She could now focus on supporting his sons, who were ages 9, 7 and 5 when their father died.
Richins laced her husband's cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in 2022 and was also convicted of attempted murder via poisoned sandwich on Valentine's Day. She was millions in debt, had secretly opened life insurance policies on her husband, and was planning a future with another man while fantasizing about inheriting his $4M estate.
- Kouri Richins laced her husband's cocktail with five times the lethal dose of fentanyl in 2022
- She was millions in debt and had secretly opened multiple life insurance policies on Eric without his knowledge
- Convicted in March 2023 of aggravated murder plus four other felonies including attempted murder
- Their three sons, now ages 13, 11, and 9, told the court they fear for their safety if she is released
Kouri Richins, convicted of murdering her husband with a lethal fentanyl dose, faces sentencing Wednesday. The real estate agent published a children's book about grief after his death while secretly poisoning him for life insurance money.
On Wednesday, a Utah courtroom will decide how many years Kouri Richins will spend in prison for poisoning her husband with fentanyl. The 35-year-old real estate agent and house-flipper was convicted in March of aggravated murder for lacing Eric Richins' cocktail with five times a lethal dose of the drug at their home near Park City in 2022. A jury also found her guilty of four additional felonies, including an attempted murder charge stemming from a Valentine's Day poisoning attempt using a fentanyl-laced sandwich.
The case drew national attention partly because of its dark irony: while promoting a children's book she had written called "Are You with Me?"—a story about a boy learning to live with his father's death—Richins was arrested in 2023 and charged with killing the very man the book memorialized. Prosecutors painted a portrait of calculated financial desperation. Richins was millions of dollars in debt. She had opened multiple life insurance policies on her husband without his knowledge. She was exchanging text messages with another man, fantasizing about divorce and the millions she believed she would inherit from Eric's estate, valued at more than four million dollars. Her phone's search history told its own story: queries about lethal fentanyl doses, luxury prisons, and how poisoning appears on death certificates.
The trial lasted less than five weeks. Richins' defense team, confident prosecutors lacked sufficient evidence, called no witnesses and waived her right to testify. The jury deliberated for just under three hours before returning guilty verdicts on all counts. Prosecutors had presented text messages, internet searches, and body camera footage from the night of Eric's death in which Kouri told an officer her husband had no history of drug use—contradicting the defense's claim that he was addicted to painkillers. A housekeeper testified that she had sold Richins fentanyl on multiple occasions, though the defense argued the woman was motivated by immunity to fabricate her account.
The sentencing hearing falls on what would have been Eric Richins' 44th birthday. The judge, Richard Mrazik, has broad discretion in determining punishment. The aggravated murder conviction alone carries a sentence of 25 years to life, or life without parole. The attempted murder charge could result in anywhere from 5 to 15 years to life, depending on how the judge assesses the severity of Eric's injuries from the poisoned sandwich—he broke out in hives, used his son's EpiPen, drank a bottle of Benadryl, and lost consciousness. Two insurance fraud counts carry sentences of 1 to 15 years each, and a forgery charge allows 0 to 5 years. Prosecutors have asked the judge to impose consecutive sentences with no overlap and to hand down a life sentence without the possibility of parole.
The three boys—now 13, 11, and 9—have submitted statements to the court expressing their fear of their mother's release. The oldest wrote that he was afraid she would "come after" him and his brothers and "hurt" them. The middle child said he could now "live a happy and successful life without fear" with his mother incarcerated. The youngest said he would be "so scared" if she were freed. Eric's sister, Amy Richins, said after the verdict that the family could finally focus on supporting the boys. Kouri Richins also faces more than two dozen additional money-related criminal charges in a separate case that has not yet gone to trial. Her lawyers have declined to comment ahead of Wednesday's hearing.
Citas Notables
I'm afraid if she gets out, she will come after me and my brothers, my whole family. I think she would come and take us and not do good things to us, like hurt us.— Kouri Richins' oldest son, now 13, in a statement to the court
We got justice for my brother and could now focus solely on supporting his sons.— Amy Richins, Eric's sister, after the verdict
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
What made this case capture so much attention beyond the usual true-crime audience?
The book. She wrote a children's book about grief after her husband died, and she was promoting it when she was arrested. That collision between the public narrative she was building and what she'd actually done—that's what stopped people in their tracks.
Did she seem to believe she'd get away with it?
The evidence suggests she was planning for a future that required his death. The life insurance policies, the searches about lethal doses, the texts about another man and inheriting millions. But whether she thought she'd evade detection—that's harder to say. What's clear is she didn't account for the housekeeper, or the phone records, or the jury's three-hour deliberation.
The boys are the ones I keep thinking about. They lost their father and then had to watch their mother be convicted of killing him.
Yes. And now they're old enough to understand what happened. The oldest is 13. He's not just grieving—he's testifying about his fear of her. That's a different kind of wound entirely.
Do you think the judge will impose life without parole?
Prosecutors asked for it. The evidence was overwhelming. But judges have discretion, and sometimes they leave a door open, however small. What seems certain is that these boys will grow up knowing their mother is in prison for killing their father.
And the money she was chasing—did she ever actually get any of it?
No. She was arrested before the insurance claims could be processed. All that debt, all that planning, all that poison—and she got nothing but a conviction.