US children’s book author killed husband for his millions, trial hears

Prosecutors portrayed a Utah mother and children’s book author as a money-hungry killer Monday on the first day of a murder trial in her husband’s death, while her defence team urged jurors not to make judgments before hearing her side. Kouri Richins, 35, faces a slew of charges for allegedly killing her husband, Eric Richins, with fentanyl in March 2022 at their home just outside the ski town of Park City. She has vehemently denied the allegations. Prosecutors say she slipped five times the lethal dose of the synthetic opioid into a cocktail that he drank. She is also accused of trying to poison him a month earlier on Valentine’s Day with a fentanyl-laced sandwich that made him break out in hives and black out, according to court documents. After her husband’s death, Kouri Richins self-published a children’s book about grief to help her sons and other kids cope with the loss of a parent. As arguments in the case got under way on Monday, Richins sat next to her lawyers, taking notes and passing some to them. It was not known whether she would take the witness box in her defence. Summit County prosecutor Brad Bloodworth told jurors that Richins was US$4.5 million in debt and falsely believed that if her husband died she would inherit his estate worth more than US$4 million. Prosecutors have argued she was planning a future with another man she was seeing on the side. “The evidence will prove that Kouri Richins murdered Eric for his money and to get a fresh start at life,” Bloodworth said. “More than anything, she wanted his money to perpetuate her facade of privilege, affluence and success.” Defence lawyer Kathryn Nester started her opening statement by playing the recording of Richins’ 911 call from the night of her husband’s death. Richins was sobbing hysterically on the call and seemed barely able to answer the dispatcher’s questions. “Those were the sounds of a wife becoming a widow,” Nester said. Eric Richins had Lyme disease and was addicted to painkillers, Nester argued. She suggested he may have overdosed. However, Eric Richins’ sister, Katie Richins-Benson, testified that their mother was a drug and alcohol counsellor who had instilled in the siblings from an early age the dangers of drug use. The trial is scheduled to run until March 26. Richins faces nearly three dozen counts, including aggravated murder, attempted murder, forgery, mortgage fraud and insurance fraud. The murder charge alone carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison. In the months before her arrest in May 2023, Richins self-published the illustrated children’s book Are You with Me? about a father with angel wings watching over his young son after his death. The book could play an important role for prosecutors in framing Eric Richins’ death as a calculated killing with an elaborate cover-up attempt. Bloodworth told jurors on Monday about how Richins promoted it on local television and radio stations. Years before her husband’s death, Richins opened numerous life insurance policies on Eric Richins without his knowledge, with benefits totalling nearly US$2 million, prosecutors alleged. Court documents also indicate she had a negative bank account balance and was being sued by a creditor. Bloodworth showed the jury a series of text messages between Kouri Richins and Robert Josh Grossman, the man with whom she was having an affair. She had texted Grossman about her dream of leaving her husband, gaining millions in the divorce and one day marrying Grossman. Bloodworth also showed screenshots of Richins’ internet search history, which included “luxury prisons for the rich America” and “Can cops force you to do a lie-detector test?” Eric Richins’ sister testified that she rushed to her brother’s house after hearing from another family member that he wasn’t breathing. Richins-Benson ran inside and locked eyes with Richins, who just shook her head, she recalled. “That’s when I knew my brother was gone,” the sister said through tears. “I observed that she was not how she normally was,” Richins-Benson said of the defendant. “She was very well put together. She had a matching pajama-esque outfit on. Her hair was all done up. She wasn’t crying like I was.” Defence lawyers pushed back on that characterisation. Among the key witnesses expected to be called later in the trial is the family’s housekeeper Carmen Lauber, who claims to have sold fentanyl to Kouri Richins on multiple occasions. Lauber is not charged in connection with the case and detectives have said she was granted immunity. Defence lawyers argued on Monday that Lauber did not actually give Richins fentanyl and was motivated to lie for legal protection. No fentanyl was ever found in Richins’ house, and the housekeeper’s dealer has said he was in jail and detoxing from drug use when he told detectives in 2023 that he sold fentanyl to Lauber. He later said in a sworn statement that he sold her only the opioid OxyContin. Nester showed jurors photos of an empty pill bottle sitting on Eric Richins’ bedside table the night of his death and bags of marijuana gummies he was known to use regularly. She said he had asked his wife to procure opioids for him.

US children’s book author killed husband for his millions, trial hears

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Kouri Richins denies using fentanyl to murder her husband; prosecutors allege a ‘facade of success’ hid millions in debt

Kouri Richins denies using fentanyl to murder her husband; prosecutors allege a ‘facade of success’ hid millions in debt