Chemistry:Murder of Eric Richins

Short description: 2022 murder in Utah, U.S.

Murder of Eric Richins
Location	Just outside of Park City, Utah, United States
Date	March 4, 2022 (2022-03-04) 3:21 AM (911 call) 4:58 AM (death pronouncement)
Attack type	Murder by poisoning, mariticide
Weapon	Fentanyl
Victim	Eric Richins
Perpetrator	Kouri Richins
Motive	Financial gain Resentment Infidelity
Verdict	Guilty on all counts
Convictions	Aggravated murder Attempted aggravated murder Insurance fraud (2 counts) Forgery

On March 4, 2022, Eric Eugene Richins (May 13, 1982 - March 4, 2022), an American living in the state of Utah, died at the age of 39 from a lethal dose of illicit fentanyl. On May 8, 2023, Kouri Darden Richins was charged with the murder of her husband; financial charges were added on June 27, 2025, and the murder charges were amended on October 6, 2025. Kouri Richins stood trial for the murder in March 2026. Kouri was convicted by the jury on all counts on March 16, 2026.

A 2026 jury trial determined that Eric Richins was murdered by his wife, Kouri Richins (born April 20, 1990), who administered a lethal dose of fentanyl in a cocktail without his knowledge. The case received widespread national and international media attention due to the circumstances surrounding the killing and the subsequent publication of the children's grief book Are You with Me?, authored by Kouri Richins following her husband's death. The case has been referred to as the "grief author murder trial".

Case

On March 4, 2022, Kouri Richins called authorities to report that her husband, Eric Richins, was unconscious at their home in Kamas, Utah. According to her initial statement, the couple had been celebrating the closing of a real estate sale for Kouri and she had made him a cocktail (a "Moscow Mule") before going to bed.

A subsequent autopsy revealed that Eric Richins died of a fentanyl overdose. Blood levels of the substance were five times higher than a lethal dose and had been ingested orally.

Before her arrest in May 2023, and while the investigation was ongoing, Richins published a children's book titled Are You With Me? in March 2023, dedicated to her three children to help them cope with the loss of their father. The book claimed to bring peace and comfort to children who have lost a loved one and was about a child wondering if their father was with them during special times like birthdays, Christmas and their first day of school. In promoting the book, she appeared on television programs as an example figure in overcoming grief, a fact that the prosecution later described as a façade to hide the crime.

Kouri D. Richins, a real estate agent, was deeply in debt and planning her future with another man, Josh Grossmann. Prosecutors said she had taken out numerous life insurance policies for her husband without his knowledge, which could have brought her benefits totaling about $2 million. In addition, her phone's Internet search history included queries such as "what is a lethal dose of fentanyl" and "luxury prisons for the wealthy in the United States," according to a digital forensics analyst.

Aftermath

Prosecutor Brad Bloodworth played a clip of Kouri's 911 call the night her husband died in court, saying it was "not the sound of a wife becoming a widow," citing the defense's opening statement. Brad said it was "the sound of a wife becoming a black widow." Defense attorney Wendy Lewis said the prosecution "looked at the facts in a way that you want to see a witch, but if you look at them another way, you see a widow." The defense argued that Eric Richins was addicted to painkillers and that he was the one who asked his wife to buy him opioids. Kouri Richins, 35, was ultimately convicted on March 18, 2026, of aggravated murder. She was also convicted of other crimes, including attempted murder, as she had tried to poison her husband weeks earlier, on Valentine's Day, with a fentanyl sandwich that rendered him unconscious. The jury also found Kouri guilty of forgery and fraudulently claiming insurance benefits after his death.

The trial formally began in 2026, and the prosecution presented a financial motive based on Richins' accumulated debt (more than $2 million) and her interest in collecting on her husband's life insurance policies.

Key evidence accepted by the court included:

• Acquisition of substances: Testimony from a supplier who confirmed that he had sold fentanyl pills to the defendant weeks before her husband’s death.
• Background: Eric Richins had expressed to family and friends that he feared that his wife was trying to poison him after he had become seriously ill on two previous occasions.
• Forged documents: Evidence that the defendant had tried to change the beneficiaries of Eric's will without his knowledge.

On March 16, 2026, the jury returned a guilty verdict on all major charges, including first degree murder. The victim's family reacted with relief, declaring that "the truth had come out".

On May 13, 2026, Kouri Richins was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.