Soooo, now and then, a criminal case catches my attention, and I seek out everything I can find in the public domain and on news sites. And oh gosh…The case of a woman who kills her husband and then writes a children’s book about processing the grief sounded too insane be true, but I’ve been following these real-life twists and turns for a while…

Alas, before I get into this current case (it’ll be short, don’t worry), I’d like to express my sincerest sympathies to the family of Eric Richins. He left behind an amazing legacy for his three young sons, and I hope whoever was responsible for his death is held accountable.

Now, let’s quickly review the facts of this case. (Alert: As much as I try to include a few real-world cases in my steamy legal fiction books–a la Filthy Lawyer and Reasonable Doubt—my guys don’t take on criminal murder cases, so this would be a 100% hell no for them.)

***

The story in a nutshell

Kamas, Utah

During the early morning hours of March 4, 2022, Kouri Darden Richins calls 9-1-1, claiming that her husband (Eric Richins) is “cold to the touch.” She says that she returned to their bedroom after comforting one of their children during a nightmare, and as she attempted to “cuddle” with Eric, she noticed he also felt stiff. 

The dispatcher encourages her to perform C.P.R. until the medics arrive, but it’s too late. 

Eric Richins is deceased at the young age of 39. 

Given that he was relatively healthy and young, the medics assume he suffered an aneurysm, but the medical examiner will have to perform an autopsy at a later date. Kouri tells the police that her husband doesn’t have any medical or drug issues: He has Lyme disease and takes a T.H.C. (marijuana) gummy every night to help him sleep, but that’s about it.

Deeply saddened, Kouri tells Eric’s family that she’s unable to help plan the funeral, help with the obituary, or handle the other affairs that come with a loved one’s passing. 

There is one thing she can do, though. 

As a real estate agent, Kouri had been celebrating her latest business deal with Eric all week: a multimillion-dollar mansion that she intended to close on/buy. 

Pushing her grief aside, she shows up and signs all the paperwork hours after Eric’s death. That same day, she also hosts a party with  colleagues and friends. 

Days later, after searching for where her husband kept critical financial documents, she calls a locksmith to drill a hole in Eric’s safe. She’s confident that everything she needs–his life insurance policies and the ownership title to his estate—is inside this box. 

However, mid-drill, Eric’s sister Amy arrives and asks Kouri why she’s drilling a hole when she can call Eric’s father. She also lets Kouri know that Eric changed his life insurance and estate paperwork months earlier, and Kouri is no longer the beneficiary. He recently entrusted it to his other sister, and there are directions for most of it to go to their children. 

An enraged Kouri assaults Amy, and the police are called to the scene. 

The police call the estate manager, who reveals that, yes, Eric made those changes months ago, and Kouri has no entitlement to his estate. 

Kouri had no idea that Eric had done this.

She also had no idea that he had warned his family members that “if something happens to me, look into Kouri, as I feel that she’s been trying to kill me…”

Undaunted by this setback, Kouri hires a lawyer, desperate to fight the estate change, and she does her best to navigate life without her husband. A life where she’s left alone to raise their children. 

She organizes a golf tournament to honor Eric’s memory and raise funds, but she tells Eric’s family that she doesn’t want them to attend. 

Several months later, she contacts a ghostwriter for help penning a children’s book. Using her own experience with her grieving sons, she says that the key takeaway when losing a loved one can be found in the three C’s: Connection, Continuity, & Care. 

Eager to promote her project, she books a spot on Good Things Utah, a local morning show, where she reveals that her husband “passed away unexpectedly” and that “the nights [without him] are the hardest. Since she couldn’t find a book to read to her kids about their situation, she says that she was determined to write one herself. 

Less than a month later, after an investigation that began moments after police answered her initial 9-1-1 call, Kouri Richins is arrested on the charge of first-degree murder. 

Eric’s cause of death wasn’t an “aneurysm” after all. 

He died from ingesting five times the lethal limit of fentanyl. 

Now in custody, Kouri reveals that she always knew that Eric had a drug habit, but she hid it from everyone for his sake, and now she’s ready to come clean about the truth…

These are the first set of facts for this case. 

We’ll withhold our judgment until we get the final set, of course…

Part Two, “Kouri’s truth,” is up next, but in the meantime, you should know that tons of podcasts/YouTube creators are covering this case if you’re interested in following it along. 

(Oh, and even though Damien Carter from Filthy Lawyer wouldn’t represent Miss Richins, he’d probably be the perfect person to research the hell out of her claims to determine what’s fact and fiction.)

F.L.Y. + See you with Part 2 shortly, 

Whit