Kouri Richins, author of a children's book about coping with grief after her husband's death, will face a murder trial for allegedly killing him with a cocktail laced with fentanyl.Prosecutors allege she was having an affair and purchased the drug from a housekeeper.
Kouri Richins, a Utah mother of three who wrote a children's book about coping with grief after her husband's death, will now face a murder trial in relation to his passing. Prosecutors allege that she poisoned her 39-year-old husband Eric Richins with a lethal dose of fentanyl at their home in March 2022.
A Utah state judge ruled on the second day of Kouri's preliminary hearing that prosecutors had presented enough evidence against her to proceed with a jury trial. Digital forensic expert Chris Kotrodimos testified that Kouri regularly sent text messages to Robert Grossman, her alleged lover before her husband died. Prosecutors described Grossman as her "paramour."
Utah Children's Book Author Accused of Killing Husband Faces Trial
On the night Eric died, Kouri texted Grossman a photo of two people kissing with the caption, "love you," according to court documents. In the week following his death, Kouri texted Grossmann "love you," five times.
Housekeeper Carmen Lauber also claims to have sold fentanyl to Kouri on three occasions, Det. Jeff O'Driscoll of the Summit County Sheriff's Office testified. O'Driscoll said police linked Lauber to Kouri through text messages and later arrested Lauber, finding drugs and other illegal items at her home.
Utah Children's Book Author Accused of Killing Husband Faces Trial
Prosecutors allege that Kouri killed Eric to collect millions in life insurance funds and flip a $2 million Wasatch County mansion that was under construction at the time of his death. The night he died, authorities say he, Kouri, and her mother were celebrating Kouri's recent closure of the mansion.
Kouri allegedly made a cocktail for her husband spiked with fentanyl that evening. A medical examiner determined that Eric had more than five times the lethal amount of the illicit opioid in his system when he died. The examiner also found "16,000 ng/ml of Quetiapine," an atypical antipsychotic medication used as a sleep aid, in his gastric fluid.
Utah Children's Book Author Accused of Killing Husband Faces Trial
The next day, Kouri allegedly closed a deal on the mansion after her husband was pronounced dead.
Kouri has pleaded not guilty to all charges. Her attorneys argue that the charges do not withstand thorough scrutiny and that they believe a jury will find the same.
Utah Children's Book Author Accused of Killing Husband Faces Trial
Summit County Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth argued that Kouri learned lessons during the first unsuccessful attempt on her husband's life that helped her carry out the killing 17 days later.
Criminal defense attorney Jonna Spilbor told Fox News Digital that the evidence alleging Kouri had an affair and purchased fentanyl pills is damaging to her defense. She said that prosecutors likely have further evidence of a romantic relationship between Kouri and Grossman, which will be crucial at trial.
Utah Children's Book Author Accused of Killing Husband Faces Trial
Spilbor also said that evidence at trial will show that Kouri was overextended with her real estate portfolio and that her husband was looking into getting a divorce and removing her from his will.
"When you string all of that potential evidence together, it isn't going to matter to a jury that you can't connect the exact fentanyl dots to that glass," Spilbor said.
In the months before her arrest, Kouri self-published the children's book "Are You with Me?" about a father with angel wings watching over his young son after passing away. Spilbor said that the book could play a key role for prosecutors in framing Eric Richins' death as a calculated killing with an elaborate cover-up attempt.
Fox News' Audrey Conklin and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
