Woman who wrote grief book for kids after husband's death is charged with his murder

A Utah woman who wrote a book for children about grief in the wake of her husband's death has been charged with his murder, the New York Post reported.

Kouri Darden Richins, 33, who is a mother of three, was arrested on Monday for allegedly poisoning her husband. She has been charged with first-degree aggravated murder and three counts of second-degree possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute.

Kouri told police that she made her husband Eric Richins a mixed vodka drink to celebrate his sale of a home for her business. She then said that she went into one of her children's rooms to sleep after the child had a nightmare.

“(Kouri) said she awoke around 3 a.m. and came back to her and Eric’s bedroom. She felt Eric, and he was cold to the touch. That is when the defendant called 911,” documents state. She also told police that she left her cellphone in the bedroom with her husband, but phone records show she used it multiple times while she was in her child's room.

An autopsy found that Eric died from an overdose of fentanyl that was five times the lethal dosage.

When police searched Kouri’s phone and computers, they found multiple communications between her and an “unnamed acquaintance.” Police said they later found that Kouri allegedly requested “prescription pain medication for an investor” between December 2021 and February 2022, according to the report.

She “told (the acquaintance) to leave the pills at a house defendant was flipping in Midway, Utah. (The acquaintance) left the pills at the house, and the defendant left cash for them."

In February of 2022, the couple had a Valentine’s Day dinner in which Eric “became very ill." A probable cause statement found that “Eric believed that he had been poisoned. Eric told a friend that he thought his wife was trying to poison him." The acquaintance told police that Kouri later said her "investor" wanted “something stronger and asked for ‘some of the Michael Jackson stuff,’” specifically fentanyl, the report said.

After Eric's death, Kouri wrote the book “Are You With Me?” with the stated intention of creating "peace and comfort for children who have lost a loved one. It’s to reassure children that although your loved one is not present, their presence always exist and they walk through life with you as if they were here.”