Kouri Richins will stand trial for the alleged murder of her husband, a Utah judge has ruled.
On Tuesday, Aug. 27, the second day of Richins’ preliminary hearing, Judge Richard Mrazik said there was enough evidence from prosecutors to move forward in charging the 34-year-old mother of three for the alleged murder of 39-year-old Eric Richins.
Kouri is accused of lacing his drink with a fatal dose of fentanyl on March 3, 2022.
Kouri and Eric Richins. Kouri Richins/Facebook
She pleaded “not guilty” to all 11 counts she’s facing in court on Tuesday. Her trial is scheduled to begin on April 28, per the Associated Press.
Kouri allegedly used fentanyl purchased from the family’s housekeeper, Carmen Lauber, to poison Eric that March. She is also accused of adding fentanyl to his sandwich on Valentine’s Day in 2022, after nine years of marriage.
Two of Eric’s friends said in written testimony he told them he used his son’s EpiPen and drank a bottle of Benadryl after eating a portion of the sandwich.
After waking up, Eric allegedly told one of his friends, “I think my wife tried to poison me,” AP News reported, citing charging documents.
After that alleged incident, Eric became sick and broke out in hives.
Deleted text messages recovered by police and location data suggest Kouri was possibly having an extramarital affair and left to see her alleged lover after bringing the sandwich home.
She allegedly texted, “If he could just go away … life would be so perfect,” the day after Valentine’s Day, according to the AP.
In court on Monday, Aug. 26, detective Jeff O’Driscoll said Lauber told police that Kouri asked her for stronger fentanyl when the Valentine’s Day attempt didn’t work.
“She learned that putting it in a sandwich, where Eric Richins could take a bite, feel the effects, set the sandwich down, was not the proper way to administer a fatal dose of fentanyl,” Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told Judge Mrazik, per the AP. “She learned that it takes a truckload to kill him.”
Kouri Richins and attorney Skye Lazaro; September 2023.
Rick Bowmer/AP Photo
Seventeen days later, Kouri called 911 in the middle of the night claiming she found Eric “cold to the touch” at the foot of their bed, per AP News, citing a police report.
Following his death, a medical examiner found five times the lethal dosage of fentanyl in Eric’s system.
Kouri later released a self-published children’s book about grief, titled Are You with Me? before she was arrested in May 2023. The AP added that prosecutors could describe the book “as a calculated killing with an elaborate cover-up attempt.”
“We are not determining in any degree guilt at all,” Mrazik said, per Park City public radio station KPCW.
“Ms. Richins was presumed innocent of all charges yesterday, she is presumed innocent of all charges today and she will remain presumed innocent of all charges through trial.”
Kouri’s defense attorneys, Kathy Nester and Wendy Lewis, also shared a statement on Tuesday.
“Our focus now is on ensuring that justice is served through a fair trial,” they said, per KPCW. “These past 15 months have taken a heavy toll on Kouri and her three children. It’s time to bring this ordeal to an end, restore her life and allow her and her family to move on.”
