies, you’re just like, well, them’s the break, and you go buy a house. Not only that, but you’re looking up, uh, gifs, talking about you’re rich and all this other crap. Please tell me you’re guilty without telling me you’re guilty. As investigators continued building their case, they uncovered additional evidence involving Eric’s estate. Only after Eric died did Kouri learn about the Eric richens live in trust and learned that the trust had removed her from control of significant assets and placed management of Eric’s estate in the hands of Katie for the benefit of his three sons. I bet you she was mad. Two days after Eric’s death, on March 6, 2022, Kouri hired a locksmith to drill into Eric’s safe. If you can’t get into the safe, then clearly he didn’t trust you and it wasn’t meant for you. But anyway, she hired this locksmith, which reportedly contained between the $100,000 and $165,000 in cash that I told you about. When Amy richards confronted her and explained that the contents belonged to the trust, an argument erupted. During the argument, Eric’s estate planner, Crystal bowman carter, who I told you about before, was on the phone and informed Kouri that Eric had created a trust, putting Katie in charge of the estate. Kouri reportedly shouted, what’s wrong with you people? This is my house. To which she was told, actually, quote, it’s not your house. Kouri being enraged after learning that she was no longer in control of the estate, quote, and y’ all are not going to believe this. You’re just not going to Believe this. After she found out she wasn’t in control of the estate, she throat punched Amy, striking her in the face and neck with her hand. That was a, quote, throat punched. She punched that woman in her throat. Amy described the attack as being driven by, quote, pure hatred and rage. The incident resulted in a domestic violence and assault charge. I mean, yeah, that would have been after I beat her ass, but I digress. That’s just me. She pleaded guilty to a domestic violence charge and pleaded no contest to the assault charge. Following this revelation, Kouri filed civil lawsuits to challenge the trust and the appointment of Katie as the trustee, seeking to claim physical and monetary assets she believed was hers under their prenuptial agreement. In November 2024, a juvenile court awarded custody of the children to Eric’s family, noting that Eric had specifically set up the trust to protect them financially. Another interesting piece of information that investigators were able to uncover was that Kouri was having an affair. That’s right. By early 2020, Kouri had begun a romantic relationship with Robert Josh Grossman, a, uh, handyman who worked on properties for her business. Robert lived in one of the homes Kouri was flipping, and she regularly helped him financially. He said she provided him with money when needed and even purchased two trucks for him. Their relationship quickly became emotional, with Robert saying that he loved Kouri and believed that she loved him. So basically, let me sum this up to you. She ain’t got no money, and she’s using her husband’s money to fund her affair partner with. And he’s living in one of her houses that she hasn’t sold and she’s bought with, again, no money and that she took out with her husband’s money without him knowing, and she bought two trucks for him. Again, not her money. Now you tell me how diabolical that is. On February 15, 2022, Cory text him asking him if he would marry her if she were divorced. M. Now, remember the day before this is when she’d left that sandwich for Eric. Anyway, so she texts Robert and he responded with, yes, in love with you. Capital Y or U, of course I would. Around the same time, Kouri sent another message saying, quote, if he could just go away and you could just be here, life would be so perfect. I love you. She also wrote, I do want a future together. I do want you figure life out together. While those messages were being exchanged, investigators believed Kouri was also attempted to obtain fentanyl. Remember I told you about the deleted messages between, uh, her and Carmen? Well, according to Carmen, between January and February 2022, Kouri asked for what she called, quote, some of the Michael Jackson stuff. Referring to fentanyl, Carmen said that on February 11, 2022, she got between, uh, 15 and 30 fentanyl pills in and sold them to Kouri for $900. Then on February 26, 2022, Kouri bought another $900 worth of fentanyl pills from Carmen. I’m going to remind y’, all, she has no money. All of this money is coming from her husband. This woman is unhinged now. Dissatisfied with waiting for official results, in July 2022, Katie hired private investigator Todd Gabler to surveil Kouri and to look deeper into Eric’s death because family members believed there were too many unanswered questions. Gabler’s work included questioning neighbors and locating evidence that was ultimately turned over to the sheriff’s office. This independent investigation was a constant source of pressure on Kouri. And on April 19, 2023, she sent an email to the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. In the email, she addressed numerous topics, including her business, her mental health, quote, exotic vacations after Eric’s death, and the investigation itself. Here’s hm a quote from the email. I just want this to be over. I just want our lives back and to move on and to grieve and mourn my husband without looking over my shoulder constantly for you guys or the idiotic private investigators or the Richins family. In her email to the police, Kouri also addressed other topics besides the vacation, such as Eric’s supposed affair, her business ambitions, and her claim that the couple had a, quote, lack of financial problems. So she’s literally, she’s the one with the affair. But she’s now trying to say that Eric had an affair, which I saw that nowhere. And then she’s saying they didn’t have, uh, financial, uh, problems. Well, I mean, he didn’t have financial problems other than you, really. So this was an email that she thought was smart to write to the sheriff’s office. I don’t know what her point of doing it was, but she did it. And, um, detectives had been continuing their investigation from 2022 into 2023. And on May 8, 2023, Kouri was arrested and charged with aggravated murder and three counts of drug possession. On June 12, 2023, a, uh, judge ruled that Kouri would be held in custody without bail for the duration of her trial. And on August 18, 2023, prosecutors announced that they would seek the death penalty. Meanwhile, prosecutors continued building their financial case. And in June 2025, they filed 26 additional felony charges related to alleged financial crimes, drug to be tried in a separate case. Those charges included five counts of mortgage fraud, which are second degree felonies, five counts of forgery, which are third degree felonies, seven counts of money laundering, seven counts of issuing a bad check, one count of communications fraud, and one count of a pattern of unlawful activity. While Kouri sat in jail awaiting trial, prosecutors said that Kouri continued trying to influence the investigation. She doesn’t stop. In September between, like, the 15th or the 18th, 2023, officer Jeremy Thomas discovered what became known as the Walk the dog letter hidden inside a book titled 10 Actual Official LSAT Prep Tests, which was an LSAT preparation book. The six page document contained detailed instructions involving her mother, Lisa Darden, and her brother Rodney Darden. The letter earned its nicknames from the words scrawled at the top of the page where Kouri reminded Lisa to perform various tasks, including walking the dog. The letter instructed family members to help create testimony claiming Eric secretly used fentanyl and obtained drugs from ranch workers or from Mexico. As I told y’ all before, don’t ask me to commit crimes for you because, no, it’s not going to happen. Don’t send me that letter because I’m going to tell you right now, that letter is probably going straight to the cops because you are not taking me down with you. One section of the letter said that Ronnie could, quote, reword this, however he needs to, just to make the point, just include it all. Basically perjury, perjure yourself, lying to the court. Kouri wrote that Eric supposedly told Ronnie not to tell her about the drugs because she would get mad. And since she felt Eric just gets high every night and won’t help take care of the kids. So this is what she was telling her brother to, like, you know, reword this in your own words or however you want it to sound, but basically tell them that you knew about the drugs, but you didn’t tell Kouri about the drugs so she wouldn’t get mad. And, you know, she had an inkling that he was taking drugs because she just felt that he gets high every night and didn’t help take care of the kids. So she’s basically, you know, keeping as much evidence on and around her persons as she could, Telling police, like, this isn’t actually the truth. He’s not a bad father. He doesn’t get high, he doesn’t do drugs, but trying to tell her family to formulate a story. And then she put it in a book that, I don’t know, for some reason, she thought they weren’t going to look through in jail? I don’t know. But anyway, I have one page of this letter in the Patreon, starting at the $3 a month tear and patreon.com loveandmurder if you want to read that page for yourself. So when confronted about the document, Kouri insisted that it wasn’t a witness tampering plan. What could it possibly be then? Kouri, quote, those papers were not a letter to you guys. They were part of a freaking book. She claimed that she was writing a fictional mystery novel based loosely on her life, involving a character who traveled to Mexico, becoming involved with drugs, and ending up in a Mexican prison. Apparently in the letter, there was also a request for Crest White strips. And when prosecutors asked her about this, she said that was for her book’s protagonist, who needed them because she was drinking a lot of coffee while in the Mexican jail. Right. Prosecutors, along with Ky, didn’t buy this, of course, and this resulted in disciplinary action inside the jail as it violated three jailhouse rules. She was placed on lockdown for 30 days, where she was only allowed one hour a day outside of her cell and was barred from having visitors. It also became another piece of evidence that would be presented at trial. So said trial started on February 23, 2026, and lasted three weeks. See why it took me so long to make this episode? The trial literally just happened. The prosecution, led by Brad, uh, Bloodworth, which, oh, my God, that’s a name for a lawyer. He only had a couple of professional options with that name, Brad, uh, Bloodworth. But the options that he would have with that kind of name all had to be something ruthless. So I guess we’re happy he settled on lawyer. Anyway, attorney Bloodworth here painted Kouri as a money obsessed woman who, quote, stood on the precipice of total financial collapse due to the weight of all those loans, and killed Eric to collect on his insurance to fund her lifestyle and a, uh, future with Josh, which, I mean, she was already using his money while he was alive. Is it really a stretch to believe that she would try and use his money to fund Josh while he was dead? They presented a mountain of proof, largely circumstantial, but meticulously woven together. And they called 40 witnesses, including Carmen, who detailed the drug buys, and forensic accountants who tracked Kouri’s $2 million debt. The prosecution called family members, investigators, digital forensic experts, accountants, Robert Crozier, and numerous other witnesses. Their central argument was that Kouri was driven by greed and a desire to maintain a facade of privileged affluence. So she fatally poisoned her husband in Killing him, she could get, quote, a fresh start with another man. Quote, the evidence will provide that Kouri Richards murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life. More than anything, she wanted his money to perpetuate her facade of privileged affluence and success. Now, I know you’ve been wondering why Carmen has been singing like a bird when it looks like she should be charged too. Well, during her interview with police following her own arrest, investigators told Carmen that they would speak to the prosecutor to assist her with her own potential charges if she provides, quote, the details that will ensure that Kouri will be convicted of murder. Of course, Carmen said, absolutely. Where do I sign? Where do I sign? And she was granted immunity in exchange for her truthful testimony against Kouri during trial. So, as per the terms of her deal, Carmen testified that she purchased pills for Kouri four times in early 2022, eventually getting fentanyl from a supplier named Robert Crozier. Remember, that’s one of the witnesses they called. So she got this from him at Kouri’s request. Then they presented that location. Data showed Kouri and Carmen’s phone were near the gas station where the drug deals occurred on pivotal dates. When Kouri’s mother took the stand, she claimed that Eric was supportive of the Midway Mansion deal and suggested they celebrate. Eric’s family said the property had become a major source of conflict between the couple and that they had been arguing about it shortly before his death. That evening, Kouri and Eric were together at his home. At 8:36pm Robert sent Kouri a GIF of two people kissing with the caption I love you. Kouri responded with a kissing emoji and the words, uh, love you. According to prosecutors, that exchange occurred less than 30 minutes before Kouri served Eric the Moscow Mule. Kouri had told police that she’d made the drink in the kitchen and brought it to Eric while he sat in the bed. Sometime after that, Eric consumed the fentanyl. Hours later, Kouri made the 911 call reporting that her husband was dead. We went through all of that. Then that same forensic accountant that I mentioned before testified that Kouri’s business was imploding with her bank accounts, quote, perpetually in the hole, short on cash, and that her company was drowning in debt with a net worth of negative, uh, 1.6 million. So, I mean, I guess I was richer than her, because at least I’m not negative $1.6 million in debt. Damn. Kouri’s mother testified that an accountant estimated Kouri could have walked away with a $12 million profit if she stayed under budget while finishing the Mansion. But what is the theme we’re seeing here? Kouri is not good with money. However, following Kouri’s arrest and the subsequent halt to the project, the mansion was put back on the market. It recently sold for 3.75 million, which was less than her original purchase price of 3.9 million. By the day after Eric’s death, Kouri’s business owed hard money lenders nearly 5 million, uh, dollars. So I guess, I mean, she wasn’t, I don’t know how accounting works, but to me, if she owed hard money lenders about $5 million, then she was $5 million in debt, not $1.6 million. So that’s what I’m thinking. Maybe, you know, I’m not an accountant. Maybe they calculate differently. Put the decimal in a different place and, you know, I’ve never seen. I don’t know. Kouri had, uh, gotten, like I told you, approximately $1.39 million in life insurance payment. As Eric remember, she had set those life insurance policies up herself, so she was the beneficiary on those. That total amount was comprised of two major payouts. The first was $1,017,018.49 because, you know, you can’t leave out the cents from Auto Owners Insurance Company and, uh, $352,562.61 from True Stage Insurance Company. The forensic accountant testified that by September 2022, she had already spent the majority of this money to pay down her business’s mountain debts. Now, following her murder conviction, prosecutors filed a memo asking the judge to order Kouri to return the 1.39 million as a restitution to the insurance company’s as she had obtained the funds through fraud and murder. They testified that one property Kouri flipped and sold in July 2022 became a legal liability. The buyer sued her for fraud and breach of contract. Wow. A, uh, legend that the home was filled with hazardous mold that Kouri had knowingly misrepresented. Just all kinds of. Oh my God. Such a horrible woman. Prosecutors allege that she used her realty business as a criminal enterprise under Utah’s RICO statute to conduct interrelated episodes of illegal conduct. Now, what is the Utah Pattern of Unlawful Activity Act? The RICO statute. The Utah Pattern of Unlawful Activity act is a state level version of the Federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations act, commonly known as rico. The act defines a pattern of unlawful activity based on the following. It requires a minimum at least three episodes of illegal conduct. These episodes can’t be isolated. They must share similar purposes. Results, participants, victims or methods of Commission or be otherwise interrelated by distinguishing characteristics. The episodes must demonstrate continuing unlawful conduct. The illegal acts must be related either to each other or to an enterprise which the law defines as an individual, corporation or business trust. And the most recent illegal act must have occurred within five years of the previous one. So back to the testimony. They said that ultimately, Kouri’s net worth was recorded as a negative 1.6 million the day after Eric died. And the dream business she claimed was celebrating a success on the night of the murder was actually not. Prosecutors argued that the prenuptial agreement created a financial incentive that made Eric’s death far more valuable to Kouri than a divorce. Kouri believed she would inherit Eric’s $4 million estate and over $2 million in life insurance. Let me pause and insert a note here. Some sources say it was $2 million, and some say it was $3 million. So let’s just round it out with, somewhere in that ballpark, 2 million to $3 million. Okay? They presented evidence that she had taken out several policies on Eric without his knowledge and even forged his signature on a $100,000 policy just 10 days before the first alleged murder attempt. The state argued that Eric’s death was not Kouri’s first attempt. They said that she laced a sandwich with fentanyl on February 14, 2022, and when he survived, prosecutors argued that she doubled down and administered a much higher dose three weeks later. Then the state called Kouri’s lover, Robert, to the stand. He turned on her. I mean, cheating is one thing, murder is another. So I could totally see that. Jurors saw text messages in which Kouri discussed a future together and expressed her desire to be with him instead of Eric. They also reveal that Kouri had planned a trip with Robert scheduled for one month after her husband’s death. Grieving widow. Uh, my butt. The prosecution argued that Kouri’s actions after the death and during the investigation revealed her guilt. They talked about the digital forensics that revealed Kouri’s searches, the walk the dog letter, and they presented her behavior and manipulation tactics after his death. Attorney Bloodworth argued that Kouri’s searches were particularly damning because they showed Kouri was not searching for information about accidental overdoses or. Or unknown causes of death. Instead, she was specifically investigating poisoning, which attorney Bloodworth, uh, contends was proof that she knew exactly how Eric had died. Witnesses testified that Kouri appeared unusually calm on the night of the death and immediately moved to sell the family home and close on a $3.9 million mansion. Prosecutors also argued that she used her middle son as a False alibi claiming that she was in his room while his father died. A, uh, claim the child later said. Nuh. In fact, her middle son testified that his parents bedroom door was locked and the TV was quote, blaring from inside that night. Circumstances he described as highly unusual. They also testified that after his death, Kouri tried to smear Eric’s name by falsely accusing him of having affairs with a co worker and a male friend. Something that had literally no evidence to back it up. The prosecution presented all of the deleted data and photos in which Katie testified that she found it disturbing that the information had been erased so quickly. Now, the defense defensed, as we always say, and it attacked nearly every aspect of the prosecution’s case, as, you know, a form of their defenses. The defense, led by attorneys Catherine Nestor and Wendy Lewis, centered on the argument that the prosecution’s case was built on paper thin circumstantial evidence and a narrative designed to character assassinate a grieving widow. And I have to counter here with no, it wasn’t really paper thin. That was actually a thick ass piece of paper. That paper, that paper thin was so thick it was like a piece of cardboard. So I don’t know what you’re talking about. My opinion. Their primary strategy was to highlight that the state could not prove exactly how the fentanyl entered Eric’s body. Defense attorney Nestor told jurors, quote, they’re going to spend weeks in this trial trying to convince you that Kouri had reasons to kill her husband because they can’t show you that she did kill her husband. Attorney Lewis argued that the prosecution, quote, looked at the facts in a way that you want to see a witch, but if you look at them in another way, you see a widow as part of the fictional lamb jury, I guess as head, because, you know, it’s my podcast. I disagree. There’s only one way to look at this evidence. Even if I tried to look at it as she’s a widow, I would still look at her crazy because then I’d be like, girl, you did not love your husband. How are you going on a trip one month after he died? Or girl, you did not love your husband, how were you texting another man hours after he died? So it’s like either way you go, I wouldn’t actually be looking at her, uh, as a grieving widow, I would just. Even if I didn’t look at her as she killed her husband, I still would look at her weird because, girl, what you doing? The defense challenged a motive of marital disconduct, claiming the Couple had worked through a difficult year in 2020 via counseling and had decided to stay together. The defense portrayed Eric as a man who secretly struggled with drug dependency, implying his death was a tragic accident or self administered overdose. They argued that Eric was dependent on substances like marijuana, gummies, THC and painkillers to alleviate chronic pain. They said that he might have gotten fentanyl himself during a recent trip to Mexico or accidentally taken a gummy laced with the drug. As far as the sandwich incident, while the state called the event a murder attempt, the defense argued Eric simply had an allergic reaction to the sandwich, saying that he had a history of seeing an allergy doctor. They challenged Carmen’s credibility, saying that she, quote, changed her story numerous times to align with the prosecution’s narrative in exchange for immunity. They also brought up testimony from the drug supplier, Robert Crozier, who stated on the stand that he did not sell fentanyl at the time. The defense argued that if the pills Carmen bought weren’t fentanyl, they couldn’t have killed Eric. They also emphasized that none of the state’s witnesses actually saw Kouri administer fentanyl to Eric. Yeah, a murderer doesn’t usually have the witnesses witness them murdering. Like that’s not far fetched. They also claimed that Eric was supportive of Kouri’s real estate ambitions and that the couple had planned to celebrate the profits with the Midway Mansion deal together. I mean, I believe he was supportive of her. Uh, everybody says that, but what does that have to do, if anything? Nobody said that he wasn’t supportive, literally. Did Cory come out and say that she wasn’t, that he wasn’t supportive, like. The defense then played the recording of Kouri’s 911 call and characterizing her sobbing as the genuine sounds of her wife becoming a widow. Or it could just be as the genuine sounds. As somebody who’s able to make it really sound like they’re crying. You didn’t see her crying. As you said, this person, as you said, the witnesses didn’t see that she administered the fentanyl to Eric. You didn’t witness her crying. A major point of contention, according to them, was that law enforcement never tested the empty cocktail glass for drug residue, despite Kouri mentioning the drink to investig on the night Eric died. What are you doing, people? You had one job, Starscream. One job. While addressing the Walk the Dog letter, the defense claimed it was actually a fictional excerpt from a mystery novel Kouri was writing about her life. Basically, they parroted what Kouri said in argument of the search history. They argued that digital Forensics could not prove with absolute certainty that it was Kouri who performed the incriminated Internet searches or what specifically prompted them. I mean, that’s true, but usually if I have a phone that’s in my possession, usually the searches are mine. Unless you’re trying to say somebody set her up. Then, in a move that shocked the courtroom and the jury, the defense team rested their case immediately after the prosecution finished theirs without calling a single witness to the stand. This tactic was a bet that the state had failed to prove its allegation beyond a reasonable doubt, with the defense believing that having any witness on the stand wouldn’t make any sense because they’ve already won their case. Wow. One thing you don’t want is a cocky lawyer. I’m not saying this lawyer in particular. I’m saying in general, what you don’t want is a cocky lawyer. Now, in my opinion, with these lawyers, it was either that they were overly confident or they thought their client was guilty and wanted her to be proven guilty. Of course, as I said, um, this is just my opinion, me spitballing here my own thoughts and not what the defense lawyers actually did or said. So in his final remarks, Anthony Bloodworth played a clip of Kouri’s 911 call, arguing that her tone was not the sound of a wife becoming a widow, but rather the sound of a wife becoming a black widow. Damn. That was a closing statement if I ever heard one. He concluded that the extraordinary amount of fentanyl in Eric’s system, which by the way, was five times the lethal dose, was undeniably intentional, not accidental. Now, uh, I want to shout out some of the witnesses who took the stand. Katie was the first witness for the prosecution, and she testified about Kouri’s unusual calm demeanor with Eric’s death and the abrupt deletion of the data from Eric’s apple watch. Amy testified about the throat punch incident and the confrontation over Eric. Safe. Eric’s father and brother in law were both called to the stand to discuss Eric’s life and his relationship with Kouri. Cody Wright was Eric’s business partner and close friends, and he took the stand as well. Alison Wright was the wife of Eric’s business partner who testified that Kouri felt trapped in her marriage and feared the financial consequences of a divorce. Ally Staken, who was, uh, a friend of Kouri since junior high, came to the stand and described the shock of Eric’s death. Becky Lloyd was a friend who testified that Kouri once said that it would be, quote, better if Eric were dead. Brooke Carrington was the forensic accountant who Testified for a full day about Kouri’s imploding financial enterprise and a, uh, $2.2 million in potential insurance payoffs. Chris Cotrodemos was a digital forensics analyst who detailed Kouri’s incriminating Internet searches and GPS data that tracked alleged drug transactions. Pamela Sue Ulmer, who was a former forensic pathologist who confirmed that Eric died from toxic levels of illicit fentanyl and had no other natural causes of death. An estate planner, Crystal Bowman Carter, who helped Eric organize the secret trust that removed Kouri as a beneficiary on March 9, 2026. They had presented also a handwriting analyst who testified that the signature on one of Eric Richen’s documents was forged. However, they couldn’t identify the specific person who had done the forgery. Another witness was a Summit county sheriff’s detective, Jeff o’, Driscoll, who testified that the investigation into the ghostwriter for Kouri’s book and her search history. Then they brought forward the PI Todd Gabler, and they brought forward Gibson, the lead crime scene technician for the Summit County Sheriff’s Office. These were just some, um, of the witnesses that they brought forward. On March 16, 2026, the jury deliberated for approximately three hours before coming out with the verdict. And that shorter time is not good news for the defense, in my opinion. Kouri was found guilty on all counts, aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder for the sandwich poisoning attempt, insurance fraud, forgery, and other related charges. Sentencing was then scheduled for May 13, 2026, which would have been Eric’s 44th birthday. Now, you think this is the end of the episode, right? We’ve already gone through the investigation, the trial, the verdict, and then we were going to talk about the sentencing, but, girl, this isn’t even the end. Ahead of her sentencing, prosecutors revealed that Kouri used her family to launch aggressive attacks against law enforcement and Eric’s family from behind bars. Kouri allegedly instructed family members to file misconduct complaints against prosecutors and to create a fake gay dating profile for the lead detectives to smear his reputation online. This hag is doing the most. In addition to the dating profile, she instructed her family to file formal misconduct complaints against the Summit county prosecutors and the chief prosecutor with the Utah Bar. I mean, she seems like she’s just, like, telling everybody what to do. Does nobody tell this woman no? I’m just wondering here, does nobody say no to this woman? Because, I’m sorry, I would have to stop my daughter, like, in her tracks and remind her who the parent is. First of all, you don’t tell me shit. You don’t tell Me what to do. I tell you what to do. And no, I’m not doing none of this stuff. You’re already in jail. Stop trying to take me down with you. Clearly, you don’t care about them. Clearly. Because you’re trying to get them to go down with you. If you cared about them, you’d just be like, you know what? If this is what I’m going to do, I’m just going to do it myself. This is the second time she’s tried to get her family to do something. The second time she’s tried to get them in jail with her. She reportedly asked her mother to release photos of her sister in law’s young children to the press and wrote in a letter, quote, bring me home and then we’ll get those damn bitches. I’m doing bombastic side eye, but you just can’t see me. She was also accused of filing a false report with child services against one sister in law and reporting another to the police for alleged marijuana possession. To which, I’m sorry, you crossed the line. We gonna be in jail together. Cause I’m a beat your ass. Calling CPS against me to take my children away from me. That’s crossing a certain line. I’m sorry, that’s crossing a line. And you want to see me face to face. We gonna be face to face. We gonna be face to face. You wanna come home and get rid of these damn bitches? We gonna be face to face. Bi. Okay. Prosecutors characterized this behavior as psychotic. Yes. And described Kouri as being, quote, hell bent on taking down her foes even after her arrest. They argued that her continued attempts to launch false criminal, civil and public accusations against law enforcement and Eric’s family proved that she was, quote, irredeemable. She’s doing this to her own self. The reveal of this smear campaign was a key factor used by the prosecution to convince Judge Richard Mrczek to, quote, throw the book at Kouri. Prosecutors noted that in their filing that when Kouri feels aggrieved, uh, she doesn’t merely defend herself, she attacks, stating, quote, the defendant cannot check her ambition when she feels aggrieved. And she attacks. And she certainly feels aggrieved. She always has. So all that was going on and sentencing hadn’t even come yet. So on the day of sentencing, the court heard statements from Eric’s family and from the couple’s three sons. The oldest son, Carter, told the court, quote, I miss my dad, but I do not miss how my life used to be. I don’t miss Kouri. I Will tell you that he called her Kouri. Did you catch that? He is a mom. He called her Kouri. He also said, I’m afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family. I think she would come and take us and not do good things to us, like, hurt us. Ashton told the court, with her in jail, I will be able to continue to feel safe and live a happy and successful life without fear of her hurting me or anyone I love. Weston said, quote, when someone talks about Kouri, it makes me feel hateful and ashamed. She took away my dad. Damn. Um, her other son called her Kouri, too. Wow. I mean, just that that should be a life sentence to you as a mother, that I would just feel defeated, like, I would give everything up. Uh, like I’m just. Okay, I’m done. I’m done. My children are calling me by my first name. And clearly they don’t feel safe with me. They don’t care about me. Like, I’m done. Like, what more can I do? My children hate me. That’s a life sentence to a mother. Some mothers. Amy told the court, quote, she has committed the ultimate act of betrayal. Eric is gone, and I’m brokenhearted. He was my best friend and protector. Katie said, quote, nearly every aspect of our lives have been permanently changed, and we have no choice but to live with those changes and with Eric’s loss forever. Then Kouri spent approximately 45 minutes, 45 minutes addressing, uh, her sons. The one thing I need you boys to know, I did not abandon you. I did not walk out of your lives one day to never return. She told them that she would never stop fighting and maintained her innocence as she said, God did not put me in this world to take a life. God put me in this world to give life, is what she said. Judge Mrczek wasn’t, uh, persuaded by this manipulation, her previous manipulation, or any manipulation before this or after this or during it or period. After reading about what happened between the verdict and now and with the prosecution’s recommendation, the judge said, quote, and then having filled in her first effort of, uh, spending the next 17 days not changing course, but doubling down. And for what? Money? All for pecuniary gain. I’m sorry I messed up that quote, because I don’t know that word. I’ve never heard that word before in my life. P E C U N I A R Y might have said it wrong. He concluded that Kouri was, quote, too dangerous to ever be free. On May 13, 2026, Kouri Darden Richins was sentenced to Life in prison without the possibility of parole. As she was being taken away to begin servicing her sentence, Eric’s family said they finally felt justice had been served for the husband, father, brother and friend they lost on March 4, 2022. I want to mention that Katie and Amy were instrumental in the investigation, with family spokesperson Greg Scordis crediting them for, quote, pushing the police and keeping their feet to the fire throughout the process. Following the judge’s rulings, Kouri’s defense team formally announced their intent to file an appeal. Shocking. Under Utah law, she was required to file a notice of appeal within 30 days of her sentencing. As of the latest reports, from mid to late May 2026, she was being transferred to a Utah state prison to serve her life sentence pending the outcome of these future legal challenging. And I know you’re asking, where are the boys? As I told you before, following Kouri’s arrest, custody of her three sons, Carter, Ashton and Weston was awarded to Eric’s family. Back in November 2024, while Kouri was awaiting trial, a juvenile court officially awarded custody of the boys to the Richins family after her request to be released on bail was denied. During this time, they attended therapy to help process the trauma of their father’s death. Following Kouri’s arrest, her in laws blocked most communication between her and the children. While they were initially permitted two video calls per week, Kouri claimed at her sentencing that her letters, cards and her phone calls were being rejected for over two years. Then, following the guilty verdict in March of 2026, a cousin of Eric said that the boys were in a loving environment and were surrounded by family who intended to support them throughout their future milestones. The children themselves expressed a strong desire to remain away from their mother, with all three boys asking the judge during sentencing hearing to impose the harshest possible sentence because they will not feel safe if she was ever released. And that is the case of a woman who murdered her husband, wrote a children’s book about it, tried to start a new life with his money and another man, and to this day doesn’t even feel bad about it. What are your thoughts on this case? Oh my God. This was a doozy, uh, of a case. And I do want to ask, what did you get from this murder? Your children are gone, your children hate you, you don’t have the money you were set out to get, and the man you supposedly loved abandoned you and turned on you. So what exactly was the purpose of murder over divorce? If anybody out here is listening to love and murder or any other true crime case out there, Trying to get, I don’t know, ideas of how to commit a murder. Here is a piece of advice and I ask you, please take this advice. Just leave. Just frickin leave. Divorce, get up and leave, whatever. It’s better than, uh, murder because you will be caught. And everything you think you’re going to get, you’re not going to get. Notice how Kouri thought she was going to get her money, her children and her lover. Does she have any of that right now? I mean, does she, she has her children hate her. Which in my opinion, the way I view motherhood, is the worst thing that could have happened to her. Right? Like right now, you know what I’m saying? Going to jail, not having her money, not having her lover, not having your children is worse than all of that. So if for some reason you’re out there thinking, oh, maybe I should do X, Y and Z, maybe you should not leave, that’s the best way to handle this. And that is all I have for you today. That was a long case. My throat hurts. I need some water. I want to hear from you. Do you think that based on, I mean it is circumstantial evidence because there’s not a video of her giving him this fentanyl there, you know, it’s not a note of her saying, yeah, I did it. There’s not a picture of her saying it. There’s not somebody that was standing in the room watching her do it. So yes, it is circumstantial evidence. So based on this circumstantial evidence, do you think that Kouri did murder her husband or do you think she’s being set up? Do you think she’s innocent as she claims to be? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Thank you for listening. Thank you so much for your continued support. Don’t forget to follow me over on the Facebook. The link is in the show notes below. You can also follow over on Patreon. Even if you go to the Patreon, please follow the Facebook too and you know, get new episodes there. It’s one to two minute cases. So either way, um, like I said, you can follow us on the Patreon. There are a bunch of new bonuses that are in there from last week. The tiers start at $3 and up and I do look forward to seeing you over in the Patreon where you do get some bonuses. Um, there are pictures from this case, uh, there are the letters from this case like I told you about that’s going to be in the Patreon and I’m going to see if I could find any of the videos from. I’ll probably have the entire trial in there, so you can watch the TR for yourself, because there are some people who like to watch it for themselves. I’m not saying everybody. Um, and I’m going to see if I could find some interrogation video. Normally, I do this before I even record the show, but right now I’m doing it after, because the research from this episode was very, very long. So, anyways, like I said, thank you so much for your support. Thank you for being a continued lamb. And as we end each full episode, I want to remind you that it’s. Say it with me now. All, uh, love and no murder. Y’. All, thanks for joining me, and I’ll see you later. Bye.

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Sources: (what the sources say)

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/timeline-utah-mom-kouri-richins-husband-death-fentanyl-rcna85787 
https://www.biography.com/crime/a70499053/who-is-kouri-richins-case-and-murder-trial 
https://abcnews.com/US/friend-speaks-after-kouri-richins-found-guilty-fatally/story?id=131194428 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Eric_Richins 
https://people.com/where-are-kouri-richins-kids-now-11957561 
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/18/us/kouri-richins-trial-evidence-conviction 
https://people.com/inside-kouri-richins-murder-case-11927947 
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sons-kouri-richins-convicted-murder-husband-prison/ 
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kouri-richins-utah-mom-husband-eric-richins-poison-childrens-book-48-hours/ 
https://nypost.com/2026/05/15/us-news/husband-killer-kouri-richins-was-hellbent-on-taking-down-foes/ 
https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/08/us/kouri-richins-trial-key-revelations 
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kouri-richins-murder-case-eric-richins-utah-mansion-48-hours/ 
https://www.newsnationnow.com/crime/kouri-richins-faces-murder-trial/ 
https://www.parkrecord.com/2025/06/27/kouri-richins-charged-with-dozens-of-financial-crimes-in-new-case/ 
https://people.com/kouri-richins-speaks-to-sons-in-court-after-in-laws-blocked-her-from-kids-11974682 
https://people.com/kouri-richins-allegedly-texted-paramour-loved-him-hours-before-husband-death-exclusive-8620765 
https://people.com/sisters-of-utah-father-allegedly-poisoned-by-his-wife-not-giving-up-7963513 
https://nypost.com/2026/05/15/us-news/husband-killer-kouri-richins-was-hellbent-on-taking-down-foes/ 
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/i-am-afraid-kouri-richins-sons-say-they-fear-her-ahead-of-her-sentencing-in-husband-s-murder-case/ar-AA2360SQ