Mom who wrote kids’ book about death is charged with husband’s murder

A young Utah mother who wrote a children’s book about grief after her husband died last year has been accused of his murder.

Kouri Darden Richins, 33, faces charges of aggravated murder and multiple drug offenses, say documents filed Monday by prosecutors in Summit County and unsealed after her arrest that day.

Her husband, Eric Richins, was found dead at the family’s Francis home on March 4, 2022, at the age of 39. The autopsy found five times the lethal level of fentanyl in his system, the documents say.

According to prosecutors, Kouri Richins had obtained strong painkillers from an acquaintance — initially hydrocodone and then fentanyl, after she requested “the Michael Jackson stuff,” the dealer reportedly told investigators.

Barely two weeks before his death, when he became sick after a Valentine’s Day dinner, Richins told a friend he thought his wife was trying to poison him, the charging documents say.

Kouri Richins told emergency responders that she last spoke with her husband around 9 p.m. on March 3, 2022, when she made him a Moscow Mule and he drank it while sitting in bed. She said one of their sons was having bad dreams, so she slept next to the child until around 3 a.m., when she returned to her bedroom and found her husband “cold to the touch.”

Eric Richins’ sisters reportedly told investigators that the couple was having marital problems and had argued about money, according to documents cited by Park City radio station KPCW. In January 2022, the investigators’ documents say, Kouri Richins surreptitiously changed the life insurance policy that covered her husband and his  business partner, making herself the sole beneficiary.

Eric Richins was co-owner of a stone and masonry company; Kouri Richins sold real estate. They had been married nine years.

The couple had three sons, ages 9, 7 and 5 at the time of their father’s death. This year, Kouri Richins self-published a children’s book called “Are You With Me?” that is advertised as “a heartwarming and reassuring book that gently guides children through the difficult experience of losing a loved one.” The online description notes it was “written by a loving mother who personally faced this challenge.”

Kouri Richins is being held without bond, and a detention hearing is scheduled for May 19.