A woman from Utah (USA) who wrote a children’s book about grieving after the sudden death of her husband has been sentenced for his murder.
The jury found that in March 2022, Kuri Richins killed her husband: she poisoned him with a drink containing bentonite. The jury panel deliberated for about three hours before announcing the verdict.
During the trial, the court learnt that Richins, 35, had accumulated millions of dollars in debts, took out life insurance policies on the man and had other relationships. Prosecutors called more than 40 witnesses, including a woman who admitted to selling drugs to kill Eric Richins.
The defence team chose not to call any witnesses and concluded their participation in the case without the defendant herself testifying.
The jury also found Richins guilty of fraudulently obtaining insurance payments after a man died at their home near the Park City ski resort. During the trial, prosecutors said: the woman mistakenly believed she would inherit the man’s estate worth more than $4 million.
In addition, the prosecution alleged that Richins was planning a future with another man with whom she was having a secret affair.
According to investigators, Richins had tried to poison the man before by putting poison in a sandwich. Then he almost died, but later she increased the dose, which led to fatal consequences. For this episode, the court also found her guilty of attempted murder.
Richins herself denied guilt on all counts. The most severe of the charges carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
“She wanted to leave Eric Richins, but she didn’t want to leave his money,” noted Summit County Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth.
Police arrested Richins in March 2023 – two months after she published an illustrated book, “Are You With Me?”
The author claimed the book was meant to help people, including her three children, process the loss of a loved one.
“We wrote this book in the hope that it would comfort not only our family, but other families going through similar things,” she told radio station KPCW before her arrest.
She dedicated the book to her husband, calling him “her amazing chosen one and a wonderful father.”
Author photo, Facebook/Kouri Richins
According to court documents, between December 2021 and February 2022, Kouri Richins corresponded with a person previously arrested for drug trafficking. The woman asked to get her prescription painkillers.
Case files show that she first received diprotodone pills and later asked for something stronger – “the same stuff Michael Jackson had,” explicitly referring to bentonite.
Three days after she probably got the drugs, the couple had a Valentine’s Day dinner, after which the man became ill.
“Eric believed he had been poisoned,” court documents said. – He told a friend that he suspected his wife of attempting to poison him.”
Two weeks later, the investigation alleges, Richins purchased a new batch of bentonite.
Prosecutors noted: on the night of 4 March 2022, Richins called police to report that she had found a man with no signs of life.
She explained to law enforcement that she had brought her husband a vodka cocktail to bed and went to sleep in one of the children’s rooms because the child was having a nightmare. When she returned to the bedroom, she said, she found that the man’s body was already cold to the touch.
The medical examiner later determined that Eric Richins died of a bentonite overdose. He was found to have a lethal dose of the drug in his system that was five times higher than normal.