Kouri Richins: 26 new felony charges filed against woman accused of poisoning husband with fentanyl
Prosecutors reveal more about Kouri's dire financial state at the time of Eric Richin's suspicious death
An additional 26 felony charges have been handed down to a woman already accused of murdering her husband with fentanyl poisoning, according to KSL, with investigators claiming the new charges reveal the motive for the alleged murder.
Kouri Richins was a 31-year-old mother of three when her husband, Eric Richins, died of a fentanyl overdose in their home on the night of March 3, 2022. Court documents state she claimed they were celebrating her purchase of a home she planned to flip, and that he fell ill after drinking a Moscow Mule she had made for him.
Kouri wrote a children’s book in the year following Eric’s death about dealing with grief, and gave interviews that gave the appearance of a grieving widow.
Investigators now claim this was all a facade, and that Kouri allegedly slipped a deadly dose of fentanyl into that Moscow Mule in order to ensure Eric died of an overdose.
The new charges filed against her include:
Five counts of mortgage fraud,
Seven counts of money laundering,
One count of communications fraud,
One count of engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity (all of the above are second-degree felonies),
Five counts of forgery,
Seven counts of issuing a bad check (the latter two being third-degree felonies).
At the time of her arrest in 2023, Kouri faced three charges of second-degree possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute and one charge of first-degree aggravated murder.
It has never been a secret that Kouri appeared to be drowning financially at the time of her husband’s death. Shortly after her arrest, prosecutors revealed that Kouri allegedly profited from almost $2 million in life insurance policies Eric apparently never knew she had on his life, KSL previously reported. Kouri is also accused of:
Taking out a home equity line of credit worth $250,000 on the home Eric owned before they were married, which he discovered in September 2020. She used this money to create her real estate business, K. Richins Realty.
Stolen tax payments totaling about $134,346, which she had promised to repay Eric.
Using hard money loans to purchase three additional properties she had no way of paying for, which added $1.1 million dollars to her already existing debt in the millions. By the end of November 2021, KSL cites court documents which claim “she had already defaulted on one loan and was delinquent on several others. She continued efforts to borrow from new high-interest lenders to meet her existing obligations. By the end of 2021, (she) stood on the precipice of total financial collapse.”
On Dec. 23, 2021, Kouri planned to finish renovating a mansion she had bought “using $2.9 million in high-interest debt due in six months, even though she lacked the financial ability to service the additional debt, refinance the debt, rehabilitate the property, or otherwise dispose of the property.”
ABC4 notes that K. Richins Realty only made “$170,000 in revenue while its monthly debt service exceeded $250,000,” as per court documents.
Kouri also allegedly submitted fake bank statements to several financial institutions while trying to obtain loans to battle her growing debts. Several bad checks she wrote were returned for insufficient funds.
When Eric died on March 3, 2022, Kouri was $1.8 million in debt. The day after his death, she owed lenders almost $5 million, which prosecutors say was the approximate worth of Eric’s estate when he died.
Kouri allegedly blamed her husband and an unknown person in Seattle she claimed stole her identity for her low credit score. Prosecutors state they believe she engaged in a pattern of unlawful activity when she allegedly falsified a life insurance application she intended to take out on Eric, and due to what they say was her previous attempt on Valentine’s Day to try and poison him.
Little did she know by this time, Eric had already removed Kouri from his will and put his money into a trust, for which he put his sister in charge to protect his estate and leave something for his kids in the case of his death. He had done this in the fall of 2020, according to ABC4.
In yet another attempt to pay down the debts, Kouri also encouraged her friend and her family to move into a property in Heber City on which Kouri still owed about $456,000. Kouri allegedly used the rent, a total of $45,000, to pay off what she owed lenders. One of the lenders foreclosed on this home and evicted the friend and her family.
KSL reports that Kathy Nester and Wendy Lewis, attorneys for Kouri Richins, wonder if these new charges mean the prosecution isn’t confident in their murder case.
“This sudden push to file new fraud charges over two years later underscores the weakness of the state's pending murder charges, since these fraud charges would not even come into play unless they fail to secure a conviction. The timing is also extremely troubling in light of the fact that the parties are trying to seat an impartial jury in Summit County,” they said in a statement.
Kouri’s next hearing is scheduled for August 1, 2025, with her trial to begin on February 23, 2026.
More on this case here:
Kouri Richins: Defense for woman accused of murdering husband asks to reopen witness questioning
Defense attorneys for the children’s book author accused of murdering her husband have filed a motion expressing their wish to re-question several witnesses while jury selections are underway for the upcoming trial.
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Sources
KSL
ABC4