Children’s book author spun a web of tall tales about the murder of husband: prosecutors

Kouri Richins, the Utah mom of three who wrote a children’s book about grief after she allegedly killed her husband in 2022 wanted to show off her “accomplishments” and “status” as part of “an elaborate facade,” prosecutors said.

Prosecutors’ claims that Richins wanted to flaunt her “status” come as they argue to keep at least nine of the 11 charges filed against her as part of a lawsuit. murder case as her defense tries to split the counts into separate cases that will be tried separately.

Authorities accused Richins, now 35, in 2023 of poisoning her 39-year-old husband Eric Richins as a means to collect millions in life insurance funds.

The night Eric died, March 3, 2022, authorities say the couple was celebrating Kouri’s recent closing on a $2 million mansion under construction that she planned to sell for a profit as part of her real estate business, according to a warrant. She then allegedly spiked Eric’s cocktail with fentanyl, a deadly illegal drug, killing him in their bed.

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Richins faces 11 charges, including attempted aggravated murder, aggravated murder, two counts of distribution of a controlled substance, two counts of mortgage fraud, two counts of fraudulent insurance claims and three counts of forgery.

The murder suspect is asking a Summit County court to separate the charges of attempted aggravated murder, mortgage fraud and related forgery from the rest of the charges, arguing they stem from several criminal charges.

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Meanwhile, prosecutors have since moved to dismiss two charges of distribution of a controlled substance altogether.

The state is seeking to keep the remaining nine charges together because they are “directly related to the defendant’s motive for financial gain and for the world to view her as a talented individual of status,” prosecutors said in a filing dated 8 November.

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“The crimes that the defendant seeks to end have precipitated other crimes, and an arc of the defendant’s increasingly aggressive parasitic behavior connects all nine crimes. Moreover, the aggravated murder and the attempted aggravated murder are part 2 of a common plan,” prosecutors said. said.

“(An) arc of defendant’s increasingly aggressive parasitic behavior connects all nine offenses.”

– Summit County Prosecutors

They added that Kouri “is not biased in holding the crimes together because all the evidence involved is admissible separate tests for non-character purposes.”

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In their filing, prosecutors pointed to a text message Kouri allegedly sent to her lover in November 2021.

“When I was little, I grew up scrubbing other people’s toilets in Park City at ‘rich’ people’s houses…’

– Kouri Richins

“When I was little I grew up scrubbing other people’s toilets in Park City at ‘rich’ people’s houses after school. During Christmas break I worked for my aunt’s company (sic) all summer. I always looked down (sic) because you (sic) are literally the person who cleans the toilets,” she wrote “I always told myself and my aunt, ‘One day I’ll own property in Park City, like like all these rich, conceited people, and I will never be like them again.'”

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Kouri added that she was about to “close” on three properties, including two in Park City.

“It was never about the money, it’s about me being able to say that I can also have property on PC and that you (sic) are no better than anyone else in the way you treat people and that I can prove it” , she texted her lover. “Tomorrow is a really big deal for me in terms of performance.”

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But Kouri apparently wasn’t good at money management, and prosecutors claim this is what ultimately drove her to it kill her husband.

“The defendant had to cause the death of Eric Richins.”

– Summit County Prosecutors

“By the end of 2021, Defendant was on the brink of total financial collapse and her performance and status facade were exposed,” they wrote in the Nov. 8 filing. “To protect and perpetuate her facade, Defendant needed Eric Richins’ $5 million estate and $1.35 million from his life insurance proceeds. The defendant had to cause the death of Eric Richins.”

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Previous lawsuits claim Kouri purchased four different lives insurance policies for Eric’s life totaling more than $1.9 million between 2015 and 2017.

On January 1, 2022, months before Eric’s death, Kouri “secretly and without permission changed the beneficiary for his $2 million life insurance policy policy for themselves,” the documents say. Eric received a notification about the change and switched the beneficiary back to his business partner.

Eric apparently felt before his death that his life was in danger. His family told authorities he feared for his life after Kouri tried to poison him in Greece several years ago and again on Valentine’s Day in 2022.

Richins’ attorney, Skye Lazaro, did not immediately respond to an inquiry from Fox News Digital.

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Richins has pleaded not guilty to all charges and continues to deny her involvement in her husband’s death. Her trial will begin at the end of April 2025.